Childhood and Youth between Looms
Antonio Claret laid the foundations of his life surrounded by looms. He lived in a family dedicated to textile manufacturing and, at the age of 17, went to Barcelona to specialize in this field, which placed him at the center of the industrial boom of the nineteenth century.
Antonio Juan Adjutor Claret Clará was born on December 23, 1807, in Sallent (Barcelona), about 15 km from Manresa, into a staunch Christian family. Two days later, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord, his parents, Juan and Josefa, have him baptized in the parish church of Santa Maria. Antonio is the fifth of eleven children, five of whom die before their fifth birthday. He grew up in a house dedicated to textile manufacturing. Just a few months after his birth, the rhythmic beating of the looms is disrupted by the outbreak of the French invasion and the War of Independence. The atmosphere of violence and uncertainty does not overwhelm him, on the contrary, it strengthens his childish temperament. Although during the first years of the war, he is carried on someone’s shoulders to escape the fighting, at the age of four or five he is brave enough to accompany and guide his elderly grandfather, left almost blind in the darkness.
Little Anton finds peace of mind and strength in his friendship with Jesus, whom he encounters in the Eucharist, and in his devotion to the Virgin Mary, whose chapel in Fussimanya he often visits with her sister Rosa and prays the Rosary. His childish heart is tender and touches the pain of others. At the age of five, he often thinks of the eternal misery of those who are damned. This feeling led him to help everyone live according to God’s will and thus avoid eternal suffering.
When he was twelve years old, he heard God’s call to become a priest, so his father sent him to study Latin. Unfortunately, the school was closed by government order, so his father put him to work in the family weaving mill. Recognizing his talent for making textiles, he went to Barcelona to continue his education. He worked and studied with such devotion that it soon became an obsession. His prayers became much shorter and less enthusiastic than in his childhood, although he still attended Sunday mass and prayed the rosary regularly. He gradually forgot his desire to become a priest, but God guided him according to his plans.
The power of the Word of God leads him.
Young Antonio questions his identity. Among many proposals to base it on progress and success, the Word of God moves him, moves him, and sets him on the path to following Jesus in a missionary way.
While living in Barcelona, he experiences some serious disappointments: the betrayal of a friend who robs him and others, the seduction of a woman who wants to make him satisfy her passions, and, above all, the shock of being able to drown at sea. Young Antonio experiences the closeness of the Virgin Mary, who protects him from temptations and saves him from death, and the power of the Word of God, which upsets the comfortable world of his projects and dreams of success. The Gospel text “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world if he destroys himself?” (Mth16, 26) shakes his conscience. Despite some offers to start his factory, he refuses to comply with his father’s wishes and decides to give up everything to become a Carthusian.
At 22, he entered the seminary of Vic, without abandoning his intention of becoming a monk. On his way to the Cartuja de Montealegre the following year, a cold caught in a heavy storm forced him to retreat and his dreams of a retired life began to fade. He continued his studies in Vic. During this period he suffered a strong temptation against chastity, in which he recognized the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary in his favor and, above all, the will of God who wanted him to become a missionary, an evangelist.
Although he had not yet completed his theological studies, he was ordained a priest on June 13, 1835, because his bishop, Paul of Jesus Corcuera, saw something exceptional in his personality. He stayed in Sallent for four years, where he completed his studies and took charge of the parish of his hometown. The power of the Word of God again moved him; this time he left the comfort of the parish and answered the call to evangelize as a missionary. The political situation in Catalonia, divided by the civil war between Liberals and Carlists, and the unstable situation of the Church under constant pressure from the government, left Antonio no other solution than to leave his homeland and offer his services directly to Propaganda Fide, which was then entrusted with the task of evangelizing throughout the world.
