St Didacus of Alcalá (San Diego): Life and Feast

St Didacus, in Spanish San Diego de Alcalá, was a Franciscan lay brother of Andalusia who never became a priest, never learned letters, and yet governed a friary in the Canary Islands, nursed the sick of Rome in a year of famine, and died at Alcalá de Henares in 1463 with the hymn of the Cross on his lips. His feast is kept on 13 November in the calendar of 1962, and it is from him, through the flagship of a Spanish explorer, that the city of San Diego in California takes its name. Here is his life as the Church's own books tell it, the collect of his Mass, what he is patron of, and the honest line between his history and his legends.

Who is St Didacus?

Didacus (the Latin form of Diego) was born at San Nicolás del Puerto, a small town of the diocese of Seville, of poor parents. As a boy he attached himself to a holy priest who lived as a hermit near the town, and shared his life of prayer and penance. Butler adds a homely detail: together they kept a little garden and made wooden spoons, trenchers and such utensils to live by.

After some years he left the hermitage and asked for the habit of the Friars Minor of the Observance at the friary of Arizafa (Arruzafa). He was received as a lay brother, the humblest rank in the order, and remained one all his life. The Roman Breviary says that he gave himself above all to contemplation, and that, though "without learning", he was so filled with the light of God that he spoke of heavenly things in a wonderful way, plainly by a gift from above. If the Franciscan spirit draws you, our novena to St Francis of Assisi is a good place to meet its founder.

Missionary in the Canary Islands

After his profession he was sent to the Franciscan mission in the Canary Islands, then being brought into the Christian world. The Breviary says that he suffered much there, burned with the desire of martyrdom, and converted many of the inhabitants by his word and example. In 1445, though only a lay brother, he was made guardian, that is superior, of the principal friary of the islands, at Fuerteventura: an exceptional office for a brother who was not a priest. He held it for four years, until he was recalled to Spain in 1449.

Infirmarian in Rome, 1450

In the Jubilee year 1450, under Pope Nicholas V, a great number of Franciscans gathered at Rome for the canonization of St Bernardine of Siena. Didacus came with Father Alonso de Castro, and nursed him through a dangerous illness. His superiors noticed his devotion and put him in charge of the sick friars crowded into the infirmary of the friary of Ara Coeli. He served there for about three months.

The Breviary describes that service in words worth reading slowly: the city was suffering a shortage of food, yet the sick in his care lacked nothing, and he would even cleanse their ulcers with his own lips. Many were healed, it says, when he anointed them with the oil of the lamp that burned before an image of the Mother of God, to whom he was most devoted, and made the sign of the Cross over them.

The last years

Back in Spain he lived another thirteen years, chiefly at the friaries of Salcedo and of Alcalá de Henares in Castile, in penance, solitude and contemplation.

How did St Didacus die?

In 1463 he fell ill at Alcalá. Knowing that his end had come, he asked for a worn and patched habit and a cord such as the friars wear, put the cord about his neck, took a cross in his hands, and begged pardon of all his brethren gathered round his bed. Then, his eyes fixed on the crucifix, he said with great tenderness the words of the Church's hymn of the Cross:

Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulce pondus sustinet.

Sweet the wood, and sweet the nails, sweet the weight it bears.

and he gave up his soul to God on 12 November 1463. The verse comes from the hymn Pange lingua gloriosi lauream certaminis, sung at the adoration of the Cross on Good Friday; on the meaning of that devotion, see our page on the crucifix.

The Breviary adds that his body was left unburied for several months, to satisfy the devotion of the crowds who came to see it, and that it gave off a most sweet fragrance, "as though it had already put on incorruption".

Miracles, canonization and the Spanish crown

Several miracles were attributed to him in his lifetime and many more after his death. The best known concerns the royal family. In 1562 Don Carlos, the heir of King Philip II, was studying at Alcalá when he suffered a serious fall and lay gravely ill; the friar's body was brought to his room, and his recovery was attributed to the saint. Out of gratitude, Butler says, Philip II asked Rome for the canonization of Didacus, and Pope Sixtus V, himself a Franciscan, canonized him in 1588.

The legend of the roses

A popular story tells that Brother Diego used to take bread from the friary to give to the poor, and that one day, stopped and asked what he carried in his habit, he opened it and found the loaves changed into roses. It is a legend, not part of the lessons of his feast or of Butler's life, and the same story is told of other saints, such as St Elizabeth of Portugal. It is the reason he is sometimes painted with roses in his habit. Its lesson is true even if the roses are not: his charity to the poor was such that later generations could only describe it with flowers.

St Didacus in art: the iconography

St Didacus is shown as a Franciscan friar in the brown habit with the knotted cord, without the marks of the priesthood. His most common attribute is a cross held in his hands, recalling his death; he is also shown with roses in a fold of his habit, after the legend above, or caring for the sick and feeding the poor.

