GIUSEPPE ORIOL, saint. - B. at Barcelona on 23 Nov. 1650, d. there on 22 March 1702. He received a doctorate at the University of Bologna in 1674, and was ordained priest in 1676. He was tutor in the household of Tommaso Gasneri; then, desiring an ascetic life, he devoted himself to penance and went as a pilgrim to Rome, where Innocent XI conferred upon him the benefice of the church of S. Maria del Pino in Barcelona.
Having returned to his homeland, he exercised his ministry in that church, impressing upon the faithful the principles of his austere life. In 1693, out of missionary zeal and a desire for martyrdom, he left Barcelona for Japan. But during the journey, in Rome, where he stopped to receive the apostolic blessing from the Pope, he fell seriously ill and, seeing in this a sign of God’s will, returned to Barcelona, where he died.
Beatified by Pius VII (21 Sept. 1806), he was canonized by Pius X on 20 May 1909. His relics were scattered during the Spanish revolution of 1821. Feast: 23 March.