Saint Antoine-Marie Claret
Fondateur des Missionnaires Fils du Cœur Immaculé de
Marie (+ 1870)
Catalan, originaire des environs de Barcelone. Il fut
d'abord apprenti-tisserand, profession familiale. Puis il fut typographe, juste
le temps d'aimer la diffusion de la Parole de Dieu par la presse. Il trouva sa
voie à 22 ans en entrant au séminaire de Vicq. Prêtre, il parcourt la
Catalogne, chapelet en main, distribuant des brochures édifiantes qu'il avait
lui-même imprimées. Mais ces horizons étaient encore trop étriqués à ses yeux.
En 1849, il fonde une nouvelle congrégation à vocation missionnaire : « les
Fils de Marie Immaculée » qu'on appelle les Clarétins. En 1850, le Pape le
nomme archevêque de Santiago de Cuba, et cela ne le déconcerte pas. Il y exerce
un intense apostolat, homme de feu brûlé par l'amour du Christ. Là encore il
imprime et distribue images et brochures, prend la défense des esclaves,
condamne les exactions des grands propriétaires. Ce qui lui attire bien des
ennemis. Il échappe alors à quinze tentatives d'assassinat. En 1857, après 6
années d'un tel ministère, la reine Isabelle l'appelle en Espagne comme
conseiller et confesseur. En 1868, la révolution éclate. Saint Antoine-Marie
suit la reine, réfugiée à Paris. Les Claretains sont expulsés de leurs six
maisons et fondent en France celle de Prades. Il prend part au concile du
Vatican en 1869 et 1870. Au retour, il se retirera au monastère cistercien de
Fontfroide où il meurt.
Mémoire de saint Antoine-Marie Claret, évêque. Après
son ordination presbytérale, il parcourut pendant plusieurs années la
Catalogne, en prêchant au peuple, et fonda la Société des Missionnaires Fils du
Cœur Immaculé de Marie. Devenu évêque de Santiago de Cuba, il se soucia plus
que tout du salut des âmes. Revenu en Espagne, il eut beaucoup à souffrir pour
l’Église et finit ses jours en exil chez les moines cisterciens de Fontfroide
près de Narbonne, en 1870.
Martyrologe romain
La meilleure disposition à l’union avec Dieu, c’est
l’intimité avec Notre-Seigneur et la vie d’amour.
Saint Antoine-Marie - Lettre à Micael
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/2070/Saint-Antoine-Marie-Claret.html
Homélie de Pie XII pour la canonisation de St. Antoine
Marie Claret
ROME, Mercredi 25 octobre 2006 (ZENIT.org)
– Antoine Marie Claret y Clara a donné aux travailleurs « des exemples
admirables et imitables d’honneur et de sainteté », a souligné Pie XII le
jour de la canonisation du saint catalan.
Voici le texte complet de l’homélie du pape Pie XII
pour la canonisation de l’évêque St. Antoine Marie Claret y Clara, en 1950.
Homélie (cf. Missel)
« Lorsque Nous évoquons la vie de saint
Antoine-Marie Claret, dit Pie XII dans l’homélie de la canonisation, Nous ne
savons ce qu’il faut le plus admirer : l’innocence de son âme que, dès sa
plus tendre enfance, des soins attentifs et sa prudence conservèrent intacte,
tel un lis entre les épines ; ou l’ardeur de sa charité qui le faisait
tendre au soulagement de toutes les misères ; ou enfin son zèle
apostolique qui le fit contribuer si fortement, par une activité de jour et de
nuit, par des prières instantes pour le salut des âmes, par de nombreux
voyages, par des discours enflammés d’amour pour Dieu, à la réforme des mœurs
privées et publiques selon l’esprit de l’Évangile.
Lorsque, jeune homme, il exerçait le métier de
tisserand pour obéir à la volonté de son père, il donna à ses compagnons de
travail de tels exemples de vertu chrétienne, qu’il excitait l’admiration de
tous. Et dès qu’il pouvait cesser le travail et se reposer, il gagnait une
église où il passait ses meilleures heures en prières et en contemplation
devant l’autel du Saint Sacrement ou l’image de la Vierge. Car il était dans
les vues de la Providence qu’avant même d’être élevé à un état de vie
supérieure, il donnerait aux travailleurs des exemples admirables et imitables
d’honneur et de sainteté.
Après quelques années, surmontant bien des obstacles,
il put enfin réaliser, le cœur rempli de gratitude pour Dieu, ce qu’il avait
toujours souhaité et se consacrer totalement à Dieu. Admis au séminaire
diocésain, il se donna avec joie et courage à l’étude, obéissant avec soin au
règlement, et s’efforça partout de développer en son âme les dons naturels pour
reproduire par ses paroles et ses actes la vivante image de Jésus-Christ. Aussi
est-ce comme un infatigable soldat qu’ayant achevé ses études et devenu prêtre,
il se lança tout heureux dans le champ de l’apostolat, comptant moins sur les
moyens humains que sur la puissance divine ; et, dès le début de son ministère
sacerdotal, il obtint d’admirables fruits de salut. En s’acquittant de ce
ministère, il prit toujours un soin particulier à rechercher ce qui lui
paraissait répondre le mieux aux besoins de son époque.
C’est ainsi que voyant une ignorance assez générale
des préceptes divins et la tiédeur d’un grand nombre vis-à-vis de la religion
être cause d’un affaiblissement de la piété chrétienne, d’une désertion des
églises et de la ruine lamentable des mœurs, il forma avec opportunité le
projet d’entreprendre des courses missionnaires pour organiser dans diverses
villes et villages des prédications de plusieurs jours. Pendant qu’il prêchait,
son visage rayonnait de la charité dont brillait son âme : les paroles qui
sortaient de ses lèvres, ou plutôt de son cœur, étaient telles que les
assistants étaient souvent émus jusqu’aux larmes et, qui plus est, inclinés à
tendre d’un cœur sincère vers une vie meilleure et plus sainte.
Aussi lui arrivait-il d’obtenir plus que de salutaires
améliorations, le renouvellement des mœurs, qu’il confirmait efficacement en
accomplissant au nom de Dieu d’extraordinaires miracles. Comme sa réputation de
sainteté se répandait chaque jour davantage, il fut jugé digne d’être promu
archevêque et de se voir confier l’île de Cuba. Bien qu’il y rencontrât de
graves difficultés et des obstacles sans cesse renaissants, il ne se laissa pas
décourager par les travaux les plus durs, ni les périls de tous genres ;
ce qu’en bon soldat du Christ il avait fait en Espagne, cet excellent, cet
intrépide pasteur s’efforça de le réaliser dans l’île.
Rappelé ensuite dans sa patrie, et choisi comme
confesseur de la Reine et son conseiller, il n’eut pas d’autres préoccupations
que la recherche de ce qui était le plus utile au salut de son auguste
pénitente : la défense des droits de l’Eglise et le développement de tout
ce qui pouvait concourir à l’expansion de la religion catholique.
L’œuvre si utile qu’il avait déjà commencée depuis
longtemps, à savoir la fondation d’un groupe de missionnaires consacrés au Cœur
Immaculé de la Vierge Marie fut achevée et si bien affermie et dotée de Règles
très sages qu’elle se propagea peu à peu avec succès en Espagne, dans presque
toutes les nations d’Europe et jusqu’aux Amériques, ainsi qu’en Afrique et en
Asie.
Tels sont, vénérables frères et chers fils, les
principaux traits de la physionomie de ce saint et le très bref résumé de ses
œuvres. On voit clairement combien saint Antoine-Marie Claret s’est signalé par
sa sublime vertu, et par tout ce qu’il accomplit pour le salut de son prochain.
Si les ouvriers, les prêtres, les évêques et tout le peuple chrétien tournent
leurs regards vers lui, ils auront certes tous des raisons d’être frappés par
ses exemples lumineux et d’être entraînés, chacun selon son état, à l’acquisition
de la perfection chrétienne, seule source d’où pourront sortir les remèdes que
réclame la situation troublée actuelle et d’où pourront naître des temps
meilleurs.
Puisse le nouveau saint nous obtenir cela du Divin
Rédempteur et de sa Mère Immaculée. Et que ce soit le fruit béni de cette
solennelle célébration. Amen.
SOURCE : http://news.catholique.org/12242-homelie-de-pie-xii-pour-la-canonisation-de
SAINT-ANTOINE MARIE CLARET
Naissance
Saint Antoine-Marie Claret est né le 23 Décembre, 1807
à Sallent (Espagne). Sa famille, une famille nombreuse de onze enfants, se
distinguait par deux caractéristiques : une ambiance chrétienne intense et
une grande ardeur au travail. Il est issu d'une famille de tisserands.
Les premières pensées qui ont occupé son esprit
enfantin se rapportent à l’éternité. Cette pensée l’a poussé á travailler á la
conversion des pécheurs. Pendant son enfance et son adolescence il sentit une
très tendre dévotion à la Vierge Marie et à l’Eucharistie.
Ouvrier
Antoine passa son adolescence entre les métiers à
tisser de son père. Il y devint bientôt maître dans l’art du tissage. Pour se
perfectionner dans la fabrication, il demanda à son père
l’autorisation de se rendre à Barcelone. Il travaillait
dans une manufacture le jour et étudiait la nuit. Et bien qu’il continuât
d’être un bon chrétien, sa piété s’est réfroidie, car sa grande préoccupation
était la fabrication et l’étude. Quelques contrariétées l’ont amené à se
poser des questions sérieuses sur son avenir. Et c’est dans cette situation de
réflexion qu’il fut frappé par cette parole de l’Évangile : «De quoi sert
à l’homme de gagner le monde entier, s’il se perd lui-même ? ». Cette
phrase l’ébranla profondément.
Séminariste
C'est en 1829, à l'âge de 22 ans, que le saint décide de faire son entrée au Séminaire de Vic, capitale de son diocèse natal. Il se fera remarquer par sa piété et son engagement en faveur des pauvres et des malades. Il se découvre une vraie passion pour la Parole de Dieu.
À la fin de l’année académique, Antoine crut venu le moment de mettre en œuvre
sa décision d’entrer à la Chartreuse et il s’en alla vers celle de Monte
Alegre, près de Barcelone. Mais il fit demi-tour et retourna à Vic.Malgré les
vicissitudes sociales et politiques de l'époque, Antoine parvient au sacerdoce
le 13 Juin,1835. Il est ordonné à Solsona (Espagne).
Au cours de cette deuxième année de séminaire, il
traversa l’épreuve du feu de la chasteté. Alité, il se sentit tout à coup
assailli par une tentation qu’il n’arrivait pas à chasser. Il vit alors la
Vierge lui apparaître et lui dire, en lui montrant une couronne : « Antoine,
cette couronne sera à toi si tu vainc s». Et, tout à coup, toutes les images
malsaines et obsédantes s’évanouirent.
Sacerdoce
Claret fut ordonné prêtre le 13 juin 1835. C’est à
Sallent, sa ville natale, qu’il fut nommé à son premier poste en qualité de
vicaire et, peu de temps après, comme curé.
Son esprit apostolique ne connaissait pas de bornes.
C’est pourquoi les limites d’une paroisse ne pouvaient pas satisfaire l’ardeur
apostolique de Claret. Il consulta et décida de partir pour Rome avec
l’intention de se mettre à la disposition de la Congrégation de la Propagation
de la Foi, dans le but d’aller prêcher l’Évangile aux infidèles...
Claret profita d’un temps libre pour faire les
exercices spirituels sous la direction d’un père de la Compagnie de Jésus. Ce
fut une occasion providentielle pour mieux discerner sa vocation missionnaire
et s’y préparer à travers quelques mois comme novice jésuite. Une maladie assez
inexplicable -une forte douleur à la jambe droite- lui fera comprendre que sa
mission était en Espagne.
Missionaire Apostolique en Catalogne et Canarias
De retour en Espagne, il fut envoyé provisoirement à
Viladrau, une petite paroisse rurale dans les montagnes du sud de Gérone. Il y
entreprit son ministère avec un grand zèle
Ses traces sont restées imprimées sur tous les chemins
de la Catalogne.
En 1843, apparaît la première édition du «Camino
Recto» (Le Droit Chemin), le livre de piété le plus lu au XIX siècle en
Espagne. Claret avait 35 ans. En 1847, il fondait une maison d’éditions, la
« Librería Religiosa ». Cette même année, il fondait également
l’Archiconfrérie du Cœur de Marie et rédigeait les statuts de la Fraternité du
Cœur Immaculé de Marie et des Amis de l’Humanité, composée de prêtres et de
laïcs (hommes et femmes) qui s’engageaient à la bienfaisance et à l’apostolat.
Il prêcha et confessa infatigablement dans les Îles
Canaries pendant quinze mois, laissant derrière lui des conversions, des
miracles, des prophéties et des légendes. Les habitants de ces îles virent
partir un jour leur Padrito (petit Père) et, les larmes aux yeux, lui
firent leurs adieux. Cela se passait les derniers jours du mois de mai 1849.
Fondateur et Archevêque de Cuba
Peu de temps après, le 16 juillet 1849, à quinze
heures, dans une cellule du séminaire de Vic, il fondait la Congrégation des
Missionnaires Fils du Cœur Immaculé de Marie.
Un mois après la fondation, il reçut un Décret Royal,
par lequel on le nommait archevêque de Santiago de Cuba. Après avoir essayé par
tous les moyens d’y renoncer, il accepta la charge le 4 octobre 1849 et fut
consacré Évêque le 6 octobre 1850 dans la cathédrale de Vic.
Avant de s’embarquer pour Cuba Il eut encore le temps,
avant son départ, de fonder les Religieuses chez Elles ou Filles du Cœur
Immaculé de Marie, une sorte d’Institut séculier, connu aujourd’hui sous le nom
de Filiation du Cœur Immaculé de Marie.
Claret restera six ans au diocèse de Santiago de Cuba,
travaillant sans prendre le moindre repos, prêchant des missions, semant
l’amour et la justice, en cette île où regnaient la discrimination raciale et
l’injustice sociale. Il a fondé dans son diocèse des institutions religieuses
et sociales pour les enfants et les adultes ; il a créé une grande école
d’agriculture pour la formation des enfants des paysans. Il a établi et
développé partout à Cuba les Caisses d’Épargne et fondé des asiles. Il a visité
quatre fois, à pied ou à cheval, toutes les villes et tous les villages de son
immense diocèse. L’une des œuvres les plus importantes que le Père Claret
ait réalisées à Cuba fut la fondation, avec la Mère Antonia París, de la
Congrégation des « Religieuses de Marie Immaculée », Missionnaires
Clarétaines
Son travail missionnaire, surtout son action sociale
en faveur des esclaves noirs, lui attira la persécution de ses ennemis. La
fureur des attentats atteignit son plus haut point à Holguín, où il fut
grièvement blessé, alors qu’il sortait de l’église, par un sicaire à la solde
de ses ennemis. Le Père Claret, en danger de mort, demanda que le criminel soit
pardonné. Malgré tout, ses ennemis continuèrent à harceler le Père Claret.
Confesseur de la Reine et missionnaire
Au bout de six ans de séjour à Cuba, on lui remit une
dépêche urgente qui lui communiquait que sa Majesté la Reine Isabelle II
l’appelait à Madrid. C’était le 18 mars 1857.
Arrivé à Madrid, le Père Claret apprit, à sa grande
surprise, que sa charge à Madrid était celle de confesseur de la
Reine. Bien que contrarié, il accepta, tout en y posant ces trois
conditions : qu’il ne demeurerait pas au Palais, qu’il ne serait pas impliqué
dans la politique et qu’il ne serait pas obligé à faire antichambre. Il voulait
assurer toute sa liberté apostolique.Il développa une inlassable
activité. Le grand Apôtre catalan n’était pas né courtisan. Durant les
onze années qu’il resta à Madrid, son activité apostolique à la Cour fut très
intense et ininterrompue.
Il profitait des déplacements de la Reine, qu’il
accompagnait à travers l’Espagne, pour déployer un apostolat intense. La Reine
le nomma Président du Monastère Royal de l’Escurial.
Claret est l’auteur de 96 ouvrages (15 livres et 81
opuscules). Il édita aussi 27 livres d’autres auteurs, annotés ou traduits par
lui. Ce n’est qu’en tenant compte de son zèle apostolique, de son tempérament
actif et des forces que Dieu lui communiquait, que l’on peut comprendre qu’il
ait pu écrire et publier autant, tout en se consacrant à une si intense
activité missionnaire. Claret n’était pas seulement un écrivain, il était aussi
un propagandiste. Il distribuait copieusement les livres et les feuilles
volantes. « Les livres -disait-il- sont la meilleure aumône qu’on peut
faire ». Une de ses œuvres fut l’Académie de Saint Michel (1858).
