Bernard of Hoyos

Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos de Seña, SJ (21 August 1711 – 29 November 1735), best known simply as Bernardo de Hoyos, was a Spanish Catholic priest, mystic and member of the Society of Jesus. He is best known for his ardent devotion to the Sacred Heart and for his constant promotion of it until his premature death.

His beatification by the Catholic Church was held in Valladolid on 18 April 2010.

Life Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos de Seña was born on 21 August 1711 to Don Manuel de Hoyos and Doña Francisca de Seña. He was baptized on 6 September in his local parish church in the names of "Bernardo Francisco Javier"; he was named in honor of Bernard of Clairvaux and Francis Xavier. An apostolic process was also held in Valladolid that Cardinal José Cos y Macho oversaw from 1914 until 1919. The formal introduction to the cause came on 11 February 1914 under Pope Pius X and the late Jesuit priest was made a Servant of God.

Historians assessed and approved the cause on 31 May 1961 while the postulation submitted the Positio to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 1990. Theologians assented to the cause later on 27 June 1995 as did the C.C.S. on 12 December 1995. Pope John Paul II named him as Venerable on 12 January 1996 after confirming that the late Jesuit priest had lived a life of heroic virtue. The process for a miracle spanned in Spain from 11 November 1947 to 8 October 1949 while being validated on 1 March 1996; the miracle in question was the cure of Mercedes Cabezas on 22 April 1936 from typhoid and a serious tumor in San Cristóbal de la Cuesta in Salamanca. A medical board approved this on 13 March 2008 with theologians doing likewise on 7 July 2008 and the C.C.S. soon after on 18 November 2008. Pope Benedict XVI approved this on 17 January 2009 and delegated Archbishop Angelo Amato to preside over the beatification in Spain on 18 April 2010.

The current postulator for the cause is the Jesuit priest Anton Witwer.