Francisco Coll Guitart was born in Gombrèn (Ripoll) in 1812 as the tenth and last son of a wool carder.

As was customary among poor seminarians, he earned food and lodging in a country house, in exchange for helping with the literary and religious instruction of the children of the family.

[3] Coll's pastoral mission was all the more difficult due to the lack of social life and the support of fellow friars that existed before the suppression of the religious orders.

From 1839 to 1849, he was curate at Moià, Catalonia, Spain, where he started charitable organizations to feed and house refugees from the Carlist Wars.

For more than thirty years he exercised his ministry, first in the parishes of Artés and Moyá, and then as a missionary in various dioceses of Catalonia.

After founding the first centers in Catalonia, the congregation worked in the mining areas of Asturias, and the towns of Castile and La Mancha.

Guitart's dedication to the Dominican life even in the face of impossible odds was a remarkable character trait.

[6] In 1958 a miraculous healing of a Léonese woman (Justa Barrientos) was attributed to the intercession of Francisco Coll Guitart.

In 2008, a second miracle was accepted, leading to his canonisation in Saint Peter's Square in a celebration led by Pope Benedict XVI on 11 October 2009.