Elle prétendait réunir les artistes, journalistes et écrivains catholiques,
épaulés par des zélateurs. Il a également fondé les Bibliothèques
Populaires.
Il n’est pas étonnant qu’un homme de l’influence du
Père Claret, qui attirait les multitudes, soit devenu l’objet de la haine et la
colère des ennemis de l’Église. Mais les menaces et les attentats étaient
autant d’échecs, parce que la Providence veillait sur lui et qu’il se
réjouissait dans les persécutions. Les attentats personnels dont il fut l’objet
dans sa vie furent nombreux. La plupart furent un échec et se terminèrent même
par la conversion des hommes engagés pour l’assassiner.
Exile et Padre en el Concilio Vaticano I
Le 30 septembre 1868, la famille royale, avec quelques
amis et son confesseur, le Père Claret, partait en exil pour la France. D’abord
à Pau, puis à Paris.
Le 8 décembre 1869, commencèrent à arriver à Rome les
700 évêques du monde entier. Le Concile Oecuménique, Vatican I, commençait. Le
Père Claret était là. Parmi les thèmes les plus débattus, il y avait celui de
l’infaillibilité pontificale concernant les questions de foi et de mœurs. La
voix de Claret s’éleva dans la Basilique vaticane : «Je porte dans mon corps
les stigmates de la passion du Christ, dit-il, faisant allusion aux
blessures d’Holguín. Puissé-je verser tout mon sang en affirmant
l’infaillibilité du Pape». Claret est le seul Père présent à ce Concile à
parvenir à l’honneur des autels.
Muerte y glorificación
Le 23 juillet 1870, le Père Claret savait que sa mort
était proche et arrivait à Prades, dans les Pyrénées Orientales Mais ses
ennemis ne le laissèrent pas en paix, même en cette paisible retraite.
Même exilé et malade, le Père Claret fut
contraint de fuir. Il trouva asile dans le monastère cistercien de Fontfroide,
proche de la ville de Narbonne.
Le matin du 24 octobre, son état s’est aggravé d’une
façon alarmante. Aux côtés du mourant, se trouvaient les Pères Clotet et Puig.
Tous les religieux se tenaient autour de son lit ; pendant les prières de cette
assemblée, Claret remit son esprit entre les mains du Créateur à 8 h 45. Il
avait 62 ans.
Sa dépouille mortelle fut déposée au cimetière du
monastère. Sur la pierre tombale, on grava cette inscription de Grégoire VII :
«J’ai aimé la justice et haï l’iniquité, c’est pourquoi je meurs en
exil».
En 1897, le corps du Père Claret fut transféré à Vic
où il est vénéré aujourd’hui. Le 25 février 1934, l’Église l’inscrivit au
nombre des Bienheureux. L’humble missionnaire apparut à la vénération du monde
entier dans la gloire du Bernin. Les cloches de la Basilique du Vatican
proclamaient sa gloire.
Le 7 mai 1950, le Pape Pie XII le proclama saint.
Voici les paroles du Pape en ce jour de gloire :
«Saint Antoine-Marie Claret fut une grande homme, né
pour réunir des contrastes : il put être d’humble origine et glorieux aux yeux
du monde ; petit de corps, mais géant d’esprit ; modeste d’apparence, mais tout
à fait capable d’imposer le respect même aux grands de la terre ; fort de
caractère, mais doué de la douceur suave de celui qui connaît le frein de
l’austérité et de la pénitence ; toujours en présence de Dieu, même au milieu
de sa prodigieuse activité extérieure ; admiré et calomnié ; fêté et
persécuté. Et, parmi toutes ces merveilles, comme une douce lumière illuminant
tout, sa dévotion à la Mère de Dieu».
SOURCE : http://www.claret.org/fr/biographie-saint-antoine-marie-claret
24 octobre
Saint Antoine-Maire Claret y Clara
Homélie
de Pie XII lors de la canonisation
A Saint-Martin d’Heuille, dans le Nivernais, on vient
prier Notre-Dame de Pitié en souvenir de la résurrection d’un petit
enfant. Le 24 octobre 1879, un petit enfant, n’ayant aucune apparence de
vie, fut apporté à l’église de Saint-Martin et déposé sur le marchepied de
l’autel de Notre-Dame de Pitié. Devant le petit cadavre, les fidèles désolés,
mais confants, tombent à genoux et chantent avec ferveur le « Salve
Regina ». Soudain, la vie semble renaître ; le visage se colore, les yeux
s’ouvrent, l’enfant donne tous les signes d’une véritable résurrection. Il est
baptisé, et une prière d’actions de grâces jaillit de tous les cœurs.
Le 24 octobre 1859, la ville d’Avignon renouvelle sa
confiance à Marie en plaçant au faîte de la basilique Notre-Dame des Doms une
statue monumentale. Plus de cent mille personnes conduites par sept évêques.
Cinquième des onze enfants du tisserand Jean Claret et
de Joséphine Clara, Antoine naquit le 23 décembre 1807, à Sallent, dans le
diocèse de Vich, en Catalogne. En même temps qu'il s'initiait au métier de
tisserand, il étudiait le latin avec le curé de sa paroisse qui lui donna une
solide formation religieuse et une tendre dévotion à la Sainte Vierge ; à
dix-sept ans, son père l'envoya se perfectionner dans une entreprise de
Barcelone où, aux cours du soir, il apprit, sans abandonner le latin, le
français et l'imprimerie. Après une terrible crise spirituelle où il fut au
bord du suicide, il avait songé à se faire chartreux mais, sur les conseils de
son directeur de conscience, il choisit d'entrer au séminaire de Vich (29
septembre 1829). Tonsuré le 2 février 1832, minoré le 21 décembre 1833, il
reçut le sous-diaconat le 24 mai 1834, fut ordonné diacre le 20 décembre 1834
et prêtre le 13 juin 1835. Il acheva ses études de théologie en exerçant le ministère
de vicaire puis d'économe de sa ville natale.
Désireux de partir en mission, il se rendit à Rome
pour se mettre à la disposition de la Congrégation de la Propagande. Le
cardinal préfet étant absent, Antoine suivit les Exercices de saint Ignace chez
les Jésuites qui lui proposèrent d'entrer dans leur compagnie. Il commença son
noviciat (2 novembre 1839) qu'une plaie à la jambe l'obligea à quitter (3 mars
1840).
Revenu en Espagne, il fut curé de Viladrau où, à peine
arrivé, pour le 15 août, il prêcha une mission qui eut tant de succès qu'on le
demanda ailleurs et l'évêque le déchargea de sa cure pour qu'il se consacrât
aux missions intérieures (mai 1843) ; il prêcha et confessa dans toute la
Catalogne et soutint ses prédications par plus de cent cinquante livres et
brochures. Sa vie étant menacée, l'évêque l'envoya aux îles Canaries (février
1848 à mars 1849) où il continua son ministère missionnaire. Avec cinq prêtres
du séminaire de Vich, il fondait la congrégation des Missionnaires Fils du
Coeur Immaculé de Marie (16 juillet 1849).
A la demande de la reine Isabelle II d'Espagne, Pie IX
le nomma archevêque de Santiago de Cuba dont le siège était vacant depuis
quatorze ans ; il fut sacré le 6 octobre 1850 et ajouta le nom de Marie à son
prénom ; il s'embarqua, le 28 décembre 1850, à Barcelone, et arriva dans son
diocèse le 16 février 1851. Il s'efforça d'abord d'instruire le peu de prêtres
de son diocèse (vingt-cinq pour quarante paroisses) et de leur assurer un
revenu suffisant ; il fit venir des religieux ; il visita son diocèse et y
prêcha pendant deux ans où il distribua 97 217 livres et brochures, 83 500
images, 20 665 chapelets et 8 397 médailles ; en six ans, il visita trois
fois et demi son diocèse où il prononça 11 000 sermons, régularisa 30 000
mariages et confirma 300 000 personnes. Il prédit un tremblement de terre, une
épidémie de choléra et même la perte de Cuba par l'Espagne ; il fonda une
maison de bienfaisance pour les enfants et les vieillards pauvres où il attacha
un centre d'expérimentation agricole ; il créa 53 paroisses et ordonna 36
prêtres. Les esclavagistes lui reprochaient d'être révolutionnaire, les
autonomistes lui reprochaient d'être espagnol et les pouvoirs publics lui
reprochaient d'être trop indépendant : il n'y eut pas moins de quinze attentats
contre lui et l'on pensa que le dernier, un coup de couteau qui le blessa à la
joue, lui serait fatal (1° février 1856).
Le 18 mars 1857, l'archevêque fut mandé en Espagne par
la reine Isabelle qui le voulait pour confesseur et il fut nommé archevêque
titulaire (in partibus) de Trajanopolis sans pour autant cesser d'assurer de
Madrid l'administration de Cuba. Confesseur de la Reine, il eut assez
d'influence pour faire nommer de bons évêques, pour organiser un centre
d'études ecclésiastiques à l'Escurial et pour imposer la morale à la cour.
Voyageant avec la Reine à travers l'Espagne, il continua de prêcher et ne
manqua pas de s'attirer la haine des nombreux ennemis du régime. Quand Isabelle
II fut chassée de son trône (novembre 1868), Mgr. Claret y Clara suivit sa
souveraine en France : il quitta définitivement l'Espagne le 30 septembre 1868.
Pendant ce temps, la congrégation des Missionnaires
Fils du Coeur Immaculé de Marie se développait lentement : elle avait reçu
l'approbation civile (9 juillet 1859) et ses constitutions avaient été
approuvées par Rome (decretum laudis du 21 novembre 1860) et
définitivement reconnues le 27 février 1866 ; l'approbation perpétuelle, donnée
le 11 février 1870, fut confirmée le 2 mai 1870. D'abord établie au séminaire
de Vich, puis installée dans l'ancien couvent des Carmes, la congrégation,
dirigée depuis 1858 par le P. Xifré, fonde à Barcelone (1860) et dans d'autres
villes espagnoles avant d'ouvrir des maisons à l'étranger : en France (1869), au
Chili (1870), à Cuba (1880), en Italie (1884), au Mexique (1884), au Brésil
(1895), au Portugal (1898), en Argentine (1901), aux Etats-Unis (1902), en
Uruguay (1908), en Colombie (1909), au Pérou (1909), en Autriche (1911), en
Angleterre (1912), en Bolivie (1919), au Vénézuéla (1923), à Saint-Domingue
(1923), au Panama (1923), en Allemagne (1924), en Afrique portugaise (1927), en
Chine (1933), à Porto-Rico (1946), aux Philippines (1947), en Belgique
(1949).
Après la révolution de 1868 ou un prêtre de la
congrégation fut assassiné, le nouveau gouvernement ferma les six maisons
espagnoles et les missionnaires s'exilèrent en France (Prades).
Mgr. Antoine-Marie Claret y Clara bien que sa santé
fut de plus en plus mauvaise, s'occupa de la colonie espagnole de Paris ;
le 30 mars 1869, il partit pour Rome, afin de participer aux travaux du premier
concile du Vatican, mais il y tomba si malade qu'il dut se retirer à Prades où
il arriva le 23 juillet 1870. Il parut pour la dernière fois en public à la distribution
des prix au petit séminaire où il fit un discours en Catalan (27 juillet 1870).
L'ambassadeur d'Espagne demanda son internement mais le gouvernement français
fit en sorte que l'évêque de Perpignan l'avertît et, lorsqu'on vint l'arrêter
(6 août 1870), il était réfugié chez les Cisterciens de Fontfroide où il mourut
le 24 octobre 1870. Il fut béatifié en 1934 et canonisé en 1950.
Homélie
de Pie lors de la canonisation
« Lorsque Nous évoquons la vie de saint
Antoine-Marie Claret, dit Pie XII dans l’homélie de la canonisation,
Nous ne savons ce qu'il faut le plus admirer : l'innocence de son âme que,
dès sa plus tendre enfance, des soins attentifs et sa prudence conservèrent
intacte, tel un lis entre les épines ; ou l'ardeur de sa charité qui le
faisait tendre au soulagement de toutes les misères ; ou enfin son zèle
apostolique qui le fit contribuer si fortement, par une activité de jour et de
nuit, par des prières instantes pour le salut des âmes, par de nombreux
voyages, par des discours enflammés d'amour pour Dieu, à la réforme des mœurs
privées et publiques selon l'esprit de l'Evangile.
Lorsque, jeune homme, il exerçait le métier de
tisserand pour obéir à la volonté de son père, il donna à ses compagnons de
travail de tels exemples de vertu chrétienne, qu'il excitait l'admiration de
tous ; et dès qu'il pouvait cesser le travail et se reposer, il gagnait
une église où il passait ses meilleures heures en prières et en contemplation
devant l'autel du Saint Sacrement ou l'image de la Vierge. Car il était dans
les vues de la Providence qu'avant même d'être élevé à un état de vie
supérieure, il donnerait aux travailleurs des exemples admirables et imitables
d'honneur et de sainteté.
Après quelques années, surmontant bien des obstacles,
il put enfin réaliser, le cœur rempli de gratitude pour Dieu, ce qu'il avait
toujours souhaité et se consacrer totalement à Dieu. Admis au séminaire
diocésain, il se donna avec joie et courage à l'étude, obéissant avec soin au
règlement, et s'efforça partout de développer en son âme les dons naturels pour
reproduire par ses paroles et ses actes la vivante image de Jésus-Christ. Aussi
est-ce comme un infatigable soldat qu'ayant achevé ses études et devenu prêtre,
il se lança tout heureux dans le champ de l'apostolat, comptant moins sur les
moyens humains que sur la puissance divine ; et, dès le début de son
ministère sacerdotal, il obtint d'admirables fruits de salut. En s'acquittant
de ce ministère, il prit toujours un soin particulier à rechercher ce qui lui
paraissait répondre le mieux aux besoins de son époque. C'est ainsi que voyant
une ignorance assez générale des préceptes divins et la tiédeur d'un grand
nombre vis-à-vis de la religion être cause d'un affaiblissement de la piété
chrétienne, d'une désertion des églises et de la ruine lamentable des mœurs, il
forma avec opportunité le projet d'entreprendre des courses missionnaires pour
organiser dans diverses villes et villages des prédications de plusieurs jours.
Pendant qu'il prêchait, son visage rayonnait de la charité dont brillait son
âme : les paroles qui sortaient de ses lèvres, ou plutôt de son cœur,
étaient telles que les assistants étaient souvent émus jusqu'aux larmes et, qui
plus est, inclinés à tendre d'un cœur sincère vers une vie meilleure et plus
sainte.
Aussi lui arrivait-il d'obtenir plus que de salutaires
améliorations, le renouvellement des mœurs, qu'il confirmait efficacement en
accomplissant au nom de Dieu d'extraordinaires miracles. Comme sa réputation de
sainteté se répandait chaque jour davantage, il fut jugé digne d'être promu
archevêque et de se voir confier l'île de Cuba. Bien qu'il y rencontrât de
graves difficultés et des obstacles sans cesse renaissants, il ne se laissa pas
décourager par les travaux les plus durs, ni les périls de tous genres ;
ce qu'en bon soldat du Christ il avait fait en Espagne, cet excellent, cet
intrépide pasteur s'efforça de le réaliser dans l'île.
Rappelé ensuite dans sa patrie, et choisi comme
confesseur de la Reine et son conseiller, il n'eut pas d'autres préoccupations
que la recherche de ce qui était le plus utile au salut de son auguste
pénitente : la défense des droits de l'Eglise et le développement de tout
ce qui pouvait concourir à l'expansion de la religion catholique.
L'œuvre si utile qu'il avait déjà commencée depuis
longtemps, à savoir la fondation d'un groupe de missionnaires consacrés au Cœur
Immaculé de la Vierge Marie fut achevée et si bien affermie et dotée de Règles
très sages qu'elle se propagea peu à peu avec succès en Espagne, dans presque
toutes les nations d'Europe et jusqu'aux Amériques, ainsi qu'en Afrique et en
Asie.
Tels sont, vénérables frères et chers fils, les
principaux traits de la physionomie de ce saint et le très bref résumé de ses
œuvres. On voit clairement combien saint Antoine-Marie Claret s'est signalé par
sa sublime vertu et par tout ce qu'il accomplit pour le salut de son prochain.
