1807. Born in Sallent (Barcelona, Spain) into a family of deeply religious weavers. Fifth of eleven siblings.

1819. At age 12, he senses the priestly vocation, but cannot enter the seminary. He begins working in the family textile shop.

1825. At 18, he travels to Barcelona to improve his skills in the textile industry. He studies at the Institute of La Lonja and works in a shop.

1829. He enters the seminary in Vic. He gives up the idea of becoming a Carthusian monk.

1835. He is ordained a priest in Solsona (Lleida). He is assigned to his native parish, first as Vicar and then Administrator (pastor).

1839. He travels to Rome to offer himself to the universal mission. He tries to do so with Propaganda Fide without success. He enters the novitiate of the Society of Jesus.

1840. He returns to Spain. He is sent to the Parish of Viladrau (Barcelona). He begins popular missions.

1841. He moves to Vic, from where he preaches throughout Catalonia. He receives from the Holy See the title of Apostolic Missionary.

1843. He writes the devotional Camí dret i segur per arribar al cel (Straight Path), the first of his publications and the most read religious book in Spain in the 19th century.

1848. He travels to the Canary Islands, where he preaches for more than a year. He founds in Barcelona the Librería Religiosa [Religious Publishing House and Bookstore] with Fr. Josep Caixal. He writes the book Religiosas en Sus Casas [Nuns in their own Houses], seed of the secular Institute Cordimarian Filiation.

1849. After returning to the Peninsula, on July 16th he founded the Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretian Missionaries).

1850. He is consecrated Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, where he remains almost seven years.

1855. With Mother Antonia París, he founds the Congregation of Teaching Sisters of Mary Immaculate (Claretian Missionary Sisters).

1856. On February 1st he suffers a serious attack in Holguín.

1857. Queen Isabella II calls him to Madrid and names him her confessor. He travels throughout Spain preaching to the people, priests and religious sisters. He writes numerous books.

1858. He founds the Academy of St. Michael, a secular apostolic association to evangelize the culture.

1859. Isabella II names him President of the Royal Monastery of El Escorial, where he founds a college, a seminary, a university and a society of chaplains.

1861. On August 26th, in the church of Rosario in La Granja (Segovia), he receives the great grace of the conservation of the sacramental species.

1862. He begins writing his Autobiography.

1864. He founds the Popular and Parish Libraries whose foundational book is the seed of the movement of the Lay Claretians.

1868. He goes into exile in France accompanying Queen Isabella II. In Paris he attends to immigrants and founded a charity association for the poor.

1869. He arrives in Rome to participate in the First Vatican Council.

1870. He travels to Prades (France) to meet with his exiled missionaries; however, he has to take refuge in the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide, where he dies on October 24th.

1897. His remains are transferred to the Mother House in Vic.

1934. On February 25th he was beatified by Pius XI.

1950. On May 7th he was canonized by Pius XII.