TODAY IN SEVILLE: KING SAN FERNANDO. PATRON OF THE CITY

　

      The father of Ferdinand III was Alfonso IX, king of Leon, and his mother was Berengaria, who was the elder daughter of Alfonso III, king of Castile: her mother was a daughter of Henry II of England, and her sister Blanche became the mother of St Louis of France. The death of her brother Henry in 1217 left Berengaria heiress to the throne of Castile, but she resigned her rights in favor of her eighteen-year-old son Ferdinand. Two years later he married Beatrice, daughter of King Philip of Swabia, and they had seven Sons and three daughters.

      He himself died on May 30, 1252, and was buried in the cathedral of Seville in the habit of the Friars Minor. Pope Clement X declared Ferdinand a saint in 1671.

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