Si les ouvriers, les prêtres, les évêques et tout le peuple chrétien tournent
leurs regards vers lui, ils auront certes tous des raisons d'être frappés par
ses exemples lumineux et d'être entraînés, chacun selon son état, à
l'acquisition de la perfection chrétienne, seule source d'où pourront sortir
les remèdes que réclame la situation troublée actuelle et d'où pourront naître
des temps meilleurs.
Puisse le nouveau saint nous obtenir cela du Divin
Rédempteur et de sa Mère Immaculée. Et que ce soit le fruit béni de cette
solennelle célébration. Amen.
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/10/24.php
Also known as
Antonio María Claret y Clará
formerly 23
October
Profile
Worked as a weaver in
his youth. Seminary student with Saint Francisco
Coll Guitart. Ordained on 13 June 1835. Missionary in
Catalonia and the Canary Islands. Directed retreats. Founded the Congregation
of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians). Archbishop of Santiago
de Cuba on 20 May 1850.
Founded the Teaching Sisters of Mary Immaculate. Following his work in the
Caribbean, Blessed Pope Pius
IX ordered Anthony back to Spain. Confessor to Queen Isabella
II, and was exiled with
her. Had the gifts of prophecy and miracles.
Reported to have preached 10,000
sermons, published 200 works. Spread devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the
Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Born
23
December 1807 at
Sallent, Catalonia, Spain
24
October 1870 in
a Cistercian monastery at
Fontfroide, Narbonne, France
6
January 1926 by Pope Pius
XI
25
February 1934 by Pope Pius
XI
Blessed Jacinto
Blanch Ferrer served as Vice-Postulator for Saint Anthony’s Caused from 1916 until
his death in 1936
Missionary
Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Additional Information
Book
of Saints, by Father Lawrence
George Lovasik, S.V.D.
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
The
Holiness of the Church in the 19th Century
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other sites in english
Claretian Missionaries of the United Kingdom and Ireland
Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
images
video
sitios en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites en français
Abbé Christian-Philippe Chanut
fonti in italiano
Readings
Driven by the fire of the Holy
Spirit, the holy apostles traveled throughout the earth. Inflamed with the
same fire, apostolic missionaries have reached, are now reaching, and will
continue to reach the ends of the earth, from one pole to the other, in order
to proclaim the word of God. They are deservedly able to apply to themselves
those words of the apostle Paul: “The love of Christ drives us on.” The love of
Christ arouses us, urges us to run, and to fly, lifted on the wings of holy
zeal. The zealous man desires and achieve all great things and he labors
strenuously so that God may always be better known, loved and served in this
world and in the life to come, for this holy love is without end. Because he is
concerned also for his neighbor, the man of zeal works to fulfill his desire
that all men be content on this earth and happy and blessed in their heavenly
homeland, that all may be saved, and that no one may perish for ever, or offend
God, or remain even for a moment in sin. Such are the concerns we observe in
the holy apostles and in all who are driven by the apostolic spirit. For
myself, I say this to you: The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a
son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that
flame; he deserves and works with all this strength to inflame all men with the
fire of God’s love. Nothing deters him: he rejoices in poverty; he labors
strenuously; he welcomes hardships; he laughs off false accusations; he
rejoices in anguish. He thinks only of how he might follow Jesus Christ and
imitate him by his prayers,
his labors, his sufferings, and by caring always and only for the glory
of God and
the salvation of souls. – from a work by Saint Anthony
Mary Claret
MLA Citation
“Saint Anthony Mary Claret“. CatholicSaints.Info.
16 September 2021. Web. 25 October 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-anthony-mary-claret/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-anthony-mary-claret/
Picture of painted tiles to commemorate the stay
of Saint Anthony Mary Claret in Santa Lucía de Tirajana in January
1849, wall-mounted to the 150th anniversary of his stay; Santa Lucía de Tirajana, Gran
Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain.
Bild aus bemalten Kacheln zur Erinnerung an den
Aufenthalt von Antonius Maria Claret y Clará in Santa Lucía de Tirajana im Januar
1849, angebracht zum 150. Jahrestages seines Aufenthaltes; Santa Lucía de Tirajana, Gran
Canaria, Kanarische Inseln, Spanien.
Saint Anthony Mary Claret
St. Anthony Mary Claret was born in Catalonia, the
northeastern corner of Spain, in a town called Sallent on December 23, 1807. He
was the fifth son of Juan Claret and Josefa Clará’s eleven children. His father
owned a small textile factory, but was not rich. Anthony grew up in a Christian
environment, and at a very early age had a strong sense of the eternal life
that Christ wanted all men and women to enjoy. He wanted to spare sinners
eternal unhappiness, and felt moved to work for their salvation. When he was
about eleven years old, a bishop visited his school and asked him what he
wanted to be when he grew up. Without hesitation he responded: “A priest.”
As soon as Anthony was old enough, he began working as
an apprentice weaver. When he turned 17, his father sent him to Barcelona to
study the latest techniques in textile manufacturing and to work in the large
textile mills. He did so well in the textile design school that he began
receiving offers from large textile companies. Even though he had the talent to
succeed, he turned down the offer and returned home after experiencing the
emptiness of worldly achievements.
The words of the Gospel kept resounding in his heart:
“what good is it for man to win the world if he loses his soul?” He began to
study Latin to prepare to enter the Seminary. He wanted to be a Carthusian
Monk. His father was ready to accept the will of God, but preferred to see him
become a diocesan priest. Anthony decided to enter the local diocesan seminary
in the city of Vic. He was 21 years old. After a year of studies, he decided to
pursue his monastic vocation and left for a nearby monastery. On the way there,
he was caught in a big storm. He realized that his health was not the best, and
retracted from his decision to go to the monastery.
He was ordained a priest at 27 years of age and was
assigned to his hometown parish. The town soon became too small for his
missionary zeal, and the political situation -hostile to the Church- limited
his apostolic activity. He decided to go to Rome to offer himself to serve in
foreign missions. Things did not work out as expected, and he decided to join
the Jesuits to pursue his missionary dream. While in the Jesuit Novitiate, he
developed a strange illness, which led his superiors to think that God may have
other plans for him. Once again, he had to return home to keep searching for
God’s will in his life.
Back in a parish of Catalonia, Claret begins preaching
popular missions all over. He traveled on foot, attracting large crowds with
his sermons. Some days he preached up to seven sermons in a day and spent 10
hours listening to confessions. He dedicated to Mary all his apostolic efforts.
He felt forged as an apostle and sent to preach by Mary.
The secret of his missionary success was LOVE. In his
words: “Love is the most necessary of all virtues. Love in the person who
preaches the word of God is like fire in a musket. If a person were to throw a
bullet with his hands, he would hardly make a dent in anything; but if the
person takes the same bullet and ignites some gunpowder behind it, it can kill.
It is much the same with the word of God. If it is spoken by someone who is
filled with the fire of charity- the fire of love of God and neighbor- it will
work wonders.”
His popularity spread; people sought him for spiritual
and physical healing. By the end of 1842, the Pope gave him the title of
“apostolic missionary.” Aware of the power of the press, in 1847, he organized
with other priests a Religious Press. Claret began writing books and pamphlets,
making the message of God accessible to all social groups. The increasing
political restlessness in Spain continued to endanger his life and curtail his
apostolic activities. So, he accepted an offer to preach in the Canary Islands,
where he spent 14 months. In spite of his great success there too, he decided
to return to Spain to carry out one of his dreams: the organization of an order
of missionaries to share in his work.
On July 16, 1849, he gathered a group of priests who
shared his dream. This is the beginning of the Missionary Sons of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, today also known as Claretian Fathers and Brothers.
Days later, he received a new assignment: he was named Archbishop of Santiago
de Cuba. He was forced to leave the newly founded community to respond to the
call of God in the New World. After two months of travel, he reached the Island
of Cuba and began his episcopal ministry by dedicating it to Mary.
He visited the church where the image of Our Lady of
Charity, patroness of Cuba was venerated. Soon he realized the urgent need for
human and Christian formation, specially among the poor. He called Antonia
Paris to begin there the religious community they had agreed to found back in
Spain. He was concerned for all aspects of human development and applied his
great creativity to improve the conditions of the people under his pastoral
care.
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. The expected reaction came soon. He began to experience persecution,
and finally when preaching in the city of Holguín, a man stabbed him on the
cheek in an attempt to kill him. For Claret this was a great cause of joy. He
writes in his Autobiography: “I can´t describe the pleasure, delight, and joy I
felt in my soul on realizing that I had reached the long desired goal of
shedding my blood for the love of Jesus and Mary and of sealing the truths of
the gospel with the very blood of my veins.”. During his 6 years in Cuba he
visited the extensive Archdiocese three times…town by town. In the first years,
records show, he confirmed 100,000 people and performed 9,000 sacramental
marriages.
Claret was called back to Spain in 1857 to serve as
confessor to the Queen of Spain, Isabella II. He had a natural dislike for aristocratic
life. He loved poverty and the simplest lifestyle. He accepted in obedience,
but requested to be allowed to continue some missionary work. Whenever he had
to travel with the Queen, he used the opportunity to preach in different towns
throughout Spain.
In a time where the Queens and Kings chose the bishops
for vacant dioceses, Claret played an important role in the selection of holy
and dedicated bishops for Spain and its colonies.
The eleven years he spent as confessor to the Queen of
Spain were particularly painful, because the enemies of the Church directed
toward him all kinds of slanders and personal ridicule. 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 in a private
audience.
On December 8, 1869, seven hundred bishops from all
over the world gathered in Rome for the First Vatican Council. Claret was one
of the Council Fathers. His presence became noticeable when the subject of
papal infallibility was discussed, which Claret defended vehemently. This
teaching became a dogma of faith for all Catholics at this Council. The Italian
revolution interrupted the process of the Council, which is never concluded.
Claret’s health is deteriorated, so he returned to France accompanied by the
Superior General of the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, his congregation.
In France, Claret joined his missionaries who are also
in exile. Soon he found out, that there was a warrant for his arrest. He
decided to go into hiding in a Cistercian Monastery in the French southern town
of Fontfroide. There he died on October 24, 1870 at the age of 62. As his last
request, he dictated to his missionaries the words that are to appear on his
tombstone: “I have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore I die in exile.”
His remains are venerated in Vic. Claret was beatified in 1934 and in 1950
canonized by Pope Pius XII.
SOURCE : HTTP://UCATHOLIC.COM/SAINTS/ANTHONY-MARY-CLARET/
Foto del P. Claret escribiendo. A. Trinquarts, París, 29
December 1868.
Ven. Antonio María Claret y Clará
Spanish prelate and
missionary, born at Sallent, near Barcelona, 23 Dec.,
1807; d. at Fontfroide, Narbonne, France, on 24 Oct.,
1870. Son of a small woollen manufacturer, he received an elementary education in his
native village, and at the age of twelve became a weaver. A little later he
went to Barcelona to specialize in his trade, and remained there till he was
twenty. Meanwhile he devoted his spare time to study and became proficient in
Latin, French, and engraving; in addition he enlisted in the army as a
volunteer. Recognizing a call to a higher life, he left Barcelona, entered
the seminary at Vich in 1829, and
was ordained on
13 June, 1835. He received a benefice in his
native parish,
where he continued to study theology till 1839.
He now wished to become a Carthusian; missionary
work, however, appealing strongly to him he proceeded to Rome. There he entered
the Jesuit novitiate but
finding himself unsuited for that manner of life, he returned shortly to Spain and exercised
his ministry at Valadrau and Gerona, attracting notice by his efforts on behalf
of the poor. Recalled by his superiors to Vich, he was engaged in
missionary work throughout Catalonia. In 1848 he was sent to the Canary Islands where
he gave retreats for fifteen months. Returning to Vich he established the
Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (16 July,
1849), and founded the great religious library at
Barcelona which bears his name, and which has issued several million cheap
copies of the best ancient and modern Catholic works.
Such had been the fruit of his zealous labours and
so great the wonders he had worked, that Pius IX at the
request of the Spanish sovereign appointed him Archbishop of
Santiago de Cuba in 1851. He was consecrated at Vich and embarked
at Barcelona on 28 Dec. Having arrived at his destination he began at once a
work of thorough reform. The seminary was
reorganized, clerical discipline
strengthened, and over nine thousand marriages validated within the first two
years. He erected a hospital and
numerous schools.
Three times he made a visitation of the entire diocese, giving local missions
incessantly. Naturally his zeal stirred up the
enmity and calumnies of
the irreligious, as had happened previously in Spain. No less than
fifteen attempts were made on his life, and at Holguin his cheek was laid open
from ear to chin by a would-be assassin's knife. In February, 1857, he was
recalled to Spain by
Isabella II, who made him her confessor. He obtained permission to resign
his 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 monastery where he
established an excellent scientific laboratory, a museum of natural history,
a library,
college, and schools of
music and languages. His further plans were frustrated by the revolution of
1868. He continued his popular missions and distribution of good books wherever
he went in accompanying the Spanish Court. When Isabella recognized the new
Government of 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. In 1869
he went to Rome to
prepare for the Vatican
Council. Owing to failing health he withdrew to Prades in France, where he was
still harassed by his calumnious Spanish
enemies; shortly afterwards he retired to the Cistercian abbey at Fontfroide
where he expired.
His zealous life and
the wonders he
wrought both before and after his death testified to his sanctity. Informations
were begun in 1887 and he was declared Venerable by Leo XIII in 1899.
His relics were
transferred to the mission house at Vich in 1897, at
which time his heart was found incorrupt, and his grave is constantly visited
by many pilgrims.
In addition to the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Heart of Mary
(approved definitively by Pius IX, 11 Feb., 1870)
which has now over 110 houses and 2000 members, with missions in W. Africa, and
in Chocó (Columbia), Archbishop Claret founded or drew up the rules of several
communities of nuns.
By his sermons and
writings he contributed greatly to bring about the revival of the Catalan
language. His printed works number over 130, of which we may mention: "La
escalade Jacob"; "Maximas de moral la más pura";
"Avisos"; "Catecismo explicado con láminas"; "La llave
de oro"; "Selectos panegíricos" (11 vols.); "Sermones de
misión" (3 vols.); "Misión de la mujer"; "Vida de Sta.
Mónica"; "La Virgen del Pilar y los Francmasones"; and his
"Autobiografia", written by order of his spiritual director, but
still unpublished.
Sources
AGUILAR, Vida admirable del Venerable Antonio María
Claret (Madrid, 1894); BLANCH, Vida del Venerable Antonio María Claret
(Barcelona, 1906); CLOTET, Compendio de la vida del Siervo de Dios Antonio
María Claret (Barcelona, 1880); Memorias ineditas del Padre Clotet in the
archives of the missionaries of Aranda de Duero; VILLABA HERVAS, Recuerdos de
cinco lustros 1843-1868 (Madrid, 1896); Estudi bibliografich de los obres del
Venerable Sallenti (Barcelona, 1907).
[Note: Antonio María Claret was canonized by Pope
Pius XII in 1950.]
MacErlean, Andrew. "Ven. Antonio María
Claret y Clará." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 16
(Index). New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1914. 25 Oct.
2021 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16026a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. Ad Dei gloriam honoremque Sancti Antonii
Mariae.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. March
1, 1914. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal
Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16026a.htm
Anthony (Antony)
Mary Claret B, Founder (RM)
Born in Sallent,
Spain, December 23, 1807; died in Narbonne, France, October 24, 1870; canonized
1950.
"When I see the need there is for divine teaching
and how hungry people are to hear it, I am atremble to be off and running
throughout the world, preaching the Word of God. I have no rest. My soul finds no other relief than to rush about and
preach."
"If God's
Word is spoken by a priest who is filled with the fire of charity--the fire of
love of God and neighbor--it will wound vices, kill sins, convert sinners, and
work wonders."
"When I am before the Blessed Sacrament I feel
such a lively faith that I cannot describe it. Christ in the Eucharist is
almost tangible to me. . . . When
it is time for me to leave, I have to tear myself away from His sacred
presence."
--St. Antony Claret
As the son of a weaver, Antony became a weaver himself
and in his free time he learned Latin and printing. At the age of 22 he entered
the seminary at Vich, Catalonia, Spain, and was ordained in 1835. After a few
years he began to entertain the idea of a Barthusian vocation but it seemed
beyond his strength, so he travelled to Rome to join the Jesuits with the idea
of becoming a foreign missionary. Ill health, however, caused him to leave the
Jesuit novitiate and he returned to pastoral work at Sallent in 1837. He spent
the next decade preaching parochial missions and retreats throughout Catalonia.
