It’s the Feast of St. Didacus, 3rd Class, with the color of White. In this episode: the meditation: “Assisting at Several Masses at the Same Time”, today’s news from the Church: “Communique from the General House about the Vatican's document on Our Lady”, a preview of the Sermon: “Luther’s Error on Indulgences”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop.
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Sources Used Today:
- “Assisting at Several Masses at the Same Time” – The Heart of the Mass
- “Communique from the General House about the Vatican's document on Our Lady” (FSSPX.news)
- “Luther’s Error on Indulgences” (SSPX Sermons)
- The Spiritual Life – Archbishop Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
Saint Didacus — known in Spanish as San Diego de Alcalá — was a humble Franciscan lay brother whose holiness shone most clearly in simplicity and service. Born around 1400 in the small Andalusian village of San Nicolás del Puerto, he grew up in poverty and spent his youth as a shepherd. Even in solitude, he was drawn to prayer and penance. Locals said he treated his flocks as his congregation, speaking to them of God and singing psalms across the fields. The rhythm of prayer and work became the pattern of his entire life.
When he entered the Franciscan Order as a lay brother, he did not seek learning or authority. Instead, he asked for the most menial tasks: gardening, cooking, caring for the sick. He was sent to a series of small friaries, each one touched by his joy and kindness. In the 1440s, Didacus volunteered to serve as a missionary in the Canary Islands, then a harsh and distant outpost. There he helped establish a friary, evangelized the islanders through example rather than words, and tended to the poor with patience and humor.
Later he was recalled to Spain and assigned to a friary near Alcalá de Henares. When the plague broke out in 1450 during the Jubilee Year, Didacus happened to be in Rome. He was placed in charge of the infirmary at the Franciscan convent of Ara Coeli, where hundreds of sick pilgrims crowded the halls. He nursed them with such gentleness that witnesses said he seemed to glow with peace amid the suffering. Some were healed simply through his prayers or his touch, and people began to call him “Father of the Poor.”
Back in Spain, he lived quietly until his death in 1463, spending his last years in prayer and gratitude. His tomb soon became a place of miracles, and his reputation spread across Europe and the New World. The city of San Diego, California, later took its name from him through the Franciscan missions.
His feast on November 13 reminds us that holiness often hides in ordinary service — in the kitchen, the garden, or the sickroom. Saint Didacus shows that the smallest acts of love, when offered to God, can light up the world
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The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Press, which has as its mission the fortification of traditional Catholics so that they can defend the Faith, and reaching out to those who have not yet found Tradition.
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The main goal of the Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic Faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues, especially through the Roman Catholic priesthood.
Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls.
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