Didacus of Alcalá
Didakus, Latin: Sanctus Didacus Complutensis written Didatus or Didactus, spanish San Diego de Alcalá (* 1400 in San Nicolás del Puerto in Andalusia, † November 12, 1463 in Alcalá de Henares, Spain) was a Spanish lay brother and missionary.
Life
Didakus was born into a poor family in the Castle of San Nicolás del Puerto. He was a lay brother of the Franciscan order, and devoted himself, according to contemporary reports, in addition to pastoral care especially of the sick and poor relief. In 1441 he traveled to the Canary Islands and founded the monastery Fortaventure on Fuerteventura. He is regarded as the missionary of the Guanches, the original inhabitants of the island group whose culture was nearly eradicated by the Spanish conquest. In 1450 he stayed in the Convention Aracoeli in Rome and is said to have successfully cured several sick during a plague epidemic. Pope Sixtus V. spoke to him on June 2, 1588 holy. After the calendar of saints is his celebration of 13 November.
The Spanish navigator and cartographer Sebastian Vizcaino reached on the feast day of the saint, on 13 November 1602 the then Spanish San Miguel in California and renamed it after the Saints in San Diego, whose name it bears the major U.S. city to this day.