History : History
Our History
From the Autobiography of Saint Anthony Mary Claret
Edited by Jose Maria Vinas, C.M.F., Claretian Publications, Chicago 1976
Chapter XXXIV
THE CONGREGATION OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
488. Toward the middle of May I arrived in Barcelona
and returned to Vich where I discussed with Canons Soler
and Passarell
my plan to form a congregation of priests who would both be, and be called, Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Both of them approved of my plan and the former, who was rector of the seminary of Vich, told me that as soon as the seminarians went home for the summer vacation we could meet in the seminary and live there until God would find some other place for us.
489. I presented the same plan to the Bishop of Vich, Dr. Luciano Casadevall, who had always been very fond of me. He was enthusiastic in his praise of the idea and agreed that we should live in the seminary during the summer vacation, while he, in the meantime, could have the Monastery of Our Lady of Mercy rehabilitated because the government had left it at his disposal. And so he did.
While the bishop was in the process of putting the monastery in order, I talked with a number of priests whom the Lord had given the same spirit that motivated me. These were Fathers Stephen Sala, Joseph Xifre, Dominic Fabregas, Manuel Vilaro, and Jaime Clotet.
I, Anthony Claret, was last of all. And, indeed, they were all better educated and more virtuous than I so that I felt happy and content to consider myself their servant.
490. On July 16, 1849, after we had gathered together in the seminary with the approval of the bishop and the rector, we commenced our own Spiritual Exercises, which we followed with all exactness and fervor.
Because July 16 is the Feast of the Holy Cross and of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, I based my first sermon on those words of the twenty-third Psalm: "Your rod and your staff give me courage" (v. 4), alluding to the devotion and confidence we should place in the Holy Cross and the Blessed Virgin Mary and applying it also to the project we were beginning.
We left those Exercises full of fervor, bound and determined to persevere, and, thanks be to God and Mary, all have persevered. Two have already gone to the glory of heaven, enjoying God and the reward of their apostolic labors and praying for their brethren.
491. Thus we had begun and thus we continued, living together strictly in community. All of us were going out regularly to work in the sacred ministry. At the end of the Spiritual Exercises I gave to the tiny, newborn community, I was asked to give another set of Exercises to the clergy of Vich in the seminary chapel. On August 11, as I was coming down from the pulpit after the closing service, lo and behold, I was called to the bishop's palace. When I arrived there, he handed me a letter dated August 4, containing my royal appointment as Archbishop of Cuba. I was struck dead by the news. I said that I would by no means accept and begged the bishop to be good enough to answer for me, telling them that I would by no manner of means accept.
492. My God, may you be blessed for condescending to choose your humble servants to be Sons of the Immaculate Heart of your Mother!
493. Most Blessed Mother, may the courtesy of your Immaculate Heart, in accepting us as your Sons, be praised a thousand times! Mother, make us cooperate with such kindness by becoming daily more humble, fervent, and zealous for the salvation of souls.
494. I tell myself: A Son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a man on fire with love, who spreads its flames wherever he goes. He desires mightily and strives by all means possible to set the whole world on fire with God's love. Nothing daunts him; he delights in privations, welcomes work, embraces sacrifices, smiles at slander, and rejoices in suffering. His only concern is how he can best follow Jesus Christ and imitate Him in working, suffering, and striving constantly and single-mindedly for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Taken from the constituions of the congregation of Missionaries who are called Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Claretain Missionaries, adapted to the new Code of Canon Law by the 20th General Chapter of the Congregation and approved by the Apostolic See, Rome 2000:
1. Our Congregation of Missionaries was founded by Archbishop Saint Anthony Mary Claret in Vic, Spain on July 16, 1849 and was approved by Pius IX on December 22, 1865. We are called Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or Claretian Missionaries.
2. The aim of our Congregation is to seek in all things the glory of God, the sanctification of our members and the salvation of people throughout the world, in keeping with our missionary charism in the Church.
3. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was sent from the Father
and became incarnate of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit,
was anointed by that same Spirit to proclaim glad tidings to the poor.
In complete dedication to the concerns of his Father,
he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom.
Since it was his will to associate people with him in this saving work, he called together those he desired, appointed twelve of them to be with him, and sent them out to proclaim his message.
Then, when he himself had accomplished the work of our redemption, he founded the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation and sent the Apostles and others to bear witness to the resurrection.
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, some of these others began to manifest in the Church the kind of life Jesus had chosen for himself, as their way of witnessing to the Gospel.
4. We, the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, have also received a calling like that of the Apostles and have been granted the gift to follow Christ in a communion of life and to go out into the whole world to proclaim the good news to every creature.
Therefore the following of Christ as set forth in the gospel is our supreme rule. And so we listen to the Lord's words, eager to learn from him as he calls his disciples to be perfect as their Father is perfect,
as he gives them the new commandment of fraternal love,
as he urges them to pray, as he gives them rules for apostolic life and as he proclaims that the poor in spirit, the sorrowing, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful, the single-hearted, the peacemakers, those who suffer persecution for the cause of right and endure slander for his sake, are all sharers in his own blessedness.
5. We answer this divine call by adopting Jesus' way of life, a way which the Virgin Mary, too, embraced in faith. And so in the Church we have to manifest Christ's virginity, poverty and obedience in proclaiming the Good News. Through our profession of the evangelical counsels by public vows we dedicate ourselves to God and are consecrated by him, and thus we form in the Church an Institute which is truly and fully apostolic.
6. In the Church we are steadfast helpers of its Shepherds in the ministry of the word, using all means possible to spread the good news of the kingdom throughout the world. For the good of the whole Body of Christ, we profess love and obedience, even by vow, toward the Church's Supreme Shepherd. In communion with the bishops and under their leadership, we strive to serve in the building up and growth of the Church.
7. We form a Congregation of priests, deacons, brothers and students who share the same vocation. All of us belong to the same Community, fulfill the same mission and, in keeping with our own gift of order and the special role we perform in our Congregation, we all share the same rights and duties deriving from our profession.
Others have also received an apostolic gift and are in various ways in communion with our Congregation.
8. We attribute the founding of our Congregation to the intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom we honor as our Patroness under the title of her Immaculate Heart. Since we are called and truly are Sons of her Heart, we accompany her in love and trust and commit ourselves to her that we may be conformed to the mystery of Christ and may cooperate with her in her maternal role in our apostolic mission.
9. We should always keep this model of a missionary before us: "A Son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a man on fire with love, who spreads its flames wherever he goes. He desires mightily and strives by all means possible to set everyone on fire with God's love. Nothing daunts him: he delights in privations, welcomes work, embraces sacrifices, smiles at slander, rejoices in all the torments and sorrows he suffers, and glories in the cross of Jesus Christ.
His only concern is how he may follow Christ and imitate him in praying, working, enduring and striving constantly and solely for the greater glory of God and the salvation of humankind.
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