Saint Anthony Mary Claret

Antoni Claret was born on December 23, 1807, in Sallent, Catalonia, Spain, the son of a weaver, and he worked in the textile trade in Barcelona before answering a call to the priesthood. Ordained in 1835, he became a tireless itinerant missionary, preaching thousands of sermons in Catalonia and the Canary Islands and writing and publishing popular religious books.

In 1849 in Vic he founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Claretians. The next year he was named Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, where for seven years he visited his whole vast diocese, defended enslaved people and the poor, promoted Christian marriage and education, and in 1856 survived an assassination attempt in Holguín. Called back to Spain as confessor to Queen Isabel II, he followed her into exile in 1868, took part in the First Vatican Council and died at the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide, France, on October 24, 1870. Pius XII canonized him in 1950.

Claretian missionaries, present across Latin America, the United States and the Philippines, celebrate their founder with Masses and festivities. In Cuba he is remembered as one of the great pastors of Santiago, and in Spain Vic keeps his tomb.

He is honored as a patron of the Catholic press for his apostolate of books and pamphlets.