Alonso de Orozco Mena (17 October 1500 – 19 September 1591) was a Spanish

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from the

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

order. He was well known across

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for his preaching abilities and for an austere and humble life. He was beatified in 1882 after the recognition of two healings attributed to him as miracles and was canonized in 2002 after a third received papal approval. His feast is on the date of his death - 19 September - on an annual basis.

Life

Alonso de Orozco was born in Toledo on 17 October 1500. He had at least one older brother. As a child he studied music and served in a church choir. He was enrolled in a school in

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Herit ...

at the age of 14 at the behest of his parents. Orozco became a member of the

Order of Saint Augustine The Order of Saint Augustine, ( la, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Augustini) abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were fo ...

in his 20s and was a spiritual student of

Thomas of Villanova Thomas of Villanova (1488 – September 8, 1555), born Tomás García y Martínez, was a Spanish friar of the Order of Saint Augustine who was a noted preacher, ascetic and religious writer of his day. He became an archbishop who was famous for ...

- future saint. In fact the latter preached a Lenten sermon in 1520 which awakened in him a religious calling to life as a priest; his solemn profession was in 1522 on the eve of Pentecost. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

to the priesthood in 1527 and became a noted preacher. He travelled to the missions in

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in 1549 but severe arthritis caused him to be sent back to Spain where he served as prior of his convent in

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in 1554. He also served as a preacher to the court of

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and moved with them to

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in 1561. He refused to accept the benefits of the court and reaffirmed his desire to live as a humble and simple monk. He made himself accessible to all of those whom needed his consul and he spent all available time to visit the sick and those in prisons. He became a noted Spanish and Latinist in writing and he had even compiled histories of his order. He even helped the order establish new monasteries and convents. He fell ill with a fever in August 1591 and his health took a sharp decline. He died on 19 September 1591. News of his death spread and drew countless to his funeral.

Canonization

The sainthood process commenced on 13 December 1676 under Pope Innocent XI and the introduction of the process on a local level granted Orozco the posthumous title Servant of God. Two processes were held in Spain to assemble both documentation in relation to his life and witness testimonies. Both were a requirement for the process to proceed to the next phase. Pope Clement XII approved that he lived a life of

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...

and declared him to be

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...

on 15 August 1732. He was beatified on 15 January 1882 after

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

approved two healings that were attributed to him as miracles. A third allowed for

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

to canonize him on 19 May 2002.Saint Alfonso de Orozco
/ref>

References

External links

Saints SQPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orozco Mena, Alonso de 1500 births 1591 deaths 16th-century venerated Christians Augustinian saints Spanish Roman Catholic saints Spanish male writers Spanish Roman Catholic priests Venerated Catholics Canonizations by Pope John Paul II University of Salamanca alumni