History : Founder St. Anthony Claret
ST. ANTHONY MARY CLARET
Anthony Claret was a truly remarkable, dynamic, and holy man who founded the Congregation that today bears his name-The Claretian Missionaries, or The Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Although he died over a century ago, the impact of his life and his burning concern for the spiritual and physical well-being of all people-especially the poor-make him much more than just an honored memory.
His intense love for God and God's people was the force that drove St. Anthony Mary Claret throughout his life. Fire was the word he used to describe the love that launched him on an endless sea of projects, and that gave him the sustaining power to keep them all going. Claret draws a pen-picture of his ideal: "A Son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a man on fire with love, who strives by all means possible to set the whole world on fire with God's love."
Learn more at www.claret.org
FIRE IN HIS EARLY YEARS
Anthony Claret was born in 1807 in Sallent, Spain, into a deeply religious and hardworking family. Anthony felt the first stirrings of his life-long concern for others when he was only five years of age, spending sleepless nights worrying about the terrible possibility of people being lost for all eternity. He kept repeating, "Always! Always!" Later he wrote, "This idea of a lost eternity...is the mainspring and goal of my zeal for the salvation of souls."
His desire to be a priest was sidetracked at an early age, when he labored as an apprentice in his father's textile factory. At eighteen he set out for Barcelona to learn the latest techniques in the textile business. He learned so fast and gained such a reputation as an expert in textile matters that he was offered the position as head of a company.
THE FIRE REKINDLED
A series of disillusioning events made Anthony realize the spiritual emptiness of his worldly success and rekindled the fire of his desire to be a priest. His first thought was to leave the world and be a Carthusian monk, but upon reflection he decided that his calling was to a more apostolic life. He entered the diocesan seminary in Vic, Spain, and was ordained a priest in 1835.
After working as a parish priest, Father Claret realized that God was calling him to more extensive ministry. He went to Rome to investigate this possibility and decided to join the Jesuits. In the Jesuit novitiate a mysterious illness forced Father Claret to return to Spain, where he began to preach missions throughout his diocese-and with such success that he was invited to other dioceses throughout the country.
THE TIMES CALL FOR A MAN ON FIRE
Anthony Claret became a saint in the midst of the real world of people and their problems. His age was a restless time of change. The Industrial Revolution had uprooted crowds of people from the quiet rural areas and thrust them into the noisy confusion of big cities. The armies of Napoleon were invading all of Europe, sparking wars that were to continue throughout the century. These set the stage for many of the social and moral evils that plagued Claret's time, which he sought to eliminate.
Since Father Claret dared to take the Gospel seriously, and to live and preach it fearlessly, he made many enemies. The Gospel taught him to respect every person-especially the poor, slaves, and common workers-and to treat them all as people redeemed and loved by God. This did not sit well with those who were making a profit at the expense of others' misery. So his enemies unleashed attacks against him, not only verbally in the press, but also physically-they even tried to kill him at least a dozen times. But the fire of love that drove Claret was not dampened by such attacks, but rather fanned to a greater intensity.
A NEW CONGREGATION
Father Claret was inspired to expand his ministry in such a way that he could reach the whole world until the end of time. So he gathered in Vic a group of five zealous young priests who shared his own vision and fire, and on July 16, 1849, founded the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, later known popularly as the Claretian Missionaries.
From the very beginning, Claret had in mind a community of enthusiastic men who would live the kind of life that Jesus Christ and the Apostles lived, and who would spread the fire of the Gospel just as they did. The Claretians took up his work. This new Congregation was hardly a month old when God set His seal on it by calling the Founder to be the Archbishop of Cuba.
FIRE IN THE NEW WORLD
When Claret became Archbishop of Cuba, a whole new field was opened for the fire of his zeal. His coat of arms expressed it well: "The love of Christ urges me on!" The Archdiocese of Santiago, Cuba, had been without a bishop for fourteen years and badly needed the revitalization that Archbishop Claret brought to it. He reformed the clergy, created new parishes, and sent missionaries to preach continually throughout the diocese. He personally visited every parish in the diocese at least four times. He founded a community of teaching Sisters, set up credit unions, and established a trade school for poor youth. He confirmed over 300,000 people and blessed over 10,000 marriages. He found time for his ministry of writing and distributing vast quantities of books and pamphlets free of charge.
It was in Cuba, in the town of Holguin, that one of the most dramatic attempts on Archbishop Claret's life was to take place. It was on the evening of February 10, 1856, when he had just left the church after preaching on the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was passing through a crowd of well-wishers when a man from the crowd lunged at him with a razor. Fortunately, the Archbishop was holding a handkerchief over his mouth as a precaution against the cool night air, so the razor missed his throat, but gashed his left cheek and right arm. As a sign of God's care, the cheek wound, which had cut the salivary glands, was remarkably healed, to the astonishment of his doctors. And the wound on his arm healed to form an image of Our Lady of Sorrows, which lasted about two years.
THE FIRE RETURNS TO EUROPE
At the height of the persecution against Archbishop Claret in Cuba, he was recalled to Spain to be the spiritual director of Queen Isabella II and her court. This was a very difficult assignment for him, due to the restraint he felt on his spirit, which was burning to go out into the world. Then there was the constant tension of having to say "no" to the many social climbers who wished to use his connection with the Queen for their own personal benefit. His steadfast refusal to become involved in these intrigues aroused the bitter hostility of a number of powerful enemies who attacked him viciously in the European press until the day of his death.
But despite these obstacles, Archbishop Claret managed to accomplish much good. He uplifted the morals of the once frivolous court. He rejuvenated the large charity hospital of Montserrat in Madrid. The sick poor flocked to its doors, and its staff was upset by Claret's policy that no one was to be turned away without receiving alms. To the complaints that some people were taking advantage of him by returning repeatedly, he responded: "If they come back, it is because what they received the first time wasn't enough." Claret even sold his bishop's cross to help the poor.
Archbishop Claret took advantage of his travels with the royal family to conduct an ongoing missionary campaign throughout Spain. He also re-established public libraries, wrote a large number of books and pamphlets, founded the Academy of Saint Michael, and started a seminary at the Escorial. One of his most far-reaching services to the Church was his cooperation with the Papal Nuncio in selecting new bishops. And through all this work, he kept stoking the fires of his own Claretian Congregation, rewriting its Constitutions, presiding over its first Chapter, and winning approval for it from the Holy See.
THE FIRE IN EXILE AND GLORY
In 1868, Archbishop Claret was forced into exile in France, where he founded an association for Spanish immigrants and exiles. Then he was called to Rome to participate in the First Vatican Council, in which he strongly defended the Holy Father. After the Council he returned to his exile in France. His years of hard work finally took their toll, and after a painful illness, he died in the Cistercian Monastery at Fontfroide on October 7, 1850: SAINT ANTHONY MARY CLARET: Missionary, Founder, Preacher, Archbishop, Reformer, Writer, Evangelizer, Servant of the Poor-A MAN ON FIRE WITH LOVE! His Claretian Missionaries, the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, are continuing his legacy of spreading this fire of God's love throughout the world!
© Copyright 2006 - Claretian Missionaries of the Western Province. All Rights Reserved.
