VILLALON - San Diego de Alcalá and The Politics of Saint-Making in Counter-Reformation Europe

San Diego de Alcalá and the Politics of Saint-Making in Counter-Reformation Europe
Author(s): L. J. Andrew Villalon

Source: The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 83, No. 4 (Oct., 1997), pp. 691-715
Published by: Catholic University of America Press
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SAN DIEGO DE ALCAL?
AND THE POLITICSOF SAINT-MAKING
IN COUNTER-REFORMATIONEUROPE
BY
L. J.Andrew Villalon*
On July 2,1588, with the Spanish Armada poised to sail against Eng
land, Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) ushered Diego de Alcal? (also known
as Diego de San Nicolas del Puerto) into that exclusive company of men
and women regarded as saints by the Roman Catholic Church. In so
doing, Sixtus created the first saint of the Counter-Reformation period.1
Itwas no accident that sainthood came at the hands of this particular
pope or at the precise historical moment when Philip II of Spain was
preparing to launch his Enterprise of England. It was the politics of
saint-making2 which gave the Spanish king what he would reckon as
one of the great achievements of his reign; and which, incidentally, was
to supply the sixth largest city in the United States with its name.
After exploring briefly the poorly documented career of a none-too

remarkable fifteenth-century Franciscan friar, this article will examine
in detail the events of the following century which would lead the
Church to declare him a saint. For Diego de Alcal? was one of those
saints whose canonization resulted not so much from what he had
done in his lifetime, but instead from circumstances arising long after
his death?in his case almost exactly a century thereafter.
*Mr.Villalon is an associate
professor of history in the University of Cincinnati. Re
search on which article is based was partially financed
the present through a grant from
the University of Cincinnati
Research Council. An earlier version of the article was pre
sented in October, 1994, at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference in Toronto. Special
thanks are owed to Dr. Sander Goodman of the University of Cincinnati.
'The last canonization before Diego's had been that of Antoninus of Florence in 1523.
The great historian of the papacy, Ludwig von Pastor, is in error when he states, "In 1586
the Pope [Sixtus V] celebrated the canonization of the Dominican, Louis Bertrand, and in
1588, that of the Franciscan lay-brother, Diego de Alcal?." St. Louis Bertrand did not die
until 1581, and was not canonized until 1671. Pastor, The History of the Popes from the
Close of the Middle Ages, Vol. XXI: Sixtus V, ed. Ralph Francis Kerr (London, 1932), p. 138.
Donald Attwater, The Avenel Dictionary of Saints (New York, 1981), p. 220.
2The political nature of the process is explored in Kenneth L.Woodward's Making
Saints (New York, 1991).
691
692 SANDIEGO DE ALCAL?AND THE POLITICSOF SAINT-MAKING
The only near-contemporary source dealing with the life of San

Diego, the Latin form of whose name is Didacus, is a collection of short
depositions taken by the church authorities in Alcal? during the years
immediately following his death (1463-1467).3 Although more than
150 persons testified, primarily concerning miracles brought about by
the friar's intercession, only about a score of these witnesses had
known him personally, and fewer still could contribute any meaningful
information about his activities. This single source, of which the origi
nal seems to have disappeared in the fire that destroyed the Archivo
Central de Alcal? de Henares in 1939, exists in a sixteenth-century copy
preserved in the Escorial. It formed the basis of the vitae sanctorum
composed for the canonization proceedings.4 Working almost entirely
from these vitae, several later hagiographers have also produced ac
counts, principal among them a Spanish Franciscan named Antonio
Rojo, whose Historia de San Diego de Alcal? appeared in 1663, on the
bicentenary of the saint's death.5
The sources agree that the future saint was born in the small village
of San Nicolas del Puerto, near Seville, around the year 1400. At a young
age, he retreated to an isolated hermitage in the neighborhood, where
he practiced a life of evangelical poverty.6 Eventually, having decided to
join the Franciscan Order, Diego approached the friary of Arizafa, sev
eral kilometers from C?rdoba, where he applied for entry as a lay
brother. After completing his novitiate, he spent some years living
there, then moved to the larger Franciscan establishment in Seville,
known as the Convento del Casa-Grande.
Cat?logo de los Manuscritos Castellanos de la Real Biblioteca de el Escorial (3 vols. ;

San Lorenzo de el Escorial, 1929), 1,271, item and II. 14.
4Pietro Galesini, Sancti Didaci Complutensis canonizatio quam Sixtus V.Pont. opt.
max. .. . (Rome, 1588). Ambrosio de Morales, Vita B. Didaci ca.
Complutensis (written
1567) in volume three of Morales' collected works entitled Opuscula hist?rica quorum
exemplaria in R. D. Laurentii Bibliotheca vulgo del Escorial custodiuntur, edited by
Francisco Valerio Cifuentes (Madrid, 1793).
5FraAntonio Rojo, Historia de San Diego de Alcal?. Fundaci?n y Frutos de Santidad
que ha Produzido su Convento de Santa Maria de Ies?s (Madrid, 1663). The twentieth
century has seen at least one entry in this hagiographie tradition?a 99-page pamphlet by
Antonio Hernandez Perrales, entitled Breve compendio de la vida defray Diego de San
Nicolas del Puerto vulgarmente conocido por San Diego de Alcal? (Seville, 1964). Un
fortunately, this work is little more than a modernized condensation of Rojo.
6Based on his early seeking after a religious life, Donald Weinstein and Rudolph Bell
would categorize Diego as a "child saint," one of several categories which they establish in
their important work, Saints and Society (Chicago, 1982).
BY L.J.ANDREWVILLALON 693
Not until around 1440 did a break occur inwhat had until then been
the very ordinary pattern of Fra Diego's existence.7 He and another
Franciscan brother, Juan de Santorcaz, were dispatched to the Canary Is
lands, which had in recent decades come into the possession of Castile,
there to assume direction of the order's small monastery on the island
of Fuerteventura. Although some hagiographie accounts of the saint's
career extol his evangelizing efforts, other evidence indicates that the
conversion of Fuerteventura's native population had probably been
largely accomplished before his arrival.
Diego eventually decided to shift his attention to the as yet unsub

dued island of Grand Canary, where efforts at conversion might win
him a crown.8 However, upon arriving off the coast, his inten
martyr's
tions were thwarted by the sudden onset of a storm and the reluctance
of the ship's crew to leave him alone on such an unfriendly shore. Con
sequently, he returned to Fuerteventura, where he continued to serve as
guardian of the monastery until recalled to Spain around 14499
In 1450 the Castilian branch of the order named Fra Diego to assist its
principal representative, Alonso de Castro, at a general conclave in
Rome. The pair joined pilgrims from all over Europe flocking to the
Eternal City in that Holy Year. While a few were Franciscans scheduled
to attend the same meeting, the vast majority came to celebrate both a
Jubilee Year and the canonization of a recently deceased member of the
Franciscan Order, Bernardino of Siena. When, in the hot summer
months, Alonso de Castro contracted a disease which was raging
through the overcrowded city, Diego took over his care, later attending
other victims in the convent where he was staying. Only with the re
turn of cooler weather and Brother Alonso's recovery did the pair begin
their long journey homeward.10
Upon his return to Spain, Diego moved north from Seville, living for a
time in several different convents, until finally settling in the Franciscan
monastery of Santa Mar?a de Jes?s in Alcal? de Henares, recently
founded by one of Spain's most famous "warrior clerics," the archbishop
of Toledo, Alonso Carrillo. Here, the lay brother spent the closing years
7Sources differ as to the precise date of this episode in Diego's life. One tradition has
him returning to Spain as early as 1444; another places his recall in 1449.
8Rojo,op.ctf.,p.97.
'Several modern sources suggest that Diego's recall may have resulted from conflict
with the civil authorities over treatment of the native population. Bibliotheca sancto
rum, IV,606. Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de G?ographie Eccl?siastiques, XTV, 436.
10Later historians would dub 1450 the Jubilee of Six Saints, due to the fact that six of
those who attended, including four Franciscans, would eventually achieve sainthood.
694 SANDIEGO DE ALCAL? AND THE POLITICSOF SAINT-MAKING
of his life, in the city from which he takes his name and in which he
died on November 12,146311
According to the later hagiographie accounts, at the end, Diego dis

played many of the typical signs associated with sanctity. He maintained
an unshakable patience in the midst of adversity. He endured without
complaint the painful infection of his left arm, which ultimately caused
his death. When the wound was drained, the suppurations are said to
have emitted a pleasing smell (buen olor), "against all nature."12 Diego
begged the community to provide him only the humblest of burials. He
died clutching a small wooden cross and praying in Latin?"something
worth noting since he had never before in his life been heard to utter a
word in that language."13
death, the body was said to have defied decomposition.

