Blessed Francis Coll

On 11 October, 2009, the Church shall proclaim another Dominican friar to sainthood. Blessed Francis Coll, a Dominican priest and founder of the Dominican sisters of the Anunciata. Here is a part of the homily of Pope John Paul II during the beatification of this Spanish priest some thirty years ago:


From the Homily of Pope John Paul II on the Beatification of Bl. Francis Coll, April 29, 1979.

3. The second motive of ecclesial joy is the beatification of another figure which the Church would like to exult and propose to people of God for imitation: Father Francis Coll. A new glory of the great Dominican family, no less that of the Diocesan family of Vich. A religious and at the same time a model of apostle,—who for a greater part of his life spent among the clergy of Vich.

He was one of those ecclesial personalities who in the second part of the XIX century, enriched the Church with new religious foundations. He was a son of the Spanish soil, of Cataluña, which had sprouted so much generous souls that gave given a fruitful heritage to the Church.

On our case, the heritage is concretized in the great and tireless work of Gospel preaching which culminated in the foundation of the institute known today as the Dominican Sisters of the Anunciata, who re now here in great numbers to celebrate their Father founder, in union with so many members of the of the different works which the Congregation had given life.

We cannot present how a complete picture of the new Blessed: an admirable mirror —as you can observe through the reading of his biography— of his heroic virtues, human, Christian and religious which had made him worthy of praise and imitation in our earthly pilgrimage. Let us limit ourselves to briefly discuss the most salient aspect of this ecclesial figure.

What is most impressive when getting close to the life of this new Blessed is his evangelizing concern. In a very difficult moment, in which the social unrest and persecutory laws against the Church forced him to abandon his convent and live permanently outside of it, Father Coll, placed himself over and above human , sociological and political inspirations and consecrated himself entirely to this so astounding task of preaching. Whether in his parochial ministry, especially in Artés and Moyá, as in the later phase of as an apostolic missionary. Fr. Coll showed himself as a true catechist, an evangelizer in the best tradition of the Order of Preachers.

In his countless apostolic journeys throughout Cataluña. Through the memorable popular missions and other forms of preaching, Fr. Coll —Mosén Coll for many— was a transmitter of faith, a sower of hope, a preacher of love, of peace, of reconciliation among those whose passion, war and hatred had maintained separated. A true man of God, he lived the fullness of his priestly and religious identity, which became the source of inspiration in all his tasks. To those who do not always understand the motives of behind some of his attitudes, he would respond in a convinced tone: "because I am a religious". This deep conscience of oneself is which orients his incessant labors.
An absorbing task, but which is not devoid of a solid foundation: frequent prayer, which is the motor of his apostolic activity. In this point, the new Blessed spoke in a very eloquent way: as he himself was a man of prayer, and it is through this path that he would like to lead all the faithful. (it is enough to see what he says in his two published works : the beautiful Rose and the Stairway to heaven); this is the path pointed out in Rule for his daughters, with vibrant words which today I shall make as mine: "The life of the sisters must be a life of prayer. (...). That is why I recommend it and recommend it to you once again, dearest Sisters, do not give up prayer".