During this time he helped
Blessed Joachima de Mas to establish the Carmelites of Charity.
He went to the Canary Islands and after 15 months
there (1848-49) with Bishop Codina, Anthony returned to Vich. His evangelical
zeal inspired other priests to join in the same work, so in 1849 he founded the
Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (the Claretians), dedicated to
preaching missions. The
Claretians have spread far beyond Spain to the Americas and beyond.
In 1850, Queen Isabella II, appointed him archbishop
of Santiago, Cuba. The people of this diocese were in a shocking state, and
Claret made bitter enemies in his efforts to reform the see--some of whom made
threats on his life. In
fact, he was wounded in an assassination attempt against his life at Holguin in
1856, by a man angered that his mistress was won back to an honest life.
At the request of Queen Isabella, he returned to Spain
in 1857 to become her confessor. He resigned his Cuban see in 1858, but spent
as little time at the court as his official duties required. Throughout this
period he was also deeply occupied with the missionary activities of his
congregation and with the diffusion of good literature, especially in his
native Catalan. He was also appointed rector of the Escorial, where he
established a science laboratory, a natural history museum, and schools of
music and languages. He also founded a religious library in Barcelona.
He followed Isabella to France when a revolution drove
her from the throne in 1868. He attended Vatican Council I (1869-70) where he
influenced the definition of papal infallibility. An attempt was made to lure
him back to Spain, but it failed. Antony retired to Prades, France, but was forced to flee to a Cistercian
monastery at Fontfroide near Narbonne when the Spanish ambassador demanded his
arrest.
Anthony Claret was a leading figure in the revival of
Catholicism in Spain, preached over 25,000 sermons, and published some 144
books and pamphlets during his lifetime. His continual union with God was
rewarded by many supernatural graces. He was reputed to have performed
miraculous cures and to have had gifts of prophecy. Both in Cuba and in Spain he encountered the hostility
of the Spanish anti-clerical politicians (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney,
Encyclopedia, Walsh, White).
He is the patron
saint of weavers; and of savings and savings banks, a result of his opening
savings banks in Santiago in an effort to help the poor (White).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1024.shtml
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St Anthony Mary
Claret~"When we say, I believe in the Holy Catholic Church [...]"
Posted by Dawn Marie on September 3, 2013 at 7:06pm
St Anthony Mary Claret (died A.D. 1870) :
"When we say, I believe in the Holy Catholic
Church, we are not speaking of the material church, the place in which we
faithful unite to pay God that tribute of love, honour, and attention which we
owe to Him, and which is called religion. In this sense "church"
means temple, house of God, or house of prayer. But by those words of the
Creed, we affirm belief in the Church as the society or congregation of the
faithful, united by the profession of one and the same Faith, united also by
participation in the same Sacraments, and by submission to the legitimate
prelates, principally to the Roman Pontiff. [...] In the first place He made it
One. Not having more than One God, nor been given more than One Faith, as Saint
Paul says, and One Baptism, which is the door of His Church and of the other
Sacraments, neither can there be more than One True Religion in which men can
please God and accomplish His most holy will. [...] By this the true Church is
distinguished from the synagogues of Satan or heretical sects, of which some
teach one thing, others another. [...] And, actually, there have been, there
are now, and there always will be saints in the Catholic Church. But heretical
sects can count not even one, nor will they ever have them. Do you know how
they evade this argument? They make fun of the saints and even of the Most Holy
Virgin Mary. But they will stop laughing when they are presented to the
tribunal of God, where they will find that those Catholics who observed the
laws and doctrine taught by our Holy Church are saved ‑ while heretics, even
though they observed their own laws, are condemned! [...]
She is Catholic also with respect to places, or to Her reach and diffusion
throughout all the world, clasping to Her breast all groups of people without
distinction of nations, classes, ages, or sexes. In all times, in all
countries, and in all groups of people where She is found, She has held, and
will continue to hold, one and the same Faith, one and the same doctrine or
morality, and one and the same form of government under the Roman Pontiff.
And Her members, wherever they are found, will always be united by the same
beliefs, by the same hope, and by charity, being alive by grace. Thus, She
embraces all those who are to be saved. For She is another ark of Noah. Outside
of the ark everyone drowned in the flood; and so also will everyone drown or be
damned who does not choose to enter into this mystical ark, the Church of Jesus
Christ. "Who does not have the Church for a mother," says Saint
Cyprian, "cannot have God for a father." [...] Here you have
explained for you, my son, the four marks which I told you God left us in order
that we may know the true Church. By these we cannot confuse Her with the many
synagogues of Satan, which also pretend to be the Church of God. We can see
that none are in peace or unity except ours. Furthermore, we can conclude that
ours is the only truth, in which and with which we must live and die united in
order to be able to go to heaven. [...] Consequently, the evasions of the heretics
are futile. For this reason you cannot doubt that the only true Church is our
Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church, in which you must persevere, inwardly
and outwardly. And with all preciseness must you observe Her holy laws if you
want to save your soul. Otherwise, you will be lost forever." (The
Catechism Explained)
A Very Special
Patron: Saint Anthony Mary Claret
by The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary January
3, 2006
“And who,” comes the usual response, “is Anthony Mary
Claret?”
It happens nearly every time we introduce the name of
this remarkable saint in the course of conversation. Which we do frequently,
since St. Anthony Mary is very fittingly invoked in connection with a great
many of our religious discussions nowadays.
But our reply to the question only prompts
bewilderment on the part of our uninformed inquirers, leaving each in turn to
wonder aloud, “How is it that I never heard of him?” For this is how we must
answer their first query:
Anthony Claret was a renowned apostle — one to be
compared to no lesser figure than Saint Francis Xavier. Too, he was a miracle
worker whose prodigious cures would rival the marvels of Saint Anthony of
Padua. And, like Saint Vincent Ferrer, he was a mystic, as well whose
prophecies unfolded the events of our very day.
What is more, as was told him by Our Lady, he was to
be the Saint Dominic of the latter times spreading devotion to the Holy Rosary.
In his own era, however, he would best be remembered as “the most calumniated
man of the nineteenth century.”
Yes, he was all these and more — much, much more!
Indeed, in the last analysis, Saint Anthony Mary Claret was perhaps the
greatest of our great modern Saints. And yet, strangely enough, scarcely a
century after his death he is also probably the least known.
This is a phenomenon without precedence in Christian
annals. Never before has the fame of so illustrious and conspicuous a hero of
the Church been forced into obscurity, and in such a short time! Yet never has
the world needed more the example, the inspiration, and the heavenly assistance
of so splendid a saint. So,
America, allow us to introduce Saint Anthony Mary Claret.
Early years
Catalonia, a region of Spain with a dialect all its
own, lies against the Pyrenees in the northeastern corner of that country. It
was there, in the town of Sallent, that Senor Juan Claret made a special visit
to the parish church on Christmas morning, 1807, to have his day-old son
baptized. Surely, he reasoned, in favor of his haste, God would especially
bless a child regenerated in grace on the very birthday of Our Lord. And, of
course, he was right.
The infant was christened Antonio Juan Adjutorio
Claret y Clara. Years later when consecrated archbishop, “out of devotion to
Mary Most Holy I added the sweet name of Maria, my mother, my patroness, my
mistress, my directress, and, after Jesus, my all.” But in childhood he was
known simply as “Tonin.” And that’s the long and the short of the heralded
name, Anthony Mary Claret.
There was something exceptional about “poco Tonin.”
There was, for example, his rare disposition and charitable nature which he
would later attribute entirely to God’s good grace. Constrained by his
confessor under formal obedience later in life to write his autobiography,
Saint Anthony affirmed, “I am by nature so softhearted and compassionate that I
cannot bear seeing misfortune or misery without doing something to help.”
This explains his struggling with thoughts about
eternity at the mere age of five. “Siempre, siempre, siempre ” — “forever
and ever and ever” was the shuddering notion that robbed the little fellow of
sleep, contemplating the endless horrible suffering that was the lot of the
damned. “Yes, forever and ever they will have to bear their pain.”
It was “this idea of a lost eternity” that would
actuate the extraordinarily holy and eventful career of the apostle, and that
would provoke him one day to remark, “I simply cannot understand how other
priests who believe the same truths that I do, and as we all should, do not
preach and exhort people to save themselves from falling into hell. I wonder,
too, how the laity, men and women who have the Faith, can help crying out.”
The diminutive aspirant for the priesthood began
school at the age of six and proved to be a diligent student. It was during
these years of primary education that the stalwart champion of sound
catechetical training learned his most important lesson in life: “Just as the
buds of roses open in due time, and, if there are no buds, there can be no
roses, so it is with the truths of religion. If one has no instruction in
catechism, one has complete ignorance in matters of religion, even if one
happens to be of those who pass for wise. Oh, how well my instruction in
catechism has served me!”
These were economically hard times for Spain and the
Clarets could not afford seminary enrollment for their pious son after his
elementary schooling was completed. A local priest offered to give Antonio
private instruction in Latin, but the death of that good man a short time later
left no alternative but for the boy to take up work in his father’s textile
shop, to which he devoted his next five years.
By the age of seventeen, a brilliant natural aptitude
for the weaving profession led the young Catalan to want to study advanced
techniques in the great trade center of Barcelona. The discovery of his rare
talents won him renown and position in the business community of that city, all
of which success totally eclipsed his priestly vocation. Worse still, his mind
incessantly awhirl with the challenges of the trade, he found their compelling
interests becoming strong distractions even from an ordinary spiritual life.
“True,” the saint lamented retrospectively, “I received the sacraments
frequently during the year. I attended Mass on all feasts and holy days of
obligation, daily prayed the Rosary to Mary, and kept up my other devotions,
but with none of my former fervor. I can’t overstate it my obsession approached
delirium.”
Recovered vocation
But the Blessed Mother long ago had chosen Anthony
Claret to serve in Her holy labors, and She was not about to leave the young
man so far afield of them. Among the means of grace Our Lady used to direct him
back on course was this forceful incident:
The extremely hot summer of 1826 and the tremendous
strains of his work left the artisan severely debilitated. His only relief was
to take walks along the seashore, where he could refresh himself by sipping a
few drops of the salt water. While he was wading one day, a huge wave suddenly
engulfed Antonio and carried him, helpless, out into the deep. Claret could not
swim, yet strangely he was somehow kept afloat on the water’s surface. His
first impulse was a natural one for any good Catholic; he called out to the
Blessed Virgin for help, and just as suddenly found himself safely back on
shore!
Having remained remarkably tranquil till this moment,
Anthony now commenced to quake uncontrollably as he began to understand the
meaning of his dramatic experience. What, after all, were the worldly affairs
to which he had become so habituated and attached but themselves a sea of
peril! Soon the words of Christ, “What doth it profit a man to gain the whole
world and suffer the loss of his soul?” were haunting him. “The remembrance of
this sentence made a deep impression. It was like an arrow that wounded me.”
Guilt seared the Catalan’s conscience. He became
convinced that, through careless neglect of the precious gift of a calling to
the sacred ministry, he had shown gross ingratitude to God.
Resolved to make full restitution, Claret at first
thought of pursuing “the solitary life of a Carthusian” monk with all its
rigorous penitential existence. In fact, in preparation for entering the
Carthusian Charterhouse he began practicing harsh asceticism with his
confessor’s approval, alternating from day to day scourgings with wearing hair
shirts. The asceticism was to be continued — and increased — throughout all his
holy life, but God soon gave Anthony to know that he was called to become a
missionary, not a Carthusian recluse. And so, the saint docilely entered the seminary at Vich to continue his
studies.
Extraordinary Career Begins
Since the day Saint Anthony Mary Claret was born,
Spain had been afflicted with political turmoil, and the agonies of such strife
were to remain ever present throughout his lifetime. In fact, though no one
more scrupulously avoided every trace of partisanship, ironically none was to
suffer the bitter consequences of this upheaval more than he.
Claret symbolized, in some sense, the whole Church as
the innocent victim and hated enemy of modern world intrigue. There are those,
for that matter, who see in Saint Anthony more than just an example, but
actually a living prophecy of the persecution that Holy Mother Church and her
divine Faith must endure in latter times, suffering humiliation and even
apparent defeat before rising again victorious to her greatest glory.
For the enemy who relentlessly persecuted Antonio
Claret, while wreaking havoc on Spain and other countries, is that same demonic
force which even now seeks the ruin of the Church. Considering this, and also that that force shaped
events which formed the matrix of the saint’s illustrious career, it will be
helpful to take a brief glimpse at the problems in Spain preceding his time.
An Enemy Hath Done Yhis
At the turn of the nineteenth century, the
constitution of that nation which boasts scores of saints was still found to
open with a profession of the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Faith. But the
Bourbon dynasty ruling Spain had so degenerated in recent years that its
successor to the throne, King Charles III, inaugurated through what he called
“reform” measures his own version of GalIicanism, repudiating Church authority
and confiscating her property.
These policies characteristically were followed by the
persecution, suppression, and expulsion of religious orders, as in all other
countries where the state “liberated” itself from the Vicar of Christ. Also
characteristic of such monstrous scheming was the parallel growth of a
so-called “intellectual” movement — in this instance known as “Spanish
Enlightenment” — which was no more coincidental to the tyranny over the Church
in Spain than was the Masonic “Age of Enlightenment” movement to the grotesque
Revolution and Reign of Terror in France.
An uprising brought to power a “Liberal” ministry
which set up a new constitution. And so, “emancipated” again from what
Modernists like to term the “peculiarly narrow Catholic conservatism” of
the ancien regime , Spain once more was choking in the foul air of
heresy — Protestantism and Jansenism — and of atheistic philosophies a la Rousseau
and Voltaire. Likewise, there
was mounted against the Church a new persecution that was highlighted by the
massacre of many priests and bishops, some of whose martyred corpses were found
to be incorrupt and emanating a sweet odor when later exhumed.
Padre Claret
At the time these latter developments started
unfolding, Antonio Claret was a seminarian. Strongly impressed by his
brilliance and holiness, the Bishop of Vich, Pablo de Jesus Corcuera, decided
that the young Catalan should begin preparing for ordination long before his
seminary training was completed. The prelate explained confidentially, “I want
to ordain Antonio now because there is something extraordinary about him.”
But there was one other reason. Bishop Corcuera had
the foresight to know that the increasing political upheaval spelled renewed
suffering for the Church which would likely make ordinations difficult at a
later time. And so it proved to be. Claret was ordained on the Feast of Saint
Anthony of Padua, June 13, 1835, and returned home to celebrate his first Mass
in Sallent. It was then that the government, forbidding any further
ordinations, seized the seminary and converted it into a barracks. The bishop
accordingly instructed Padre Antonio to remain in Sallent as a parish cleric
while continuing his theological studies privately.
August 2, the Feast of the Portiuncula, is for
southern Europe major feast day that in better times drew faithful Catholics to
the Communion rail in throngs. So it was in the year 1835. On this feast Mosen
Claret — so the Catalans address a priest sat to hear confessions for the first
time. This being his home, naturally all the town was eager to discover what
sort of priest this native son was. After the gentle cleric had spent six hours
in the confessional absolving the offenses of masses of penitents, the verdict
was in: Father Antonio Claret was in deed a “holy man.”
The parishioners cherished their new priest so deeply
— el santito or “the little saint,” they dubbed him — that they
pleaded that he be allowed to preach what was for Sallentinos one of
the most important sermons of the year — that of the Feast of the Holy Name of
Mary, to whom the town was dedicated. Permission was granted and Saint Anthony
acceded to the compelling pleas, though not without humble reluctance. His
sermon on the Queen of Heaven was delivered with a simple yet stirring
eloquence that these parishioners had never before heard.
There was no doubt about it. As Bishop Corcuera had
perceived, there was “something extraordinary” about this twenty-seven-year-old
cleric. Hence, though still with two years of theology studies to complete,
Anthony Claret was appointed parish vicar with the eminent duty of preaching on
alternate Sundays. This was no small honor or recognition.
The Frustrated Apostle
Prior to being named vicar of the Sallent parish,
Saint Anthony Claret was chosen to fill a very important post that of Regent of
Copons. Typical of his humility, he had protested the appointment, and the
bishop did set it aside, but only to offer then the position at Sallent. This,
too, Father Claret shrank from, and when all other objections were overruled he
argued that his insignificant stature he was only five feet tall — would be a
handicap. The physiognomical argument, however, was wittily countered by
another from his superior: “A man is measured by his head.” Claret had a large
round head, though obviously the Prelate was alluding to his brilliant mind.
