Quote of the day, 7 November: Blessed Francis Palau

That same night, when I withdrew to my cave, I saw a shadow at my side; and the shadow had a form, and it represented a reality. The form was all illuminated like the light of the moon. And the shadow spoke to me, and said:

[The shadow:] “Am I the one you seek and call?”

[Francis:] “Ah, I cannot be content with forms and shadows.”

[The shadow:] “Yes, it is true,” she replied, “but reality comes to you represented through shadows, enigmas, images and forms; without them, it cannot come to you, nor can you see it while your eyes are of mortal flesh.”

[Francis:] “What a miserable condition!”

[The shadow:] “Yes, accept it.”

[Francis:] “Who are you?”

[The shadow:] “I am your Beloved.”

[Francis:] “A shadow! A form?”

[The shadow:] “Yes, the form of your Beloved.”

[Francis:] “Without reality?”

[The shadow:] “Do you believe in me?”

[Francis:] “Yes, I believe in you.”

[The shadow:] “If you believe in me, behind the shadow you will always see the reality; in the form, the thing represented; in the idea, the being; in the image and likeness, the immense beauty that has stolen all the affections of your heart. Faith in me is a light that, radiating upon your understanding, will reveal to you more and more, behind the shadows, ideas, forms and images of a woman ever-virgin, who I am, and my love for you.”

[Francis:] “Are you a woman?”

[The shadow:] “Yes, I am a woman appearing as a shadow, formed in your understanding. In your understanding I exist as the idea of woman; in your imagination, as a form; in heaven, as a reality.”

[Francis:] “You are a young woman, beautiful, without blemish or wrinkle, always chaste, always pure, always virgin. And are you in heaven?”

[The shadow:] “Yes, in body and soul, in glorified flesh.”

[Francis:] “What is your name?”

[The shadow:] “I am Mary, the Mother of God.”

Blessed Francis Palau y Quer

Mis relaciones con la Iglesia
Autograph manuscript, 14 April 1864

Note: Blessed Francis Palau y Quer was born to José Palau y Antonia Quer on 29 December 1811 in Aytona (Lerida) Spain. Founder of the “School of Virtue”—which was a model of catechetical teaching—at Barcelona, he suffered much during his life and ministry. While in exile at Ibiza in the Balearic Islands, often Blessed Palau would row to the rugged island of Es Vedra and pray in the solitude of a cave. He began to write his autobiographical journal, Mis relaciones con la Iglesia (My relations with the Church) in that solitude.

Palau y Quer, F 1977, Mis relaciones con la Iglesia, Carmelitas Misioneras, Rome, viewed 5 November 2025, https://www.carmelitasmisioneras.org/download/mis-relaciones-con-la-iglesia/#.

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Sister Vanesa Guerrero of the Purity of Mary Sisters looks out over the Balearic Sea at Valldemosa, Mallorca. Image credit: Vanesa Guerrero, rpm / Cathopic

#BlessedFrancisPalauYQuer #BlessedVirginMary #journal #MotherOfGod #mysticalExperience

7 November: Blessed Francis of Jesus Mary Joseph Palau y Quer

November 7
BLESSED FRANCIS OF JESUS MARY JOSEPH
PALAU Y QUER
Priest

Optional Memorial

Born in Aytona, Lerida, on December 29, 1811, Blessed Francis Palau y Quer entered the Order in 1832 and was ordained priest in 1836. Civil turmoil forced him to live in exile and outside his community. On his return to Spain in 1851, he founded his “School of Virtue”—which was a model of catechetical teaching—at Barcelona. The school was suppressed and he was unjustly exiled to Ibiza (1854-1860) where he lived at El Vedra in solitude and experienced mystically the vicissitudes of the Church. While in the Balearic Islands he founded the Congregations of Teresian Carmelite Missionary Brothers and Sisters (1860-1861). He preached popular missions and spread love for Our Lady wherever he went. He died at Tarragona on March 20, 1872, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1980.

Common of Pastors or Men Religious

Office of Readings

Second Reading
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.

Responsory

℟ Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For whoever asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; whoever knocks, is admitted. * The prayer of the righteous has great power in its effects.
℣ Pray for one another that you may find healing. * The prayer of the righteous has great power in its effects.

Prayer

O God,
through your Spirit
you filled Blessed Francis, your priest,
with singular gifts of prayer and apostolic charity.
Through his intercession
grant that Christ’s beloved Church,
refulgent with the beauty of the Virgin Mother Mary,
may be an ever more effective universal sacrament of salvation.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit
God, for ever and ever.

