Saint Didacus (Diego) of Saint Nicholas

His poverty did not prevent him from having several holy industries to relieve the miseries of other poor people. He deprived himself of his bread to feed them, always sharing with them the little that was given to him for his own sustenance, and when he was unable to do them good, he shed tears for them before God and consoled them in a manner so sweet and charming that they gained much from not being assisted corporally. His strongest inclination was to assist the sick, and it can be said that no Saint has ever surpassed him in this office of mercy. His heart, says his historian, was a hospital infinitely more ample than those that popes, emperors, kings, and republics have built with such magnificence. He received everyone there, and there was no sick person whom, if obedience permitted him, he did not assist with admirable eagerness. Never did their bad temper, nor the stench of their wounds, nor the assiduity that their illness demanded, discourage him: he was even seen to kiss their ulcers devoutly. This excellent charity of the Servant of God appeared singularly in Rome, in the year of the great Jubilee 1450, where Pope Nicholas V performed the canonization of Saint Bernardine of Siena; f or, as there h pape Nicolas V Friend of Albergati, whose election to the pontificate he predicted. ad gathered in the conve nt of Ara Coeli up to thr saint Bernardin de Sienne Franciscan saint whose canonization drew Didacus to Rome. ee thousand eight hundred religious of his Order, most of who couvent d'Ara-Cœli Franciscan convent in Rome where Didacus cared for the sick. m fell ill, having also gone there to attend this double solemnity, he embraced with incredible joy and fervor the mission of relieving them, and he did so with such success that, although there was an extreme shortage of bread, wine, and all kinds of provisions in that city, nothing nevertheless was ever lacking for these sick people, and they received from him alone as much help as they could have received from a large number of other nurses.

Before this journey to Italy, his superiors had sent him to one of the C anary Islands îles Canaries Archipelago where the saint carried out his missionary activity. to govern a house of their Institute there. Having found a great number of idolaters in this country, he worked with marvelous zeal for their conversion, and it is impossible to believe how many insults, affronts, miseries, and fatigues he endured to make them know the truth of the Gospel. His pains were not in vain. Many of these infidels opened their eyes to the light of the faith and submitted to the yoke of Jesus Christ. He burned with an incredible ardor to endure martyrdom, and it was with this design that he set sail to go to the Great Canary, where the name of Jesus Christ was not known at all. He hoped to find death there; but God, who reserved him to render Him other services, did not permit him to arrive there. A great storm that agitated his ship discouraged the sailors from continuing their path, and the fear of being mistreated by the barbarians who were masters of this island made them entirely abandon their enterprise. He was therefore forced to return to his first island, called Fuerteventura, and he continued to convert t Fortaventure Canary Island where Didacus resided and converted pagans. he pagans there and to strengthen the Christians there admirably by the examples of his virtues and by the words of life that came from his mouth. He fed a large part of these islanders during a famine through the holy skills of his charity, which knew how to find in the treasures of divine Providence what he could not find in the granaries of merchants, nor in the purses of the rich. He was recalled to Spain in the year 1449, and this gave him the means to make, the following year, the journey to Rome of which we have spoken, after which he was sent to the province of Castile, where he finished the rest of his days.

The most ordinary object of his thoughts was the Passion of his crucified Savior. He meditated upon it, often with his arms extended in the form of a cross, or holding a wooden crucifix between his hands, and his aspirations were then so vehement that his soul sometimes lifted his body from the earth, and held it there for a long time. He was also extremely devout to the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. He served Mass with a reverence, modesty, and piety that delighted those present. His recollection and love while receiving Communion were admirable, and, as he received extraordinary graces by means of this heavenly food, it is impossible to express with what gratitude he nourished and satisfied himself with it. The devotion he had for the Son also extended to the Mother. Mary was his refuge, his patroness, his advocate, his consolation, and his hope. He fasted in her honor on bread and water every Saturday of the year; he celebrated her feasts with extraordinary joy, and said his rosary every day in such a respectful manner that it was easy to see that he felt penetrated by the greatness of her merit.

The life of such a holy man was entirely filled with miracles; going one day with another religious from the convent of Cerraya to that of Saint-Luc de Barramède, he could not procure any food on the way: which reduced him, as well as his companion, to such weakness that they could no longer walk. Then he raised his spirit to God to implore His help, and at that very hour they perceived in the middle of the solitude a white cloth spread on the grass, with soft bread, freshly cooked fish, lemons, and a bottle of wine. They looked on all sides to see if this feast was not intended for others; but as no one appeared to the right or to the left, they recognized that it had been prepared for them by the charitable care of divine Providence; they satisfied themselves with it with thanksgiving, and then happily finished their journey.

