Blessed Joan of Aza

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org

Blessed Joan of Aza was born in the Old Castile region of Spain. The date of her birth is unrecorded. She married Felix de Guzman, governor of Calaruega, Burgos, Spain circa 1165.

Joan and her husband had three grown children together. While pregnant with her fourth child, Joan had a dream of a dog carrying a torch in his mouth. When she shared this dream with her spiritual director, he suggested that this meant that the child she carried would grow to become the watchdog of the Church. She gave birth to a son and named him Dominic. That child grew up to be St. Dominic de Guzman, founder of the Order of Preachers, the first order within the Church to focus on study and spreading of the Word of God.

Joan of Aza died circa 1190 in Celeruga, Spain. Popular devotion to Joan sprang up almost immediately upon her death. She was beatified in 1828 by Pope Leo XII. Her memorial day is celebrated on August 2.