San Sebastián de Aparicio

San Sebastián de Aparicio is a community in the municipality of Puebla, on the northern edge of the city next to the Tlaxcala line, about 8 km north of the historic centre in a straight line. From above, its houses sit among long narrow fields and ravines.

The village takes its name from its patron, the Blessed Sebastián de Aparicio, a Franciscan friar who died in nearby Puebla. Born in La Gudiña, Galicia, in 1502, he reached New Spain in 1533 and settled in Puebla, then a small settlement surrounded by roaming cattle. He caught and tamed them, which is why he is called America's first charro. Seeing goods carried on the backs of Indigenous porters, he built ox-carts like those of his homeland, won permission to improve the roads and started Mexico's first wheeled transport service; in 1542 he moved to Mexico City and opened the road to the silver mines of Zacatecas.

Twice widowed, he gave away his property and in 1574 joined the Franciscan order. As alms-collector for the Tecali convent he travelled the roads of Puebla, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Mexico, and at Tlatelolco he began the custom of blessing new vehicles. He died in Puebla on 25 February 1600 and was beatified on 17 May 1789.