Born in 1199, Fernando III was the King of Castile , which he got from his mother and King of Leon, which he got from his father. (His parents divorced in 1204.) In 1230, he united the two kingdoms, which had been in rivalry for many years. These are places that later merged with other areas to become Spain .

He was born at the monastery of Valparaiso in Zamora . He spent much of his reign fighting the moros. Fernando III was King who “never knew vice or hate.” In battles he always carried with him an image of the Virgin “and would always take time at night to commune in prayer with God, in adoration of the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary.

A hunter, an equestrian, an excellent sportsman, lover of the arts and a good soldier, he was, above all, a "Gentleman of Christ," a lamb of Mary. Called the "Defender of the Church and of the Earth," King Fernando exchanged his crown with that of the saints in heaven, asking forgiveness for those who lived in sin.

He died on May 30, 1252 and his uncorrupted body now lies in the cathedral of Seville , the biggest in Spain and one of the many edifices he constructed in thanksgiving for all the battles won as a Crusader against the moors.