Saint Miguel Febres Cordero is Ecuador’s first canonized saint. He was born in 1854 in the city of Cuenca, which is located 8,000 feet high in the Andes Mountains. He joined the Christian Brothers as a young teenager and during his first years as a brother developed a Spanish grammar textbook that was published when he was 19 years old. Brother Miguel’s grammar book eventually became the stan dard text for all schools in Ecuador. He continued his work on similar educational publications and be came recognized internationally as a Catholic educator.
Brother Miguel also ministered ex tensively in the area of religious education and he made a lifelong commitment of preparing young people for the sacraments. He was a humble, dedicated religious who devoted himself to the stewardship of education, both in the Spanish language arts and in religious for mation for youth. He died in 1910 at the age of 56 and was canon ized by Saint John Paul II in 1984. His feast day is February 9.
