Jacint Verdaguer is regarded as one of the greatest poets of Catalan literature and a prominent literary figure of the Renaixença, a national revival movement of the late Romantic era. The bishop Josep Torras i Bages, one of the main figures of Catalan nationalism, called him the "Prince of Catalan poets". He was also known as mossèn Cinto Verdaguer, because of his career as a priest.
Verdaguer was born in Folgueroles, a town on the Plain of Vic, in the comarca of Osona. His father was Josep Verdaguer i Ordeix (Tavèrnoles, 1817-Folgueroles, 1876) and his mother was Josepa Santaló i Planes (Folgueroles, 1819–1871). He was the third of eight children, only three of whom survived. In 1856 at the age of 11 he entered the Se
