Joseph Oriol

Who was Joseph Oriol?

Saint Joseph Oriol is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. He is called the "Thaumaturgus of Barcelona." A native of Barcelona, he studied at the University of Barcelona, receiving the degree of Doctor of Theology, 1 August 1674.

He was ordained priest on 30 May 1676. He visited Rome in 1686 and was granted a benefice in the church of Santa Maria del Pi in Barcelona, where he is buried.

Wanting to experience martyrdom, he went to Rome in April 1698 to offer himself for the foreign missions, but he fell sick at Marseilles and returned to Barcelona. He was said to have prophetic and miraculous powers. The dying, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the lame, and the paralytic, were said to be instantly cured by him.

He is buried in the Church "Maria De Pi" in central Barcelona.