In Seville, a seven-year-old child, fearing his mother's punishments, had hidden at the back of her oven and fallen asleep there. This woman, without thinking that her son was inside, threw wood into it and lit a fire to heat it. The flame awakened the child: he cried out, called his mother, and implored her assistance in a lamentable manner; but it was too late, and the fire was already so violent that there was no appearance of being able to save him. Then this woman began to run like a desperate person through the streets, accusing herself of being the homicide of her son. But by a stroke from heaven, Sa int Didacus, saint Didace Spanish Franciscan religious, missionary, and wonderworker. being near her house, consoled her, and having sent her to pray to God before the altar of Our Lady, he went to her oven with his companion and a crowd of people, and notwithstanding that the wood was already almost consumed, he withdrew this innocent child safe and sound and without any mark of burning. This miracle being so visible and so certain, the neighbors took the child into their midst and led him as in triumph to the chapel where his mother was in prayer, and the canons dressed him in white in honor of the holy Virgin. Since then, the same chapel has been very famous, and there has been a great gathering of people there to implore the protection of this Mother of the afflicted.

Our Saint often healed the sick through his prayers, or by the sign of the cross, or by rubbing them with oil from the lamp that burned before the image of Our Lady: which he did to hide from men the great gift of miracles he had received from God. Finally, it pleased the divine Goodness to give his servant a crown of justice for having fought well and having been faithful to Him. His reputation was so great everywhere, for his simplicity, his innocence, his purity of heart, and his life free from the slightest faults, that he was called nothing other than the holy man. Our Lord, to exercise his patience and perfect his humility, sent him an extremely infected and painful abscess on his arm, which lasted until his death. Being very ill one night, he was so enraptured out of himself that he had no feeling left, and the Brothers and the doctors believed him dead; but he returned from this ecstasy, and then he was heard to say three or four times: "Oh! what beautiful flowers there are in paradise!" When he saw his last hour approaching, he armed himself with the sacraments of the Church, and, wishing to imitate his blessed Father, he asked as an alms for the poorest habit and the most worn-out rope of the convent. This consolation could not be refused to him; thus this admirable man, who was ripe for eternity, rendered his beautiful soul into the hands of Our Lord, to go and enjoy His divine embraces without end. It was the night of a Saturday, November 12, 1463. He held a large crucifix while dying, and his last words were those that the Church sings in honor of the cross: Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, etc.: "O charming wood! O favorable nails! O sovereignly lovable cross, which alone were worthy to bear the King and Lord of heaven!" His body, which his great austerities had rendered dry and black, immediately became white and perfectly beautiful, and such a sweet odor came from it that it embalmed those who approached it, provided, however, that they were in a good state; for those who had a conscience burdened with great sins did not enjoy this happiness until they had confessed. The limbs were flexible, as if he were still alive. He was buried on Sunday; but four days later, he was taken from the ground as fresh as before, and he remained for several months without corruption, exposed to the devotion of the faithful, always exhaling this marvelous odor.

He is represented: 1° holding a cross in his hand, either because he had preached the Gospel in the Canary Islands, or because his life of devotion was ended by these words which he pronounced while rendering his soul to God, his eyes fixed on the cross: "O precious wood, O happy nails, which had the happiness of bearing the King of Kings"; 2° pulling, full of life, from an oven where he had fallen asleep and which had been heated without thinking of the poor little one, a young child whom he returns to his distraught mother; 3° holding a lily in his hand, a symbol of the virginity he preserved all his life.

## CULT AND RELICS.

A great number of miracles occurred through his invocation and the touching of things that had belonged to him, such as strands of his hair, his beard, and his poor garments. Pope Sixtus V reports a great num pape Sixte V Pope who edited the works of Ambrose. ber of them in the Bull of his canonization, and Pierre Galesinius, apostolic protonotary, wrote an entire book about them. The most striking was the healing of Prince Charles, eldest son and heir presumptive of Philip II, King of Spain. T Philippe II King of Spain who ordered the distribution of relics. his prince, while playing in the royal p alace Alcala University city where Julian exerted an intellectual and spiritual influence. at Alcala, fell from a ladder onto his head with such violence that he sustained a mortal and entirely incurable wound. Nothing was expected but his death; the doctors and surgeons had abandoned him, and thoughts were turned only to preparing funeral rites worthy of his birth, when pious persons suggested to the King, his father, that since Saint Didacus was performing so many wonders, he might hope for the healing of the young infant prince if he had his body brought into his chamber. The King willingly listened to this proposal and immediately ordered that the holy body be brought from the convent of the Friars Minor to the p Frères Mineurs Religious order welcomed by Engelbert in Cologne. alace. When it was in the patient's room, they had him touch it, and at that very instant, he began to feel better; and a few hours later, at the moment when he was supposed to die according to the doctors' declarations, he was found perfectly healed. This signal grace prompted the King to pursue the canonization of this great servant of God. He did not obtain it so soon, however: for the miracle having occurred in 1562, under Pope Pius IV, it was not performed until 1588, under Pope Sixtus V, on the day of the Visitation of Our Lady. This shows with what exactitude the Roman Church proceeds, notwithstanding the recommendations of princes, when it is a question of proposing a Saint for the veneration and public worship of all the faithful. Pope Innocent XI placed the feast of this holy confessor on the 13th of this month.

We have corrected and completed the text of Father Giry with the Characteristics of the Saints, by the Rev. Fr. Cahier.