San Miguel
San Miguel Febres Cordero
Born November 7, 1854
Died February 9, 1910
Beatified October 30, 1977
Canonized October 21, 1984
Francisco Febres Cordero was born into a politically prominent family in Ecuadorian politics. Unable to walk from birth, he had to overcome family opposition to become a Brother of the Christian Schools. Brother Miguel was a gifted teacher and a diligent student.
When he was not quite twenty-years-old, he published his first book, a Spanish grammar book that soon became a standard text. In time his research, publications in literature, and linguistics put him in touch with scholars from all over the world. Despite his high honors, teaching remained his first priority, especially his classes in religion and for the young men he prepared for first communion. His students admired his simplicity, directness, and his concern for them.
In 1907, he passed through New York on his way to Belgium, where he had been called to translate texts into Spanish for the use of the Brothers recently exiled from France. His health, always delicate, did not adjust to the rigors of the European climate. Transferred to the junior novitiate at Premia del Mar in Spain, during a revolutionary outbreak in 1909 he supervised a dramatic evacuation of his young charges to the safety of Barcelona across the bay. Shortly after they were unable to return, he contacted pneumonia and he died at Premia del Mar, leaving behind a remarkable reputation as scholar, teacher, and saint.
