BLESSED FRANCIS PALAU Y QUER, OCD (1810-1871) FOUNDER OF CARMELITE MISSIONARIES (CM)
INDEX
- Life
- Reading from Liturgy of Hours
- Summary of “Passion of the Church
- 15 Quotes on Humility
LIFE OF FRANCIS PALAU Y QUER
“They say that every man is a child of his own times. No one can choose the canvas on which he will paint his life, nor can he take credit or blame for being born into particular historical circumstances. They also say it’s what you do with what you’ve got that makes the difference. What sets the great personalities of history apart is their vital awareness of the possibilities that life holds out. They seize them and shape their destinies instead of behaving like puppets of circumstances” (A Passion for the Church, Eulogio Pacho).
The canvas onto which Blessed Francis Palau y Quer was painted dates back to nineteenth century Spain, a time of much religious and civil turmoil and persecution. Born in Aytona in the Spanish province of Lerida, Francis Palau y Quer was welcomed into the world by his parents on December 29, 1811, the seventh of nine children. Francis excelled in his studies and was a child of great desires and aspirations. At the age of seventeen he entered the Seminary of Lerida. Those were four hard years that demanded tenacity and application in meeting daily responsibilities. The discipline was strict and the fixed schedule cumbersome. He was an excellent student and unshakable in his initiatives.
After four years of seminary studies and formation Francis discerned that his calling was somewhere else, but where? Although this was not yet perfectly clear, he was convinced that he was called to the religious life. In the summer of 1832, the young Francis made a decisive choice: he would not return to the seminary. As a result he forfeited the scholarship he had obtained four years earlier. On November 14, 1832, he entered the Discalced Carmelites in Barcelona taking the habit of the Order and the name Francisco of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He was keenly aware that religious life in Spain and throughout Europe faced hard times, but he had no doubts about his vocation. Neither was he frightened at the risks he incurred.
On committing himself to this new way of life, the image of the Prophet Elijah, the father and inspiration of the first Carmelites, filled him with enthusiasm, as did the witness and lives of St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross. They became for him the ideal model of the life he wished to live; he cherished the Teresian-Elijan zeal and that Sanjuanist contemplative silence during his Novitiate. “When I made my religious profession,” Francis would write, “the revolution already had in hand the firebrand for burning all the religious establishments. . . . I was not ignorant of the pressing peril to which I exposed myself nor of the rules of foresight that would have saved me from it. Nevertheless, I dedicated myself by solemn vows to a state whose rules I believed I could practice until death, independently of all human events.” With clear interior conviction Palau made his solemn religious profession of vows and consecrated himself to God on November 15, 1833. It was also decided by the community that he should become a priest, which Francis accepted humbly, and again began studies in the seminary of Lerida. On February 22, 1834 he was ordained deacon.
In July of 1835, the impending wake of violence burst on Palau and his community when rabid crowds attacked the convents of Barcelona and set fire to them. Luckily they were all able to escape from death, but from then on life in community was completely disbanded. “Would it last for long?” they all asked themselves. Yes, the disbanded community was not to return during the lifetime of Francis Palau. So what was he to do? Overnight, the thread of his life was broken. Would he be able to mend it?
Hoping against hope, Francis lived as best he could his religious obligations while waiting to return to his established convent and community life. During this time, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Santiago Fort y Puig on April 1, 1836. He was barely 25 years old, a priest and religious expelled from his convent. Days, weeks, months and then years passed by. He soon realized that all hopes for returning to “ordinary” life was not to be. But even in this he saw the hand of Providence guiding his life.
He began by staying solidly set in the contemplative and apostolic foundations on which his life had been grounded as a Carmelite. He spent times of solitary prayer and then went out to preach to the people of Spain. The fame of the Spanish priest who led an austere life like that of John the Baptist soon drew people to him, and was the beginning of that which eventually led to the founding of the Carmelite Missionaries. Palau became for them father, master and guide. He was also to found his School of Virtue which would later be suppressed by the government, offering spiritual formation to the people of Spain. Imprisonment, expulsion and persecution would be his lot, yet he was unswerving in his fidelity to his mission and his faith.