After Mar
velous lights were seen in the chapel where it rested overnight. As the
population of Alcal? filed past the coffin, some kissed the corpse or its
habit, others actually tried to cut off pieces of the habit or pluck hairs
from the head.
Although the body was at first buried in the Franciscan cemetery, it

was almost immediately disinterred by order of the monastery's
guardian, who placed it in a wooden coffin and then had it displayed
over a period of several months to visiting luminaries, including Arch
bishop Carrillo and King Henry IV (1454-1474). Itwas apparently the
a
king who ordered that chapel be built to house Diego's remains. Mira
cle stories soon began to circulate.
These are the basic facts of a career not unlike that of many late me
dieval members of the mendicant orders. While its most noteworthy
feature?the friar's involvement in overseas evangelizing?served as
precursor to the coming age of European expansion, such service was

not without itsmedieval precedents. During the later Middle Ages, Fran
ciscans worked inmany non-European settings including the Crusader
Kingdoms of the Near East, the empire of the Great Khan, and, most re
cently, in the lands discovered by the Portuguese during their voyages
down the west coast of Africa. Many of these assignments involved far
greater hazards than those encountered by Brother Diego in the Canary
Islands; and some of the friars undertaking them won the crown of mar
tyrdom which had eluded him.
11
At the time of canonization, the church declared November 12 to be the saint's feast
day.
nRo)0,op.cit.,p. 128.
riIbid.,pA3l.
What ismore, storiesgreat humility, heroic suffering, exem

involving
plary death, non-decomposition of the corpse, and supernatural prodi
gies (in particular, the performance of miracles) not infrequently grew
up around holy men throughout Christendom.
By the fifteenth century, Diego's veneration as a "local saint" in the re

gion around Alcal? would have placed him among those whom the
Church officially recognized as beati (blessed).14 The closing centuries
of the Middle Ages had witnessed two opposing trends. On the one
hand, the papacy had increasingly monopolized canonization. At the
same time, there was a notable proliferation in the number of local
saints, whose only authentication derived from popular piety. To recon
cile these trends, later medieval popes erected a distinction between
sancti?those few who had come through the official, papal-dominated
process?and beati?the many who had not. In order to move up from
the latter category to the former required the kind of powerful patron
age which few local saints could muster.
Such was the case with until, ninety-nine years after his death,
Diego
fortuitous circumstances brought his remains into contact with the
gravely injured Prince of Spain, Don Carlos.
II
The "real"Don Carlos, as distinct from the mythic figure one encoun
ters in Schiller and Verdi,15 was born in 1545, the eldest son of Philip II
and his first wife, Maria of Portugal. Early in life, the prince, who was
plagued by poor health, began to show signs of mental instability As the
years passed, his actions became increasingly violent and bizarre, finally
forcing his royal father to take drastic action.16 In January, 1568, King
Philip and several trusted officials burst into the young man's chambers
14Diego may also have won a following around Seville, in the region of his birth.
15Ina monograph tracing the literary impact of the Carlos myth, Frederick Lieder lists
105 different versions of the myth. See: Lieder, The Don Carlos Theme ("Harvard Studies
and Notes in Philology and Literature," Vol. 12 [Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1930]).
16FourVenetian ambassadors have left reports detailing the prince's odd behavior dur
ing the decade before his arrest?Federigo Badoaro (1557), Antonio Tiepolo (1563 and
1567), Giovanni Soranzo (1565), and Sigismundo Cavalli (1568). Le Relazioni degli Am
basciatori Veneti al Senuto, ed. Eugenio Alb?ri (Firenze, 1861), Series I,Vol. 5, pp. 74-75.
L. P. Gachard, Carlos Vy Felipe II a trav?s de sus contempor?neos (Madrid, 1944), pp.
52-54,109-111,144-145. James C. Davis (ed.), The Pursuit of Power (New York, 1970),
pp. 87-95. Luis Cabrera de C?rdoba, Felipe Segundo, Rey de Espa?a (2 vols.; Madrid,
1876).
696 SANDIEGO DE ALCAL?AND THE POUTICS OF SAINT-MAKING
and placed him under house arrest. Six months later, at the age of
twenty-three, Carlos died under what many regarded as "mysterious cir
cumstances."17
the end of the sixteenth century, a formidable myth began to

Before
emerge, converting this sickly and unstable Hapsburg princeling into
the Don Carlos of legend, whose tragic love for his stepmother, Eliza
beth of Valois, and opposition to Spain's bloody policies in the Low
Countries led to his death at the hands of his own father.18
While the imprisonment and death of Don Carlos overshadow the

rest of his life, the young prince did appear briefly on the historical
stage on a few other occasions, as a result of his eccentric be
usually
havior or his unsuccessful forays into the royal marriage market. The
most important of these appearances began on April 19, 1562, when
Carlos, during a visit to Alcal?, tumbled down a staircase and struck his
head against a closed door. Despite a rise in temperature and some
swelling of the glands in the neck, doctors did not at first consider the
injury serious. Then, on the morning of April 28, matters took a decided
turn for the worse as the wound began to fester. The infection spread
rapidly, engulfing the patient's face, gluing both eyes shut, and then
moving downward across his neck and upper torso. On May 5,with the
infection still spreading, Carlos lapsed into a delirium, which would
continue on and off for five days and nights.
A team of physicians, which eventually reached ten in number and in

cluded the great anatomist, Andreas Vesalius, did what it could. The doc
tors washed, cupped, and bled their royal patient. They gave him
potions and anointed the wound with various ointments. They pared
17Some contemporaries hinted at the possibility of poison, among them the English am
bassador, Dr. John Man. Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series [CSP/Foreign], (Eliza
beth, 1566-1568) (London, 1871),V, 513
1KWhen rumors began to circulate almost immediately after the arrest, Spanish ambas
sadors at Vienna and London informed Madrid that the Protestant camp was having a field
day, spreading the word that Carlos had been imprisoned for his Protestant sympathies?
a totally unfounded claim which later became part of the myth. Despite these warnings,
the king, adopting the view that this was a personal matter, became stubbornly uncom
municative. Even his Austrian cousins, who had hoped to arrange a marriage with the
Spanish prince, complained that they were not being told enough. Although interest in
the affair waned after the prince's death, it resurfaced in 1580 when William the Silent, in
his famous Apology, accused Philip II of infanticide. L. P.Gachard, Don et Philippe
Carlos
II (2 vols.; Brussels, 1863), II, 572-576. Colecci?n de Documentos In?ditos
para la Histo
ria de Espa?a [CDIHE] (112 vols.; Madrid, 1842-1895), XXVII, 10. Calendar of Letters
and State Papers relating to English Affairs preserved principally in the Archives of
Simancas [CSP/Spanish] (Elizabeth, 1568) (London, 1892), II, 6-8,21.
away damaged tissue and even began to drill through the skull (though
fortunately for the prince, they did not complete this procedure). All
their efforts were unavailing. In the absence of the three things which
might really have helped their patient?sterile surgical instruments,
sterile dressings, and massive doses of antibiotics?most of what the
doctors did was at best, useless, and at worst, harmful.19
Meanwhile, the concerned people of Spain had ideas of their own

