Saint Salvador of Horta

Salvador of Horta O.F.M. (Catalan: Salvador d'Horta; Spanish: Salvador de Horta; Italian: Salvatore da Horta; December 1520 – 18 March 1567) was a Spanish Franciscan lay brother from the region of Catalonia in Spain, who was celebrated as a miracle worker during his lifetime. He is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church. He was born Salvador Pladevall i Bien some time during December 1520 in the hospital of Santa Coloma de Farners, located in the Catalan Province of Girona, where his parents worked as servants. Orphaned at age 14, he moved with his sister Blasa to Barcelona, where he worked as a shoemaker to support them both. When his sister had married, Pladevall felt free to follow a religious calling he had felt. He first entered the famed Benedictine Abbey of Santa Maria de Montserrat, near Barcelona, to explore monastic life. Apparently not feeling drawn there, and desiring a more humble way of life, he entered the novitiate of the Observant branch of the Order of Friars Minor in Barcelona as a lay brother on 3 May 1541. He made his profession of vows in 1542, having become known among the friars for his asceticism and humility. Salvador was then sent by his superiors to serve as the cook, designated beggar and porter at the friary at Tortosa. There Salvador soon acquired a reputation as a healer, and the friary became a destination for sick pilgrims. It was estimated by observers that the number of visitors to the friary numbered some 2,000 people per week. As a result, Salvador's superiors developed a suspicion of him which was to shadow him for the rest of his life, and they began moving him to different friaries: first Bellpuig, then Lleida, followed by the remote village of Horta de Sant Joan, the town with which he is most identified, residing there 1547–1559 in the Friary of Our Lady of the Angels.