Venerable Miguel Febres Cordero

Francisco Luis Febres-Cordero y Muñoz (7 November 1854 – 9 February 1910), known as (later Saint) Miguel Febres Cordero and Brother Miguel, was an Ecuadorian Roman Catholic religious brother. He became a professed member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, colloquially known as the La Salle Brothers. He assumed the name Miguel upon his admittance into the order. He resided in his native home of Ecuador for almost four decades where he promoted education and evangelization before he relocated to Spain where he continued to perform his duties for his order. He also became a prolific writer and penned various manuals and odes amongst other publications. Pope Paul VI beatified him on 30 October 1977 and Pope John Paul II canonized him almost a decade later on 21 October 1984 as the first male Ecuadorian saint. He remains a national hero in his native land and his tomb has become a site of pilgrimage. His liturgical feast is celebrated on an annual basis on the date of his death. Francisco Luis Febres-Cordero y Muñoz was born in Ecuador on 7 November 1854 to Francisco María Febres-Cordero y Montoya and Ana de Jesús Muñoz y Cárdenas. His siblings were Aurelio and Ana. It was reported that he was born with an infirmity of the feet that rendered him incapable of standing or walking. According to his great-grand-niece, at the age of five he said he had seen a beautiful lady dressed in white; when he went with his aunt to investigate, there was nobody there, but suddenly he could walk for the first time. At the age of eight he was saved from being mauled to death at the hands of a wild bull, attributed to be a miracle at the time. His mother took great care of him and also assumed charge of his education until he was nine. After the death of his mother his father remarried Heloise Santillán, and his half brother Benjamín Febres-Cordero Santillán was born.