And so, the saint then felt obliged by obedience to accept the appointment of
parish assistant.
But able administrator though he was, this deeply
compassionate priest who from childhood had yearned to save all souls from
hell’s eternity was restless to undertake apostolic labors. The passage of time
only increased that ambition, for in reality it was divinely inspired.
Mystically, too, he was also given the instilled knowledge that he would have
to suffer tremendous persecution as a missionary. Far from discouraging the
saint, however, the anticipation of it only further inflamed his fervor with
the desire to seal his faith with his blood.
Upon completing his theology studies after years of
parish work, “I determined to . . . go to Rome, to present myself to the Congregation
for the Propagation of the Faith so that they could send me anywhere in the
world.” Having been released by his bishop, Padre Claret set out for the
Eternal City.
When Antonio arrived at Rome in August 1839, he
learned that it would be several weeks before he could see the Prefect of
Propaganda Fide. Deciding to utilize the time by making a retreat, therefore,
he presented himself to the Jesuit Fathers for guidance in the Spiritual
Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola. Awed by the exceptional piety of Padre
Claret, the retreat master urged the saint immediately to enter the Society of
Jesus to fulfill his apostolic ambitions. Thus it happened quite unexpectedly
for the humble Catalan who never dreamed himself worthy of belonging to the
Society: “Overnight I found myself a Jesuit.”
Our saint had never been happier. Community life with
the Jesuits provided sterling examples of sanctity, humility, obedience,
asceticism, and discipline. And it gave him broader opportunity to catechize as
well as to minister to hospital and prison inmates work he lovingly had
performed back in Sallent whenever administrative duties allowed the time. All
in all, he learned much and was making great spiritual progress as a Jesuit
novice when, after only a few months, he suddenly developed a crippling leg
ailment. The Father General of the Society, understanding this as a sign that
the novice was not called to be a Jesuit, advised him to return to Catalonia. Saint Anthony obeyed and the leg pain disappeared!
Apostle and Wonder-Worker
Here again was an unexpected change in direction — and
it would not be the last — for Antonio Claret. Indeed, the uncertainty of his
future must have been frustrating, as his desire to labor in the apostolic
vineyards, though stronger now than ever, was hindered at every turn.
Yet, his vocational detour to the Society of Jesus had
not been without purpose. For among the many things he learned from the Jesuits
that would richly benefit his oncoming spectacular fate were the studied
practices of devotion to the Immaculate Heart, as acquired from the recently
discovered Treatise On The True Devotion , by Saint Louis Marie de
Montfort. Hence, we find Claret at this time offering his whole being to the
Immaculate Mother: “You seek, perhaps, an instrument who will serve you in
bringing a remedy to the great evils of the day. Here you have one, who, while
he knows himself as most vile and despicable for the purpose, yet considers
himself most useful, inasmuch as by using me it is your power that shall splendor,
and it will be plain to the eye that it is you who are accomplishing things,
and not I.”
Increasingly, he was being asked to conduct “novenas”
— that is what he called his missions so as not to invite the suspicion of
civil authorities in the neighboring parishes. And as the demand for his
missions grew about the region, so also did the crowds attending them. It was
only to be expected then, that Antonio could not long escape the ire of the
anticlericals. His sermons eventually were banned, and the saint had to retire
to a remote parish deep in the mountains.
Fortunately, by 1843, power shifts in the government
temporarily led to a somewhat more lenient attitude toward the Church. The Holy
See, therefore, named Antonio Claret as apostolic missionary. At last, the
saint had become what he so long had dreamed of and prayed for — an apostle!
And what an apostle! At this point, the life of Saint
Anthony Mary Claret explodes into a story so uniquely sensational that it would
seem legendary, were there not volumes of carefully examined evidence to prove
otherwise.
Once underway in his new assignment the holy priest
was preaching sometimes ten, even twelve sermons a day. In this way, he would
manage to deliver some ten thousand sermons in his apostolic career, an effort
that would crush the stamina of giants. Yet this little man slept no more than
two hours a day — usually much less, often satisfying himself with a short nap
while sitting in a chair — and ate hardly more than a sparrow. After years of
sustaining his grueling pace, the saint would explain, “I know God wants me to
preach, because I feel as peaceful, rested, and energetic as if I’d done
nothing at all. Our Lord has done it all. May He be blessed forever.”
To better appreciate the Herculean task he undertook,
consider that his mission field was the one and a half million souls that
populated all of Catalonia, the surface territory of which, though barely
larger in boundaries than the Netherlands, is seemingly amplified hundreds of
times by its towering mountains. These alps so isolated their inhabitants that
two villages appearing very close on a map might scarcely have heard of one
another. (And eventually the Canary Islands were added to his charge.)
It was across such impossible terrain that Saint
Anthony doggedly tramped — he would never allow himself the luxury of riding
through the heavy snows of winter, the muddy mire of the rainy seasons, and the
choking dust and heat of summer.
“Summer caused me the most suffering,” he revealed,
“for I always wore a cassock and a winter cloak with sleeves, while the hard
shoes and woolen stockings so wounded my feet that I frequently limped.* The
snow also gave me a chance to practice patience, because when high snowdrifts
covered the roads I couldn’t recognize the landscape, and in trying to cross
the drifts I would sometimes get buried in snow-covered ditches.”
[*Many observed that the saint never would brush away
mosquitoes that swarmed about him in dense clouds, preferring instead to offer
up this torment as further penance.]
Nor could the apostle systematically comb his
territory. Having always to keep a step ahead of government authorities whose
tolerance of the popular preacher soon wore thin, he would never conduct two
consecutive missions in the same area. Instead, each was given at the farthest
possible point in Catalonia from where the last one had been preached.
Sometimes, however, the itinerant missioner needed a
little supernatural help. In making one of his strenuous journeys, he
confronted an impassable river. An angel in the form of a young boy approached
from nowhere and said, “I will carry you across.” Father Claret only smiled
incredulously, asking how such a small child expected to carry one of his bulk
across the swollen waters. But the boy did just that, then vanished!
On another occasion the saint had recently arrived at
Olost. After saying morning Mass, he was headed for the confessional at 6:45
when he unexpectedly announced, “I’m off for Vich!” and disappeared through the
door. The roads at the time being buried under several feet of snow, his
startled host immediately sent an assistant with a horse after the preacher to
help him on his way. But after riding three miles the assistant returned,
unable to find Mosen Claret or even his tracks in the snow! Eight witnesses
testified that at 7: 15 — a half hour later — Saint Anthony arrived at Vich,
some thirty miles distant, just as a messenger was leaving to bring the
preacher word that his dear friend, Father Fortunato Bres, had only moments earlier
suffered a bad accident!
More than once it is recorded that Antonio Claret
traveled considerable distances across snow in little time without leaving any
trail. The mystery about
these supernatural excursions was broken when a young man named Raymond Prat,
having joined the holy priest on one such trip, actually witnessed an angel
appear at Claret’s side to transport him over snow-covered terrain.
Great Among the Greatest Apostles
“I am driven,” Antonio Claret wrote in his
autobiography, “to preach without ceasing by the sight of the throngs of souls
who are falling into hell. . . . Woe is me if I do not, for they could hold me
responsible for their damnation!”
This explains the compulsion of the man widely spoken
of in his time as “the greatest preacher of the day.” But it does not account
for how he made moral conversions by the thousands wherever he went. When asked
the secret of his missionary success, the saint answered: “I pray to Our Lady
and demand results of Her.”
“But what if She does not give them?”
“Then I take hold of the hem of Her robe and refuse to
let go until She has granted me what I want!”
Humanly speaking, however, what made him so popular as
a preacher in an era of spiritual deterioration and cynicism was the natural
eloquence, the brilliantly simple style, and the irresistible charm of his
sermons. Though none of his sermons were recorded, the following passage from
one of his writings is typical enough to demonstrate how he preached, using
unstudied comparisons and metaphors:
Now observe . . . the contrast between the luxurious
dress of many women and the raiment and adornment of Jesus. . . . Tell me, what
relation do their fine shoes bear to the spikes in Jesus’ feet? The rings on
their hands to the nails which perforated His? The fashionable coiffures to the
crown of thorns? The painted faces to That covered with bruises? Shoulders
exposed by the low cut gown to His, all striped with blood? Ah, but there is a marked
likeness between these worldly women and the Jews who, incited by the devil,
scourged Our Lord!
At the hour of such a woman’s death I think Jesus will be heard asking: “ Cujus
est imago haec et circumscriptio — of whom is she the image?” And the
reply will be: “ Demonii — of the devil.” Then He will say: “Let her
who has followed the devil’s fashions be handed over to him; and to God, those
who have imitated the modesty of Jesus and Mary.”
So great was the demand for the “novenas” of Saint
Anthony throughout Catalonia that his schedule was always booked solidly for
many months in advance. A pastor in Olot, discovering this problem and yet
urgently needing the saint’s apostolic results, went to a Carmelite nun reputed
for her holiness and asked that she pray for the speedy delivery of Mosen
Claret to the parish. A short time later, the famed missioner appeared at the
pastor’s door and announced, “A miracle of the Virgin of Carmel has brought me
to you,” confirming that the prayers of the pious Carmelite to Our Lady had
been answered.
“But the unquestionable miracle was the preaching that
followed,” wrote Padre Fernandez. Still spoken of as the “great mission of
Olot,” it lasted one month. Every day Father Claret entered the Church of San
Esteban at four a.m. and remained there until nine-thirty at night. “The
immense church . . .” says Royer, “was jammed to the last inch of standing room
for his three-hour sermons. The greatly-moved throngs demanded the services of twenty-five
confessors, and three priests were occupied throughout entire mornings only to
distribute Holy Communion.” In the evenings, the combined voices of this vast
congregation praying the Rosary with the holy missioner was said to be “like
the rumble of thunder.”
When not preaching, Saint Anthony was in the
confessional until he left for the day. And “even then, penitents frequently
followed him to the rectory where the confessions might well continue for
another hour.”
Understandably, such phenomenal labors performed by
one man were considered miraculous by those in Olot. But for some seven years
it was merely routine for the indefatigable Father Claret to preach several
lengthy sermons every day to priests, nuns, hospital and prison inmates, besides
those given to the general public — and then to hear confessions, often for
another fifteen or more hours in the same day. People would stand in seemingly
endless queues for four and five hours — even days in some instances — to
receive absolution from el santito . Not everyone had the
determination to match such patience, of course. And it was not unusual that
dozens of additional priests were needed to confess these overflow throngs, all
stirred to repentance by the forceful sermons of Saint Anthony.
Satan so hated the work of this meek little priest
that he seized every opportunity to try to stop or frustrate it. Taking hellish
delight in attempting to terrify the saint’s audiences at open-air missions,
the fallen angel would bring on violent tempests or, at night, would raise
powerful blasts of wind to extinguish all the lanterns.
Antonio was preaching in a jammed church in Serreal
when the devil dislodged a large stone from the main arch, causing the
supporting structure to collapse and fall on the very center of the crowd.
Miraculously, not a single person was touched!
“The demons,” Claret wrote, “. . . persecuted me
terribly.” Once, as he was traveling, they sent a boulder hurtling down on the
apostle, narrowly missing him. “Sometimes [Satan] would afflict me with
terrible maladies. But oddly enough, as soon as I realized that the malady was
the work of the enemy, I was totally cured without medical aid.”
One such affliction was a gaping wound in the saint’s
side that exposed several ribs. When he invoked the aid of the Blessed Mother
the wound was instantly healed.
“If hell’s persecution was great,” Saint Anthony
added, “heaven’s protection was greater. I experienced the visible protection
of the Blessed Virgin and of the angels and saints, who guided me through
unknown paths, freed me from thieves and murderers, and brought me to a place
of safety without my ever knowing how. Many times the word was sent out that I had been
murdered, and good souls were already having Masses said for me.”
The Founder
For years Saint Anthony had been studying the problems
of the rampant evils of modern society. What was needed obviously were more
missioners like himself, yet those that Spain did have had been driven out or
murdered by the Masonically dominated government. It was not possible, then, to
recruit and organize a company of missionary priests as he desired, nor could
the saint increase his own labors any further. At last Claret arrived upon a
workable solution: “Traveling from one town to another, my mind was continually
pondering ways and means by which I could make the fruits of the missions more
lasting. The solution which occurred to me was . . . to have sermons and
instructions printed and given to the people after each mission or retreat.”
Thus was conceived a new apostolate for the defense
and propagation of the Faith — the Catholic press. In 1843, Padre Claret
published his first volume, The Right Road , and the little book
immediately became so popular that within seven years well over 300,000 copies
were in circulation. (Bearing in mind the much smaller populations of those
times and the far lower levels of literacy per capita, this was quite an
achievement.) Inspired by such success, he promptly set to work at more
writing, for which purpose, he explained to a friend, “I am stealing the hours
from sleep.” Before his death he would compose, in all, 144 works which, to the
present times, have seen more than eleven million copies printed.
But it was no quest for fame that charged this
literary ambition: “My object was always to seek God’s greater glory and the
salvation of souls.” Nor was he seeking any financial gain: “I have never made
a penny’s profit from the works I have seen through the presses. On the
contrary, I have given away thousands upon thousands of free copies . . . for I
consider this the best alms one could possibly give nowadays.”
The saint elaborated on this point: “If people do not
have good books they will read bad ones. Books are the food of the soul, and
just as the body is nourished by wholesome food and harmed by poisonous food,
so it is with reading and the soul.”
It was this thinking and the already proven craving of
the people for sound Catholic writings that led Antonio, in 1848, to found
the Libreria Religiosa , whose purpose was to publish and distribute
such literature, as well as to provide medals, rosaries, and other religious
items. The effort was just getting under way, and the saint was preparing to
compose new books for the program, when he was unexpectedly dispatched to the
Canary Isles. Fortunately, however, he had the help of two dedicated priests
from Barcelona to continue this important apostolic work in his fourteen-months
absence.
A logical adjunct to the work of the Religious Library
was the Academy of Saint Michael, a lay apostolate to be founded by Saint
Anthony Mary Claret some years later, to encourage, subsidize, and promote
Catholic literature and art.
Still in all, such efforts, vital though they were,
could not adequately substitute for what might be accomplished by a small force
of apostles as devoted to the salvation of souls as Padre Claret. And the dream
of organizing such a company always loomed in his thoughts, despite the
government’s strict prohibition against missionary orders. Curiously, however, though
the ambition to establish his own congregation remained frustrated under these
political circumstances, Saint Anthony did help to found others.
The general suppression of religious orders forbade
convents to accept novices, which kept many religious aspirants from fulfilling
their vocations. Concerned for their plight, Claret organized the Daughters of
the Immaculate Heart, a sodality for women whose members, Daniel Sargent
explains, “could, while living in the world, inhabit the cloister of Our Lady’s
Heart. He wrote for their instruction and consolation a pamphlet called Religiosas
en sus Casas , that is, ‘Sisters Living in their own Houses.'” Later, he
would found the Teaching Sisters of the Immaculata, dedicated to the teaching
of young girls.
Numerous other orders also owed their existence in one
way or another to Saint Anthony Mary Claret — to such an extent that many claim
him as a founder. But as late as 1848, this man of extraordinary achievement
had yet to fulfill his own dream, to found a missionary congregation that would
multiply his apostolic efforts throughout Spain — and the world.
When the holy preacher returned from the Canaries in
May of 1849, he learned that the government’s harsh antagonism to the Church at
least temporarily had waned. At last his time had arrived! With approval from
his superiors, he immediately set to work on the greatest ambition of his life.
It was the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16,
1849, when five zealous, gifted, and highly virtuous priests* gathered with
Father Claret before an image of the Mother of Divine Love at the Seminary in
Vich, to dedicate their lives to Her labor for souls. And so at long last was
born the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, known more commonly
as the Claretian Fathers.
[*One of these
heroic co-founders was the saintly Father Jaime Clotet (1822-98), whose cause
for beatification has been introduced.]
New Mission for
the New Missioner
“Today,” beamed the pious Catalan with an air of
triumph, “begins a great work!”
