Francisco de Aguiar y Seijas

He studied in the Colegio Mayor de Cuenca of the University of Salamanca and was professor of philosophy and rector of the institution.

He was enthroned in his cathedral on 2 January 1682 and one of his first acts was to found and build the Conciliar Seminary of Mexico – until then most priests serving in Mexican parishes were Spanish and had trained back in Spain itself.

A fifth trip (26 November 1687 – 24 January 1688) planned to reach Puerto de Acapulco, but he had to abandon it due to poor health.

Ascetic and moralistic, as archbishop he worked to ban cock-fighting, bull fighting, plays and secret theatre shows.

A group in Mexico started campaigning for his beatification straight after his death, with the support of archbishop Francisco de Lorenzana – the process began on 30 December 1767.