MERCY TOURS
Your Catholic pilgrimage resource
A Spiritual and Cultural experience
Mercy Tours Inc. 6504 28th Street S.E. Suite Q Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546
Tel: 1-877-404-4240 616-942-4773 fax 616-808-3794
A Brief Biography of Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio
Sebastian of Aparicio had humble beginnings but, by middle age had become very wealthy. He was born in Spain into a peasant family in 1502. He was a good looking young man with a reserved personality that made him the object of female interest. He was deeply religious and changed employment several times before the age of 30 to avoid the temptations opened to him. He worked as a household servant and as a hired field hand.
At the age of 31, Sebastian left Spain for Mexico. He settled in the town of Puebla de los Angeles where he took employment as a field hand. However he noticed a business opportunity. Puebla was an important crossroad and he noted that the goods transported were carried on the backs of pack animals on the backs of the native people.
At first, Sebastian made and sold wheeled carts for the transport of goods. He then expanded into the improvement and building of roads and bridges to improve transport for goods and people. He was responsible for the building of a 460 mile road from Mexico City to Zacatecas which took 10 years to build and was of enormous benefit to the local economy.
By the age of 50, Sebastian was a wealthy man. He lived very simply and gave his earnings to others, he bought food for the poor, made loans that he never reclaimed to poor farmers too proud to accept charity, he paid the dowries for poor brides and gave free training to Indians in skills that would assist them in earning a living. In addition people brought him their problems and he had a reputation for his wisdom.
Sebastian became known as the 'Angel of Mexico'. He retired at the age of 50 to a hacienda to raise cattle. He married at age 60 at the request of his bride's parents, his bride was a poor girl and he agreed to the match on condition that the couple lived as brother and sister, which they did. His wife died and he married again on the same condition. When he was 70, Sebastian's second wife died and he himself contracted a serious illness.
Upon recovering he decided to give everything he had to the poor and became a lay Franciscan brother. Sebastian's job was to go out and beg for food for his brothers in religion and for the poor in their care. This formerly rich man loved his job and was loved by his fellow Franciscans, the townspeople and the poor that the brothers helped. He also loved and was loved by animals even the most stubborn mules and oxen would obey the Blessed, like Saint Francis.
Reports of miracles began long before the Blessed's death as did the veneration of the people he helped.
As death approached the, now very old, man insisted on being removed from his bed and placed on the ground to honor the Blessed Sacrament that had been brought to him (he was too ill to receive). Sebastian of Aparicio was beatified in 1787 and his feast is kept on February 25th each year. He is a Patron Saint of Travelers.
The incorrupt body of Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio is exposed for veneration in the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Puebla, Mexico.
He died at the age of 98 and is known as the 'Angel of Mexico'. The blessed was held in great esteem before his death and, when it came, his fellow friars went to his cell to sing the Creed as they did so, they reported that a beautiful light shone from the face of the body, they also reported a strong and beautiful aroma in the room. This aroma attached itself to religious objects that came into contact with the body. The blessed's remains were never buried but, at the request of the local people, exposed in a prominent place for veneration. Several hundred claims of miracles attributed to his intercession were made even before his death and such claims continue to this day.
