Servant of God Tiburcio Arnaiz Muñoz

Tiburcio Arnaiz Muñoz (11 August 1865 - 18 July 1926) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Jesuits. He was also the co-founder of the Missionaries of the Rural Parishes (1922) and decided to establish it to further his own pastoral goals of aiding the poor with a particular emphasis on workers and people living in those rural areas across the nation. His ecclesial career was spent in two parishes for just over a decade, before he entered the Jesuit novitiate. He became known for his tender care of all people. His canonization cause opened under Pope John Paul II on 5 December 1989 and he became titled as a Servant of God while Pope Francis named him as venerable after confirming his heroic virtue on 10 October 2016. Francis confirmed a miracle attributed to him on 18 December 2017 and cleared him for beatification. The beatification was celebrated on 20 October 2018. Arnaiz was born in Valladolid on 11 August 1865 as the younger of two children to Ezequiel and his wife; his elder sister was Gregoria (b. 1858). He was born at 23 Calle de Panaderos. His father died in August 1870. His ecclesial studies saw him as an internal student though his harsh economic condition prompted him to continue his studies as an external student. During the course of his education he served as a sacristan to the Dominican nuns at their San Felipe convent. Arnaiz was ordained to the priesthood on 20 April 1890 and from 1893 served as the parish priest at Villanueva de Duero until at least 1896. He earned a doctorate in theological studies at Toledo on 19 December 1896 at which point he was transferred to a new parish since his superiors thought it would be better for one of his talents. This transferral was to Poyales del Hoyo; his mother died not long following this. He joined the Jesuits on 30 March 1902 and entered the novitiate in Granada and his novitiate ended in 1904. In September 1909 he spent a brief period of time in Murcia.