Was Claret’s optimism only wishful thinking? After
all, the infant community was so small and most of its family so young. Then,
too, they had nothing, not so much as a convent to shelter themselves. In fact,
they dared not even bind themselves by vows as yet, for fear that a sudden
reversal of the government’s humor could bring suppression upon the order.
Whence came the saint’s confidence, then, for the
future of this new congregation? From his absolute faith in the Virgin Queen,
whom he regarded as the real Foundress and Superioress, as well as from his
faith in those confreres who would perseveringly devote their entire selves to
Her Immaculate Heart.
“For a Son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” he
explained, “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.”
He was struck with complete surprise when, only weeks
after founding the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, notice arrived from
Rome that he had been nominated to become Archbishop of Santiago, the primatial
see of Cuba!
“The nomination . . . frightened me so much that I did
not want to accept. I deemed myself unworthy of so exalted a dignity and
incapable of its discharge, owing to my lack of learning and virtue necessary
for an office of such importance. And afterward, when I had reflected more at
length on the matter, I decided that . . . I ought not to abandon the Libreria
Religiosa and the congregation which had just come into existence.”
It was October 7, 1850, fittingly the Feast of the
Holy Rosary, when the saint was consecrated Archbishop, adding the glorious
name of Maria to his own.
Later Claret left for Madrid to receive the pallium
from the Papal Nuncio. And
finally, late in December, he sailed for Cuba with a large company of priests
and nuns.
Primate of Cuba
It was characteristic of the unique Catholic spirit of
the Spanish that immense throngs turned out to welcome the new Archbishop with
joyous demonstrations, as he arrived in Santiago on February 16, 1851. But the
religiously festive mood of the people was, at the same time, a glaring
paradox, considering the actual state of Cuba.
For it was not to reward Antonio Maria Claret for his
pious achievements that he forcibly had been made Primate Archbishop of the
island. Rather, it was because he clearly was the only man living who was at
all capable of saving that “Pearl of the Antilles”!
Fifty years of Spanish royalty’s insane and horribly
sinful experimentation with Masonic ideals had wrought its very worst
consequences in Spain’s colonies. Most had been lost by now. And as for Cuba,
while still a Spanish possession, it was only a tenuous one at the moment.
Heretical creeds being widely propagated in the country were destroying
Catholic values and morals by sheer default on the part of the Catholics. And
Spain’s callous indifference to Cuba’s needs had given Masonry every advantage
for incubating revolution.
The United States, covetous of the island’s rich
mineral wealth and, frankly, antagonistic to the Catholic nation that ruled it,
joined with Masonic powers in trying to break Spain’s weak hold by exporting
professional agitators to Cuba to incite open revolution. Other nations, such
as France and England, were more hateful adversaries of Spain. They profitably
exploited her timid rule in the little country by promoting a flourishing slave
trade there in defiance of Spanish law that prohibited bondage.
So poor was his archdiocese in priests that there were
no more than 125 to serve its huge population. Most of the priests could not
understand Latin! Many had never received the Sacrament of Confirmation! Some
could not properly perform their priestly duties, for their poor training.
Others abandoned them entirely. And a few were living in concubinage.
The Reformer
“It was a guiding maxim with him,” according to
testimony about Claret’s clerical reforms in Cuba, “that it was preferable to
leave the parishes priestless than to send them unworthy pastors. For he had
observed . . . the people were more likely to be preserved in grace in places
with no priests whatsoever than in towns directed by bad priests, where
depraved customs invariably prevailed. ‘If God doesn’t send me true vocations,’
he contended, ‘He will protect the [neglected] souls by means of His angels. It
is He Who gives the call; and it is not for me to introduce unworthy [pastors]
into flocks they will devour rather than feed.'”
But, with the sweeping reforms that the saint brought
about, God did send him worthy vocations. The holy prelate seemingly performed
miracles in gradually transforming many of the motley array of clerics he had
inherited into real priests. In the meantime, until those ambitious efforts
could bear substantial fruit, he reduced the awkward ministerial void by
offering benefices to Catalan seminarians who would come to Santiago and be
ordained. In general, his labors were so successful that as early as 1852 he
could report: “The clergy of this country has been completely reformed.”
Antonio Maria Claret was one of the greatest reformers
of the century — and assuredly the greatest in Cuba’s history. For no shepherd,
after the example of our Most Holy Lord, ever loved or was devoted to his flock
more than he.
It was not enough that, after reducing his salary, the
angelic Archbishop gave most of his funds to the poor, setting aside one day
each week for the distribution of alms. He also undertook an ambitious program
to build tuition-free schools, hospitals, orphanages, homes for the elderly,
and other similar institutions. Beyond
that, he founded a system of parish savings banks, offering loans at interest
rates so low that they would barely support the operation, so as to stimulate
the poor economy and improve living standards.
Still the Missioner…
The duties of being Archbishop of Santiago did
drastically alter the apostolic labors of Antonio Maria Claret — not to
diminish them, but vastly to increase them. For all the administrative reforms
within his ability could never have stood without an accompanying thorough
reconstruction of public morals. This meant that, above all else, he was still
a missioner, since preaching the Faith, said the saint, “has always been
considered the principal obligation of bishops. Woe to those bishops who
neglect this essential obligation! They will be treated as dogs who were silent
when they should have barked. Woe to them!”
And Still the Prophet
“The Blessed Virgin will always be prelate here,” the
holy man had protested on the day of his episcopal installation. This heartfelt
declaration underscored not only his humble servility to the Immaculate Heart,
but his hope, too, that a short-lived incumbency as Archbishop would please
Divine Providence, allowing him soon to return to his missionary field. Thus,
he had hardly completed his first pastoral tour when he petitioned to be
released from “this cross, because I have done all I am capable of to institute
here a general reform of customs. Nothing more is possible.”
This was an ironic request since, as well he knew, his
departure from the island was not so soon to be. Even before his arrival, the saint
had foretold: “We shall spend six or seven years in America.” His stay in Cuba
was precisely six years and two months, and during that time he made at least
three pastoral visitations to every parish in the archdiocese — four to most of
them. And despite the many hardships and obstacles, Claret himself had to
admit, contrary to his earlier opinion, that “with God’s help in every way
imaginable a great deal of good was accomplished.”
It was 8:30 in the morning of August 20 that the worst
earthquake in Cuba’s memory struck Santiago. Every day for several weeks one
merciless shock followed another — sometimes as many as five in a day in a
siege of terror that left no structure spared of devastation. Only with the
presence of their saintly pastor could the people of Santiago muster hope for
deliverance from this awful scourge. Nor was their confidence in the powers of
the famed miracle worker unmerited. Claret did, in fact, stop at least one
erupting tremor by pressing his holy hand to the ground.
“God does with many of us as does a mother with a lazy
sleeping child,” the saint explained. “She shakes his cot to wake him and make
him rise. If that fails, she strikes him. The good God does the same with His
children who are sleeping in their sins. He has shaken their beds that is,
their houses by the earthquakes, but He spared their lives. If this does not
awaken them and cause them to rise, He will strike them with cholera and
pestilence. God has made this known to me.”
Even so, many seemed to forget his doleful
prognostication. Scarcely a month passed, when cholera broke out, spreading
with the speed and horror of an inferno. Again, the saint hurried home from a
distant mission to attend to his stricken sheep, exhausting himself in every
way possible for their spiritual and bodily comfort.
Within three months the plague claimed nearly three
thousand lives one-tenth of Santiago’s population. And while the reality of
such human misery pained the blessed Claret, he had the far greater comfort of
knowing that not one life was lost without the consolation of the sacraments.
Nothing, however, would comfort the apostle when he
foresaw the spiritual death of many souls, who at a later time would follow
into schism an apostate priest, proclaiming himself to be Archbishop of
Santiago. The schism itself, he said, would be “a chastisement,” but only part
of a third great punishment that would afflict Cubans, whose hearts remained
callously hardened against God.
To two fellow priests, Padre Sala and Padre Currius,
he confided that this punishment was to be “a great war” and “the loss of the
island.” Then in the town of Sara he warned the people: “You are resisting the
words of your bishop who loves you as a tender father and who is sacrificing
himself for your souls. I pray to God to avert the terrible punishment that is
threatening you. For you will
be hunted down like so many rabbits and these fields will be drenched with
Spanish blood.”
Satan Retaliates
Several Claretian Fathers have attested that the
episcopal nomination of their canonized Founder had been mystically revealed to
him but not from heaven in this instance. “Now you should be content,” was the
message to Saint Anthony Mary Claret. “They have named you Archbishop of Cuba.
There you will take care of your souls, but I likewise will take care
of mine !”
“This information,” Father Thomas recorded, “which was
communicated in the form of writing, appeared in the saint’s breviary . . .
signed by the scrawl of the Devil!”
Chief among the aims of the Masons was revolution
against Spanish rule. Claret himself reported that they tried three times to
generate just such a revolution during his prelacy in Cuba, but each succeeding
attempt was a more dismal failure than the last. “Because of this,” he added,
“the enemies of Spain could hardly stand the sight of me. They said that the
Archbishop of Santiago did them more harm than the whole army. They were sure
that as long as I remained on the island their plans would fail, and so they began
plotting to kill me.”
His Excellency revealed in a private letter one of the
conspirators’ attempts on his life: “Not knowing how to get rid of me in any
other way, they tried to poison me. They would have carried it off, too, if the
[hired] culprits had not been overcome with remorse and told me of the plot. I
forgave them with all my heart.”
Far from intimidating the little prelate, the threats
against him only heightened the hope that God would choose him for martyrdom.
In 1855, Claret had begun his fourth pastoral tour and already had made
prolonged visits to the parishes of several large towns when that yearning
began to overwhelm him: “For several days I had been feeling very fervent and
full of longing to die for Jesus Christ. The love of God seemed to be the only
thing I knew how or chanced to talk about. . . . Even in the pulpit I would remark that I desired to
seal the truths I was preaching with the very blood of my veins.”
Seal of Faith
On February 1, the eve of the Purification, the
primate opened his visit at Holguin. Royer notes, “. . . During the course of
his evening sermon honoring the Virgin, he did seem to hint of trouble
anticipated. After relating a miraculous escape from a tidal wave at
Barceloneta, he paused briefly and then exclaimed: ‘Who knows but that this
very night the Most Holy Mother may not preserve me from another such danger?'”
Claret could not recall this: “I have no idea what I
said or how I said it, but people remarked that I was happier than ever
before.”
Leaving the church, the Archbishop proceeded into the
darkness of Holguin’s unlighted streets accompanied by four priests, one of
whom led the small procession with a lantern. Crowds lined the street bidding
affectionate greetings to their beloved shepherd as he passed. Nothing was
suspected, therefore, when from their midst approached a man whose stooped
posture indicated that he merely wished to kiss the prelate’s ring. It was the
hired assassin, Torres!
The unsuspecting Claret put forth his ringed hand
while raising a handkerchief to his mouth with the other, apparently to muffle
a cough. In a flash, Torres thrust a dagger at the throat of the saint, whose
lifted hand and bent head fortunately deflected the deadly blade from its mark.
Instead, it slashed through the length of Antonio’s left cheek and into his
arm, severing flesh right to the bone.
Amazingly, the fiendish act still escaped the notice
of others on the darkened scene until the Archbishop cried out, “Rid me
of these !” (In his memoirs Claret would explain, “For when my
assailant wounded me, I saw the demon himself helping [Torres] and giving him
the strength to strike.”) Finally, after making another attempt to murder his
gravely injured victim, the killer was apprehended.
Even then, already having lost a dangerously large
amount of blood, Saint Anthony hazarded worse hemorrhaging by rising to protect
his would-be assassin from an enraged mob, declaring, “He has my pardon. Leave
him alone.” And later, when Torres was sentenced to death for his monstrous
deed, the loving saint again intervened, offering to pay all of the deportation
expenses for this disciple of demons if the Captain General of Havana would
pardon him.
Archbishop Claret survived his closest opportunity for
consummated martyrdom. Yet that disappointment was more than offset by his
inestimable joy, witnessed by all who visited him during convalescence, at
having been able simply to suffer, “to shed my blood for love of Jesus and
Maria.” And for the rest of his life the seal of his Faith would be indelibly
imprinted on his body by the scars it would bear.
Extraordinary phenomena attended the healing of the
wounds. The saint gives this account: “The first was the instant healing of a
fistula that doctors had said would be permanent. The blade had severed the
ducts of the salivary glands, so that saliva was draining through a small
opening in the scar on my cheek, just in front of the ear. The doctors were
planning a painful operation of doubtful value for the following day. I offered
myself to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer, offering and resigning myself to
God’s will, when I was suddenly healed. Next day, when the doctors examined the
wound, they were astonished to see the results of this remarkable healing.
“The second phenomenon concerned the wound on my right
arm. As it healed, it formed a raised image of Our Lady of Sorrows in profile.
Not only was it raised in relief, but it was colored white and purple as well.
For the next two years it was perfectly recognizable, so that friends who saw
it marveled at it. Afterwards it began to disappear gradually. . . .”
Return to Spain
The face of Saint Anthony Mary Claret was left
terribly disfigured, his speech badly slurred, by the awful wound. Nonetheless,
in a month’s time he was back hard at his grinding apostolic and pastoral
labors, preaching and hearing confessions for long hours with that familiar
Claretian zeal as though unmindful of any physical impairment or of his
enemies’ determination yet to consummate their heinous plot. On he went without
let-up for another year, despite even contracting deadly yellow fever, from
which the diminutive Archbishop made another miraculous recovery.
Then, on March 18, 1857, an urgent message arrived from
the governor of Cuba, informing Antonio that the Queen requested his immediate
presence in Madrid. Since it was a special privilege granted to Spanish
monarchs to nominate episcopal candidates, it was supposed by the governor
feared by the saint that Isabella II wished to appoint him Archbishop of
Toledo, the primatial see of Spain, which was then vacant.
True enough, when Claret arrived in Madrid and was
promptly brought before Queen Isabella, she offered the appointment that would
make him confessor and spiritual director of the royal family. Not
surprisingly, Saint Anthony personally wanted no part of the exalted office.
But realizing its potential bearing on the security of the Church, he deemed
with characteristic humility that the decision was not his to make.
Presenting the issue to the Holy Father, Archbishop
Claret was assured by Pope Pius IX that the nomination “offered a wider scope
for the defense of the most holy Faith in Spain.” This was enough. What was
rendered as persuasive counsel by the Vicar of Christ was esteemed by his
faithful son as heaven’s edict.
In a spirit of obedience — and truly one of
self-sacrifice as well — Antonio accepted the new duty. Later, in 1859, against
his wishes, Archbishop Claret was named president of the Escorial, from which
position he thrice tried to resign. For the nine years that he held it,
however, he worked wonders in restoring the great monastery to pristine
splendor. At no increased expense to royal patrimony, but rather by substantial
outlays of his own funds, the saint re-established the seminary as “a model
institution of clerical learning,” providing scholarships for fully one-half of
its three hundred students. He also organized a resident community of chaplains
to replace the dispersed Hieronymites; opened a secondary school, equipped with
laboratories and museums; founded a new library; established productive farms
for agricultural sciences; and restored or replaced the great art treasures
that had been lost or damaged.
How utterly detestable, then, were the Masons who,
having virtually destroyed this beautiful Catholic legacy and robbed it of its
riches, now attacked the good and generous soul who restored the Escorial,
accusing him of stealing its paintings and of amassing personal
wealth from its funds!
So far were these ugly lies from any semblance of
truth that, in point of fact, Monsignor Claret had refused to accept even a
small gift of fruit from the monastery farm. “Not a pear!” he insisted, though
certainly he was entitled to much more than this mere token. Yet these and
other similar vilifications were only a beginning of the concerted and
limitlessly cruel assaults on the humble ecclesiastic that would soon
distinguish him as “the most calumniated man in the world in his day.”
He viewed no work more important than his role as a
sacrificing priest: “I know that I can offer God no morsel more delicious nor
drink more refreshing than the souls that repent before the pulpit or in the
confessional.”
So, too, did he fear failing this duty, praying: “My
God, I would never want Thee to say of me what Thou didst say of the priests of
Israel: ‘You have not gone up to face the enemy, nor have you set up a wall for
the house of Israel, to stand in battle in the day of the Lord.'”
The gravity with which Antonio held this sense of his
priestly duty is best portrayed in an incident that was related by the
Claretian Father Juan Echevarria. It happened that the apostle assisted at a
service in which another well-known preacher of the day delivered “a brilliant
and animated sermon.” To the immense satisfaction of this celebrated orator,
his discourse drew high acclaim from all in attendance. That is, from all but
one, Archbishop Claret, who simply “retired silently.” By his own admission,
not having “been able to sleep all night” on account of the prelate’s
conspicuous reticence, the preacher called on Claret next morning to inquire if
and why the saint had been so displeased with his sermon.
