Blessed Agnus of Saragossa

Blessed Agno was born in Gallur, in the province of Zaragoza, in 1190 and died in Zaragoza in 1260. His real name was Lope Fernando de Ayn; the nickname was given to him by Pope Innocent VI in recognition of his kindness. He was a canon and superior of El Pilar in Zaragoza and the first Aragonese to join the Order of Saint Francis. While commissioned in Rome, he was admired for his preaching, leading to his appointment as Bishop of Morocco and apostolic legate to that part of Africa. In Morocco, he established the episcopal see and was admired by the Muslim sovereign himself for his generosity and selflessness. In 1255, he was commissioned as a papal legate by Pope Alexander IV to define the boundaries of the Diocese of Cartagena and two other peninsular sees whose lands had been taken from the Muslims. He returned to Rome to seek support for his missionary work and obtained permission to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Upon his return in 1255, Alexander IV tasked him, in his capacity as legate, with defining the boundaries of the Diocese of Cartagena and two other new bishoprics created in lands conquered from the Muslims. Toward the end of his life, he returned to Zaragoza to the convent of the Friars Minor. He died in 1260 and was buried in the same convent. In 1286, when the Franciscans moved to a new convent, they exhumed his body and moved it to the new site, burying it in the church on the Gospel side of the high altar. The convent and his remains were destroyed by the French army in 1809. Some of his letters regarding the apostolate in Africa and several sermons in Spanish, Latin, and Arabic are preserved.