Saint Anthony Mary Claret

Archbishop, Founder of the Claretians
(1807–1870)

Saint Anthony Mary Claret was born on December 23, 1807, at Sallent in Catalonia, Spain. He worked for a time in his father's weaving trade before being drawn to the priesthood, in which he was ordained in 1835. From his first years as a priest he showed an extraordinary apostolic energy, preaching missions throughout Catalonia with great effectiveness and writing and distributing religious books and pamphlets by the millions to reach those who could not hear him preach.

In 1849 he founded the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, known as the Claretians, to carry on this work of preaching and publishing. Just a year later he was appointed Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, a vast and troubled diocese that had been spiritually neglected for decades. He laboured there for six years with extraordinary energy, making pastoral visits to every part of his diocese by foot and on horseback, preaching, hearing confessions, establishing schools and hospitals, and fighting the endemic abuses of slavery and concubinage. He survived an assassination attempt in 1856 when a man slashed his cheek and wrist with a machete.

In 1857 he was recalled to Spain to serve as confessor to Queen Isabella II, a position he used to continue his apostolate of writing and publishing rather than to seek court influence. He accompanied the queen into exile in 1868 when a revolution forced her from Spain, and he was present at the First Vatican Council in 1869. He died at the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide in France on October 24, 1870.

He was beatified in 1934 and canonised by Pius XII in 1950. He is the patron of the Catholic press. His feast is celebrated on October 24th.