Hispanic/Latino Heritage month closed with a new santo. Mexican Bishop Rafael Guízar y Valencia was canonized yesterday by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.

Guízar y Valencia, born in 1878 and bishop of Xalapa-Veracruz from 1919 until his death in 1938, is the first Latin American bishop to be canonized. He was widely known in Mexico as “the bishop of the poor,” because he constantly sold his personal belongings to help the needy.

St. Rafael lived in exile in Texas from 1927 to 1929 after being threatened with execution by the governor of Veracruz. After initially staying in Castroville, he later lived at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Austin. He often preached in San Antonio at Our Lady of Guadalupe and Immaculate Heart of Mary churches and at the cathedral.

Via / MySA.com
Image Via / Univision