After a journey full of dangers, he finally arrives in Rome. He takes a few days off to do a retreat with the Jesuits. The director encourages him to apply for admission to the Society of Jesus. At the beginning of 1840, four months after starting his novitiate, he suffers severe pain in his right leg, which prevents him from walking. The hand of God becomes noticeable. The Father General of the Jesuits, Jan Roothaan, says with determination: “It is God’s will that you return to Spain soon; do not be afraid, keep your chin up.”
>Missionary with a bundle in Catalonia and the Canary Islands
A Bible, a change of clothes, and a map were all in the bundle he carried with him on his countless missionary journeys. Poor and on foot, he wandered through Catalonia and the Canary Islands; everyone recognized him by his poverty, his friendly nature, and his missionary passion.
Back in Catalonia, the Vicar of the Diocese of Vic, Luciano Casadevall sent him to the parish of Viladrau. There, in the absence of doctors and thanks to his knowledge of the healing power of the plants of the Montseny mountains, he rightly ministered to the sick and acquired a reputation as a healer. With his missionary concern still alive, on 15 August 1840, he decided to carry out his first popular mission. Since the parish was well-supplied, he was able to go to the surrounding villages and do missionary work there. His superior, who knew of his apostolic vocation and the fruits of his preaching, released him from parish duties and let him work in the mission. From January 1841 he moved to Vic and devoted himself entirely to the various villages of the diocese. For the sake of communion with the hierarchy and the pastors involved, he asked Propaganda Fide for the title of “Apostolic Missionary”, which he filled with spiritual and apostolic content.
Between 1843 and 1848 he traveled throughout much of Catalonia preaching the word of God, always on foot, without collecting money or gifts for his ministry. He was moved to imitate Jesus Christ and the apostles. Despite his political neutrality, he was soon persecuted and slandered by those who accused him of favoring the more conservative parties. In each place, he preached missionary sermons to the population and led retreats for priests and religious. He soon discovered that other means of the apostolate could also help him to ensure the effectiveness and continuity of the fruits of the missions: public prayer books, catechisms, and prints aimed at priests, nuns, children, young people, married people, parents, etc.; In 1848 he founded the Order Library, a publishing house which, in its first eighteen years, published 2,811,100 copies of books, 2,509,500 small books, and 4,249,200 leaflets.
As an effective means of perseverance and progress in the Christian life, he founded or promoted religious brotherhoods, including the Confraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and wrote the book “Daughters of the Blessed and Immaculate Heart of Mary”, which finally inspired the founding of the Secular Institute with Cordimarian affiliation.
Since he could no longer preach in Catalonia due to the outbreak of the Second Carlist War, his superiors sent him to the Canary Islands. From February 1848 to May of the following year, he traveled through most of the island of Gran Canaria and two places on the island of Lanzarote. He was soon known colloquially as “ el Padrito ”. He became so popular that he was co-patron of the diocese of Las Palmas, along with the Virgen del Pino.
>Missionsbischof in Cuba
After his episcopal ordination, he remained a missionary. He visited his diocese three times with the staff of the Good Shepherd. He brought the bread of the world, culture, and human dignity. He was persecuted and shed his blood to serve God and the poor.
Back in Catalonia, on July 16, 1849, he founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in a cell in the Vic seminary. Claret’s great work began humbly with five priests endowed with the same spirit as the founder. A few days later, on August 11, Mossen Anton was appointed Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba. Despite his resistance and his concern for the order’s library and the newly founded Congregation of Missionaries, he was persuaded to accept the office out of obedience. On October 6, 1850, he was consecrated bishop in Vic Cathedral.
