Miguel de Mañara

Who was Miguel de Mañara?
Miguel de Mañara was a nobleman born in Seville in 1627. He appears to have led a dissolute youth, fond of gambling and women. Two encounters with the supernatural, combined with the death of his wife Jerónima, led him to trade that lifestyle for a pious, religious one and to found the Hospital de la Caridad (currently closed for restoration). Following his conversion, Mañara dedicated his life to the poor; he lived an austere existence marked by sacrifice and penance, eventually renouncing his family’s possessions to live as a resident in the very hospital he had founded.
His death mask and sword, along with other personal belongings, are carefully preserved at the hospital, as are the rosebushes he planted, which continue to bloom to this day.