Felipe de Jesús, Mexican Protomartyr

Biography

San Felipe de Jesús, Mexican Protomartyr (1572-1597) He was born in Mexico City in the year 1572. Son of honest Spanish immigrants, in his childhood he was characterized by his restless and mischievous nature. It is said that his nurse, a good Christian black woman, upon seeing Felipillo's daily antics, used to exclaim, with her gaze fixed on a dry fig tree that was in the garden: "The dry fig tree will grow green before Felipillo becomes a saint"... The boy did not have the makings of a saint... But one day he entered the novitiate of the Diegan Franciscans; But unable to resist his austerity, he escaped from the convent, returning to his father's house, where he worked as a silversmith for a few years, although with little earnings, so his father sent him to the Philippine Islands to try his fortune. He enjoyed the dazzling attractions of that city for some time, but soon felt distraught; The emptiness of God was felt very deeply, to the last fibers of his being and he heard the call of Christ again. He entered with the Franciscans of Manila and now he took his conversion very seriously... His superiors announced to him that his ordination, by special grace, would take place precisely in his hometown, in Mexico, so he embarked together with other Franciscans, but a great storm threw the ship to the shores of Japan, where he worked hard to convert many Japanese, achieving many conversions. One fine day, the Taiko Sama persecution broke out against the Franciscans and their catechists, who were arrested and later suspended by a ring on a cross and pierced by two spears. Philip had been fully and totally converted to Christ. It was February 5, 1597. Legend has it that that same day, the dry fig tree in his father's house suddenly grew green and bore fruit. In Mexico the nanny died of sorrow and joy upon knowing that her Felipillo was a martyr. Philip, together with his companions, was beatified on September 14, 1627 and was canonized on June 8, 1862. His mother, Antonia, had the privilege, rarely granted, of seeing her own son at the altars and prostrating before him at the Feast of his beatification, on February 5, 1639. She could not bear so many emotions and a few days later she died of love and the desire to be reunited with her firstborn This is Felipillo, mischievous even to be a saint, who won the heart of God and who wants to win the hearts of his fellow Mexicans again. He was declared patron of Mexico City and its Archbishopric.