The Catholic Defender: Saint Salvator of Horta

St Salvador can be another name for Jesus. He is the Saviour Saint, who through his death on the cross gives his life to save the world and brings freedom and forgiveness to all people.

At the age of 21, he entered the Franciscans as a brother and was soon known for his asceticism, humility, and simplicity. As cook, porter, and later the official beggar for the friars in Tortosa, he became well known for his charity. He healed the sick with the Sign of the Cross.

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.

Salvator often came upon sick people for whom his prayers were requested. He would make the Sign of the Cross over them, and immediately they were healed. News of this spread abroad and may sick were brought to the convent. All were restored to health through the Sign of the Cross that Brother Salvator made over them.

While gathering alms, Saint Salvator of Horta often came upon sick people for whom his prayers were requested. He would make the Sign of the Cross over them, and immediately they were healed. News of this fact soon spread abroad and may sick were brought to the convent. All were restored to health through the Sign of the Cross which Brother Salvator made over them.

Saint Salvator of Horta was born of poor parents in the year 1520. Orphaned when still quite young, he tended cattle and was later sent as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Barcelona.

His devout heart, however, was constantly prompting him to consecrate himself to God; so, when he was twenty years old, he entered the Franciscan Order as a lay brother. He distinguished himself among his brethren by rigorous mortification, profound humility, and extraordinary simplicity.

A reputation for holiness does have some drawbacks. Public recognition can be a nuisance at times—as the confreres of Salvator found out.

Salvator was born during Spain’s Golden Age. Art, politics, and wealth were flourishing. So was religion. Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus in 1540.

Almighty God, who chooses the lowly to make known the wonders of His power, manifested His power in Salvator at the very beginning of his religious life.

Salvator’s parents were poor. At the age of 21, he entered the Franciscans as a brother and was soon known for his asceticism, humility, and simplicity. As cook, porter, and later the official beggar for the friars in Tortosa, he became well known for his charity.

Saint Salvator of Horta was sent to assist the brother in the kitchen, and one day, when the cook was ill, Salvator had to undertake the entire round of duties alone.

When it was close to the noon hour, the Father Guardian went to the kitchen to see what Brother Salvator had prepared. He found the kitchen locked. After looking for Salvator for a considerable time, he finally found him kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, deeply absorbed in prayer.

Saint Salvator of Horta had been there since early morning without being aware of it. The superior reproved him severely, and Salvator acknowledged his guilt amid many tears, begging for a severe penance.

How astonished, however, were both men when they arrived at the kitchen and found all the food ready to be served; the angels had substituted for Salvator.

In the sixteenth century when the Faith, especially in Germany, was so mightily shaken by the so-called reformers, when the Sign of the Cross was abolished as a superstitious practice, almighty God permitted this very Sign of the Cross to shine with special power and radiance, in order to strengthen the Faith in another country. This was Spain, and it was through the great miracle worker of the sixteenth century, St Salvator of Horta.

Usually there were as many as two thousand a week, sometimes that many in one day, and once, on the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, as many as six thousand made their appearance.

Although the transfer was made in perfect secrecy and no one had been informed of it, the sick presented themselves at the convent at Horta already in the first days after his arrival there, and their number increased daily. The deaf, the blind, the dumb, the lame, the epileptic, came; the paralytic, the dropsical, those afflicted with fevers, and sufferers of every type were brought to him on beds, so that Brother Salvator might restore their health.

He healed the sick with the Sign of the Cross. When crowds of sick people began coming to the friary to see Salvator, the friars transferred him to Horta. Again, the sick flocked to ask his intercession; one person estimated that 2,000 people a week came to see Salvator. He told them to examine their consciences, go to confession, and to receive Holy Communion worthily. He refused to pray for those who would not receive those sacraments.

The public attention given to Salvator was relentless.

One time the grand inquisitor, a renowned theologian, whose duty it was to guard the purity of the Faith, came in order to learn whether anything occurred there that savored of superstition. Without giving any indication of his rank, he took his station at a corner of the church were the sick were expecting the healing hand of Brother Salvator.

When the good religious arrived, Saint Salvator of Horta had the sick make way for him as he passed through their ranks till he reached the grand inquisitor. There he reverently kissed the latter’s hand, and begged him to come to the upper church, where he could watch the entire proceedings. Astonished at finding himself recognized, the inquisitor was already assured of the power from on high which held sway there. Nevertheless, he followed the brother.

Salvator began, as usual, to admonish the sick to examine their conscience and to receive the sacraments of penance and of the Holy Eucharist worthily. Then he blessed them with the Sign of the Cross while he called upon the Blessed Trinity and imposed on them a few prayers in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whose intercession he ascribed all the cures. The sufferers were then all suddenly cured, except, as Salvator had foretold, those who were not sincere in their conversion.

The crowds would sometimes tear off pieces of his habit as relics. Two years before his death, Salvator was moved again, this time to Cagliari on the island of Sardinia. He died at Cagliari saying, “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.” He was canonized in 1938. The liturgical feast of Saint Salvator of Horta is celebrated on March 18.

The concourse of sick people, however, finally became so great that it disturbed the good order in the convent. So the superiors sent Brother Salvator to the nearby convent of Horta, where he spent the greater part of his religious life; hence his surname “of Horta.”

“I always think of myself as a sack full of straw; the sack is indifferent as to whether it lies in a stable or is brought into a magnificent room.”

At the request of King Philip, Salvador was allowed to be venerated as "Blessed" on 5 February 1606 by Pope Paul V, which was confirmed on 29 January 1711 by Pope Clement XI.He was canonized on 17 April 1938 by Pope Pius XI. His feast day is generally celebrated on 18 March, the anniversary of his death; it is observed, however, by the Friars Minor on 17 April, the anniversary of his canonization.

His remains were originally interred at the Church of St. Mary of Jesus attached to the friary where he died. In 1606 it had been decided to open his grave to provide his heart as a relic for the Franciscan community in Silke, near Sassari. When it was opened, his body was found to be still intact.

Thus, when the Church of St. Mary of Jesus was demolished in 1718, his remains were interred first at another church of the Order in the city, then finally, in 1758, they were entombed in a glass coffin under the main altar of the Church of St. Rosalie in the city. This remains his shrine, where his remains can be venerated.

The miracle-worker, Saint Salvador de Horta, was a 16th-century Spanish Franciscan lay brother, who was canonized by Pope Pius XI.