MACCH, José. - Spanish Jesuit, missionary, and writer who had notable influence on the ecclesiastical culture of his time, b. in Barcelona on 3 May 1810, d. in Saragossa on 25 July 1885. He entered the Order on 3 March 1825, and concerned himself with various social classes, becoming a counsellor of wide experience, esteemed and sought after.
He left about 20 publications of an ascetical, pastoral, and devotional nature. Several of these were translated into French, Italian, Portuguese, and Polish, and were republished in very many editions; thus *L'Ancora de salvación*, or a devotional work enriched with many and new prayers, meditations, and practices of virtue (Barcelona 1854), which by 1861 had reached its 7th edition and by the death of M. had attained the 55th. Also widely diffused was *Il Tesoro del sacerdote* or a repertory of the principal things that a priest must know and practise in order to sanctify himself and others (ibid. 1861). In the 10th edition of this work (ibid. 1889), there is the biography of M. Among the devotions most inculcated by him are those to St Louis Gonzaga, to St Joseph, visits to the Most Holy Sacrament, and meditation on the Passion of Christ. M. also edited an edition of *The Imitation of Christ*.