Blessed Francisco of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, OCD (†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 to base 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 on April 24, 1988, by Pope John Paul II.
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