Venerable Gabriel Macià

Gabriel Macià, also known as Gabriel of Canet (Canet de Mar, Maresme, November 30, 1604 – Barcelona, 1680), was a Capuchin friar. He has been proclaimed venerable by the Catholic Church. He served as novice master and provincial definitor of the order. A friar of virtuous life, he experienced mystical episodes of ecstasy, during which he had heavenly visions, and was attributed with miracles and the gift of prophecy. The healings he performed in the region (Canet, Mataró, Arenys de Mar, etc.) led to him being regarded as a holy person during his lifetime. He died at the Montcalvari convent in Barcelona, where he was buried. The Capuchin Atanasi of Barcelona wrote a biography of him, *Vida y virtudes del venerable padre fray Gabriel Macià de Canet: religioso capuchino de la provincia de Cathaluña* (Girona: Imprenta de Gabriel Bró, 1721), edited by Joan Macià, dean of Vic and nephew of the venerable. Canet has dedicated the square in front of the church to him, named Plaça del Venerable Gabriel Macià, where the foundations of the tower of the Macià family home, where he was likely born, are located.