about how to restore their presumed future ruler to health. Philip Ils
subjects prayed and fasted in hopes of encouraging divine mercy. They
removed relics from the churches and paraded them through the
streets. Flagellants often accompanied these solemn processions, whip
ping themselves until their blood flowed. Major shrines and monaster
ies throughout Spain heeded royal requests that they pray for the
stricken prince.20
Citizens to the appeal for divine mercy. In

of Alcal? added their voices
the weeks following the accident, both the town and the university or
ganized religious processions on Carlos's behalf. Then, on the afternoon
of May 9, they made their supreme effort. Either the patient himself or
one of those charged with his care had asked for the remains of Alcal?'s
"local saint" to be brought to the sickroom. This request was delivered
and the transfer accomplished with all the formality common in
sixteenth-century Spain.21 A member of the royal council, armed with
what amounted to an order of "habeas corpus" from the king, arrived at
the monastery for a meeting with various local officials, including the
19Fora detailed account of the accident, the medical treatment which ensued, and the
implications for the Don Carlos myth, see my article,"Putting Don Carlos Together Again:
Treatment of a Head Injury in Mid-Sixteenth Century Spain," Sixteenth Century Journal,
XXVI (Summer, 1995), 347-365. A valuable summary of medical practices in Spain during
this period and the royal attempt to exercise greater control over the medical profession
can be found in: David Goodman, Power and Penury (New York, 1988), pp. 209-260.
20Jean Ebrard, Seigneur of Saint-Sulpice, replaced the Bishop of Limoges as French am
bassador in time to witness and report back to his government the remarkable concern
displayed by the Spanish people. Ambassade en Espagne de Jean Ebrard, Seigneur de
Saint-Sulpice de 1562 ? 1565 et Mission de ce Diplomate dans leM?me Pays en 1566
(Albi,1903),p.29.
2lIn accordance with instructions laid down by the officials who effected the transfer,
a complete record of the event was made by the three notaries present: (1) Sant Juan de
Sardeneta, a scribe in the prince's household; (2) Baltasar Pardo, the apostolic notary at
the university; and (3) Juan de Antequera, a notary in the service of the archdiocese. The
resulting document is reproduced in Fr. Lucio Mar?a Nu?ez, "Documentos sobre la cu

raci?n del pr?ncipe D. Carlos y la canonizaci?n de San Diego de Alcal?," Archivo Ibero
Americano, I (1914), 424-446; II (1915), 374-387; V (1918), 107-126,421-430.
rector of the university, a representative of the vicar general of the Fran

ciscan order, and the local vicar.
In the presence of illustrious witnesses and of three scribes charged

with keeping a detailed account of the proceedings, they unlocked the
stout outer casket of heavy wooden planks covered in iron and then
opened the small inner coffin inwhich Diego lay.
Members of the order transferred Diego's remains to a bier decorated
for the occasion with silk hangings. Taking up their burden, the friars
marched out of the church and, with the dignitaries who had been pres
ent at the exhumation, took their place at the head of a procession. As
they marched solemnly up the main street, they were joined by reli
gious contingents from the city's other churches, citizens from all levels
of society, and much of the student body of the university. Upon arriv
ing at the palace, the bier, accompanied by leading members of its es
cort, entered the sickroom.
In the presence of their monarch, who was kneeling in prayer, the fri
ars lowered their burden next to the prince's bed, and folded back the
Franciscan robe which was covering Diego to expose part of his face to
view. Although only semi-conscious and blinded by infection, Carlos re
portedly asked for his eyes to be forced open, so that he might see the
blessed remains. The chief steward, hoping to spare the young man the
further agony which forcing open his eyes would entail, refused to
allow it. Nevertheless, at the request, the corpse was trans
prince's
ferred to his bed, and Carlos who, despite his weakened state, had ral
lied enough to pray, reached over to touch it, after which he drew his
hands across his diseased face.22
Afterwards, the corpse was returned to the bier and began its journey
back to its resting place. As the procession wound itsway through Al
22Dionisio Daza and Diego

Chac?n Santiago Olivares, the two royal physicians who
have left detailed accounts
of the injury and its treatment, insist that Carlos had little or no
idea of what was happening around him. By contrast, others who were present in the
sickroom, including a third physician, Crist?bal de Vega, remembered matters differently
Dr. de Vega told of the patient having touched the corpse. He also informed the commis
sion that Fra Diego's remains had been brought to the sickroom at the personal request of
Don Carlos. Another witness, Alonso de Mendoza, a master of arts and doctor of theology
at the University of Alcal?, told of the prince's request to have his eyes opened. Mendoza
went on to say that the prince
tenjendo puestas sus manos sobre el cuerpo y rostro del dicho fray Diego, levant?
las manos y se las puso en su mesmo rostro del dicho Pr?ncipe, y ojos, y boca; y esto
hizo dos veces, rezando en este tiempo algunas devociones.
cala, it entered each church along the route where prayers were recited
and services conducted. At journey's end, Diego was replaced in his cof
fin which was fitted with five locks, the keys to which were entrusted
to five different men.
Late that night (May 9) came the crisis. Despite the medical team's
around-the-clock ministrations, the visit of Diego's remains, and the un
ceasing prayers of the Spanish people, Carlos appeared to be at death's

door. Around midnight, the usually phlegmatic monarch, Philip II,who
had watched his son's deteriorating condition with growing despair,
gathered a few of his closest advisors and rode out into the stormy
night. Rather than wait for the young man to die by inches, the king
headed for a Jeronymite monastery near Madrid, there to pray and await
the inevitable.23
The doctors, who had no choice but to stay and treat their patient,
held out little hope that he would survive the night. They had also to
fear for their own safety, since a public outcry had arisen over their
treatment of the prince, fueled by a number of physicians who, despite
an absence from the scene, had not hesitated to criticize their col
leagues.24
Just as things seemed darkest came the first real break in the case. De
spite predictions that death was imminent, Carlos managed to rally and
survive the night of May 9, during which he enjoyed the first hours of
peaceful sleep he had had in quite some time. By morning, his pulse
seemed stronger, and his delirium had lessened.
Thereafter, the prince steadily improved. When Philip rode back to

Alcal? on May 13, he found Carlos fully conscious and in his right mind.
The story told by Mendoza and de Vega agrees with the princes own account, con
tained in the will which he drew up two years later. Dionisio Daza Chac?n, "Relaci?n Ver
dadera de la herida de cabeza del Seren?simo Pr?ncipe nuestro Se?or, de gloriosa
memoria, la cual se acab? en fin de julio del a?o de 1562" (hereafter abbreviated
"Chac?n") in CDIHE, XVIII, 549. Diego Santiago Olivares, "Relaci?n de la enfermedad del
Pr?ncipe D. Carlos en Alcal? por el Doctor Olivares medico de su c?mara" (hereafter ab
breviated "Olivares") in CDIHE, XV, 562. Nu?ez, op. cit., 1,431 -434."The Last Will and Tes
tament of Don Carlos (1564)," in CDIHE,XXSV, 523.
23In the wordsof the surgeon Chac?n, the king departed "with a pain that we could all
understand." Chacon, pp. 549-550. See also Olivares, p. 562.
24According to the doctors, the medical team realized full well "the danger in which
they all stood as a result of the rabble's indignation." Chac?n, pp. 550, 560. See also Oli
vares, p. 572. Several ambassadors, including the French bishop of Limoges and Thomas
Chaloner of England, reflected this public mood in their dispatches. In a letter of May 10,
the Bishop of Limoges recorded his belief that the doctors had erred. Chaloner was even
700 SANDIEGO DE ALCAL? AND THE POUTICS OF SAINT-MAKING
As the days passed, the young man regained his appetite, and his tem
perature approached normal. On the sixteenth, the doctors felt confi
dent enough to begin draining the abscesses which had closed their
patient's eyes; and by the twenty-first, they were able to pronounce the
right eye fully healed and the left well on itsway to recovery. On May
19, the fever had disappeared for good. On June 14, Carlos left his bed
for the first time, and, three days later, he walked through the palace to
the king's quarters.
Late in June, he ventured outside, and on the twenty-ninth, attended a

