Simón de Rojas

Simón de Rojas was born on 28 October 1552 in Valladolid, in Habsburg Spain, to a devout Catholic family of modest means. From earliest childhood he showed an unusual attachment to the Blessed Virgin Mary; later tradition held that Ave Maria were among the first words he spoke. At the age of twelve he entered the Trinitarian monastery in his native city, taking the habit of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, a medieval order founded for the ransom of Christian captives. He made his religious profession on 28 October 1572, his twentieth birthday, and was thereafter formed in the contemplative and apostolic life of the Trinitarians.

He studied philosophy and theology at the University of Salamanca and was ordained a priest in 1577. For many years he taught those same subjects in houses of his order, combining academic work with a reputation for humility, poverty, and an intense Marian piety. He greeted everyone he met with the words Ave Maria and became popularly known as Father Ave Maria. In 1612, while living in Madrid, he founded the Congregation of the Slaves of the Sweet Name of Mary, a confraternity whose members bound themselves to serve the poor and to spread devotion to Mary, especially through the Hail Mary.

His holiness and prudence drew the attention of the Spanish court. He served as confessor to Queen Margaret of Austria, wife of Philip III, and later as spiritual director and tutor to Queen Isabel of Bourbon and other members of the royal family under Philip IV. Despite these duties he refused personal honors, continued to live in evangelical poverty, and personally visited hospitals, prisons, and the homes of the destitute in Madrid, often distributing alms he had himself begged.

Simón de Rojas died in Madrid on 29 September 1624 and was already widely venerated. He was beatified by Pope Clement XIII in 1766 and canonized by Pope John Paul II on 3 July 1988. The Church keeps his liturgical memorial on 28 September, presenting him as a model of Marian devotion joined to concrete charity toward the poor.