Antonio Margil

Who they were

Antonio Margil was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1657, entered the Franciscans young and was ordained priest at twenty-five. He called himself 'Nothingness Itself'.

As a missionary he worked in Yucatán, Costa Rica and Guatemala, presided over the missionary college at Zacatecas in Mexico, and went on expeditions to Texas, where he established six missions, including that of San Antonio. He died in Mexico on 6 August 1726. In 1836 Pope Gregory XVI issued a decree recognising his heroic virtues.

The miracles

The Church has not yet approved a miracle in this cause.

Why that counted as sanctity

A Franciscan missionary of Central America, Mexico and Texas, remembered as a founder of the San Antonio mission.