“Tell me, Father,” the Archbishop tactfully responded,
“have you ever preached on the salvation of the soul or the terrible misfortune
of the damned?”
“No, Your Excellency, I have not yet preached on those
subjects.”
“Have you preached on death, on judgment, on hell, on
the necessity of conversion, on avoiding sin and doing penance?”
But again the priest could only render a negative
reply.
“Well then, my friend, I am going to speak to you with
all sincerity, since you have asked me to do so. Your discourse did not please
me, nor can I approve the manner of those who in their sermons omit these great
truths of Christianity and only touch such subjects as serve but little to
convert souls. I do not think that such sermons are either agreeable to or
shall be approved by Our Lord, Jesus Christ.”
How much less, then, could so conscientious a preacher
and zealous seeker of souls as he was be content with the restrictions placed
on his apostolic ambitions by his station at court!
It was during this period that, however humbly
reluctant to do so, the obedient son of the Immaculate Heart penned his memoirs
at the command of Father Xifre, the saint’s confessor and then Superior General
of his order. That part of the account discussing his years at Madrid is
fraught with heart-piercing ejaculations, Job-like utterances that cry for
heaven’s mercy.
Witness: “I have no inclination or disposition to be a
courtier or a palace retainer. Hence, living at court and being constantly at
the palace is a continuous martyrdom for me.”
And: “I often tell myself that God sent me to this
place for my purgatory, that I may atone for the sins of my past life. . . . I
have never suffered so much as I do here at court.”
And there were many more such cries of anguish. But by
no means did the apostolic labors of Saint Anthony terminate at Madrid. There
were, for instance, occasional furloughs for the pious prisoner of the palace,
affording him “some consolation in the midst of my sufferings.” Touring now and
then with Their Highnesses for months at a time, he was free to occupy himself
almost entirely with preaching.
Remarking that the Apostle of the Rosary, as he was
called, delivered a dozen or more sermons a day on these long excursions with
the royal retinue, his confessor mentioned: “One day I asked him how he could
survive such a constant ordeal. He answered, ‘I am just a horn; someone else
does the blowing.'”
As for how the rest of this term of palatine purgatory
was served by Saint Anthony Mary Claret, the written accounts of conscience he
periodically made to his confessor detail for us how each moment of his every
day was spent.
Like Saint Alphonsus and his sainted American
contemporary, Bishop John Nepomucene Neumann, Claret resolved “never to waste a
moment of time. Hence, I will always keep busy either studying, praying,
preaching, conferring the sacraments, et cetera.” And so, upon rising “at three
in the morning, sometimes earlier,” his rigorous routine commenced immediately
with prayer — even as he dressed.
Antonio then would “take the discipline, the harder
the better, when I think of my sins and of the scourging of Jesus and of His
love.” From youth it had remained the saint’s faithful practice to scourge
himself one day and wear the cilice (coarse hairshirt) the next. “The cilice is
more painful than the discipline, but, it being all the more repugnant to the
body, I never omit it. (For further mortification he completely abstained from
meat, fish, and wine; fasted three days a week; and on other days contented
himself with a very light diet of potatoes and greens.)
This done, the Divine Office was recited, followed by
spiritual readings, more prayer, and an hour of meditation in preparation for
the Sacrifice of the Mass. At six he would celebrate Mass in a state of near
ecstasy, as many observed. At seven, having completed his thanksgiving, he
entered the confessional where he remained until eleven o’clock, when he would
go to receive visitors in audience for an hour — “my most bothersome hour
because they are always asking me to help them in affairs in which I never
meddle.”
At noon Saint Anthony said the Angelus and devoted
fifteen minutes to examining his conscience, afterwards making the Way of the
Cross and reciting more of the Office. Then, if there were no matters at court
to press upon his afternoons, he would spend them preaching, writing, and
visiting the sick, prisons, schools, convents, hospitals, and orphanages. On
such days his travels could easily be traced by the trail of books and
pamphlets which the Archbishop liberally dispensed along his busy route.
These activities, frequently interrupted for visits to
the Blessed Sacrament that animated in him “such lively faith that I cannot
describe it,” terminated at eight thirty in the evening, when Claret made
another examen of conscience and recited the fifteen decades of the Rosary and
other devotional prayers. Finally, after more work, he would retire late.
This routine of what the court confessor modestly
called his “ordinary daily occupations” was hardly ordinary. To achieve so
intense an interior life and to practice faithfully such pious devotions and
noble works as he did, surely would satisfy the loftiest ambitions of virtue
for most men of good will.
“But this is not enough to satisfy me,” the fiery
Catalan mildly contested, suppressing more can did expression of his tortured
emotions. His apostolic heart, which admittedly harbored “a holy envy of those
missionaries fortunate enough to be able to go from town to town preaching the
Holy Gospel,” still languished under the Queen’s bondage.
Understandably so, for before his prophetic eyes,
Spain and the whole world were visibly deteriorating from the persistence of
insidious philosophies and heretical creeds. Cruelly deceptive ideals of a “new
world order” — a “universal brotherhood of man” — being propagated by furtive
forces were eroding traditional moral values of society everywhere. All the
powers of hell were reaching a climactic rage, ready to be vented again in full
fury against the divine Spouse of Christ, Holy Mother Church. And the poor missionary Archbishop remained chained to
the palace walls, helpless to counter these great modern evils.
Last Mission
The spectacular life of Saint Anthony Mary Claret
could be likened to the Holy Rosary, which was so much an integral part of it.
It had its joys in the tireless and constant preaching of the Faith and the
conversion of countless souls.
It had its sorrows, too, in sufferings increasingly so
bitter that they evoked from the little saint this fitting utterance: “On the
cross I have lived and on the cross I wish to die. From the cross I hope to
come down, not by my own hands, but at the hands of others after I have
finished my sacrifice.”
And, as incredibly intense persecutions summoned
Antonio nearer to his last earthly mission, glorious mysteries also became a
part of his rare career of holiness, giving him the sweetest heavenly
consolations in the midst of his greatest anguish.
Beginning in 1856, the saint was under command by his
confessor to write of any inner lights he received from heaven. Monsignor
Claret obediently began this unusual log, noting an event that occurred in
Cuba, on July 12, 1855. Kneeling before a painting of Our Lady, to give thanks
for the graces She obtained for him in composing his beautiful pastoral letter
on the Immaculate Conception,* he “heard a clear and distinct voice issuing
from the picture, saying ‘Bene scripsisti ‘ [You have written well].”
[*So great was Claret’s enthusiasm in defense of
Marian doctrines that the papal declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception in 1854 was not enough for him. He championed a further
pronouncement to the world — that of Our Lady’s Assumption. This doctrine was
finally proclaimed by Pope Pius XII in 1950, the same year that Saint Anthony
Mary Claret was canonized.]
So, too, on three other occasions did Our Divine Lord
utter His approval of books the saint had penned.
Saint Anthony was blessed with many heavenly messages
from Jesus and Mary, most of them to console him in his suffering or to counsel
him in perseverance and prayer.
Some were very simple: “On April 27 [1859], He
promised me the love of God and called me ‘My little Anthony .'”
And some were precious: On “September 20, 1866 . . . I
prayed to Our Lord, ‘O Jesus, do not allow all Thou hast suffered to be lost.’
He answered, ‘It will not be lost; I love you dearly .’ ‘I know,’ I said,
‘but I have been most ungrateful.’ ‘Yes, you have been very ungrateful .'”
Other supernatural communications, however, were to
prepare Saint Anthony — and, through him, the world — for the final battle. On
October 8, 1857, the Blessed Virgin told him: “Be watchful for what is to come .”
Repeating this message, Her words and voice were emphatic.
The next day, “at four o’clock in the morning,” the
Queen of Heaven again addressed him, saying: “You must be the Dominic of these
times in propagating devotion to the Rosary .”
Then, on September 23, 1859, “at seven-thirty in the
morning, Our Lord told me: ‘You will fly across the earth. . . to preach of the
immense chastisements soon to come to pass .’ And He gave me to understand
those words of the Apocalypse (8: 13): ‘And I beheld, and heard the voice of
one eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: Woe,
woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth; by reason of the rest of the voices
of the three angels who are yet to sound the trumpet.’
“This meant that the three great judgments of God
which are going to fall upon the world are: (1) Protestantism and Communism;
(2) the four archdemons who will, in a truly frightful manner, incite all to
the love of pleasure, money, reason (or independence of mind), and independence
of will; (3) the great wars with their horrible consequences.”
On the following day, Our Lord made known to Claret
that his Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary would spread the
saint’s exquisite writings and his apostolic spirit throughout the world, to
combat these monstrous evils of modern times.
In all his afflictions Saint Anthony had always found
incomparable strength and consolation in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
And so, to fortify the little apostle in his fiercest combat, God conferred
upon him a very special grace with which few other saints in the history of the
Church have ever been favored.
“On August 26, 1861, finding myself at prayer in the
church of the Holy Rosary, at La Granja, at seven o’clock in the evening, the
Lord granted me the grace of conserving the Sacramental Species within my
heart.”
For the rest of his earthly days he shared with the
Mother of God in a special way the divine privilege preserving incorruptibly
from Communion to Communion the precious Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of
Christ in his bosom. Now a human tabernacle of Our Lord, he reflected: “I now
bear within me day and night the adorable Eucharist. I must therefore be always
recollected and cultivate the interior life. Moreover, according to Our Lord’s
command, I must try to arrest by prayer and in other ways the evil rampant in
Spain.”
Some months later, after obediently writing down this
sublime experience, Antonio became plagued with doubt. Believing himself to be
wholly unworthy of so wondrous a blessing, he perhaps felt that he might only
have dreamed it. In any event, he was thinking of erasing all mention of the
episode when the Blessed Mother spoke, forbidding him to do so. “Afterward,
while I was saying Mass, Jesus Christ told me that He had indeed granted me
this grace. . . .”
Then, as if to assure the humble prelate of his
worthiness of the esteemed privilege, something quite remarkable occurred on
Christmas Eve in 1864. Having celebrated Midnight Mass, Monsignor Claret arose
from making an unusually long thanksgiving. As he left the chapel his
countenance betrayed an unmistakable look of ecstasy to Don Carmela Sala, who
greeted the saint outside. At length, Antonio dispelled the mystery, confiding
to his friend his precious secret: “The holy Virgin placed the Child Jesus in
my arms tonight!”
Only it was not really a secret. There had also been
present in the chapel some Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, who confirmed that
“during his thanksgiving, Father . . . had received the Child Jesus in his
arms. The Blessed Virgin
had given the Child to him.”
The Ongoing
Martyrdom
In departing from Cuba Archbishop Claret, to be sure,
had not escaped the wrath of the Masons and their allies. On the contrary, well
aware of the force of his irresistible charm and holiness, they had all the
more reason to fear that his spiritual guidance of the Queen surely would pose
a serious obstacle to their ambitions. Thus, they became more determined than
ever to kill the gentle little saint.
Several highly suspicious mishaps, including a “mysterious
leak,” saturated fuel, and an artillery explosion, gave evidence that the ship
which bore the famed missionary back to Spain had been sabotaged. As yet,
however, Antonio seems not to have suspected that his life still was the target
of a murderous conspiracy, giving no hints of such thoughts in briefly
mentioning the many dangers we encountered on the trip home.
But an incident in 1859 made him fully conscious of
the fact that “there was a plot to kill me.” Relating the details to his
spiritual director, Claret wrote: “The would-be assassin entered the church of
Saint Joseph on Alcala Street in Madrid . . . and he was converted through the
intercession of Saint Joseph, as Our Lord let me know. The assassin came to
talk with me and told me he was a member of a secret lodge that was backing
him. It had fallen to his lot to kill me, and if he did not succeed within
forty days, he would be killed, just as he himself had killed others who failed
to carry out their orders.”*
[*The incidents recounted here, like the infamous
murder of William Morgan in New York, expose but a partial profile of that most
wretched face of the Masonic societies, of which most Masons themselves are
ignorant, and which the majority would certainly oppose. None, however, should
be deceived. Even at its so-called “fraternal and benevolent” best, Masonry, by
its furtive nature and wicked oaths, is and will always remain a diabolical
conspiracy against the One True Church. And its ruthless character invariably
will surface whenever the divine truths of the Faith are zealously taught and
defended in their fullness. It was for this reason that Saint Anthony Mary
Claret was persecuted.]
Shedding tears of shame and contrition, the agent
embraced his intended victim, then set off to take up hiding from his vengeful
comrades. But it was not long before another assassin was chosen to carry out
his unfinished mission.
This henchman, described as a well-dressed man,”
followed Padre Claret to Montserrat, where at the time of his arrival, he found
the Archbishop preaching. As the murderer entered the Church, he heard Saint
Anthony Mary praising his lifelong Protectress, the Queen of Heaven, who “even
at this instant . . . is freeing me from a greater danger that threatens me.”
Upon hearing this oracle, the killer, like his
predecessor, was struck with remorse, presented himself and his dagger to the
holy man, and confessed his terrible assignment. Archbishop Claret not only
forgave but generously aided him in arranging his escape from the sworn revenge
of the secret society.
But even when beyond the reach of blades, bombs, and
bullets, Saint Anthony was never long secure from the ugly temper of his
enemies. Almost every day the mail brought him the vilest epistles of hatred,
loaded with filthy obscenities and threats. Once the Masons sent him a crate
containing a dead body with a dagger thrust into its heart and a note reading:
“As you will soon be seen!”
Meanwhile, in preparation for widespread revolution
throughout all of Europe, a monstrous assault had been made upon that bulwark
against the forces of conspiracy, the Church. “Backed by Napoleon III and
International Masonry, all enchanted with the heady prospect of seeing the Pope
stripped of his temporal prerogatives,” Royer observes, Garibaldi had seized
the Papal States and “had proclaimed . . . Victor Emmanuel King of a
consolidated Italy.”
Aided by vociferous Spanish Reds, Louis Napoleon was
able to intimidate King Francisco and the Queen’s Prime Minister, O’Donnell,
into supporting Spain’s recognition of the unstable Masonic kingdom in Italy.
This, despite the fact that to do so incurred excommunication and, furthermore,
that most Spaniards were vehemently opposed to such an outrage against the
Vicar of Christ.
It depended on Queen Isabella, nonetheless, to ratify
Spain’s official recognition. And only Antonio Maria Claret could keep her from
committing that travesty of justice the second reason why the Masons had to
destroy him.
“I had continuously exhorted her to avoid the whole
question of recognition,” wrote the saint. “I urged her to die indeed with her
honor, rather than to stain it with so ugly a blemish.” To impress his position
more strongly on the politically weak ruler, he threatened the one thing that,
in view of her attachment to him, she could not bear — that, “should she
recognize the kingdom of Italy, I would forthwith retire.”
Accordingly, Isabella promised him she would never
approve the illegitimate government, insisting she would sooner die than
concede in the issue. Unfortunately, a courageous spirit is so easily
dissipated before subtle temptations of the flesh.
In this case it was Prime Minister O’Donnell, now an
agent of Louis Napoleon for all intents and purposes, who did the devil’s
bidding. For two years he relentlessly harangued the naive queen, gradually
convincing her that it was “not so much a question of recognizing the right in
the matter as the fact,” and that to do so would occasion no real consequences
to the Pope. “To these treacherous arguments,” Claret observed, “he added that
there were vital commercial reasons for the approbation.”
Having thus dulled the Queen’s sense of justice with
the toxic fumes of pragmatism, O’Donnell then moved in for the kill. She really
had no choice, he threatened, but to grant recognition or be deposed by a
revolt. That being what her visionary confessor had prophesied, Isabella in a
moment of confusion and weakness finally yielded.
“This,” said Saint Anthony, “was like a sentence of
death. Presenting myself before Her Majesty, I asked her. ‘Senora, what have
you done?’ She told me, and I replied: ‘Well, they have deceived you. . . . Now
I must go.'”
Into Exile
Retiring to Vich, the saint rejoined his little band
of confreres, leaving Isabella brokenhearted. In a state of near desperation,
she wrote to him begging for his return.
Not knowing what to do, Antonio consulted the Papal
Nuncio, who advised him that duty neither required nor opposed his further
labors at court under the circumstances, but added “I need only remind you of
the revolutionary conspiracy against Her Majesty.”
