Francisco Gárate

Francisco Gárate Aranguren, SJ (3 February 1857 - 9 September 1929) was a Spanish Jesuit. Aranguren served as a nurse after receiving his qualification in 1877 and became noted for his encouragement and his tender care to the needs of students in his care.

His reputation for personal holiness led to calls for his beatification cause to commence and Pope John Paul II beatified him on 6 October 1985 on Saint Peter's Square.

Life

Francisco Gárate Aranguren was born on 3 February 1857 in the Kingdom of Spain as the second of seven brothers to Francisco and Maria Aranguren. He was born not far from the birthplace of Ignatius of Loyola.

At the age of fourteen he left his home for domestic work in a Catholic college that had just been opened in Orduña. In 1874 he decided to become a Jesuit — though not a priest — and so he and two companions travelled on foot to Poyanne in France to commence their novitiate. The group did this because the Spanish Jesuits were expelled in 1869 and had to open a branch in France.

The novice made his first vows on 2 February 1876 and left the town on 29 October 1877 to be a sacristan and nurse in the La Guardia college at Pontevedra, where he spent the next ren years. It was his first assigned task since he finished his novitiate in which he had 200 male students in his care. He offered consolation and encouragement to students and the public. "I calmly do what I can, the rest is done by the Lord, who can do everything. With his help everything is light and smooth, because we serve a good master."

The Congregation of Rites under Pope Pius XII granted formal approval to the cause on 22 February 1950, which granted Aranguren the title Servant of God. John Paul II beatified him on 6 October 1985.