In 1888 his mother offered him up to the Madonna as a special consecration and the parish priest Valentín Lledós helped him cultivate his religious calling.

[2] He was subjected to prolonged illnesses during his life which included open sores on his side that he had labelled "God's mercies" for well over a decade.

He died on 17 December 1901 at the school he established in Barcelona; his last words were: "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you."

[4] The formal introduction to the cause came under Pope Pius XII on 25 November 1956 and he was titled as a Servant of God as a subsequent result; the Congregation for Rites validated the informative process in Rome on 20 May 1967.

The late priest was named as Venerable on 12 July 1982 after Pope John Paul II confirmed that he had indeed lived a model life of heroic virtue.

The second miracle - the one for sainthood - was investigated in a diocesan process in Medellín that Archbishop Alberto Giraldo Jaramillo opened and closed in 1997 while it later received validation on 6 February 1998.

The miracle was the healing of Sister Manuela Burbano Ortiz - from his women's order - from comedocarcinoma infiltrating the right breast in a clinic in Colombia on 28 January 1995.