Saint Antonio Maria Claret

Saint Anthony Mary Claret (Antoni Maria Claret i Clarà)
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Founder of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Born	December 23, 1807 in Sallent
Died	October 24, 1870 in Fontfroide
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	Feb 25, 1934 by Pope Pius XI
Canonized	May 7, 1950 by Pope Pius XII
Major shrine	Vic
Feast	October 23
Patronage	Textile Merchants, Weavers, Savings (taught the poor the importance of savings), Catholic press, Claretians Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Saint Antonio Maria Claret y Clarà (December 23, 1807 — October 24, 1870) was a nineteenth-century Catalan Roman Catholic archbishop, missionary, and confessor of the Spanish queen-regnant Isabella II.

Claret was born at Sallent, Catalonia, Spain, in 1807. He worked as a weaver before becoming a seminary student. Ordained in 1835, he served as a missionary in Catalonia and the Canary Islands, where he directed retreats. Claret founded the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians). In 1850, he became Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, where he founded the Teaching Sisters of Mary Immaculate. Following his work in the Caribbean, Pope Pius IX ordered him back to Spain, where he served as confessor to Queen Isabella II and was exiled with her.

Said to have the gifts of prophecy and miracles, he was reported to have preached 10,000 sermons and published 200 works, and spread devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In 1870, Claret died in a Cistercian monastery at Fontfroide, Narbonne, France. He was venerated in 1899 by Pope Leo XIII; beatified in 1934, and canonized in 1950 by Pope Pius XII.

Biography

Claret was born at Sallent, near Barcelona (Catalonia) on December 23, 1807, the son of a small woollen manufacturer. He received an elementary education in his native village, and at the age of 12 became a weaver. A little later he went to Barcelona to specialize in his trade, and remained there until he was 20. Meanwhile, he devoted his spare time to study and became proficient in Latin, French, and engraving.

Recognizing a call to religious life, he left Barcelona. He now wished to become a Carthusian, but finally entered the seminary at Vic in 1829, and was ordained on June 13, 1835. He received a benefice in his native parish, where he continued to study theology until 1839; but as missionary work appealed strongly to him, he proceeded to Rome. There, he entered the Jesuit novitiate, but finding himself unsuited for that manner of life, he returned shortly to Spain and exercized his pastoral ministry in Viladrau and Girona, attracting notice by his efforts on behalf of the poor.

Recalled by his superiors to Vic, he was engaged in missionary work throughout his native Catalonia. In 1848, he was sent to the Canary Islands where he gave retreats for 15 months. Returning to Vic, he established the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (July 16, 1849), and founded the great religious library at Barcelona which was called "Librería Religiosa" (now Librería Claret), and which has issued several million cheap copies of the best ancient and modern Catholic works.

So great was the fruit of his zealous labors, that Pius IX at the request of the Spanish crown (queen-regnant Isabella II of Spain) appointed him Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba in 1849. He was consecrated at Vic in October 1850, and embarked to Barcelona on December 28. Having arrived at his destination, he began a thorough reform at the seminary, which was reorganized and strengthened with clerical discipline. In the first two years, over 9,000 marriages were validated. He erected a hospital and numerous schools. On three different occasions, Calret made a visitation to the entire diocese, including all the local missions. His passionate work stirred up much opposition in the anti-clerical mood of the period, as had happened previously in Spain. No less than 15 attempts were made on Claret's life; his cheek was laid open from ear to chin by a would-be assassin's knife at Holguin.

In February 1857, he was recalled to Spain by Queen Isabella II, who made him her confessor. He obtained permission to resign his see, and was appointed to the titular see of Trajanopolis. His influence was now directed solely to help the poor and to propagate learning; he lived frugally and took up his residence in an Italian hospice. For nine years he was rector of the Escorial monastic school where he established an excellent scientific laboratory, a museum of natural history, a library, college, and schools of music and languages. His further plans were frustrated by the Revolution of 1868. He continued his popular missions and distribution of good books wherever he went in accompanying the Spanish Court.

When Isabella recognized the new, secular government of a united Italy, he left the court and hastened to take his place by the side of the Pope; at the latter's command, however, he returned to Madrid with faculties for absolving the queen from the censures she had incurred for this. In 1869, Claret went to Rome to prepare for the First Vatican Council. Due to failing health, he withdrew to Prades in France, where he was still harassed by his Spanish enemies; shortly afterwards he retired to the Cistercian abbey at Fontfroide, Narbonne, southern France, where he died on October 24, 1870.

Quotes

"The love of Christ arouses us, urges us to run, and to fly, lifted on the wings of holy zeal. The zealous man desires and achieve all great things and he labors strenuously so that God may always be better known, loved and served in this world and in the life to come, for this holy love is without end."

"Because he is concerned also for his neighbor, the man of zeal works to fulfill his desire that all men be content on this earth and happy and blessed in their heavenly homeland, that all may be saved, and that no one may perish for ever, or offend God, or remain even for a moment in sin. Such are the concerns we observe in the holy apostles and in all who are driven by the apostolic spirit."

"For myself, I say this to you: The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame; he deserves and works with all this strength to inflame all men with the fire of God's love. Nothing deters him: he rejoices in poverty; he labors strenuously; he welcomes hardships; he laughs off false accusations; he rejoices in anguish. He thinks only of how he might follow Jesus Christ and imitate him by his prayers, his labors, his sufferings, and by caring always and only for the glory of God and the salvation of souls."

—Saint Anthony Mary Claret

Legacy

By his sermons and writings he contributed greatly to bring about the revival of the Catalan language, although most of his works were published in Spanish, especially during his stay in Cuba and Madrid.

His printed works number over 130, of which we may mention: "La escala de Jacob"; "Maximas de moral la más pura"; "Avisos"; "Catecismo explicado con láminas"; "La llave de oro"; "Selectos panegíricos" (11 volumes); "Sermones de misión" (3 volumes); "Misión de la mujer"; "Vida de Sta. Mónica"; "La Virgen del Pilar y los Francmasones."

His "Autobiografia," written by order of his spiritual director, may be read in pdf format here.

In addition to the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Heart of Mary (or Claretians; approved definitively by Pius IX, 11 February 1870) which in the early 21st century had over 450 houses and 3100 members, with missions in five continents, Archbishop Claret founded or drew up the rules of several communities of Religious Sisters.

His zealous life and the wonders he wrought both before and after his death testified to his sanctity. Information were sought in 1887 and he was declared Venerable by Pope Leo XIII in 1899. His relics were transferred to the mission house at Vich in 1897, at which time his heart was found incorrupt. His grave is visited by many pilgrims. He was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950, with his liturgical feast day on the date of his death 23 October.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Drake, Tim. Saints of the Jubilee, 1st Books Library, 2002. ISBN 978-1403310095
• McBrien, Richard P. Lives of the Saints: From Mary and St. Francis of Assisi to John XXIII and Mother Theresa, HarperOne, 2006. ISBN 978-0061232831
• McBrien, Richard P. The Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholocism, Harper San Francisco, 1995. ISBN 978-0060653385
• Thurston, Herbert J. Butler's Lives of the Saints, Christian Classics, 1981. ISBN 978-0870610493

External links

All links Retrieved November 30, 2007.

• Autobiography of St. Anthony Mary Claret www.claret.org.
• Claretians www.claretians.org.
• Ven. Antonio María Claret y Clará - Catholic Encyclopedia www.newadvent.org.
• Congregations of the Heart of Mary - Catholic Encyclopedia www.newadvent.org.

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