Blessed Francis Palau had many mystical experiences of the Church as a bride, and she become the object of his love and for her he would dedicate his entire life. “I live and will live for the Church; I live and will die for her,” Palau exclaimed. The inner world of Father Francis revolved around the mysterious reality of the Church.
“Francis Palau was no different from the rest of men in being born a child of his times,” one biographer related. “What set him apart in that troubled age was his clear awareness, the eager way in which he studied the signs of his times, and his determined and creative response to them. He built for the future and built in ways that have stood the test of time. He fully realized his humanity and justly occupies a place among the great figures of the nineteenth century.”
(Source: http://www.carmelites.net)
From the spiritual writings of Blessed Francis Palau y Quer
The efficacy of prayer in favor of the Church
God in His providence has ordained not to cure our ills or grant us grace without the intervention of prayer. He wishes us to help in saving each other by means of our prayer (cf. Jas 5:16f). If the heavens showered down dew and the clouds rained the righteous One, if the earth opened to bring forth the Savior (cf. Is 45:8), it was God’s good pleasure that His coming should be preceded by the prayers of that singular Virgin who by the beauty of her virtues drew into her womb the uncreated Word of God.
The Redeemer came, and by constant prayer, He reconciled the world to the Father. If Christ’s prayer and the fruits of His redemptive work are to be applied to any nation or people, or if the gospel message is to enlighten them and they are to have someone to administer the sacraments, it is indispensable that someone or even many persons should have previously won them over and reconciled them to God by earnest entreaties and supplications, by prayers and sacrifices.
For the purpose, among others, the Eucharistic sacrifice is offered on our altars. This sacred Victim which we present to the Father every day, accompanied by our own petitions, is not simply destined to recall the memory of the life, passion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but also to oblige God in His goodness to show His graciousness in applying the graces of His Son’s redemption to the nation, province, city, village, or to whatever person or persons for whom the Mass is offered. It is precisely here that we plead with the Father for the redemption of the world, namely, for the conversion of the nations. Before the grace of redemption is applied to the world or, in other words, before the standard of the cross is lifted up among the nations, God the Father ordains that His only Son, made man, should plead with Him by means of ‘prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears’ (Heb 5:7), in the anguish of death and through the shedding of His blood, especially on the altar of the cross that was raised on Calvary.
In order that God might give His grace to those who do not or cannot ask it, or who do not wish to ask it, He enjoined us to pray for one another, so that we might be saved (Jas 5:16f). If God gave the grace of conversion to St. Augustine, it was due to the prayers of St. Monica; nor would the church have St. Paul, according to one of the fathers, were it not for the prayers of St. Stephen.
It is noteworthy in this context that the Apostles, who were sent to preach and to teach all nations, acknowledged that the results of their preaching sprang from prayer more than from their words. In fact, at the election of the seven deacons who were charged with external works of charity, they said: ‘But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word’ (Acts 6:4). Notice carefully that they say they would devote themselves first of all to prayer and only afterward to the ministry of the Word. For they would never convert any nation until prayer had first obtained the grace of its conversion.
Christ prayed throughout His entire life, whereas He spent only three years preaching. Since God does not distribute His graces to men except through prayer, because He wishes us to recognize Him as the source from which all good things flow; in like manner, He does not wish to save us from danger, or cure our wounds, or console us in affliction, except by means of this same exercise of prayer.
POINTS TO PONDER From the book “Francisco Palau y Quer: Passion for the Church” by Eulogio Pacho
Preface
“Fr. Palau was no different from all men in being born a child of his times. What set him apart in that troubled age was his clear awareness, the eager way in which he studied the sign of his times, and his determined and creative response to them. He built for the future and built in ways that have stood the test of time. He fully realized his humanity and justly occupies a place among the great figures of the nineteenth century.”