The collect of St Didacus (Missal of 1962)

The collect of his Mass is built on a sentence of St Paul that sums up his whole life: "The weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong" (1 Corinthians i. 27, Douay).

Collect, 13 November

Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, qui dispositióne mirábili infírma mundi éligis, ut fórtia quæque confúndas: concéde propítius humilitáti nostræ; ut, piis beáti Dídaci Confessóris tui précibus, ad perénnem in cœlis glóriam sublimári mereámur. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, who by a wonderful disposition choosest the weak things of the world, that Thou mayest confound whatsoever is strong: mercifully grant to our lowliness that, by the loving prayers of blessed Didacus, Thy Confessor, we may be found worthy to be raised up to everlasting glory in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle of the Mass carries on the same thought: "We are fools for Christ's sake ... we are weak" (1 Corinthians iv. 9-14), and the Gospel is Our Lord's word to his little flock: "Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom" (Luke xii. 32). For how the proper prayers of a feast fit into the Mass, see our guide to the Roman Missal of 1962.

What is St Didacus the patron saint of?

The Church never issued a list of patronages for St Didacus. In practice:

• he is the great model of the Franciscan lay brothers, who honour him as one of their own;
• he is the namesake and heavenly patron of San Diego in California;
• as an infirmarian through whom many were healed, he has always been invoked by the sick and by those who nurse them.

Beyond that, lists found online vary and should be treated with caution.

Why is San Diego named after St Didacus?

In November 1602 the Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno, sailing north along the Pacific coast, entered the great bay that Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo had called San Miguel sixty years before. His flagship was the San Diego; the crew went ashore and Mass was celebrated on 12 November, the anniversary of the friar's death; and Vizcaíno renamed the bay San Diego after the saint and his ship. In 1769 the Franciscans founded there the Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first of the California missions, under Junípero Serra, and the city grew from the presidio and mission. Every time the name of that city is spoken, a humble lay brother of Alcalá is remembered, one of the Catholic saints whose names are written across the map of the Americas.

St Didacus feast day

St Didacus died on 12 November, which in the calendar of 1962 is the feast of Pope St Martin I; his own feast is kept on 13 November, as a feast of the third class, with the Mass Iustus ut palma from the Common of a Confessor not a Bishop and the proper collect above. Butler notes that in the United States the feast of St Frances Xavier Cabrini, the Italian-American foundress, was kept on that same date (see our novena to St Frances Xavier Cabrini). You can find both in our traditional Catholic calendar of 1962.

The reform of the calendar promulgated in 1969 did not keep St Didacus in the General Roman Calendar; he remains in the Roman Martyrology and is still kept by the Franciscans, in Spain and at San Diego.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is St Didacus?

St Didacus, or San Diego de Alcalá, was a Spanish Franciscan lay brother (died 1463), born in the diocese of Seville, missionary and guardian in the Canary Islands, infirmarian at Rome in the Jubilee of 1450, who died at Alcalá de Henares and was canonized by Sixtus V in 1588.

What is St Didacus the patron saint of?

No official list exists. He is the model of the Franciscan lay brothers, the patron of San Diego, California, and he is invoked by the sick and by nurses because of his work in the infirmary of Ara Coeli and the healings recorded there.

When is St Didacus's feast day?

On 13 November in the calendar of 1962, as a feast of the third class. He died on 12 November 1463, a day that the calendar gives to Pope St Martin I.

Is San Diego named after St Didacus?

Yes. In 1602 Sebastián Vizcaíno named the bay San Diego after his flagship and the saint, and the mission founded there in 1769 was dedicated to San Diego de Alcalá.

Was St Didacus a priest?

No. He was a lay brother all his life, which makes his appointment as guardian of the friary of Fuerteventura in 1445 all the more remarkable.

What were St Didacus's last words?

The Breviary records that he died repeating the verse of the hymn of the Cross, Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, "Sweet the wood, and sweet the nails", with his eyes fixed on the crucifix.

Why is St Didacus shown with roses?

Because of a popular legend in which the bread he carried to the poor turned into roses. It is a legend, told of several saints, and is not in the lessons of his feast.

The Iter Fidei app follows the calendar of 1962 day by day, with the Roman Missal and the Breviary in Latin and English, so that you can pray the Mass of St Didacus on his feast. Join early access here.

Sources. Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, 13 November (St Didacus, or Diego). Roman Breviary (edition before 1960), 13 November, lessons of the second nocturn (in the Breviary of 1962 this third-class feast has a single, contracted lesson). Roman Missal (1962), Proper of Saints, 13 November, and Common of a Confessor not a Bishop. Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims version, 1 Corinthians i. 27 and iv. 9-14; Luke xii. 32.