28 Facts About Francisco Palau

Francisco Palau y Quer, OCD was a Catalan Discalced Carmelite priest.

Francisco Palau founded the School of Virtue, which was a model of catechetical teaching for adults, in Barcelona.

Francisco Palau was born on 29 December 1811 in Aitona, Lerida, the 7th of the nine children of Joseph Palau and Maria Antonia Quer, who were fervent royalists and devoted Catholics.

Francisco Palau was baptized that same day in keeping with local custom.

Francisco Palau was born into a period of widespread hunger and chaos due to the devastation wrought by the French invasion of Spain, which had reached the region the previous year.

The entire Francisco Palau family was active in the parish life and fervent in the reception of the sacraments.

At the age of 14, Francisco Palau decided to become a priest.

Francisco Palau was enrolled in the diocesan seminary of that city in October 1828, where he studied philosophy and theology.

Francisco Palau professed solemn religious vows in the Discalced Carmelite Order on 15 November 1833.

Francisco Palau was aware of the situation but courageous, and he never retracted his option.

Francisco Palau continued his studies of theology at the Barcelona priory.

The Spanish government abolished religious communities at that point and Francisco Palau continued his life of asceticism in his hometown, where he alternated between solitude and apostolic activities.

Francisco Palau would spend periods of solitude living in the caves of the region, in the pattern of the Desert Fathers.

Francisco Palau initially settled in Perpignan, later moving to a cave in the Gorge of Galamus, near Lesquerde, where he lived until 1842.

Francisco Palau then moved to the region of Montauban, where he continued to live his solitary life in the Grotto of the Holy Cross in Livron, and then in Cambayrac.

Francisco Palau began to inspire groups of men and women to live similar lifestyles of solitude, giving them direction in their quest.

Francisco Palau was accused by the local government authorities of upsetting the public order and returned to France the following year.

Francisco Palau initially settled in Caylus, Tarn-et-Garonne, where he received a hostile reception.

Francisco Palau returned to Spain on 13 April 1851, after a Concordat had been signed between the Spanish government and the Holy See.

Unable to live again with his Carmelite brothers, Francisco Palau made himself available to the Archbishop of Barcelona, Josep-Domenec Costa i Borras, who appointed him as the spiritual director of the local seminarians.

Francisco Palau found an islet, a towering rock, El Vedra, near Ibiza and, needing solitude, he used to retire and pray there, seeking God's will.

Francisco Palau established a hermitage in Es Cubells where he enthroned the image of Our Lady of the Virtues, establishing the first Marian sanctuary on the island, and promoting devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary among the islanders.

Francisco Palau preached popular missions and spread veneration of Our Lady wherever he went.

Francisco Palau started to write Mis relaciones con la Iglesia, a sort of autobiographical journal, partly written in the idyllic solitude of El Vedra, transmitting his experience of the Church conceived as God and neighbors.

Francisco Palau even created a project for a religious order dedicated exclusively to that ministry.

Francisco Palau died there ten days later at 60 years of age, assisted by the Sisters he had founded and two other Discalced friars.

Francisco Palau was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 24 April 1988.

Francisco Palau spent his life in spreading the Gospel among his brothers and sisters and in fostering among them a vivid awareness of their membership in the mystical body of Christ.