Manuel Lozano Garrido

Blessed Manuel Lozano Garrido (9 August 1920–3 November 1971), nicknamed Lolo, was a Spanish journalist and author and is now recognised as blessed by the Roman Catholic Church.

Manuel Lozano Garrido was born in Linares, Spain in 1920. By 1936, when the Spanish Civil War broke out, his father had died and he lived with his seven brothers and his sister.^[1] Manuel took on the task of distributing the Holy Eucharist among the villagers until he was arrested.^[2] At 22 he joined the army but still left every morning to go to Mass. He began suffering from spondylitis and left the army due to ill health; by the following year he was completely paralysed.^[1]

Although Manuel lived the rest of his life in a wheelchair and in near-constant pain, he successfully pursued a career as a journalist, writing hundreds of articles for several publications. He also wrote nine books,^[3] which he dedicated to his sister Lucía.^[2] He maintained a fierce dedication to the Eucharist; he received permission from his bishop to have an altar in his house so he could go to Mass, and he placed his typewriter in front of the Eucharist when he worked.^[1]

In 1956 he founded the magazine Sinai for sick people. In 1958 he travelled with his sister to Lourdes. In 1962 he lost his sight but continued his writing.^[2] He died in 1971 at the age of 51.

In December 2009 Pope Benedict XVI authorised the recognition of a miracle (attributed to Manuel's intercession) in the cure of two-year-old Rogelio de Haro Sagra in 1972; the child had suffered from multiple organ failure due to Gram-negative sepsis. Lozano Garrido was beatified in Linares on Saturday 12 June 2010.^[2] He is the first journalist to be beatified.^[1]

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