Blessed Francisco Palau y Quer: a lover of the Church

Synthèse :

Francisco Palau y Quer was born in 1811 near Lerida, in northern Spain, into a modest family. His parents were deeply Catholic and he was baptised at birth. From an early age, he was noted for his brilliant academic abilities. He won a scholarship to attend the seminary, where he studied for three years, before turning away from the diocesan priesthood and choosing to enter the convent of the Discalced Carmelites in Barcelona in October 1832. He was given the name Brother Francisco of Jesus-Mary-Joseph. He was ordained a deacon in January 1834.

When the King of Spain died in 1833, a particularly violent civil war broke out in Spain, pitting the supporters of his daughter Isabella - appointed during her lifetime by the deceased king to succeed him, with the help of the regent Maria-Christina - against the late king's brother Carlos. Against this backdrop, anti-clerical measures were introduced and a decree abolishing male religious orders was promulgated. In July 1835, the convent of the Discalced Carmelites in Barcelona was stormed and the buildings set on fire. Francisco and one of his religious brothers were imprisoned, before being released.

Francisco was ordained a priest in April 1836 in his native region, although he still hoped to lead a conventual life, which would never be possible again. In a life interspersed with periods of eremitism, he worked as an apostolic missionary, and became a popular preacher. He settled in Lérida in 1837.

But the anticlerical violence continued and, to escape persecution, Father Francisco de Jesus-Mary-Joseph was forced into exile in France in 1840, initially in Perpignan. He often stayed in mountain caves to lead a hermit's life inspired by the Carmelite Fathers. Two years later, he moved to the diocese of Montauban. He then settled in Caylus, in the Tarn-et-Garonne region, and founded two small communities with disciples attracted by his reputation. These were a community of men gathered around him, and a community of women whom he spiritually directed. But these communities were criticized and suspected, and Father Palau was forced to leave France.

He returned to Barcelona in May 1851. Like his confreres, he was forced to live the life of a secular priest. Still working with his spiritual daughters, he founded the School of Virtue in November 1851, where he taught the basics of Christian doctrine to help people act in good conscience. The School was a great success, and at the same time he wrote articles for a local newspaper about the School's activities. Unfortunately, with the situation in Spain still very unstable, the School was suspected of spreading subversive ideas, and when a workers' strike broke out in March 1854, the School was accused of inciting a popular uprising. The authorities ordered its closure and forced its director into exile in Ibiza. This was followed by a period of a "night of faith", during which he devoted himself to prayer, even though he was regularly unable to restrain his apostolic zeal on the island. In December 1859, he sent a petition to Queen Isabella II of Spain, asking her to lift his sentence and providing her with proof that it was unfounded, which was accepted by royal decree in July 1860.

After a mystical vision, Father Palau understood his calling. He spent the last twelve years of his life on apostolic missions in Madrid, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. He also took on the role of exorcist, which led to setbacks with the ecclesiastical authorities. At the same time, he interspersed these periods of intense ecclesiastical activity with periods of retreat and became the spiritual father of small eremitical groups. As the Concordat of 1851 no longer authorised pure regular orders, he founded male and female orders that led a combined life of prayer and apostolate. His founding work finally took shape in two congregations: the Tertiary Carmelite Brothers of Charity, divided into six communities between the Balearic Islands and Catalonia, and the Tertiary Sisters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Teresa between Catalonia and Aragon. The two orders were officially recognised by the superiors of the Discalced Carmelites in 1867, and Father Palau became their director, the culmination of his life's work. He founded a newspaper, El Ermitano, in 1868, in which he wrote about the Church and freedom in society. He then worked on the constitution and publication of the rules of the Third Order of Discalced Carmelites. He died on 20 March 1872, having contracted typhus from the sick, who were assisted by one of his most famous spiritual daughters, Juana Gratias.

The male branch of the Third Order of Discalced Carmelites was decimated during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, but the female branch survived in two communities: the Missionary Carmelites and the Teresian Missionary Carmelites. An association of lay faithful living according to the spirituality of Don Palau was founded in 1987 under the name of Secular Missionary Carmel, recognised as an international association of the faithful of pontifical right in 1996.

Aller plus loin :

Heralds of the Gospel's article "Blessed Francisco Palau y Quer – Mystical Espousal with the Church" by Sister Clarissa Ribeiro de Sena, EP

En savoir plus :

• The Life of Solitude: Finding God in the Solitude of Francisco Palau by Father Palau y Quer, Independently published (March 28, 2024)
• Father Palau y Quer, My relationship with the Church.
• The Catechism of Virtues: The Teachings of Blessed Francisco Palau y Quer by Saul Cross, Independently published (June 25, 2023)
• On the Prophecies for Our Time website, the article " Blessed Francisco Palau y Quer (1811 - 1872): the mission of Elijah will restore human society ".