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.

#BlessedFrancisPalauYQuer #DiscalcedCarmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #optionalMemorial #priest

Quote of the day, 20 March: Blessed Francis Palau

Not without terror, fear, and trembling did I draw near until I reached the foot of her throne and prostrated myself on the floor of her temple. Then, rising to her feet, she said to me:

– Missionary, where do you come from?

– I come from Barcelona, Spain, Catalonia.

– What do you ask?

– Lady, the prince of darkness, heavily armed with the crowns, horns, claws, and teeth of all the political powers of the earth that he has seduced—manifest in the possessed—defies your power with horrific blasphemies. The people, full of trust in your love and in your power over demons, bring us the possessed; yet Satan resists our power. I have been sent to preach the Gospel to the people enslaved by his dominion. I am committed to battle him for the salvation of souls. What instructions do you give me, and what weapons shall I use to fight him?

– Missionary, go forth: “Preach the Gospel to every creature. Cast out demons, heal the sick.” This is the command I give you: “Cast out demons. Behold, I have given you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the strength of the enemy.” Tell Pius IX what you have seen and heard, and return in peace to your mission [cf. Mt 10:8; Lk 10:19].

“Most Holy Father, if these visions have neither object nor reality, if they are but the delusions and illusions of my mind, then they are born of the anguish that consumes me at the triumph of God’s enemies. By communicating them to Your Holiness, I fulfill a duty imposed by my love for the Supreme Pontiff and for the holy Church, of which he is the visible head on earth.”

Blessed Francis Palau y Quer

Vision in Rome, 8 December 1866
Mis Relaciones con la Iglesia, 19

Note: We recall the death of Blessed Francis at Tarragona on 20 March 1872.

Palau, F 1977, Mis Relaciones Con La Iglesia, Carmelitas Misioneras, Roma

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Photographer Alejandro Tapia captures this stunning image of the islet of Es Vedrà near Ibiza in the Balearic Islands. In 1855, Blessed Francis sought refuge here after his exile from Catalonia (Image credit: Alejandro Tapia / Adobe Stock, stock photo). The statue of Francis Palau y Quer stands in the chapel of the Teresian Carmelite Missionary Sisters in Tarragona, Spain (Image credit: bocachete / Wikimedia Commons, public domain).

🔥 Blessed Francis Palau y Quer was consumed with zeal for souls and trust in God’s power.

How does his vision challenge us today? Are we bold enough to preach, heal, and fight the darkness around us?

💬 Let’s reflect together—share your thoughts in the comments!

#BlessedFrancisPalauYQuer #church #Gospel #missionary #mysticalExperience #Satan #vision

Quote of the day, 26 December: Blessed Francis Palau

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 5:16). 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 [Acts 7:60].

Blessed Francis Palau y Quer

From his spiritual writings

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.

Featured image: The Stoning of St. Stephen in the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Prague. This mosaic by S. G. Rudl was executed in 1896. Image credit: Renáta Sedmáková / Adobe Stock (Stock photo)

#BlessedFrancisPalauYQuer #grace #prayer #salvation #StPaul #StStephenMartyr

Holy Church!… For twenty years, I searched for you: I looked at you and did not recognize you… You are my Beloved! You are the sole object of my love!… I have now found you. I love you; you know it. My life is the least I can offer in response to your love….

Blessed Francis of Jesus Mary Joseph Palau y Quer

In the life of Blessed Francis Palau y Quer, we find the portrait of a man wholly dedicated to the Church as the living Mystical Body of Christ. His vision of the Church was not simply as an institution or community but as his ‘Beloved,’ a spiritual mystery that unites God and humanity in a profound communion of love. This understanding would lead Francis on a remarkable journey—from a young Carmelite facing persecution to an exile seeking solitude, and finally, to a founder and missionary who poured his life into the service of the Church he adored.

Blessed Francis’s vocation was marked by both solitude and service. Though he was forced into exile in France, he never wavered in his Carmelite spirituality. Instead, his time of solitude allowed him to draw closer to the Church, a devotion he chronicled in his spiritual journal, Mis Relaciones (My Relationships with Daughter of God, the Church, 1864–1867). In it, he wrote passionately of his search for the Church as his “sole object of love,” a love he would later fulfill by founding the Teresian Carmelite Missionary Sisters (CMT), a congregation devoted to the Church, rooted in Eucharistic prayer, and inspired by Mary as the “perfect and finished image of the Church.”

