BLESSED SEBASTIAN OF THE APPARITION, O.F.M. — A Franciscan Minor, born in the province of Galicia in 1502, died at Puebla de los Angeles (Mexico) on 25 February 1600.
A domestic servant and farmer in Salamanca, he emigrated to Mexico, where he resumed farming, road-building, and transporting goods, managing to accumulate considerable wealth, which he used to provide for the needy he encountered. Having been widowed a second time at the age of 70, he ceded all his property to the convent of the Poor Clares and the following year entered the Franciscan Minor Observants of Puebla de los Angeles as a lay brother, spending the remaining 26 years of his life in the humble office of a questor.
The innocence of his life, the heroism of his virtues—accompanied also by particular mystical gifts—and the miracles he worked before and especially after his death led to his being raised to the honors of the altar. He was beatified by Pius VI in 1787. Feast day: 25 February.