special Mass held in Fra Diego's chapel. Afterwards, the prince asked to
view his benefactor's body Since the five key holders were present, the
keys were quickly produced and the coffin again opened. Once more,
the Franciscan robe was folded back to show Carlos parts of the
corpse, including those exposed during the visit to the sickroom. The
coffin was then closed and sealed.25
The prince continued to improve rapidly. He began taking afternoon

walks in the fields around the city. On July 5, he again attended Mass,
after which he strolled into the main plaza to watch the bullfights and
young men jousting with canes. Finally, on with
July 17, the wound com
pletely healed over, he left Alcal? and proceeded by easy stages to
Madrid.
Even before Carlos had fully recovered, the debate began over who
deserved the credit. While a few contemporaries looked to the doctors,
most appear to have joined the English ambassador, Thomas Chaloner,
more graphic. In a report to the queen, he referred to members of the medical team as
"bunglers" who "not searching the hurt deeply had promised all good hope to the King,
and made untimely haste to the healing up of the incision, whereby the bone putrefied."
Although the king had brought Vesalius from Madrid, his "better learning the Spanish
medicins make not accountof." Another of Chaloner's communiqu?s assured the English
"
secretary, William that "there is great fault...
Cecil, in the negligent cure by his surgeons
Chac?n, pp. 550, 560. Gachard, Don Carlos et Philippe II, Vol. II, Appendix, p. 634.
Chaloner to the Queen (May 11, 1562), CSP-Foreign/Elizabeth (1562), pp. 26-30.
Chaloner to Cecil (May 12,1562), CSP-Foreign/Elizabeth (1562), p. 32.
"Acting on instruction from several churchmen involved in the event, including
Alonso Ferrete, the commissary general of the Franciscan Order in Spain, a notary named
Baltasar Pardo made a record of these proceedings which was reproduced in Nu?ez, op.
cit., 1,456-444.
in dismissing their efforts as ineffectual. Spaniards, including both the

patient and his royal father, believed that they saw the hand of Provi
dence at work.26 Since the king had implored all major shrines to pray
for his son, and communities throughout the country had paraded their
local saints, many now claimed at least partial credit for influencing the
divine intervention.
Nevertheless, attention soon focused on the remains of Fra Diego.

When first hearing of their visit to the sickroom, Ambassador Chaloner
had astutely predicted that "ifGod sende the prince to escape, that fryer
is not unlike to be canonized for his laboure."27
Upon regaining his senses, Carlos greatly increased the likelihood of

such an outcome by reporting an apparition which he had seen while
still very near death.28 According to the prince, on the night of May 9, a
figure, dressed in Franciscan habit and carrying a small wooden cross,
had entered the sickroom. The prince remembered asking the visitor if
he were Saint Francis and, if so, why he had appeared without his stig
mata. Although Carlos could not remember any specific reply to his
questions, the shrouded figure had assured him that he would recover.
Later, having concluded that Diego rather than St. Francis had visited
him in the night, both the prince and his father vowed to work for the
friar's canonization.29
The of Carlos's doctors sheds important light on the con

reaction
temporary debate over his recovery and whether it should be ascribed
to medical skill or divine intervention. C. D. O'Malley, author of several
modern works which touch on the prince's injury,30 states that the mir
acle theory was opposed by the physicians, "who understandably felt
that their contribution to the prince's recovery was being over
26Inmid-June, the French ambassador expressed the general view when reporting that
Don Carlos "est venu ? telle extr?mit? que l'on l'a tenu pour mort, sans poux ny parolle,
mais depuis, quasi comme par miracle, il est revenu en bonne sant? et convalescence."
Ambassade de Jean Ebrard, p. 29
27Gachard, Don Carlos et Philippe II, II, 640.
28For an account of apparitions seen by other Spaniards at about this time, see William
A. Christian, Jr., Apparitions in Late Medieval and Renaissance Spain (Princeton, New
Jersey, 1981.)
29Chac?n, pp. 558-559.
30C.D.O'Malley,AndreasVesaliusof Brussels 1514-1564(Berkeley, 1964);Don Carlos
of Spain:A Medical Portrait (Los Angeles, 1969).
702 SANDIEGO DE ALCAL? AND THE POLITICSOF SAINT-MAKING
looked."31 In fact, the situation was not so simple: the medical team split
dramatically on the question of whether the cure had resulted from
their efforts or from divine intervention.
Among eighty-three witnesses who opted for amiraculous cure were

Crist?bal de Vega and Hern?n L?pez 'el Portugu?s,' both physicians
who had treated Don Carlos. De Vega went so far as to impugn the mo
tives of several of his colleagues who had argued the case for medicine,
by telling an ecclesiastical commission investigating the event, "these
physicians were saying this in order to make their role in the cure seem
greater than it was."32
Whether or not
de Vega numbered Dionisio Daza Chac?n, the
prince's personal surgeon, among these erring physicians cannot be
known, for Chac?n, who wrote the principal account of the injury,
"played it safe."On the one hand, he praised the physicians for their tire
less efforts and courage in the face of popular hostility; on the other
hand, he acknowledged that God's mercy had ultimately made recovery
possible, and he extolled any supernatural beings (including Fra Diego)
who may have interceded on the prince's behalf. At the same time, he
carefully avoided saying anything which might draw him into a debate
between the relative role of medicine and the miraculous in effecting a
cure.33
By contrast, the prince's personal physician, Diego Santiago Olivares,

stated unequivocally that the cure of Don Carlos was due primarily to
medical skill rather than divine intervention. His account of the injury
raises a defense of medicine by one who had labored hard to effect a
cure, only to see his efforts severely criticized and then virtually dis
missed. In Olivares, we detect an intimation of the future?of a world
governed by science rather than religion, inwhich medicine and the pa
tient's own powers would count for more than interven
recuperative
tion by the deity.
Olivares did not go so far as to dismiss entirely the workings of Prov

idence and was even willing to concede (albeit somewhat patroniz
ingly) that Brother Diego may have played a role.
31This statement,
which appears in Vesalius (p. 300), as well as a similar one in Don
Carlos of Spain (p. 11), were made despite O'Malley's familiarity with the article by Fra
Lucio Nunez which reproduced the "pro-miracle" testimony of both Dr. de Vega and Dr.
Portugu?s. Nu?ez, op. cit., 1,433-434.
i2Ibid.
?Chac?n, pp. 558-562.
I do believe ... that God showed favor to the prince and came to
special
his aid, due to the intercession of. . . the and to the
principally Holy Virgin,
. .. and
public prayers, processions fasting offered up all over Spain and in
One can also piously believe in the intercession ... of
many foreign places.
the blessed Brother to whom his Highness . . .has such devo
Diego, paid
tion.34
Nevertheless, he disputed the claim that a long-dead friar or anyone

else had wrought amiracle. In his opinion, the medical effort had saved
Prince Carlos, and he bridled at any attempt to dismiss or belittle that ef
fort.
The cure was of natural origins. As a result of the remedies which were ad
ministered, the prince recovered; and only those [cures] are

