![[Saint John holy card]](saintjal.jpg "20kb jpg holy card of the Martyrs of China, artist unknown; if you have information on this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
John Alcober Figuero John Figuero
30 December 28 September as one of the Martyrs of China
Posing as a water seller so he could move around the city, he still had to work in secret; he once had to be smuggled into a house in a dying man's coffin in order to administer Last Rites. To escape detection, he once climbed into a tree; realizing he would need to spend the night there, he began saying his evening prayers; he was joined in prayer by his friend Blessed Francis Serrano who was hiding in the same tree.
In 1746, one of his flock received a vision of Our Lady of the Rosary. She appeared so beatific in death that a crowd gathered to see her body; the press of visitors prevented John from making his usual quick escape, and he was arrested. He, Francis Serrano and Father Francis Diaz were tortured for the location of Bishop Blessed Peter Sanz and Father Joachim Royo, who were known to be in the province; these two surrendered to end the torture of their brothers. Martyred with Saint Peter Sanz, Blessed Francis Serrano, and other Dominicans.
Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate Dictionary of Saints, by John Delaney Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson