Your social work IV

A flood of people arrive in the Vallcarca neighbourhood. They were dirt poor. The refuse of the industrial revolution. From the rural areas, too. With accumulated malnutrition, uneducated and weather-related diseases: pneumonia in winter, diphtheria, plague and typhus in summer. Lack of the essentials, in both seasons. Because they didn't have one, they didn't even have a doctor. They could not afford it. They emigrated, some to Barcelona to raise their standard of living. Extremely deteriorated, due to the poverty that envelops the rural world. Others - or, later, they themselves - moved up from the industrialised area. For their health is declining. Vallcarca, Barcelona's healthy area! Yesterday and today, isn't it?

Fr. Palau tried to awaken, in his environment, the perception of evil. He later confirmed it. He was convinced of this intervention in the vicissitudes of society, in history and human destinies. And he tried to fight it from two directions: his ministerial activity and his writings. As an exorcist, of course!

The book of Revelation, so much pondered by him, now acknowledges this. especially in the situation of many sick people.

In 19th century society, especially in Catalonia, there was a strong tendency to believe that all evil came from the devil. This sentiment was particularly prevalent among the simple, uneducated people. Nor was it absent from educated people, nor from people of the Church. Quite a few clergymen practised exorcisms. This is a good indication. The devil is present in the life and history of the Church. Yesterday and today.

From October 1864 onwards, the residents of Horta went to mass in the Penitents chapel. So did people from other towns and from the outskirts of Barcelona. All of them appreciated Father Francisco. They passed on their problems to him. They trusted him. And they expected help and relief from him. It pains his soul to contemplate so many evils together. He looked into the matter to see how he could help. And he discovered some possibilities! He does not intend to discard them.

Father François discerned, he discerned. He judged some cases of the sick to be doubtful. In others, he saw that they were suffering from melancholy or similar illnesses. This is when he encouraged them to engage in healing work, to increase their relationship with their environment. In others, he used the judgement of the doctors. He began by referring them to the doctor in Horta.

Although calls were not plentiful in his setting, our founder felt called by God to work for the relief and healing of health in his context. Yes, he began to exercise the ministry of exorcism. In him, such service became a personal vocation: It is embedded in the marrow of my bones. A thousand times I have cast it away, a thousand times it has returned with superior strength.. -So he told the bishop.

He was convinced that if the collectives were under the power of evil, it was due to the degradation of the human person. He identified ignorance, anguish, fear, suggestion, etc., as the basis for the development of evil. What an interweaving of all this, poor sick people!

In the weekly Ermitaño, which he edited - as we have already seen - from the very first issue, his concern about the pernicious action of evil, in its various manifestations, is evident. In society, in natural phenomena and in human behaviour. For him it was a reality beyond all doubt.

At the same time, different kinds of sick people began to be brought to him. They were numerous. They presented complex clinical pictures. They ranged from psychosomatic abnormalities, insane, unbalanced, psychopathic, disturbed, acute schizophrenia to those possessed by evil spirits.

Others were attacked by inner temptations to suicide.

Consequently the effects were diverse. Sometimes the exorcisms do nothing. In others, they recover their health and live normally from now on. In some cases, they could not be more positive. They are portentous healings. The affirmations do not come from Fr. Francisco alone, but from eyewitnesses.

Marginalised from society and by society. They asked him to alleviate their spiritual pains and physical pains - a challenge! What to do?

From 1865 onwards, our protagonist devoted himself almost exclusively to them. This occupation had two fronts: his ministerial activity and his writings. As an exorcist, of course! -Said beforehand-.

The dedication to the most needy was/is an urgent call to his daughters today: Reduce it, until it is eliminated in us and in our environment. In this way, truth, life and goodness will be intensified. The gospel, in short. Right?

Fr. Palau's objective in this committed mission was to make concrete the Church's fight against evil. This hindered its expansion, as well as to offer the gospel in its sphere. Furthermore, our founder established one of his foundations in Santa Cruz de Vallcarca.

Today, after staying there for a considerable time since the existence of Fr. Francisco, his daughters continue to live from such roots. From such ancestry and origins. And they reside happily. They feel fortunate to remain in that place blessed by the presence of their/our procreator and master. They also contemplate, included in the project, the human-spiritual dimension, that is to say, the substance of the whole Family, enlightened by him. Such a presence is nothing less than an important haven and therefore becomes the emblem of our lineage: Carmelite Missionary Sisters.