The situation on the island of Cuba is deplorable: exploitation and slavery, public immorality, insecurity in families, antipathy to the Church, and, above all, a progressive dechristianization. Upon his arrival, the new archbishop realized that a renewal of Christian life was urgently needed and promoted a series of missionary campaigns in which he took part in bringing the word of God to all the villages. He gave his episcopal ministry a missionary meaning. In six years he had visited most of his huge diocese three times. The spiritual and pastoral renewal of the clergy and the founding of religious communities were important to him. To educate young people and to look after welfare institutions, he arranged for the Escolapios, the Jesuits and the Daughters of Charity to be established on the island; together with M. Antonia Paris, he founded the convent of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate or Claretians on August 27, 1855. He fought against slavery, founded an agricultural school for poor children, set up a savings bank with a strong social character, founded public libraries, wrote two books on agriculture, etc. Such intense and varied activity brought with it confrontations, slander, persecution, and attacks on his person. On February 1, 1856, he was the victim of an attack in Holguin that almost cost him his life. This filled him with the joy of the martyrs who shed their blood for Christ.
Although he felt like a caged bird, the years he spent in Madrid were of the highest human, spiritual, and apostolic maturity. His evangelizing influence extended throughout the peninsula and the Gospel permeated the popular culture of his time through his writings and initiatives.
In 1857, Queen Isabel II personally chose him as her confessor, and he was forced to move to Madrid. He had to go to the palace at least once a week to carry out his duties as confessor and to see to the Christian education of Princess Isabel and Prince Alfonso, as well as the princesses who would be born in the following years. Thanks to his spiritual influence and determination, the religious and moral situation of the court gradually changed. He lived a simple and poor life.
The standards of the palace do not correspond to the times or the apostolic spirit of Archbishop Claret: he carries out intense activity in the city, preaches and confesses, writes books, and visits prisons and hospitals. He takes advantage of the royal tour with the kings through Spain to preach everywhere. He promotes the Academy of San Miguel, a project that aims to bring together intellectuals and artists to “join together to promote the sciences and the arts from the religious aspect, combining their efforts to combat errors, to spread good books and good teachings.”
In 1859, the Queen appointed him Protector of the Church and Hospital of Montserrat, Madrid, and President of the Monastery of El Escorial. His management of this institution could not have been more effective and comprehensive: restoration of the building, recovery of productive fields for financing, furnishing of the church, creation of a body of chaplains, an inter-diocesan seminary, a high school, and the first courses at a university.
One of his greatest concerns was to equip Spain with suitable bishops fully dedicated to their mission and to protect and promote consecrated life; in this regard, he spiritually influenced several founders and helped many new religious communities to regulate their civil and ecclesiastical situation.
He constantly tries to maintain his independence and political neutrality, which leads to numerous feuds. He becomes the target of hatred and revenge from many: “Although I have always been very cautious in this area – he speaks of nepotism – I have not escaped gossip,” he says. His union with Jesus Christ culminates in the grace of sacramental preservation of the species, which he received on August 26, 1861, in La Granja (Segovia).
The Last Way to Easter
After preaching in Paris and Rome, he believes he has fulfilled his mission. Sick, slandered, and persecuted, he gives up his spirit on the cross of exile. He, who had always tried to imitate his Lord, has finally followed his Easter path.
After the revolution of September 1868, he went into exile with the Queen. In Paris, he continued his service with the Queen and the Prince of Asturias, founded the Conferences of the Holy Family, and engaged in many apostolic activities, especially for immigrants.
In April 1869, on the occasion of the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Pope Pius IX and the preparations for the First Vatican Council, he said goodbye to the royal family and moved to Rome, where he lived in the monastery of San Adrián, the Mercedari. At the Council, he passionately defended papal infallibility.
After the sessions, in poor health and with a premonition of his death, he moved to the community that had been set up in Prades (France) by its missionaries expelled from Spain. There, his persecutors came to arrest him and bring him to Spain for trial. He was forced to flee as a criminal and seek refuge in the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide, near Narbonne. In this hidden monastery, surrounded by the love of the monks and some of his missionaries, he died on October 24, 1870, at the age of 62 years and 10 months.
His remains were transferred to Vic in 1897. He was beatified by Pope Pius XI on February 25, 1934, and canonized by Pope Pius XII on May 7, 1950.
Hello. And Bye.