Rafael Guízar y Valencia

Who was Rafael Guízar y Valencia?

Rafael Guízar y Valencia was a Mexican Catholic bishop who cared for the wounded, sick, and dying during the Mexican Revolution. Named Bishop of Xalapa, he was driven out of his diocese and forced to live the remainder of his life in hiding in Mexico City. He was also a Knight of Columbus. He was an uncle of Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ, a position from which he was removed by the Holy See.

Guizar's body was exhumed in 1950, twelve years after his death, and witnesses have said it had not decayed, except for the left eye, which he was said to have offered up for a sinner during his lifetime.

Pope Benedict XVI canonized Guízar on October 15, 2006.

“We welcome the canonization of our brother Knight, Bishop Guízar y Valencia, and know that his life of courage and legacy of evangelization will be an inspiration to each of our 1.7 million members around the world,” said Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson, who attended Guízar’s canonization in Rome.