Fray Pedro Botía

Fray Pedro de Jesús was born in Mula as Pedro Botia in 1633 and as a young man he was taken by relatives to live in the village of El Balate, in the orchard of Mula, having lost a large part of his family after the plague epidemic 1648. That same year, while shepherded through the orchard, she appears to him the Child Jesus of Bethlehem, who after transmitting the message to him “Take the cross and follow me”, causes Pedro Botía to enter into the Franciscan order, becoming Fray Pedro de Jesús .

After living in different convents of the diocese, he decides to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Places until a second appearance of the image of El Niño, which asks him to return to Spain, causes his return. On the way back, he comes into contact with aristocrats who introduce him to the court and meet Don Juan José de Austria and become his counselor and confessor until his death.