ANOTHER BLESSED JESUIT

Beatified this past Saturday in Spain, was another holy Jesuit (and you know how I love the Jesuits).

BLESSED TIBURCIO ARNAIZ MUNOZ, SJ., one of Spain's most beloved religious figures of the 20th Century, was born in Calle de Panaderos, Valladolid, Spain. Padre Arnáiz was noted to be a tireless apostle for the Misión Popular and as a zealous worker among the poor.

Entering seminary at an early age, he was ordained to the priesthood on April 20, 1890. Appointed parish priest of Villanueva de Duero in 1893, he earned a doctorate in theology from the Primatial See of Toledo in 1896.

A parish priest of Poyales del Hoyo, following the death of his mother, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1902, doing the novitiate in Granada. His sister at this time  joined the Dominican nuns at the convent where he had once served as their sacristan.

He soon became concerned with those living in farms and in other rural locations, though he also spent some time in Loyola. He was in Cádiz from 1916 to 1917 before returning to Málaga to continue his work.  

Maria Isabel

In 1922 he co-founded the Missionaries of the Rural Parishes, alongside  Servant of God María Isabel González del Valle Sarandeses, whom he had come to know. This organization would be of use to the priest in his unwavering commitment to the moral and cultural well-being of the poor with an added emphasis on those who lived in remote and rural areas. 

Bl. Tiburcio also knew the Bishop of Málaga Saint Manuel González García who had praised him for his work and encouraged him to continue it on a grand scale.

Contracting a bronchial pneumonia, he passed away in Málaga on July 18, 1926, aged 60. After obtaining a special permission, his Jesuit brethren buried him inside the church of the Corazón de Jesús of Málaga.

Monument in Malaga

The miracle required for his beatification was investigated in Málaga, concerning the mid-1990s cure of a man who had been in a coma for a week and was on the verge of death; he likewise suffered from a cardiorespiratory arrest.