Profile
Alonso was the third of eleven children in the family of the wealthy wool merchant Diego Rodriguez. He met Blessed Peter Faber when he was 10; the Father Faber prepared the boy for his First Communion. At age 14, Alonso was sent to study with Jesuits. Alonso’s father died within a year, and he returned home to learn and manage the business.
Alonso married Mary Suarez at age 26. His business suffered, and two of the couple’s children died in infancy; one son survived. He became a widower in his early 30’s, and his mother died soon after. He sold the business and moved in with his sisters; they helped Alonso raise his son, and taught their brother prayerful meditation.
When his son died, Alonso decided to follow his call to the religious life. He gave away what little he had left, and tried to join the Jesuits; he did not have the education they required, and was refused. He attended the College of Barcelona, but could not complete the work. Self-imposed austerities nearly destroyed his health. At age 60, he was ordered to begin sleeping in a bed instead of the chair, bench, or ground he had previously used. However, at the recommendation of Jesuit Father Luis Santander, Alonso became a Jesuit lay-brother, admitted on 31 January 1571 at Valencia, Spain, and began to study alongside children.
Alonso was a porter and doorkeeper at the Jesuit college of Montesión at Palma, Mallorca, Spain for 46 years, a duty which involved delivering packages, seeing to the lodging of travelers, and dispensing alms to the poor. From this humble post, he influenced many through the years. He was obsessed with the spiritual and given to extreme self-imposed austerities. He had a special devotion to Saint Ursula, and was so obedient to his superiors that when one told him to eat his plate, he tried to cut it with a knife and fork. He was the friend and roommate of Saint Peter Claver. He advised Peter to request missionary work in South America. He professed his final Jesuit vows at the age of 54.
Alonso was reputed to be healed by fervent prayer. The night before his death was spent in a visionary ecstasy. Some authors claim he wrote the Little Office of the Immaculate Conception, but his part was to make it more popular. He left behind a collection of manuscripts of journal entries, random thoughts, simple illustrations, and musings on things spiritual that are remarkable for their simplicity, sound, and correct doctine, and spiritual understanding; they were published as Spiritual Works of Blessed Alonso Rodriguez in Barcelona in 1885.
Born
- 25 July 1532 at Segovia, Spain
Died
- 31 October 1617 at Palma, Mallorca, Spain of natural causes
- relics enshrined at Majorca
Venerated
- 1626 by Pope Urban VIII
Beatified
- 15 January 1825 by Pope Leo XII
Canonized
- 15 January 1888 by Pope Leo XIII
Patronage
- in Spain
– Majorca, city of
– Majorca, island of
– Segovia
Representation
- an old Jesuit with two hearts on his breast connected by rays of light to Christ and the Virgin
Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-alonso-rodriguez/
