Blessed Manuel Lozano Garrido

Blessed Manuel Lozano Garrido Also known as

Lolo (nickname)

3 November

Profile

Joined Catholic Action at age 11. As a teenager during the Spanish Civil War he visited prisoners and would sneak them Holy Communion; he developed a strong devotion to the Eucharist and spent a Holy Thursday in prison alone with a Host hidden in some flowers. Lifelong layman, and a working journalist in the diocese of Jaén, Spain. In 1942 he contracted spondylitis, and a slow paralysis began to set in; a year later was confined to a wheelchair, a condition that would last the rest of his life. He lost his sight in 1962; when he lost use of his right hand, he learned to write with his left; when it became paralyzed, he dictated his work to his sister. Though he progressively lost use of his body, he worked for newspapers, Catholic periodicals and the Associated Press, founded the magazine Sinai, won the prestigious Bravo award for journalism in 1969, and wrote nine books on spirituality.