properly
called miracles which are the power of all natural remedies. . ..
beyond
cured to the remedies of physicians are not said to
People by resorting
have been cured by a miracle since the improvement in their health can be
traced to those remedies. . . .35
In retrospect, we can see that Olivares vastly overstated the case for
sixteenth-century medicine. The prince appears to have survived in
spite of, rather than because of, the medical procedures practiced upon
him. Ironically, his fervent belief in Fra Diego may indeed have played a
greater role in his survival than the best efforts of his physicians.
What ismore, those like Olivares who were inclined tomake the case
for medicine soon fell silent. Itwould have taken no little courage to go
on denying the miraculous nature of the cure once it became clear that
both the royal family and the Spanish people firmly believed that amir
acle had taken place and the Church was ready to endorse their belief.
As a royal physician, Olivares depended upon the crown for his liveli
hood. If pressed too vociferously, his denial of the miraculous, which
ran counter to his employers' desire for canonization, might well cost
him his position. For most men, probably including Olivares, such a
threat to their career would have been enough to secure their silence.
As if this were not enough, lurking in the background was a danger

far greater than mere loss of employment. By 1562, Europe was caught
in the throes of the Counter-Reformation. In Spain, more than anywhere
else, the forces of a resurgent Catholicism were gearing up to fight the
Protestant menace. When efforts to purge the homefront of Protestant
34Olivares,p.570.
35OHvares, pp. 570-571.
704 SANDIEGO DE ALCAL? AND THE POUTICS OF SAINT-MAKING
sympathies could bring down even an archbishop of Toledo and former

confessor of Charles V, no one was safe.36
Throughout the Reformation, the cult of saints was a hotly debated

issue. Catholics strongly reaffirmed their traditional belief in the effi
cacy of saintly intercession, while Protestants just as strongly denied it.
In this highly charged atmosphere, the doctors denial that Brother
Diego had worked a miracle might have laid him open to the very real
danger of being considered a Protestant sympathizer.
Olivares apparently recognized this. In the immediate aftermath of
the prince's recovery, he had written to Cardinal Granvelle and perhaps
to others, stating his belief that the cure was natural rather than mirac
ulous; thereafter, as the movement to canonize Diego de Alcal? picked
up momentum, the doctor fell silent. It may be that Olivares had too
much integrity to soft-pedal his objections to the miracle theory, but too
little courage to press home the claims of medicine. He had before him
a chilling example of what could happen in the prevailing atmosphere
of intolerance to a physician who meddled too deeply in religious af
fairs. In 1564, Miguel Servetus, the most important Spanish-born doctor
of the period, had fled from his home in southern France to escape the
Papal Inquisition only to be burned at the stake in Protestant Geneva!
IV
The campaign to have Diego de Alcal? officially recognized as a saint

began even before the prince had completely recovered. Late in May,
1562, Alcal? and the neighboring villages wrote to Rome on the friar's
behalf. Before the summer was out, other voices swelled the chorus, in
cluding the leader of the Franciscan order in Castile and the rector of
the University of Alcal?. Many Spanish grandees who had been present
in Alcal? as the drama unfolded added their letters.
On February 28, 1563, the crown formally entered the campaign

when both Philip and Carlos petitioned Rome on Fra Diego's behalf.37
The king clearly stated his belief that his son's survival had been "an ob
vious miracle."
^Archbishop Bartolom? de Carranza, who had delivered the last rites to Emperor
Charles V, endured a seventeen-year heresy trial before the Spanish Inquisition (1559
1576) from which he emerged a broken man.
37Philip's correspondence with Rome is preserved in the Archivo General de Simancas

(Secci?n de Estado) [hereafter AGS, Estado]. The letters which he and Carlos sent to
Rome in 1563 can be found in AGS, Estado, legajo 901, fols. 10 and 11.
With the prince in the final stages [of the disease], beyond any sort of
human remedy, our Lord saw fit to preserve him, due as we piously believe
to the merits and intercession by that saint. And in order to recognize this
and to give God the thanks which we owe him for so singular a favor, we
wish and desire that Your Holiness canonize the sainted Brother Diego for
His greater glory.38
Philip went on to raise other arguments in favor of canonization:
The life which he led while in this world and the many . . mira
.
[Diego]
cles that he performed and has continued to perform after his death sup
ply proof of his sanctity and how he is treasured by God. Moreover, it
would redound to your [referring to Pius TV] service and glory and to the
confusion of the many heretics living in these times.39
Throughout his long fight to win sainthood for Diego de Alcal?, the
king would continue to stress the inspirational value of a canonization
in the on-going struggle against Protestantism, thereby linking his per
sonal desires to the greater good of the embattled Catholic faith.
On May 1,1564, nearly two years after the injury, the reigning pope,
Pius IV (1559-1565), responded to the deluge of correspondence from
Spain by establishing a commission of five cardinals?Alessandrino
(Ghislieri), Araceli, Morone, Saraceno, and Vitellio?to examine the evi
dence and then draft a summary of Diego's career. Since the evidence
would to be gathered in Spain, the cardinals delegated
have the actual
investigation to three local prelates?Diego de Covarrubias, Bishop of
Segovia, Pedro de la Gasea, Bishop of Sig?enza, and Bernardo de Fres
nada, Bishop of Cuenca.
The bishops accepted their charge in December, 1564, then moved

with surprising celerity?the only example of such expedition through
out the entire process. In January, 1565, they journeyed to Alcal?, where
they concluded their preliminary investigation before the end of the
month and immediately forwarded the results to Rome.
Meanwhile, in May, 1564, Prince Carlos had taken what would turn
out to be a farsighted precaution when he inserted into his will a
clause, imploring his father never to abandon the canonization effort,
even if he himself were to die before it could be accomplished.
iSIbid.
i9Ibid.
Being in the grip of this sickness, despaired of by the doctors and left for
dead by my lord father, and with the instructions for my interment having
been given, the body of the sainted Brother Diego was brought to me. And
when ... I touched it, I felt the which our Lord God saw fit
improvement
to bestow upon me. Since then, having had good reason to believe that I
owe [my life] to [Brother
Diego's] merits and his beneficent intervention
with our Divine Majesty, I have had the intention of doing everything in my
to procure his canonization. . . .And I beg my lord, the king, that as
power
a particular favor to me, he will procure this end which he too desires.40
Despite the ultimate estrangement between father and his son, Philip
honored this last request, for he was as firmly convinced as Carlos con
cerning Fra Diego's sanctity. Diplomatic correspondence preserved in
the Archives at Simancas bears witness that in the two decades follow
ing the young man's death (1568), the king continued to pressure and
cajole three successive popes?Pius V (1566-1572), Gregory XIII
(1572-1585), and Sixtus V (1585-1590).
The death of Pius IV at the end of 1565 brought to the papal throne
a Dominican friar,Mich?le Ghislieri, who, upon his elevation in January,
1566, took the name Pius V The election of this zealous inquisitor and
future saint absorbed (as papal elections always did) the attention of
the cardinals, side-tracking for a time the canonization process. There
followed a period of some months when matters progressed hopefully
Philip II,who had strongly supported Pius V's candidacy, had his am
bassador in Rome, Luis de Requesens, vigorously press the cause of
Diego de Alcal?.41 In response, the new pope, who as Cardinal Alessan
drino (so called from his native place, Alessandria) had been a member
of the investigating commission, now named as his replacement the
Cardinal of San Clemente; after which the commission began to con
sider seriously the materials it had received from Spain.
After drawing up a summary for the pope, the cardinals initiated a

second stage in the proceedings when, late in October, 1566, they in
structed the three Spanish bishops to go to Alcal? and administer a
carefully prepared interrogatory to all those who believed they had wit
nessed amiracle at the time of the prince's injury.
Meanwhile, Philip named as his personal representative to these pro

ceedingsAmbrosio de Morales, a priest from C?rdoba who had become
40CDIHE,XXW, 523-524.
41AGS,Estado 901 (January and February, 1566).
BY L.J.ANDREWVTLLALON 707
something of a royal "troubleshooter" in religious matters.42 The king

