Sebastián de Aparicio (17th century)

Biography

He took advantage of that life of tranquility to dedicate himself for long periods of time to prayer. At the age of twenty he became a butler on a hacienda and some time later decided to embark for America. He arrived in Puebla, Mexico, and there he set out to achieve sainthood by helping the region progress. He began to build cargo cars, very rare in that region, and dedicated himself to transporting food and merchandise from one town to another. With the profits he made and the help of the communities, he built local roads that put many localities in communication with each other. It is said that Sebastian had enormous strength that was very useful for all these jobs. He helped the indigenous people a lot and taught them manual works that they were unaware of. He bought a farm and with what he produced he helped the neediest families. There Sebastián founded the first industrial school in Mexico. After a serious illness, she decided to enter religious life and sold all her properties, giving the money to the Poor Clare nuns who were very poor. He went as a lay brother to the Franciscan convent. The demon used to attack him at night with horrible visions to try to get him to leave the religious community. But the saint drove away the demons with prayer. During his last twenty years, Sebastián was in charge of begging for alms around the houses, taking care of the garden and doing the shopping and errands. He had a reputation that all the animals loved him. He died peacefully at the age of 95 and many inhabitants of Puebla attended his funeral. Twice his corpse was unearthed, and both times he appeared incorrupt and his face beautiful and cheerful as if he were alive. He was beatified in 1787.