Anthony Mary Claret - Biography

Biography

Antoni Maria Claret i Clarà was born in Sallent, in the County of Bages in the Province of Barcelona, on December 23, 1807, the son of a woollen manufacturer. He received an elementary education in his native village, and at the age of twelve became a weaver. Later he went to Barcelona to specialize in his trade, and remained there until he was twenty years old. 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 wished to become a Carthusian monk but finally entered the seminary at Vic in 1829, and was ordained on June 13, 1835, on the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, his namesake. He received a benefice in his native parish, where he continued to study theology until 1839; but as missionary work strongly appealed to him, he proceeded to Rome. There he entered the Jesuit novitiate but had to leave due to ill health. He then returned to Spain and exercised 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 Catalonia. In 1848 he was sent to the Canary Islands where he gave retreats for fifteen months. On his return to Spain, he established the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (The Claretians) on the feast of "Our Lady of Mount Carmel" (July 16, 1849), and founded the great religious library at Barcelona which was called "Librería Religiosa" (now "Llibreria Claret").

His labors bore fruit: Pope 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 at Barcelona on December 28. The Santiago seminary was reorganized, clerical discipline strengthened, and over 9,000 marriages validated within the first two years of his arrival. He erected a hospital and numerous schools. Three times he made a visitation of the entire diocese, giving local missions incessantly. Among his great initiatives were: trade or vocational schools for disadvantaged children and credit unions for the use of the poor. He wrote books about rural spirituality and agricultural methods, which he himself tested first. He visited jails and hospitals, defended the oppressed and denounced racism. His work stirred up opposition and at Holguín his cheek was stabbed by a would-be assassin.

In February, 1857, Claret was recalled to Spain by Queen Isabella II, who made him her confessor. He obtained permission to resign his Cuban 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 a scientific laboratory, a museum of natural history, a library, college and schools of music and languages. In 1868 a new revolution dethroned the Queen and sent her with her family into exile. Claret's life was also in danger, so he accompanied her to France. This gave him the opportunity to preach the Gospel in Paris. He stayed with them for a while, then went to Rome where he was received by Pope Pius IX.

He continued his popular missions and distribution of 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.