also charged Morales with composing in Latin the spiritual biography of
Diego de Alcal? (referred to as the leyenda) which would be required
in the canonization process.43
In February, 1567, Morales, the three bishops, and Dr. Pedro Martinez,
aprocurador fiscal named by the Holy See, returned to Alcal?, where
they took testimony from eighty-three witnesses.44 Typical was that sup
plied by Alonso de Mendoza, amember of one of Spain's most powerful
noble houses, who was rapidly rising through the ecclesiastical hierar
chy Mendoza described in detail the grave state of the prince's health
on May 9, the scene he witnessed in the sickroom, and the spectacular
recovery which followed the visit of Diego's remains. He did not hesi
tate to say that
he believed and held it as certain that the improvement in the prince's

health was the work of Our Lord, inspired by the merits of the said holy
Brother Diego and that it was publicly held to be so throughout the
realm. . . ,45
All eighty-three of those interviewed, including the two physicians who

had treated Carlos, apparently testified that the cure was indeed mirac
ulous and that the miracle was due to the intercession of Diego de Al
cal?.
The diplomatic correspondence which passed between Philip and

his ambassador in Rome during the mid-1560's was guardedly opti
mistic. Although questions were raised concerning how much the can
onization would cost and how many months itmight require, neither
^Correspondence appointing Morales as royal representative in the proceedings and
commissioning him to write a life of Diego de Alcal? appears inVolume 3 of the collected
works (pp. 190-205). It is followed by his Vita B. Didaci Complutensis (pp. 206-211)
and a second piece entitled Officium recitandum infesto B. Didaci Complutensis alias
del S.Nicolao confessoris nonpontificis (pp. 212-232).
"
4iIbid., Ill, 190-232. The official name for such a history, the leyenda or "legend does
not, in this context, signify a myth.
44C?rdoba, op. cit., 1,348-349. According to Fra Nunez, who printed various selections
from the proceso in his article on the canonization of Diego de Alcal?, a copy still existed
?
in 1915 in the Archivo Central de Alcal? de Henares (Leg. 20: 471.) Nu?ez, op. cit., I,
426-427. Unfortunately, those archives fell victim to fire in 1939. A preliminary search in
the Archivio Segreto Vaticano has failed to turn up the copy of the proceso which had
been forwarded to Rome. A copy, however, does survive in the Biblioteca Real Monasterio
de San Lorenzo de el Escorial, Cat?logo de los Manuscritos Castellanos, 1,271, item and
II. 15.
?Nunez, op. cit., 1,433.
the king nor Requesens expressed any fear that itmight encounter a se
rious obstacle. In March, 1567, Don Luis informed Philip that the pow
ers he had been given were indeed adequate to carry through the
canonization process. He strongly approved the king's decision to have
Ambrosio de Morales write up the official account of Diego's life. He
also approved the king's suggestion that a Latin translation of the inves
tigation be composed in Spain, but reminded the king that care should
be taken to have any such translation, as well as the Castilian original,
signed by the three bishops. What is more, Requesens asked that
arrangements be made as soon as possible for paying the canonization
expenses.46
The proceso accompanied by Morales' leyenda arrived in Rome in

August, 1567, at which time notice was given to the pope and the doc
uments were turned over to the commission of cardinals. Apparently,
Philip had changed his mind about having a Latin translation made, for
the cardinals immediately handed over the documents to "un doctor es
pa?ol" who was given the task. The ambassador informed Spain that,
given the length of the document and the fact that only one person was
working on its translation, no further progress could be expected be
fore late autumn. Requesens promised that he would try to hurry mat
ters along, but cautioned Philip that they would be fortunate if the rest
of the canonization process could be completed in as little as six
months. He sent the king information concerning what he thought (in
correctly) had been the most recent canonization undertaken by
Rome47 and warned his majesty that the costs this time were going to be
a good deal higher.48
The ambassador's estimate of six months turned out to be an ex

treme case of wishful thinking. Late in the 1560's, the canonization
process apparently lost papal support and ground to a halt, not to move
forward again for nearly twenty years. In March, 1569, Philip wrote to
his new ambassador in Rome, Juan de Zu?iga, indicating his great dis
appointment at the recent turn of events:
What you have told me about his Holiness not being inclined to the can
onization of the sainted brother Diego de Alcal? displeases me very much;
and I am amazed to hear it for I have been told that the case was so well
46AGS,Estado 905 (March 17,1567).

47Ambassador Requesens was mistaken. Francis of Paola, whose documentation he sent
Philip, had been canonized in 1519, four years before Antoninus of Florence.
48AGS,Estado 905 (September 15,1567).
substantiated and the so complete

information that there would be no dif
ficulty whatsoever. I strongly

And charge you not to let the matter drop, but
to go forward with such zeal that if this blessed man deserves to be placed
in the catalogue of saints, he not lose that honor due to human negli
gence.49
Without papal backing, all such exhortations from Madrid would

prove fruitless.50 Although the papacy of Pius V yielded in 1572 to that
of Gregory XIII, the movement for canonization did not resume. In fact,
the diplomatic correspondence singled out Gregory as an even more
intransigent barrier to progress than his predecessor.
Just why the papacy for almost two decades opposed Diego's canon
ization remains a mystery. The hagiographie accounts fail to indicate
that such opposition existed, and instead convey a distinct impression
that all delays in the process can be traced either to the press of busi
ness or bureaucratic red tape. Our knowledge that two popes dragged
their heels comes instead from the diplomatic correspondence be
tween Rome and Madrid in the years 1568-1585; and even this consid
erably more candid source fails to explain just why Pius and later
Gregory balked at conferring sainthood upon the Spanish Franciscan.
Ironically, the first signs of papal opposition begin to appear toward

the end of the 1560's, at amoment when Philip's domestic and interna
tional policies could only have pleased a hardliner like Pius V. These
were the years when the king moved decisively to solve the problem of
the Moriscos, descendants of men and women who earlier in the cen
tury had converted from Islam to Christianity rather than face expul
sion from their homes in southern Spain. By the 1560's, the Moriscos
had come to be regarded as a potential fifth column in Spain's on-going
struggle against the Ottoman Empire. In an attempt to end the danger
and to break their remaining ties with Islam, Philip uprooted them,
moving thousands northward to be resettled among the towns and vil
lages of Old Castile.
Equally pleasing to Pius would have been the fact that by the late
1560's, the Spanish Inquisition had finished eradicating all vestiges of
49AGS,Estado 910 (March 12,1569).

,0InMay, 1569, Philip reiterated his instructions to the ambassador in Rome to keep
raising the issue of canonization the pope.
with In September, the king, having been in
formed of the pope's anger at being reminded of the matter, praised his ambassador's ef
forts: "q vos hizistes muy bien en dezirle lo que a [e]ste proposito le dixistes." AGS, Estado
910 (May 26,1569), (September 18,1569).
Spain's nascent Protestant movement. Outside the peninsula, Philip's

great general, the Duke of Alba, was rigorously suppressing heresy in
the Low Countries. What ismore, at the pope's behest, Philip had joined
Venice and the Papacy in an anti-Turkish coalition whose campaign in
the eastern Mediterranean would culminate, in 1571, in the great naval
victory at Lepanto.
Relations between Philip and Pius did eventually cool, due primarily
to the pope's decision to excommunicate the English monarch, Eliza
beth. Nevertheless, the excommunication did not occur until 1570, long
after the new Spanish ambassador in Rome, Juan de Zu?iga, had de
tected papal opposition to Diego's canonization.51
In the absence of significant policy differences between king and

pope, other explanations must be sought. Perhaps Pius originally with
held his support to spur Philip to even greater efforts in behalf of papal
policy, and during the ensuing period, momentum for canonization was
lost. Perhaps as a Dominican, Pius V could not bring himself to preside
over the canonizing of amember of the rival mendicant order. Itmay be
that neither Pius nor his successor considered the friar's accomplish
ments sufficient to merit Christianity's highest accolade. Whatever the
case, the issue of papal opposition clearly warrants further research.
Even in the face of papal indifference (or hostility), Philip continued

