Didacus Joseph of Cadiz

Diego José de Cádiz (1743–1801) was a Spanish Capuchin friar who was a noted and popular preacher throughout the region of Andalusia during the 18th century. He was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1894.

Life

Early life José Francisco López-Caamaño y García Pérez was born in Cádiz in 1743. His mother died when he was 9 years old. Later his father moved the family to the city of Grazalema, where he entered the local school run by the Dominican Order. As a youth Joseph could make no progress at school, receiving the nickname of the "dunce of Cádiz". Later a classmate, a Dominican friar named Antonio Querero, testified how difficult study had been for him.

Initially rejected by the Observant Franciscan friars due to this perceived limitation of intellect, López-Caamaño was later accepted by the Capuchin friars and, at the age of 15, entered their novitiate in Seville, at which time he was given the name Didacus Joseph. He was professed as a member of the Order on 31 March 1759.

Spain was undergoing changes in its intellectual climate, as the influence of the Enlightenment began to spread in the upper classes of the country.

He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1894.