Francisco Palau
Francisco Palau y Quer, OCD (religious name Francisco of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, 29 December 1811 – 20 March 1872) was a Catalan Discalced Carmelite priest.
Growing up in the chaos of the Peninsular War in Spain, he followed both the life of a hermit and of a missionary preacher in the rural regions of Catalonia. He founded the School of Virtue, which was a model of catechetical teaching for adults, in Barcelona. In 1860 he founded a Carmelite Third Order congregation for both men and women, in the Balearic Islands. The legacy of this foundation is carried on by two religious congregations for women who serve throughout the world.
Working from his tradition of Carmelite spirituality, Palau tried to promote the need of basing the spiritual life on recognizing and returning God's love, as opposed to the rationalist doctrines of the theology of his day. He was beatified in 1988. One of his spiritual followers was his great-niece, Teresa of Jesus Jornet, who founded a religious congregation of Carmelite sisters dedicated to caring for the poor aged. She is honored as a saint.
In the Martyrology
- March 20 Blessed Francisco de Jesús María y José Palau y Quer, Discalced Carmelite priest, founder of the Institute of the Sisters of Missionary Carmelites