Saint Alphonsus Rodríguez

Alonso Rodríguez was born in Segovia, Spain, on July 25, 1532, the son of a wool merchant. He took over the family business, married and had children, but in a few years he lost his business, his wife and all his children. In his grief he turned to God in prayer and penance.

At about forty, without the studies needed for the priesthood, he was accepted by the Jesuits as a lay brother in 1571 and sent to the College of Montesión in Palma de Mallorca. There he served as doorkeeper for over forty years. Whenever someone knocked he would say, "I'm coming, Lord!", seeing Christ in each visitor. Beneath this humble life he lived a deep mystical prayer, and he counseled many, including the young Peter Claver, whom he encouraged to go to the Americas. He died on October 31, 1617, and Leo XIII canonized him in 1888, together with Peter Claver.

In Palma de Mallorca his tomb is venerated in the Church of Montesión, and Majorca honors him as one of its saints. The Jesuits keep his memorial on October 30.

The English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, also a Jesuit, wrote a famous sonnet in his honor.