Bonaventura Gran

Blessed Bonaventura Gran
Born	24 November 1620 Riudoms
Died	11 September 1684 (aged 63) Rome
Venerated in	Riudoms
Beatified	1906, Rome by Saint Pius X

Miquel Baptista Gran Peris (Riudoms (Catalonia), 24 November 1620 - Rome (Italy), 11 September 1684 ) now most known as Blessed Bonaventura Gran or Fra Bonaventura of Barcelona during his lifetime, was a franciscan friar proclaimed blessed by the Catholic Church.

Biography

He was born in Riudoms on 24 November 1620 in a modest house in the street that was known as a Pocket Street (Carrer de la Butxaca in Catalan) and now has his name. After marrying at the age of 18 according to the wish of his father, he widowed in a few months, and he entered the Franciscan convent of Sant Miquel d'Escornalbou and made religious profession on 14 July 1641 when he changed its name to Bonaventura. In the following years, he was destined to Mora d'Ebre , Figueres, la Bisbal d'Empordà and Terrassa where a street has its name.

In 1658 he was sent to Rome where he founded Santo Retiro are four monasteries in the province of Rome, including San Bonaventura al Palatino. He was the adviser of four Popes: Alexander VII, Clement IX, Clement X and Innocent XI. In 1662 he founded in Rome the Riformella, a reform movement within the Reformed Order of Friars Minor of the Strict Observance, so the monks and Franciscan priests who dedicated themselves to the apostolate could gather in meditation and spiritual retreat, living the founding spirit of the Franciscan order.

In 1679, he sent from Rome the relics of Saint Boniface, Saint Julian and Saint Vincent. Since then, the second Sunday of May is celebrated in Riudoms the holyday of the Holy Relics.

He died in Rome on 11 September 1684.

Veneration

In 1775 he was declared venerable and in 1906 he was beatified by the Pope Saint Pius X, after the verification of two miraculous healings. The first one in 1790 when a woman was in a serious condition after falling from the horse and was inexplicably cured after have invoked him. The other, in 1818 in which another woman remained unconscious for three days after childbirth and cured instantaneously after applying him a relic of Bonaventura.

In Riudoms, his remains are preserved since 1972, when they were moved from Rome. They are currently in the tabernacle chapel in the church of Saint James the Apostle. In Riudoms there is a great devotion to Blessed Bonaventura and a feast in his honour is celebrated every 24 November, where his remains are taken in procession through the village.

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  Birth house of Bonaventura Gran. Annexed there is a little chapel with his image.

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  Tabernacle chappel in the church of Riudoms, where his remains are preserved

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  Image of the urn where his remains are preserved

External links

• Biography in the Catalan Encyclopedia (Catalan)
• Biography in Italian (Italian)