Without expressly saying so, the Nuncio obviously
favored Isabella’s petitions. Still, however, Monsignor Claret remained
uncertain in the matter, and so, joined by the saintly Padre Clotet, he prayed
before the Blessed Sacrament for enlightenment.
“Their devotions concluded,” it is recorded, “Claret
turned a glowing countenance upon his companion and announced: ‘My indecision
has been dispelled. Jesus Christ, from the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, has
deigned to tell me I must go to Rome.'”
In presenting the matter to the Vicar of Christ, Saint
Anthony learned that Isabella had also been pleading with Pius IX to secure the
return of her confessor. The decision of His Holiness was that, if the Spanish
ruler would comply with “certain contingent stipulations,” Claret should resume
his duties at court. She did; and he did.
But. though Isabella was fully repentant of her
disloyal act, she still foolishly contented herself in the thought that the
gesture of recognizing the Masonic regime had made her throne secure from the
threat of being overthrown. She couldn’t have been more mistaken, as Claret
ceaselessly tried to impress upon his spiritual daughter month after month.
Even as seditious railings against the monarchy by the press, and numerous
incidents of rioting made the certainty of revolution manifest, Her Majesty,
caught up in euphoric giddiness, remained deaf to the appeals of the frustrated
saint.
While touring late in the summer of 1868, Isabella
came face to face with an aborted military plot for her abduction. Again Claret
pleaded with her: “Senora, we must return to Madrid at once. I tell
you we are on the brink of revolution!” Yet, incredibly enough, she still would
not take the situation seriously not until paralyzing news reached the royal
party at San Sebastian, informing them that Madrid had fallen and a Red regime
now ruled Spain, bringing all the horrors of destruction and barbaric cruelty
which our mystic had foretold.
Under the “protection” of Louis Napoleon, the royal
family was escorted into exile in France, accompanied by the Queen’s faithful
confessor. For the heartbroken Antonio Maria Claret it was a bitter and
crushing finale to forty years of untiring apostolic labor and sacrifice. Aged, exhausted, and penniless, he was now banished
from his beloved Spain, never again to set foot on its soil.
The Vatican Council
Early in 1869, Archbishop Claret journeyed to Rome to
attend festivities of the papal jubilee. While there, the Pope announced that
an ecumenical council would be convened at the Vatican on December 8 of that
year.
That the whole prospect of the forthcoming Council
filled the saint’s mind with excitement is no surprise. For all his humility
and simplicity, Monsignor Claret was a brilliant theologian. He was greatly
concerned with, and had written a book about, preserving the splendors of the
Church. Moreover, he had worked on many catechisms and written several himself.
It was his burning hope that the Council would take up the matter of approving
a catechism for the universal Church, and, in fact, he had one of his own to
propose for that purpose. So the holy man busied himself in the months before
the Council with preparatory study and research.
The most publicized issue that would come before the
Council was the doctrine of papal infallibility. This, too, gave the saint high
expectations, in his eagerness that “its teaching will be a beacon to show us a
safe haven amid the storm and tempest that is still mounting and spreading.
[Otherwise] woe to the earth!”
But, being confident of the complete unanimity of the
Church fathers on this teaching, Claret anticipated its treatment in the
Vatican Council to proceed quickly, allowing the bishops to devote their time
to issues which would demand more careful and thorough examination.
Actually, the argument of the Inopportunists, as they
came to be called, was only a shabby evasion of their true motives. For, in
reality, they simply did not want to be constrained by a precise definition of
an immutable truth. They preferred, instead, that this doctrine of papal
infallibility and all other doctrines that it affected be consigned to a vague
realm of “uncertain” traditions, which supposedly could be freely interpreted
as desired.
This became clear when opponents held forth as an
example of alleged “abuse” and “excess” of papal authority the Bull, Unam
Sanctam , in which Pope Boniface Vlll declared ex cathedra : “.
. . It is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be
subject to the Roman Pontiff. ”
Gallicanists hated this declaration because it
implicitly denied that bishops share equal authority with the Pope. Liberals
hated it because in their hearts they secretly held, entirely by human reason
and to the exclusion of faith, that it was not absolutely necessary
for salvation to be subject to the Roman Pontiff. In fact, they had drafted a
schema, to be presented for the Council’s approval, that stated there could be
salvation outside the one true Church, by directly contradicting three ex
cathedra pronouncements. Here, then, was the real reason for both groups’
opposition to a proclamation of papal infallibility.
And so, after listening for months to long hours of
devious arguments and evasions from orators skilled in the art of manipulation,
a diminutive yet eminent looking figure finally rose in indignation to address
the assembly. His remarks were simple, refreshingly brief, but powerfully
compelling, riveting the attention of all to his humble countenance. He was
Archbishop Antonio Maria Claret.
“. . . I am here to say,” began the Council’s only
canonized saint, “that from long study of Holy Scripture, of tradition never
once ruptured, of the words of the Fathers of the Church and the Sacred
Councils, from deep meditation upon the reasoning of the theologians which, for
the sake of brevity, I shall not cite, I can assure you with full conviction
that, in everything touching the sense and forms of the Apostolic Roman
Catholic Church, the Supreme Pontiff is infallible. . .
.”
Then His Excellency cut through all the deceptions to
the heart of the opposition with words that caused many an antagonist to
squirm.
“The truth of papal infallibility would be clear to
all men if Scripture were understood. And why is it not? For three
reasons.
“The first, as Jesus told Saint Teresa, is that men do
not really love God. The second, that they lack humility. It is
written: ‘I confess Thee Father Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast
hidden these truths from the wise and those prudent according to the world, and
revealed them to the humble.’ Third and finally, there are some who do
not wish to understand Scripture — simply because they do not wish
the good.
“Now, with David, I pray: ‘May the Lord have mercy
upon us, bless us, let His Holy Face shine upon us.’ I have spoken.”
Who could not be struck by the aura of holiness about
this man, whose visage bore the scars of his great faith? Indeed, a Canadian
bishop said that when he met the saint during the Council proceedings he felt
like bending his knee before him as he would “before a tabernacle!”
And who could resist the forcefulness of his doctrine,
without incurring the sentence of anathema that he pronounced? When the vote
was cast on July 13, 1870, the overwhelming majority concurred with a
declaration of the primacy and infallibility of the Successor of Peter.
But the ordeal had been too much for this gentle
little lover of truth: “Because I cannot bear,” he wrote, “that anyone or
anything should trespass in this matter — I would gladly shed my blood for it,
as I said in open session — when I heard the errors and even heresies and
blasphemies that were being spoken on it, I was so overcome by indignation and
zeal that the blood rushed to my head in a cerebral attack. My mouth couldn’t
contain the saliva and it ran down my face, especially on the side that was
scarred in Cuba. Besides this, my speech is greatly slurred.”
He had suffered a stroke, from which he would never
recover. “Heresies and blasphemies” from the lips of his fellow bishops had
succeeded in doing what assassins and conspirators could not. Padre Claret left
Rome to die.
Last Days
Home for Saint Anthony now was in Prades, France,
whither his exiled confreres had fled. Padre Jaime Clotet recounts the
bittersweet joy of the Founder’s return to his Congregation: “Despite the
ineffable consolation of having him with us, I was deeply pained to see him so
weak. He could hardly stand! The change in his features was shocking, and he
could scarcely speak. ‘My God!’ I said to myself, ‘can this be the
Archbishop?'”
With no regard for his awful state, the saint insisted
on preaching, hearing confessions, and participating in community devotions as
much as his strength would endure. He did, in fact, enjoy some flurries of
improved health, but just as quickly he would lapse back into a condition at
times “so severe,” reported Clotet, “that the prayers of the dying were said
over him five different times.” To make matters worse, he also began to suffer
attacks of neuralgia that afflicted him with excruciating torment.
Father Clotet again comments: “One might have thought
that he would be left in peace among his little band of followers. But this was
not to be.” Even now, the Masons could not resist the opportunity to inflict
colossal indignities upon their hated enemy. Word arrived that French gendarmes
had orders to arrest His Excellency under preposterous charges of organizing
guerrilla activities and of conspiracy against the Red regime in Spain. The
stricken Founder, bidding a final good-bye to his children of Mary’s Pure Heart,
was whisked away into hiding, taking refuge in the Trappist monastery at
Fontfroide.
Early in October, Padre Xifre sent a message to the
saint’s dear friend, Padre Clotet: “The founder is dying. His vestments and
episcopal insignia required for interment.” Clotet promptly collected the items
and sped off to Fontfroide in the hopes that he would not be too late to
embrace his spiritual father one last time. But soon enough he was at the side
of Saint Anthony, where he faithfully remained for ten long and painful days.
They say that the saint was often delirious in those
latter days. But in his most enfeebled state, his mind was still preoccupied
with the salvation of souls. “Souls, souls, give me souls,” he said repeatedly.
And, strangely, something else: “Shall you go to the
United States, then?” he asked Padre Clotet, taking his friend by total
surprise in the middle of the night. Was this, also delirium? Perhaps. But
while exiled in Paris, when certainly his mind was fully rational, the mystic
then too had been anxious for his Congregation to labor in the New World
writing: “America is a great and fertile field, and in time more souls will
enter heaven from America than from Europe. This part of the world is like an
old vine that bears little fruit, whereas America is a young vine. . . . I’ve
already grown old. . . . If it weren’t for this, I’d fly there myself.”
On the twenty-first of October the Archbishop was
seized with fresh torments, this time with no unconsciousness or delirium to
give him any relief from this long and final siege of suffering.
Two days later, barely able even to whisper, he asked
for absolution while with great effort he signed himself with the Cross,
clutching his Rosary beads and tenderly kissing the Crucifix. The end was now very
near.
After passing the long night in watch, Padre Clotet
next morning left the saint’s side long enough to say Mass. When he returned,
his beloved friend and father could only speak to him by way of a gaze. But
this, between two men who shared a common spirit of sanctity, was itself a
moving dialogue. And Clotet with complete understanding of his wishes, gave
utterance to those words which the eyes of his dear companion conveyed: “Jesus,
Mary, and Joseph, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
Just before nine o’clock on the morning of October 24,
1870, the bell at the convent of the Carmelite Sisters of Charity, in far-off
Tarragona, suddenly began to toll untouched by human hands. At that very same
moment the soul of Saint Anthony Mary Claret was summoned by Almighty God into
glorious eternity.
His remains were laid to rest at the monastery in
Fontfroide. Fittingly, his tombstone was inscribed with the words: “I have
loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore I die in exile.” The body, exhumed
twenty-seven years later to be translated back to Spain, was found to be
perfectly incorrupt.
Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Pray for us.
SOURCE : http://catholicism.org/anthony-claret.html
Sant' Antonio Maria Claret Vescovo e fondatore
- Memoria Facoltativa
Sallent, Catalogna, Spagna, 23 dicembre 1807 -
Fontfroide, Francia, 24 ottobre 1870
Una figura del secolo XIX al cui nome è tuttora legata
una congregazione religiosa diffusa in tutti i continenti, quella dei
Missionari del Cuore Immacolato di Maria, detti appunto Clarettiani. Di origine
catalana, appena ordinato sacerdote Claret si reca a Roma, a Propaganda Fide,
per essere inviato missionario. Ma la salute precaria lo costringe a tornare in
patria. Così per sette anni si dedica alla predicazione delle missioni popolari
tra la Catalogna e le Isole Canarie. È tra i giovani raggiunti in questa
attività apostolica che nasce l’idea della congregazione. Nel 1849 viene
nominato arcivescovo di Santiago di Cuba. Morirà il 24 ottobre 1870.
Etimologia: Antonio = nato prima, o che fa fronte
ai suoi avversari, dal greco
Emblema: Bastone pastorale
Martirologio Romano: Sant’Antonio Maria Claret,
vescovo: ordinato sacerdote, per molti anni percorse la regione della Catalogna
in Spagna predicando al popolo; istituì la Società dei Missionari Figli del
Cuore Immacolato della Beata Maria Vergine e, divenuto vescovo di Santiago
nell’isola di Cuba, si adoperò con grande merito per la salvezza delle anime.
Tornato in Spagna, sostenne ancora molte fatiche per la Chiesa, morendo infine
esule tra i monaci cistercensi di Fontfroide vicino a Narbonne nella Francia
meridionale.
Nato in una famiglia profondamente cristiana di tessitori catalani con dieci figli. Viene ordinato nel 1835, a 28 anni. Va a Roma nel 1839 e si rivolge a Propaganda Fide per essere inviato come missionario in qualsiasi parte del mondo. Non potendo raggiungere questo obiettivo, entra come novizio tra i Gesuiti, ma dopo pochi mesi deve tornare in patria perché malato. Per sette anni predica numerosissime missioni popolari in tutta la Catalogna e le isole Canarie conquistando un'immensa popolarità, anche come taumaturgo. Sa mettere insieme la gente dando vita ad associazioni e gruppi. Nel 1849 fonda una Congregazione apostolica: i Figli dell’Immacolato Cuore di Maria Oggi anche conosciuti come Missionari Clarettiani. All'inizio del terzo millennio, essi lavorano in 65 paesi dei cinque continenti. Nel 1936/ 39, durante la guerra civile spagnola, 271vengono uccisi per causa della fede. Tra questi spiccano i 51 Martiri di Barbastro, beatificati da Giovanni Paolo II il 1992. (Vedi in questa web: Martiri Spagnoli Clarettiani di Barbastro).
Nominato nel 1849 arcivescovo di Santiago di Cuba (all'epoca appartenente alla corona di Spagna), arriva in diocesi nel febbraio di 1851. Nel suo strenuo lavoro apostolico affronta i gravi problemi morali, religiosi e sociali dell'Isola: concubinato, povertà, schiavitù, ignoranza, ecc., ai quali si aggiungono due calamità che colpiscono la popolazione: epidemie e terremoti.
Ripercorre la sua vasta diocesi per ben quattro volte missionando instancabilmente con un gruppo di santi missionari. Le sue preoccupazioni pastorali si riversano anche in gran parte nel potenziamento del seminario e nella riformazione del clero. Nell'ambito sociale, promuove l'agricoltura, anche con diverse pubblicazioni e creando una fattoria-modello a Camagüey. Oltre a questo istituisce in ogni parrocchia una cassa di risparmio, opera pioniera in America Latina. Promuove l'educazione cercando Istituti religiosi e fondando egli stesso insieme alla Venerabile Maria Antonia Paris la congregazione delle Religiose di Maria Immacolata (Missionarie Clarettiane). La sua strenua fortezza nel difendere i diritti della Chiesa e i diritti umani li crea numerosi nemici tra i politici e i corrotti. E così subisce minacce e attentati, tra i quali uno ad Holguin, dove viene gravemente ferito al volto. Nel 1857 la regina lo richiama a Madrid come suo confessore. In questa tappa continua ad annunziare il Vangelo nella capitale e in tutta la penisola.
Esiliato in Francia nel 1868 arriva con la regina a Parigi e, anche qui, prosegue le sue predicazioni.
Poi partecipa in Roma al concilio Vaticano I dove difende con ardore l'infallibilità del Romano Pontefice.
Perseguitato ancora dalla rivoluzione, si rifugia nel monastero di Fontfroide presso Narbona, dove spira santamente il 24 ottobre del 1870.
Sulla tomba vengono scolpite le parole di papa Gregorio VII: "Ho amato la giustizia e odiato l’iniquità, per questo muoio in esilio". Il suo corpo si venera nella Casa Madre dei Clarettiani a Vic (Barcellona).
E l’8 maggio 1950, Pio XII lo proclama santo, e dice del Claret: "spirito grande, sorto come per appianare i contrasti: poté essere umile di nascita e glorioso agli occhi del mondo; piccolo nella persona però di anima gigante; modesto nell'apparenza, ma capacissimo d'imporre rispetto anche ai grandi della terra; forte di carattere però con la soave dolcezza di chi sa dell'austerità e della penitenza; sempre alla presenza di Dio, anche in mezzo ad una prodigiosa attività esteriore; calunniato e ammirato, festeggiato e perseguitato. E tra tante meraviglie, quale luce soave che tutto illumina, la sua devozione alla Madre di Dio".
Autore: P. Jesús Bermejo, CMF
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/29850
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Santa Maria del Pi
Voir aussi : http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j098sdAnthonyClaret_10-24.htm
http://nobility.org/2013/10/24/antonio-maria-claret/
