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How surprised I was in September, 2002 to receive an email from historian, María Rosa Fernández Pena, who was doing research on Fray Pedro de Corpa, the first of the Martyrs to be killed! María Rosa was writing a history of Villabilla, a
village close to Madrid, and the city believed to be the birth place of Fr. Pedro de Corpa. She wanted to include in her book a chapter on the native son. María Rosa related that for four hundred years the people of Villabilla have maintained a devotion to Fr. Pedro de Corpa but there was no documentation to support the popular
devotion. They had no proof that Fr. Pedro de Corpa was indeed from Villabilla. Could I help her?
My first question was how she found my web site. María Rosa replied that a search of the Internet led her to the site. I was happy about that!
And, yes, I was able to connect María Rosa with Dr. John Worth who gave María Rosa the documentation she needed. It was neither a birth nor a baptismal certificate but a poem written shortly after the deaths of the Martyrs that names Villabilla as Fr. Pedro de Corpa's birthplace.
When I mentioned to Fr. Tom Murphy, OFM, about the "Villabilla connection," he was very pleased as he said it was news to him, and that a four-centuries devotion to Fr. Pedro de Corpa in his place of birth would assist the Cause of canonization!
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