NUÑO ALVARES PEREIRA - Nuño of Saint Mary

Memorial Day - 1 November

Profile
Cousin of the founder of the noble Braganza family. Constable of the kingdom of Portugal, knight and prior in the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. Married. Career soldier, fighting for, and a hero of Portuguese independence. Widower. Carmelite lay-brother at Lisbon, Portugal in 1423, taking the name Nuño of Saint Mary. Undertook the meanest duties in the friary, begging alms from door to door. Founded a monastery at Lisbon. Noted for a life of prayer, penance, and devotion to Our Lady.

Born - 24 July 1360 at Santares, Portgual

Died - 1 April 1431 (Easter Sunday) at the Carmelite monastery at Lisbon, Portugal

Beatified - 23 January 1918 by Pope Benedict XV