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This champion of the rights of Indigenous people had a great love for Mary

St. Anthony Mary Claret St. Anthony Mary Claret
Public Domain

St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop

Feast day: Oct. 24

A Spanish bishop born in 1807, St. Anthony Mary Claret died in exile in France as he dealt with opposition to his spiritual and social reforms while living in devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist and to the intercession of the Blessed Mother. He is the founder of the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a religious order also known as Claretians. A child of a poor but hardworking family in the weaving trade, his earliest memories were of his family praying the Rosary together and going to church. Initially attracted to joining the Carthusians or the Jesuits, he remained a diocesan priest after ill health prevented him from continuing at a Jesuit novitiate. He worked for some time for the Propagation of the Faith in Rome. Wanting to be a missionary, St. Anthony Mary is known for his preaching missions and retreats in Catalonia. An author of many books and the founder of a religious publishing house, he was appointed archbishop of Santiago (Cuba) where he was the champion of the rights of the Indigenous people.

“O Heart of Mary, furnace and instrument of love, enkindle me with love of God and my neighbor.”

This is St. Anthony Mary Claret’s prayer to the Blessed Mother, whom he loved with an intimate affection since he was a little child. A relationship no doubt forged from being cared for by a nursemaid due to his own mother’s poor health, St. Anthony Mary believed that Mother Mary would help him through any trial whether sickness or temptation. And together with his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, this Marian bond no doubt gave St. Anthony Mary Claret the strength to withstand much persecution but also a kind heart to reciprocate Mary’s care for him to the poor both in Spain and in Cuba.

After his success in working with people in Spain, he was appointed Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, at a time when the island was in deep need of reform. Before embarking for Cuba, he made three Marian retreats, and on the trip to Havana, he gave a mission on board for all. For six years in Cuba, he worked hard to overcome racial discrimination and social injustice. An evangelizer, he renewed seminaries and the education of children. He created technical and agricultural schools, erected a new hospital, and founded savings banks and asylums. He updated farming methods and worked so that people could own their own farms. The efforts by St. Anthony Mary to preach against slavery and regularize numerous marriages met such resistance that his life was threatened, and on one occasion an attempt was actually made on his life and wounded him. Still, he was known for his pastoral visitations in Cuba and he moved forward by the power of his relationship with Christ as he proclaimed:

“I felt how the Lord called me and granted me the ability to identify with Him. I asked Him to always do His will. The experience of Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist, in the celebration of Mass or in Eucharistic adoration was so profound that I could not explain it.”

With his life threatened, his bishop sent him to the Canary Islands where he continued to preach. After a year, he returned to the Spanish mainland and shortly thereafter brought together five priests who formed the basis of his religious order, the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Despite being the Queen’s confessor, he still spent much time preaching to ordinary people and publishing Catholic literature. Amongst his many accomplishments as founder, he established the great religious library at Barcelona, now known as the Claret Library. While enduring much slander, he grew in holiness and was known to have the gifts of prophecy and healing. He remained patient during political upheaval as he worked to renew the Church. His prayer life often put him into ecstasy and rapture.

St. Anthony Mary Claret attended the First Vatican Council where he helped to define the teaching of papal infallibility. He died in solitude in exile under house arrest in a Cistercian monastery in France. His body was buried in the monastic cemetery with the inscription of Pope Gregory VII: “I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and therefore I die in exile.” Today there are an estimated 3,100 Claretian missionaries working in 65 different countries around the world.

Reflection

Jesus! Help me to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. May I remain devoted to the Eucharist as I pray for your mother’s intercession to do your will despite seemingly impossible opposition.

Prayer

O God, who for the evangelization of peoples
strengthened the Bishop Saint Anthony Mary Claret
with admirable charity and long-suffering,
grant, through his intercession,
that, seeking the things that are yours,
we may earnestly devote ourselves
to winning our brothers and sisters for Christ.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.