Nicholas Ayllon

Nicolás Ayllón (1632-1677), was born in the reduction of natives of Chiclayo in 1632 . His parents were Rodrigo Puyzón and Francisca Xailón, principal Indians. From a very young age he showed remarkable intelligence and extreme devotion, which led him to serve as an acolyte in the Franciscan church of Chiclayo. At the age of eight, the clergyman Juan de Ayllón took him under his protection, traveling with him to Saña and later to Lima. Afflicted by his protector with a painful illness, Nicolás takes care of him faithfully until his death, adopts his surname and dedicates himself to learning a trade:tailoring, rising to the rank of officer and then to master. Simultaneously he dedicated himself to helping the poor and visiting the sick in the Santa Ana hospital. He married and, with his wife, founded a retreat for poor maidens in a house that was located in the Jesús María district. In the church of San Juan de Dios he also founded the so-called School of Christ and continuously intervenes as a mediator to prevent abuses against Indians and slaves, for which he is considered patron saint of the Indians . This feverish activity for the benefit of others helped to spread the belief that he possessed the gift of ubiquity and it is also claimed that he even predicted his own death. He died in Lima in 1677 in the odor of sanctity and his burial was attended by some of the highest Lima authorities . A process about his virtuous life begins almost immediately to achieve his beatification, at the same time that the Jesuit Bernardo Sartolo writes his Admirable life and prodigious death of Nicolás Ayllón, and with more glorious renown, Nicolás of God , whose publication, in 1684, unfortunately coincides with the statements of Blessed Ángela Carranza before the court of the Holy Office, involving Ayllón in her "visions", the book being condemned by the inquisitors.