his efforts. In September, 1583, he seized the occasion afforded by a
church council in the Province of Toledo to remind the pope once
again of the report which had been in Rome "formany years" and urge
that His Holiness act upon it.52At the same time, he wrote to his newest
ambassador in Rome, Enrique de Guzman, Count of Olivares, asking
whether anything remained to be done in Spain. He also forwarded let
ters from the archbishop, the canons, and the rector of the University of
Alcal?, all favoring Diego de Alcal?'s cause, to be turned over to who
ever now had of the case.53
custody
In February,
1585, the beleaguered ambassador wrote back to Philip,
explaining that he had done everything in his power. He had spoken
three or four times to the pope and an infinite number of times to other
important officials. He had explored "a thousand means" of bringing the
business to a successful conclusion?all to no avail. Although the count
had won a papal commitment to revisit the matter, he admitted to
51Pastor, op. cit., XVIII, 217-220. Geoffrey Parker, Philip II, 3d ed. (Chicago, 1995), pp.
75-78,96-111.
52AGS,Estado 944 (September 12,1583).
53
Ibid.
Philip that this seemed to have been made "more in the spirit of pro
viding comforting words, than executing them." To help excuse his fail
ure, Olivares reported amysterious rumor sweeping through Rome that
the first pope who undertook a canonization would immediately die.
Although Olivares promised to continue his efforts in Fra Diego's be
half, he indicated that he must do so cautiously, so as not to disrupt
other negotiations.54
The turning point came several months later, with the elevation in
April, 1585, of Felice Paretti to the throne of Saint Peter. Born of humble
parents, Paretti had risen through the Franciscan order to become its
vicar general under Pius V Consequently, as pope, he would be predis
posed to favor a sainthood which would add glory to the Franciscan tra
dition, a predisposition which would not have characterized either Pius
y a Dominican, or Gregory XIII, a secular. Sixtus also came to power
with the express intention of completing tasks left undone by the pred
ecessor whom he despised, and Diego's canonization fell under that
heading.
Sensing the changed climate at Rome, Philip quickly contacted his

ambassador, who reopened the matter with the new pope. For the first
time in nearly two decades, the response was rapid and favorable. In
May, Olivares was able to report back to Madrid that Sixtus had already
appointed three judges from the Roman Rota, the court that handled
ecclesiastical appeals, to review the case, a thing which Pope Gregory,
who "had proceeded so unwillingly,'' had not accomplished in the pre
ceding two years.55
A sense of urgency now pervaded the diplomatic correspondence.

All efforts had to be made to bring the matter to a successful conclusion
while Sixtus still occupied the papacy. In the words of Olivares:
Your Majesty should command that

[things] be done quickly, because it is
a matter which willrequire time, if
and (may it not please God) this pope
should die .. . the matter fall to another who does not wish to con
might
sider it, as I have written to your Majesty was the case with Pope Gregory.56
54AGS,Estado 946 (February 25,1585).

"AGS, Estado 946 (May 21,1585).
*Ibid.
The ambassador suggested that Philip convene the Cortes of Castile

and have the representatives of the cities forward to Rome a letter indi
cating "the great fame" in which the blessed Brother Diego was held
throughout the realm. He also pointed out that the process might be ex
pedited were the king to provide as soon as possible a sufficient
amount of money to cover the necessary expenses.
In November, 1586, Olivares reported to Philip that the auditores of

the Rota were wrapping up their deliberations and would, within the
week, issue a recommendation favoring canonization. The ambassador
indicated his belief that "from this point forward, itwill be just amatter
of form and will go forward so easily that nothing will stop it."57
Once again, he reminded the king that money to cover the expenses,
several of which would come due at any moment, should be forwarded
to Rome without delay. To give a better idea of the sums involved, Oli
vares included with this dispatch a seven-page document entitled
"Memorandum of what it costs for a canonization?more or less."58
The document listed eighty-six separate payments, ranging from a

high of 3200 ducats to purchase hats for each of the forty cardinals who
would attend the ceremony down to six ducats for the beliringers of St.
Peters. Nine hundred ducats would be required almost immediately to
reimburse the auditores of the Rota. The five cardinals who would
compose the new commission soon to be appointed by Sixtus were to
receive 500 ducats for their work and a further 280 ducats to help de
fray the cost of outfitting them on the day of the ceremony59 The dis
patch of papal bulls would cost 600 ducats. A wooden grandstand large
enough to accommodate not only the cardinals, but also the many am
bassadors, prelates, and Roman nobles in attendance could be erected
for 300 ducats. The outfitting of the pope alone would consume hun
dreds of ducats, the decoration of the city and church, hundreds more.
Five hundred ducats would be distributed among the many monks,
nuns, and secular clerics throughout Rome who were called upon for
their prayers thanking God for Brother Diego's miracles.
The canonization would prove a windfall for members of the papal

court and household who would together receive several thousand
ducats. Fifteen hundred would be earmarked for incidental and unan
57AGS,Estado 947 (November 2,1586).

58AGS,Estado 947 (undated).
,9Sixtus actually appointed more than five cardinals to the commission, thereby in
creasing this particular cost.
ticipated expenses. The total came to 20,954 ducats. Not included in

this figure (although mentioned in the memorandum) was the cost of
outfitting the ambassador and his household for the ceremony. Olivares
left this amount blank, tactfully entrusting it to his sovereign to decide
how much he was willing to pay to have his representatives cut a splen
did figure on the all-important day.
On December 11, within a week of having received Olivares' dis

patch, Philip wrote back, sincerely thanking his ambassador for having
"guided through the canonization of the holy Brother Diego" and indi
cating that the Count of Miranda had been ordered to provide immedi
ately any sums up to 20,000 ducats which Olivares might require "in
order that nothing be left undone for want of the necessary money"60
Meanwhile, as predicted, the auditores issued a favorable report, stat

ing that all necessary evidence had been gathered. Consequently, in Jan
uary, 1587, Sixtus chose a new group of cardinals to conduct the official
examination, "all those named by Pius IV at the beginning of the
process having died."61 The reconstituted commission was led by Cardi
nal Marco Antonio Colonna
and included Cardinals Farnese, Bonello,
Santorio, Carrafa, Sarnano, de Medici, and Mateo.62 Their deliberations
consumed another year and a half, but by the early summer of 1588,
they too had returned a favorable verdict.63
That the timing was purely coincidental seems highly unlikely. Not
long after becoming pope, Sixtus V confronted the chain of events
which inexorably and with escalating rapidity led up to the Spanish Ar
mada.64 From the moment his reign began, the new pope urged upon
Philip the enterprise of England, only to hear that unending reprise?
that such an enterprise would demand extensive financial backing from
^AGS, Estado 947 (December 11,1586).

