Venerable
Francisco de Paula Tarín Arnau, SJ |
SPAIN, meter stamp
The slogan of this meter stamp mentions both Father Francisco de Paula Tarín Arnau, SJ, a home missionary in Andalucía, and also the Jesuit church of Jesus del Gran Poder in Seville where he is buried. A deep spiritual experience while praying in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza led to his discovering his vocation to the Jesuits. In 1873 he went Jesuits to Poyanne, France, where the exiled Spanish Jesuits had their novitiate. He taught at a night school, ran sodalities for the youth and men of the area, fought actual and religious illiteracy. Later in Madrid and Seville he was an extraordinary preacher, developer of the schools and the Catholic press, as well as working with the poor and abandoned. He is a model for priests who work with the poor. Tarin was declared Venerable in 1987.