The CMT Sisters share in Palau’s vision of the Church as a “mystery of communion.” Their specific charism is to “contemplate, express, and announce the beauty of the Church.” They live out this mission as a family of sisters, dedicated to prayer, apostolic service, and the Marian spirituality that Blessed Francis championed. For them, Mary is the model of perfect communion with God and neighbor, and they seek to mirror her devotion in their apostolic lives.

Embodying a profound ecclesial spirituality, the CMT Sisters strive to make each of their communities a “small Church,” a visible and credible witness to the beauty and unity of the Church. Through their pastoral care and missionary work, they accompany people in their spiritual journey, presenting the message of Jesus Christ as a life project and a response to life’s deepest questions. This mission is shared not only by the religious sisters but also by lay collaborators who draw from the same Palautian charism, joining together to advance justice, peace, and solidarity within society.

The love that Blessed Francis cultivated for the Church is a reminder to all of us: to see the Church not only as a community of believers but as a living, divine mystery that calls us into intimate communion with Christ and with one another. In his life and legacy, we witness a love affair with the Church that transformed both his own soul and the lives of those he served.

We invite you to listen to our latest podcast episode below to hear more about Blessed Francis Palau’s inspiring journey, writings, and unique vision for the Church.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_BsvsXutP0

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Photographer Alejandro Tapia captures this stunning image of the islet of Es Vedrà near Ibiza in the Balearic Islands. In 1855, Blessed Francis sought refuge here after his exile from Catalonia (Image credit: Alejandro Tapia / Adobe Stock, stock photo). The statue of Francis Palau y Quer stands in the chapel of the Teresian Carmelite Missionary Sisters in Tarragona, Spain (Image credit: bocachete / Wikimedia Commons, public domain).

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/11/07/s2ep31-palau/

#BalearicIslands #BlessedFrancisOfJesusMaryJoseph #BlessedFrancisPalauYQuer #ChurchAsAPerson #love #mystic #Podcast #solitude #TeresianCarmeliteMissionaries #vision

Holy Church! Twenty years I had been looking for you: I looked at you and I did not know you, because you were hidden under the dark shadows of an enigma, of tropes and metaphors, and I could not see you except under the species of a being incomprehensible to me; that is how I looked at you and that is how I loved you.

It is you, O holy Church, that I love! You are the only object of my love! Ah, since I have been grieving for you for so many years, why did you cover yourself and hide from my sight?

Blessed Francis of Jesus Mary Joseph Palau y Quer

Mis relaciones con la Iglesia, Chap. III, no. 1

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/11/06/palau-20yrs/

#BlessedFrancisPalauYQuer #church #FranciscoPalauYQuer #hidden #journal #love

November 7
BLESSED FRANCIS OF JESUS MARY JOSEPH
PALAU Y QUER
Priest

Optional Memorial

Born in Aytona, Lerida, on December 29, 1811, Blessed Francis Palau y Quer entered the Order in 1832 and was ordained priest in 1836. Civil turmoil forced him to live in exile and outside his community. On his return to Spain in 1851, he founded his “School of Virtue”—which was a model of catechetical teaching—at Barcelona. The school was suppressed and he was unjustly exiled to Ibiza (1854-1860) where he lived at El Vedra in solitude and experienced mystically the vicissitudes of the Church. While in the Balearic Islands he founded the Congregations of Teresian Carmelite Missionary Brothers and Sisters (1860-1861). He preached popular missions and spread love for Our Lady wherever he went. He died at Tarragona on March 20, 1872, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1980.

Common of Pastors or Men Religious

Office of Readings

Second Reading
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.

Responsory

R./ Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For whoever asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; whoever knocks, is admitted. * The prayer of the righteous has great power in its effects.
V./ Pray for one another that you may find healing. * The prayer of the righteous has great power in its effects.

Prayer

O God,
through your Spirit
you filled Blessed Francis, your priest,
with singular gifts of prayer and apostolic charity.
Through his intercession
grant that Christ’s beloved Church,
refulgent with the beauty of the Virgin Mother Mary,
may be an ever more effective universal sacrament of salvation.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit
God, for ever and ever.

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/11/06/palaulit24/

#BlessedFrancisPalauYQuer #DiscalcedCarmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #optionalMemorial #priest