Chapter 1: AN AUSTERE BUT LIVELY FAMILY (1811-1828)
“An intense participation in parish life, frequent reception of the sacraments, and devotion to Our Lady formed the religious background against which Francisco Palau passed his childhood.”
“Although Francisco was still a child, he already wanted to be someone and to make something meaningful of his life.”
“Francisco thought long and hard about the education he was receiving: What was the purpose of it? What ideal should he follow.”
Chapter 2: THE DICIPLINE AND ROUTINE OF THE SEMINARY (1828-1832)
“Francisco at 17 had and answer and a cause to serve — He would dedicate his life to God and to the service of others in the priesthood.”
“By the standards of today, it would take a dose of heroism to survive the kind of life at the Seminary of Lerida. Study, common prayer, lessons, and group recreation passed in grim regularity. The early morning call cut deeply into the scant hours of sleep, and nourishment barely sufficed, and to top it all, they had to endure the acute and prolonged cold. Yet Francisco Palau accepted it all as implicit in his vocation and part of what he head to accept to fulfill his ambition and become a priest.”
“At 21, Francisco saw that his vocation was not to the priesthood, nor was it to Christian matrimony. He was convinced that he was called to religious life. He would later confess that he went to the cloister in search of a tangible love that would give meaning to his existence.”
CHAPTER 3: THE FLEDGLING CARMELITE (1832-1835)
“When Francisco took the religious habit as a Discalced Carmelite, he was aware that religious life in Spain and throughout Europe faced hard times, but he had no doubts about his vocation. Neither was he frightened by the risks he incurred. Fear never played a role in the life of Francisco Palau, not even when everything was at stake, including his life. His ideal was clear, his vocation definite and brought to maturity by suffering.”
“When I made my religious profession, the revolution already had in hand the firebrand for burning all the religious establishments. I was not ignorant of the oppressing peril to which I exposed myself nor of the rules of foresight that would have saved me from it. Nevertheless, I dedicated myself by solemn vows to a state whose rules I believed I could practice until death, independently of all human events.”
“Francisco confessed that when his superiors told him that he would have to accept priestly ordination, he did so, firmly convinced that such a dignity would in no way alienate him, from his religious profession.”
“Though he was aware of the responsibilities that had been conferred upon him and maintained a gravely serious attitude, he could barely hide the joy he felt in wearing the liturgical vestments.”
“I was a youth of 23 years when the revolution came and burnt my cloister. So great were my desires to see the object of my love without veils, face to face, that I took no care to leave unhurt from among the flames. My beloved came, gave me her hand and I came out unhurt from beneath the ruins of my convent.”
CHAPTER 4: HOPING AGAINST HOPE (1835-1840)
“Francisco conformed himself as best as he could to the rules of his religious profession. He did so by alternately helping in his native parish of St. Antolin as a deacon and retiring to the solitude of a cave 2 kilometers from Aytona.”
Pastoral Ministry and Contemplative Isolation are the complementary poles of his Teresian Carmelite vocation and it is around them that his life from then on was to revolve.”
“Fr. Palau accepted the priesthood without in any way renouncing his vocation as a Teresian Carmelite. He believed that a vocation, if genuine and solid, should be relevant in all circumstances.”
“In order to live in Carmel, only one thing was necessary: a vocation. I was as convinced of it then as I am now that…I did not need edifices that would soon fall down…, nor could I think that religious life would cease to be recognized by the Universal Church and b y its members.”
“Faithful to these principles, he dedicated himself generously to fulfilling whatever his vocation asked of him in his concrete circumstances.”
CHAPTER 5: THE BITTERNESS OF EXILE (1840-1851)
“Two things gave meaning to his life: the apostolate and the solitary or contemplative life. He was able to integrate them into his life in a perfect unity in which they alternately found expression with a certain singular naturalness.”
