Bl. Álvaro of Córdoba (Dominican)

Álvaro joined the Dominicans at the friary of St Paul in Córdoba, Spain, in 1368. After a degree at Salamanca he taught Scripture, then became a noted preacher. He worked with St Vincent Ferrer to win people away from the antipope Benedict XIII during the Western Schism.

He was confessor to King John II of Castile. After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land he founded the friary of Scala Coeli near Córdoba, a centre of Dominican reform. There he built small chapels recalling the stations of Christ's road to Calvary, an early form of the Way of the Cross.

He died in 1430 and was buried in his friary. Benedict XIV approved his cult in 1741. Sources differ on his birth and death dates.

Álvaro of Córdoba (Dominican) was beatified in 1741.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.