SALVATORE DA HORTA, Saint. — Lay professed brother of the Friars Minor. Born of poor parents in S. Colomba de Farnés in the diocese of Gerona (Spain) in December 1520, after working as a shoemaker, shepherd, and servant at the Benedictine shrine of Montserrat, on 3 May 1541 he received the Franciscan habit at Barcelona in the convent of S. Maria Gesù.
Simple and illiterate, he immediately distinguished himself in every kind of virtue through the most humble services of the convent. He suffered persecution at the hands of his superiors, who, seeing him endowed with the gift of miracles, suspected him of being demonically possessed, to the point that they involved the authority of the Inquisition and frequently transferred him from one convent to another to prevent crowds of the sick, coming from all parts of Spain and France, from seeking him out. In 1560 Philip II wished him to be in Madrid at his palace to commend his family and Spanish dominions to his prayers.
St. Francis Borgia, then Duke of Candia, also wished to have him as a guest at his palace for several days. In November 1565, nearly driven out of Spain because of the blindness of his superiors, S. was sent to Cagliari in Sardinia, where, in the convent of Gesù-Maria, he spent the last 18 months of his life surrounded by the affection and veneration of all. He died on 18 March 1567.
His cult spread rapidly, especially in Spain and its territories, in Sardinia, and throughout the Franco-Catalan Franciscan Order. Paul V granted him the title of blessed on 15 February 1606, ratified by Clement XI on 29 January 1711. He was canonized by Pius XI on 17 April 1938. Feast day: 18 March.