“Fr. Palau became father, master, and guide among groups which formed spontaneiously around him, in spite of their precarious situations.”
CHAPTER 6: THE SWEET TASTE OF VICTORY (1851-1854)
“Within months of beginning pastoral work in Barcelona, he has an in-depth understanding of the religious state of the city. It was plagued by evils that called out for more effective remedies than the ones traditionally offered. There was a need for a broad, deep renewal of pastoral a action. He set to work.”
“He saw that there was a need for adequate religious or Christian instruction and drew the battle line in the fight against skepticism and bigotry in the field of education.”
CHAPTER 7: STARTING OVER (1854-1860)
“Fr. Palau was not a man to give way to discouragement and dejection. Once again, he gave himself to contemplative solitude and to apostolic service and then again to retirement and silence. These activities became the poles of his existence during his exile in Ibiza. They were after all, the natural coordinates of his Carmelite vocation.”
“He spent endless hours in silence and meditation or went on interminable walks through the woods and fields.”
“His life in Ibiza centered on prayer, work, and retirement.”
“He found himself driven by questions like: What is the meaning of my life? Whom and what does it serve?”
“The stormy nights which he passed in that profound solitude resembled the darkness which he had felt spiritually during all those long years of fevered searching. But the dawn was not far off which would flood him with light and bring about his radical transformation. The vision of his supreme love, the figure of the Church in all her reality, was gradually taking shape. But he needed the final catalyst of immediate contact with the brethren, with the living members of the mystical body.”
“15 QUOTES ON HUMILITY”
Blessed Francisco Palau on Humility
1. When God orders, to believe oneself unable to carry out His orders and for this reason to abandon the arena is not humility but intolerable pride.
2. Jesus foresaw the adverse effects that pride, the vice that turned the very angels into demons, would have on the people that He had already founded and in order to banish it from His apostolate and from His Church, He performed an act of such deep humility as to wash His disciples feet
3. Do not quarrel with the world, do not defend yourself, keep silent, pray and reflect, and have pity on it. There you have, my daughter, the guideline of conduct to be observed in this world.
4. When you are reprimanded by a superior do you send forth the perfume of humility or do you turn into an object bristling with thorns because of your pride?
5. To become puffed up, conceited and proud is to adopt a montrous form
6. Pride puffs up a man, it exalts him and places him where he does not belong, makes him pretend to be the contrary of what he is and to boast of what he is not… we need a virtue that will bate our desires and appetites for worldly honor, glory, high office and greatness, and this virtue is humility
7. search for true humility in your soul. Do not delight to be treated the way a worthless sinner deserves. Be happy when you are insulted. Swallow and eat with pleasure and good appetite, contempt and disgrace.
8. You have to face yourself; humble such a formidable enemy as you are to yourself; start a holy war against yourself with actions, deeds and words, and when you have pvercome the most dreadful of your rivals, when you have humbled yourself, oh, then you will be another person!
9. It is fit that you set an example of humility and obedience. My daughter, to seve, to be the last of all, to humble yourself, this is what should accredut you, and you must rule obeying and humbling yourself, and you will become the first by becoming the last.
10. There is something in you that will keep you humble for the rest of your life, namely your capacity nad freedom to sin, your weakness in doing good and your inclination to evil, your past and present miseries.
11. I am impotence for good, and capacity for evil; this is what I am, this is what I have, this is mine.
12. God allows your defects to humble you. Try to correct them, counting on the assistance of grace.
13. Humble yourself more and more, foght against your defects, pray and hope in the grace and goodness of my Father.
14. The defects that humble you, are the very shadows that follow you everywhere and over them shines my image–the Church–and they are in you like the quicksilver in the glass. They protect you from your presumption and pride, and keep you humble.
15. You should not fear your defects as much as your pride which prevents the humbling of oneself in confessing them.
