Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio

Upon leaving childhood, the final years of which he spent piously in his father's house, he left his country and went to Salamanca, wh ere he ent Salamanque City where he taught and entered religious life. ered the service of a master. Afterward, he went to work in the countryside to alleviate the poverty of his parents. There, he was exposed to dangers of more than one kind: he had above all to resist three women who laid traps for his chastity, and whom he victoriously repelled. Frightened, however, by these perils, he resolved to leave for New Spain, where the evangelical Nouvelle-Espagne Colonial territory to which the saint emigrated. faith had just been brought. He therefore embarked with other passengers who overwhelmed him with insults during the crossing, without being able to exhaust his patience. Finally, after a successful voyage, he arrived at Pueb la de los Angeles, fr Puebla-de-Los-Angelos Place of arrival in Mexico and place of death. om where he went to Mex Mexico Capital of Mexico and episcopal see. ico.

He did not delay in giving proof in this city of his rare charity towards his neighbor, employing in good works the resources that his industry and love for work provided him, applying himself with indefatigable ardor to the still new art of construction, means of transport, and the making of roads, which had to be, at the cost of a thousand hardships, opened and aligned through forests hitherto impassable. He worked mainly on the public road that leads from Mexico to Zacatecas.

The considerable gains he made were devoted by him to feeding widows and orphans, to providing dowries for young girls, and to other works of mercy. Thus, a man burdened with considerable debts, already seized by the agents of justice, was generously paid for by Sebastian, who restored him to freedom. He thus acquired such a reputation for virtue that he deserved to see the Indians themselves, laying aside their natural ferocity, come to pay him marks of honor and offer him their services. His love for chastity had at first made him refuse to enter into marriage. Later he determined to embrace this state, and he married two honest girls in succession, with whom, by their full consent, he kept his virginity. So much virtue excited the rage of the demon, who appeared to him several times in the form of a furious bull, in that of an angry black man, and even in seductive figures. The Saint then armed himself with the sign of the cross, and triumphed over all the efforts of the enemy.

After the death of his second wife, he asked to be admitted into t he Seraphic Order of Saint Francis Ordre séraphique de Saint-François Religious order welcomed by Engelbert in Cologne. . Having reached the height of his desires, he left all his po ssessions to the nuns of Sai religieuses de Sainte-Claire Contemplative religious order founded by Saint Clare, to which Catherine belongs. nt Clare, and entered the Third Order of Franciscans, being already over seventy years of age.

When he had taken his solemn vows, he distinguished himself marvelously in all kinds of virtues, and practiced simplicity, candor, meekness, obedience, and poverty to perfection. He joined to a boundless patience in enduring tribulations, the virtues of temperance and fortitude to such a remarkable degree that, in addition to prolonged fasts and bodily macerations, he often spent entire nights in holy vigils, thus being well worthy of the extraordinary things he is said to have been favored with.

He was prey in a desert to the torment of hunger, and could receive no help from men; angels, it is said, served him food; finding him overcome with fatigue, they refreshed him, they surrounded him during his sleep with a celestial splendor; they protected him, on the road, from rain and snow; from the place where he had lost his way, they put him back on his path, transporting him from one place to another.

Sebastian also had knowledge of future events; he penetrated even into the mysteries of hearts, those secrets which are known only to God, and he never ceased to exercise an absolute dominion over wild beasts.

During his final illness, the vomiting to which he was subject not allowing him to receive the Holy Eucharist, he asked that this adorable sacrament be brought to him, for contemplation only, and he paid it his homage, lying on the ground, melting into tears with feelings of inexpressible devotion.

Finally, burdened by old age and nearly a centenarian, he painfully ended his life in Puebla. His body , unde Puebla Place of arrival in Mexico and place of death. rmined and worn by penance, took on a ravishing beauty after his passing and exhaled a sweet fragrance. The splendor of his virtues and miracles led to the solemn inclusion of Sebastian among the blessed by Pope Pius VI.

Proper of Spain.