Francisco Palau, founder of the Carmelite Missionaries, was born in Aytona, Lerida, on 29 December 1811. Aware of his call to Teresian Carmel, he made his profession during the difficult moments of the religious life. His response was irrevocable.
I was not ignorant of the pressing danger to which I was exposing myself…nevertheless, I committed myself, through solemn vows, to a state of life whose rules I believe I could fulfil until death, independent of all human events and circumstances. By no means did I fear that the political revolts of society might become an obstacle to the fulfilment of my vows
WHO WAS HE?
He was born in Aytona, Lerida, Spain, on 29 December 1811; studied Philosophy and Theology at the Seminary of Lerida; professed as Discalced Carmelite on 15 November 1833. Because of political upheavals that racked Spain, he lived in exile to France from 1840 to 1851. He lived an intense solitary life in the vicinity of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Livron in 1843. In April 1851, he returned to Spain and was incardinated in the diocese of Barcelona, where he founded the “School of Virtues”, in November of the same year. The School was suppressed and he was confined to Ibiza on 9 April 1854, where he lived deeply the mystery of the Church. He founded the Congregation of the Carmelite brothers and sisters on the islands of Baleares. From January to March 1872, he wrote and published the Rules and Constitutions of the Third Order of Discalced Carmelite, which was printed in Barcelona. He died in Tarragona on 20 March 1872.
HOW WAS HE?
He was of medium height, with strong, well-marked features, that projected him to be a stern and severe figure. He loved silence, retirement, and solitude, and yet he often threw himself into the most varied and active kind of apostolate. He was an untiring preacher who considered the work of rechristianizing Spain and Europe as an authentic work of evangelization. His direction was one of the channels by which he handed on effectively his authentic spirit to the members of his religious Carmelite missionary family. His letters showed clearly the exquisite tact with which he knew how to guide his first disciples and spiritual daughters. His facet as catechist and reformist was made evident in his great work, the “School of Virtues”, in Barcelona.
He was also a writer, although it was more a result of pastoral need than of an intrinsic vocation to writing. He did, however, write many original pages which occupy a place of honour in the religious and spiritual literature of the nineteenth century Spain. His works were: Struggle of the Soul with God; The Solitary Life; Catechism of the Virtues; Month of Mary; The School of Virtues vindicated; The Church of God shaped by the Holy Spirit, andothers. Special mention should be made of the autobiographical pages scattered throughout these works which have more recently been brought together and published in two books, his Letters and My Relations with the Church. The 169 letters published are an essential source in knowing and understanding Father Francisco Palau. He was also generally thought of as an exorcist because of his daring and dangerous work on behalf of the outcasts who had recourse to him at Santa Cruz de Vallcarca, Barcelona.
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Writings