6?Ro)o,op.cit.,p. 193.
62Rojo states that six cardinals were appointed to the commission, but immediately
goes on to list eight: op. cit.,pp. 193-194.This appears to have been the last ad hoc com
mission of cardinals to oversee a canonization process. On January 22,1588, Sixtus V is
sued the bull Immensa Dei, reorganizing the Roman bureaucracy into fifteen permanent
congregations, each of which was to exercise a distinct administrative jurisdiction. One of
these, the Congregation of Rites and Ceremonies, was entrusted with responsibility for
preparing papal canonizations as well as the authentication of relics. However, since the
canonization process for Diego de Alcal? was already in its final stages, itwas left in the
hands of the cardinalitial commission appointed a year earlier. Pastor, op. cit., XXI,
245-257. Woodward, op. cit., p. 75.
?Parrales, op. cit., p. 57.
^The best and most readable account of this prelude to the invasion is still to be found
in the early chapters of Garrett Mattingly's classic work, The Armada (Boston, 1959).
the papacy. However, when it came to advancing money for the project,
Sixtus balked. He was already heavily committed in the building pro
jects which would restore and modernize the city of Rome, and he had
no intention of throwing papal gold into a project which might never
come to fruition. The pope publicly promised a million ducats once
Spanish soldiers had landed on the heretic island, but not before.65
On the other hand, a consummate politician Like Sixtus must have

recognized that in Diego's canonization he had the perfect means for
rewarding Spanish efforts and spurring on the often dilatory king with
out advancing any papal gold. He could satisfy Philip and provide inspi
ration to the Catholic world in a time of conflict, at no cost to his
treasury, since the Spanish monarch was eager for an opportunity to
pay the canonization expenses, despite the enormous costs he was al
ready incurring for the Armada.
And so, as Europe surged forward toward a critical moment in its re
ligious struggle, Diego de Alcal? came ever closer to joining Christen
dom's most elite company In the summer of 1588, with the Spanish
fleet gathering in northern ports for the attack on England, the canon
ization process reached its climax. On June 20, in a secret consistory,
Cardinal Colonna brought a favorable report from the commission of
which he was the senior member. Five days later, a public consistory
heard Philip's representative deliver a lengthy oration about the candi
date, followed a
by gracious reply from the papal secretary. On June 27,
a second public consistory witnessed the unanimous vote in favor of
canonization.
The crowning moment came on July 2,1588, during a dazzling cere

mony conducted in Michelangelo's great basilica and attended by the
pope, forty cardinals, numerous archbishops, bishops, and abbots, the
diplomatic corps, and scores of Roman luminaries. In response to
the formal petition, Sixtus entoned the crucial words:
For the honor of the Holy Trinity, Son, and Holy . . and the
Father, Spirit.
exaltation of the Catholic Faith and by the authority of the said Holy Trin
ity, and the blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, we have determined with the
common consent of our venerable brothers, the cardinals of the Roman
Church and all of the patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops resident in our
curia, to inscribe the blessed brother Diego of San Nicolas, a Spaniard from
the province of Andalucia, and member of the order of friars minor ... in
the catalogue of saints.66
?Ibid., p. 54.
^Rojo, op. cit., p. 202.
After twenty-six years of patience and perseverance, Philip had his

saint, just three weeks before his ill-fated Armada would sail against Eng
land.
vra
Following the ceremony, Sixtus sent Philip the altar on which it had
been performed.67 The king also received a very special reward from his
own church which recognized the vital role he had played in obtaining
sainthood for Diego. Early in April, 1589, the court arrived at Alcal? for
ceremonies celebrating the event. Once again, the remains of Diego
were removed from their resting place and marched through the streets
in joyous procession. This time, however, when the coffin was closed,
less of the saint remained within. The left hand had long since been re
moved to a separate reliquary kept in the sacristy. Now, a lower leg bone,
still containing some flesh around the knee, was detached and turned
over to a royal secretary for delivery to the king. Philip had not only his
saint, but also a fine relic to add to his extensive personal collection.68
Together, the canonization and the relics given Philip by the pope
and the Franciscan Order provided him some comfort during the dark
days which followed the disastrous defeat of the Armada. Although
Philip eventually surrendered the altar to the Franciscan monastery
where the saint lay buried, he retained the leg bone. Not surprisingly, it
still resides today in the Escorial, the great monastery in central Spain
which Philip built and which became the resting place for both himself
and his son, Don Carlos.69
67AGS, estado 950. Rojo, op. cit., pp. 240-247. The altar was placed in the keeping of the
Franciscan monastery of Santa Mar?a de Jes?s, where San Diego was buried.
^Nunez, op. cit., V, 119-122. Rojo, op. cit., p. 230.
69The Escorial still possesses the relics of San Diego which were surrendered to the
king in 1589, including not only the leg bone, but also fragments of both the Franciscan
habit and the shroud. Also residing in the collection of relics is the heart of Juan de San
torcaz, Diego's companion in the Canary Islands, which was presented to Philip II. Of
greater significance from the historian's perspective, the Escorial preserves important
documentation relevant to the canonization. This documentation can no longer be found
in Alcal? de Henares due to the 1939 fire which destroyed the Archivo Central. Nor have
I been able to uncover in the Archivio Segreto Vaticano the copy which was sent to
Rome. Rojo, op. cit., pp. 98-99, 246-247. Inquiry from L. J. Andrew V?lalon to the Bib
lioteca Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de el Escorial (July 22,1994) and the library's un
dated response.

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San Diego de Alcalá and the Politics of Saint-Making in Counter-Reformation Europe

Author(s): L. J. Andrew Villalon

After exploring briefly the poorly documented career of a none-too

The only near-contemporary source dealing with the life of San

Cat?logo de los Manuscritos Castellanos de la Real Biblioteca de el Escorial (3 vols. ;

Diego eventually decided to shift his attention to the as yet unsub

According to the later hagiographie accounts, at the end, Diego dis

death, the body was said to have defied decomposition.

Although the body was at first buried in the Franciscan cemetery, it

precursor to the coming age of European expansion, such service was

What ismore, storiesgreat humility, heroic suffering, exem

By the fifteenth century, Diego's veneration as a "local saint" in the re

the end of the sixteenth century, a formidable myth began to

While the imprisonment and death of Don Carlos overshadow the

A team of physicians, which eventually reached ten in number and in

Meanwhile, the concerned people of Spain had ideas of their own

Citizens to the appeal for divine mercy. In

displayed by the Spanish people. Ambassade en Espagne de Jean Ebrard, Seigneur de

Saint-Sulpice de 1562 ? 1565 et Mission de ce Diplomate dans leM?me Pays en 1566

resulting document is reproduced in Fr. Lucio Mar?a Nu?ez, "Documentos sobre la cu

rector of the university, a representative of the vicar general of the Fran

In the presence of illustrious witnesses and of three scribes charged

22Dionisio Daza and Diego

ceasing prayers of the Spanish people, Carlos appeared to be at death's

Thereafter, the prince steadily improved. When Philip rode back to

Late in June, he ventured outside, and on the twenty-ninth, attended a

The prince continued to improve rapidly. He began taking afternoon

in dismissing their efforts as ineffectual. Spaniards, including both the

Nevertheless, attention soon focused on the remains of Fra Diego.

Upon regaining his senses, Carlos greatly increased the likelihood of

The of Carlos's doctors sheds important light on the con

of Spain:A Medical Portrait (Los Angeles, 1969).

Among eighty-three witnesses who opted for amiraculous cure were

By contrast, the prince's personal physician, Diego Santiago Olivares,

Olivares did not go so far as to dismiss entirely the workings of Prov

Nevertheless, he disputed the claim that a long-dead friar or anyone

ministered, the prince recovered; and only those [cures] are

As if this were not enough, lurking in the background was a danger

sympathies could bring down even an archbishop of Toledo and former

Throughout the Reformation, the cult of saints was a hotly debated

The campaign to have Diego de Alcal? officially recognized as a saint

On February 28, 1563, the crown formally entered the campaign

37Philip's correspondence with Rome is preserved in the Archivo General de Simancas

Philip went on to raise other arguments in favor of canonization:

The bishops accepted their charge in December, 1564, then moved

After drawing up a summary for the pope, the cardinals initiated a

Meanwhile, Philip named as his personal representative to these pro

something of a royal "troubleshooter" in religious matters.42 The king

he believed and held it as certain that the improvement in the prince's

All eighty-three of those interviewed, including the two physicians who

The diplomatic correspondence which passed between Philip and

^Correspondence appointing Morales as royal representative in the proceedings and

The proceso accompanied by Morales' leyenda arrived in Rome in

The ambassador's estimate of six months turned out to be an ex

46AGS,Estado 905 (March 17,1567).

substantiated and the so complete

ficulty whatsoever. I strongly

Without papal backing, all such exhortations from Madrid would