DIEGO OF CÁDIZ, BL.

Spanish Capuchin preacher; b. Cádiz, March 30, 1743; d. Ronda (Malaga), March 24, 1801. José Francisco López Camoño took the name Diego after joining the Capuchins (1759). After ordination (1766) he dedicated his religious life largely to preaching missions in Spain, Portugal, and the Levant, but he won his greatest renown in Andalusia. He delivered more than 20,000 sermons, sometimes as many as 15 a day, to audiences that often numbered 15,000 to 20,000. His most common themes were the Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin under the title of Shepherdess of Souls and of Peace. Diego was in great demand as a confessor and impressed people as much by his asceticism as by his eloquence. He enjoyed also a reputation as a thaumaturge (miracle-worker). Diego led the resistance to the influence of French en lightenment in the Spanish court, but he met opposition there from anticlerical officials such as José Moniño (Count Florida Blanca), Pedro Campomanés, and the favorite in the court of Charles IV, Manuel de Godoy. When the armies of the French Revolution invaded Spain, Diego crusaded for national independence. The published volumes of his sermons fail to reveal the qualities that made him the most popular Spanish preacher of his century. A valuable source for knowledge of his life and spirituality is contained in his published correspondence. Diego was beatified on April 23, 1894.

Feast: March 24.

Bibliography: s. de ubrique, Vida del beato Diego J. de Cádiz, 2 v. (Seville 1926). c. c. castro, Beato Diego Jose de Cadiz: capuchino, misionero y santo (Cordoba 1990). a. zawart, The History of Franciscan Preaching and of Franciscan Preachers, 1209–1927 (New York 1928). s. de ausejo, Reseña bibliográfica de las obras impresas del beato Diego J. de Cádiz (Madrid 1947). f. de ros, Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique. Doctrine et histoire (Paris 1932—) 3:875–878, with good bibliog.

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