Francesc Català i Serra was born here A volunteer with Estat Català during the Prats de Molló Actions (1926), he died in exile in Belgium.
A volunteer with Estat Català during the Prats de Molló Actions (1926),
he died in exile in Belgium.
In his memory and in homage to him
Ripoll, 1901 – Brussels, 1927
***
In 1922 Francesc Català i Serra joined Estat
Català, a political party – now a century in
existence – founded that same year by
Francesc Macià, which described itself as
republican, progressive, in favour of independence and insurrection. It is the
oldest party remaining active in
Catalonia.
In September 1926 he became
a volunteer in the Catalan Army (l’Exèrcit Català) organised by Estat
Català, for an operation known as els Fets de Prats de Molló, (the Prats de Molló Actions) which
involved an armed rising that was to enter Catalonia from Northern Catalonia by
two routes, coming together in Olot, and which would proclaim the Catalan
Republic. Once this had been achieved, they hoped for support from other
Catalan counties and towns, and to promote a general strike in Catalan cities.
This man from Ripoll was among one hundred and twelve people who signed an oath
to carry out the operation.
On the 4th of November, the
French police ordered that the volunteers in Vil·la Denise in Prats de Molló be detained. Català was among the first
of those arrested to be transferred to Perpinyà. Their trial was
held and on the 29th of November they were set free with an order of expulsion
from France. He was one of the militants who received asylum in Belgium, but in
the spring of 1927 he was taken into hospital in Brussels, where he died on the
28th of June.
He was buried in
Anderlecht cemetery; the funeral became a political event with a procession
through the centre of Brussels. Francesc Macià (future head of the
Catalan government) led the funeral procession.