Michael de Sanctis, de, St.
MICHAEL DE SANCTIS, DE, ST.
Mystic; b. Vich, Catalonia, Spain, 1591; d. Valladolid, April 10, 1625. Michael practiced austerities of fasting and watching, abstained from meat in early childhood, and at the age of eight made a vow of chastity. He had a special devotion to the Rosary and the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin. After the death of his father, he wished to enter the Trinitarians, but his family opposed it. However, he entered the Order at Barcelona, and was professed there at 16. He studied at Salamanca and Seville where his mystical gifts began to manifest themselves. He was ordained in Portugal.
It was reported that when rapt in ecstasy he often levitated. In Cordova, while meditating on paradise, he was said to have soared out of the choir, across a field, and come to rest on a churchtower. When preaching in Salamanca, he reputedly was raised in the air in sight of all. His favorite sermon topic was the ransom of Christian captives of the Moors. In 1622 he was made prior at Valladolid where he spent his last years. He was beatified by pius vi in 1779, and canonized by Pius IX in 1862.
Feast: April 10.
Bibliography: j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes (Paris 1935–56) 4:236–238. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, ed. h. thurston and d. attwater (New York 1956) 2:66.
[m. j. dorcy]