Francesc Xavier Butinyà i Hospital (April 16, 1834 in

Banyoles Banyoles () is a city of 20,168 inhabitants (2021) located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia, Spain. The town is the capital of the Catalan ''comarca'' " Pla de l'Estany". Although an established industrial centre many of th ...

– December 18, 1899 in

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

) was a Spanish

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

from

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, teacher and writer and the founder of two

religious congregation A religious congregation is a type of Religious institute (Catholic), religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from Religious order (Catholic), religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – i ...

s of Sisters. He was the son of a prosperous factory owner. Nevertheless, at the height of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

in Spain, he was an early proponent of the natural connection of the Christian faith with the working class, who were suffering in miserable working and living conditions. On January 10, 1874 he founded the

of the Servants of St. Joseph in

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, Spain, together with Saint Bonifacia Rodríguez y Castro. She was from a very poor background and had lived supporting herself as a

ropemaker A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similarly ...

, when she met him. The congregation they founded was to live in the same manner as Jesus and St. Joseph, in their home in

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

, while simultaneously helping their neighbors, especially women, realize the realities of their lives in the light of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

, that they might be free and critical members of their society. In April of that same year, as a result of the

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, ...

decrees of the

First Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), historiographically referred to as the First Spanish Republic (), was the political regime that existed in Spain from 11 February 1873 to 29 December 1874. The Republic's founding ensued after the abdication of King ...

, he was expelled from Spain along with the entire

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

, of which he was a member. He continued to support the community in Salamanca through correspondence. After the fall of the Republic at the end of the year and the re-establishment of the

Spanish monarchy The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The Spanish monarchy is constitu ...

, he was able to return. At that time, he settled in his native region of

. He continued his preaching of his vision of a

proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist ph ...

Catholicism, even though the

hierarchy A hierarchy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

sought to re-establish its position as a bulwark of stability as it had been for centuries past. He remained in correspondence with Mother Bonifacia during this time, urging her to come to Catalonia to establish communities of the Servants of St. Joseph there. This she was unable to do at the time, partly due to the still unsettled times. As a consequence, in February 1875 Butinyà founded several houses of Religious Sisters himself in that region. He continued to urge Rodríguez to come and establish a formal connection of these communities with the original community in Salamanca which she headed. The Reverend Mother finally set out for Catalonia in 1882 for this purpose. During a stay in Zaragoza to consult with Butinyà, while on her way back to Salamanca, Mother Bonifacia received a letter from the community in Salamanca, which was signed by a member there who called herself the

Religious Superior In a hierarchy or tree structure of any kind, a superior is an individual or position at a higher level in the hierarchy than another (a "subordinate" or "inferior"), and thus closer to the apex. General A superior generally has the power t ...

of the community. Subsequent efforts at reconciliation with that community proved fruitless, and Rodríguez had to start over in another city. As another result of this chain of events, the communities Butinyà had founded in Catalonia decided not to proceed with any union with the Castilian communities. They formed themselves into a new congregation, the Daughters of St. Joseph in 1885. On November 15, 2006, at the joint petition of the two Religious Congregations of Sisters he had founded, the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

in Rome accepted the request to start the process of Fr. Butinyà's

canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon ca ...

Published works

* ''Un tractat de mecànica. Observacions meteorològiques. Butlletí mensual Observatori de l'Havana'' (1860) * ''La Venjança del Martre: Peça de Sant Martirià'' (1996) ''Introducció i notes Júlia Butinyà. Centre d’Estudis Comarcals de Banyoles'' (1871) * ''Les Migdiades del mes de Maig'' (1871) * ''La Devota Artesana'' (1878) * ''Un granet de mostassa'' (1879) * ''Constitucions de les Serventes de Sant Josep'' (1881) * ''Joia del cristià'' (1882) * ''Algunes flors del jardí obrer'' (1895)

External links

*Congregació Religioses Filles de Sant Jose

*website of the Catalan Jesuits "Life of Francesc Xavier Butinyà

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butinya i Hospital, Francesc Xavier 1834 births 1899 deaths People from Girona Academic staff of the University of Salamanca Jesuits from Catalonia Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries 19th-century Spanish Roman Catholic theologians Writers from Catalonia Catalan-language writers Roman Catholic activists Spanish anti-poverty advocates Founders of Catholic religious communities Spanish Servants of God 19th-century venerated Christians 19th-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests

Published works

See also

External links