He started out as a contested king but by his death, he delivered back to Spain a massively expanded kingdom reclaimed from the invading Moors.  

Ferdinand III was born in 1201, at the Monastery of Valparaiso, to Alfonso IX, King of Leon, and Berengaria, daughter of Alfonso III, King of Castile, Spain.  

His mother, who was his father’s 2nd wife, became the heir to her father’s throne when her younger brother, Henry I, died.  She quickly surrendered it to her son, Ferdinand, when he was just 17.

His mother became his advisor and his father considered himself tricked.  The young king began his reign with a war against his father and a faction of the Castilian nobles.  The young king and his mother’s abilities proved too much and succeeded against his father and his allies.

It was during this time that the Moors had control of most of the South of Spain.  For centuries, it was a dark time for Christian Spain as fortresses, monasteries, and churches were ravaged.  In particular, the bells from the Basilica of Saint James, were stolen and taken away using Christian slaves, to be placed in a Mosque.

Ferdinand married Elisabeth of Swabia, as arranged by his mother.  They had 7 children.

He took as his counsellors, the wisest men in the State, saw to strict administration of justice, and took the greatest care not to overburden his subjects with taxation.

At the age of 29, his father died but delivered the kingdom to his older daughters.  Ferdinand contested the will and was successful in uniting the 2 kingdoms.

His wife died and he married Joan of Ponthieu.

His highest aims were the propagation of the Faith and liberation of Spain from the Moors.  In his wars against them, he took back vast amounts of territories, built Catholic churches, monasteries, and hospitals.  He encouraged the Dominican, Franciscan, Trinitarian, and Mercedarian Orders throughout.  He divided the conquered territories amongst the Church, knights, and the nobles.

He watched over the conduct of his soldiers, confiding more in their virtue than their valor, strictly fasted himself, wore a rough hairshirt, and often spent his nights in prayer.  He lived like a religious in cloister of his soldier’s camp.  

Him and his people entered each conquered city with a procession of a beautiful carriage, carrying a white statute of “Our Lady of the Kings” with the crowds spreading flowers in front of it as it passed.  After a Bishop purified the local church, he celebrated Mass.

After 500 years of use as a mosque, he converted one of the greatest of churches back into the Cathedral of Sevilla and retrieved the Bells of the Basilica of Saint James.

He died of a condition that caused excessive swelling in his body and he was buried in the great cathedral of Seville, before the image of the Blessed Virgin, clothed in the habit of the Third Order of Saint Francis.

Ferdinand’s sister was the mother of Saint Louis IX.

He is the patron saint of engineers.

His feast day is May 30.

For God’s Glory.

Contrite and humiliated, King Ferdinand lays down his royalty before the Divine Royalty of Jesus Christ: