Anthony Claret y Clarà was born in Sallent (Bages, diocese of Vic) in 1807, the fifth of eleven children in a deeply Christian but poor family. At the age of eighteen, he was in Barcelona, learning the trade of weaving.
As a young man, he felt drawn to the Carthusian vocation, but his spiritual directors advised him not to pursue it for the moment. At twenty-two, he entered the seminary in Vic, where he was known more for his dedication than for brilliance. At twenty-eight, he was ordained a priest.
While serving as curate in Sallent, the idea came to him of founding a congregation of missionaries. Following an inner call to dedicate himself fully to mission work, he went to Rome to offer himself to the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. That plan didn’t work out, so in Rome he entered the Jesuit novitiate—but had to leave because of illness.
Back in Catalonia, he served parishes in Viladrau and San Juan de Olot, but eventually left parish life to embrace his true calling: missionary work. He traveled through all of Catalonia and the Canary Islands, especially devoted to rural missions and preaching to priests, religious, and nuns.
At the same time, Anthony began a powerful apostolate through printed publications. Few missionaries can compare with him in this regard. The Religious Bookstore he founded became a tool of immense influence throughout his life and beyond. He tirelessly distributed booklets, holy cards, medals, and hundreds of thousands of books. For a time, he was the spiritual director of the new religious institute of Joaquina de Vedruna. Around this time, Father Claret began to be known as a wonder-worker.
His intense activity, at a time when hatred of the Church was strong, brought him enemies, and he even suffered an assassination attempt. But he did not lose heart. He founded in Vic the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and later the religious congregation of the same name—his greatest work.
While working to establish this congregation, he was unexpectedly appointed archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, which had been without a bishop for fourteen years. The task of rebuilding the archdiocese was immense, but Claret, already seasoned in pastoral work, poured himself into it. In Cuba he combined his missionary style with extraordinary works of charity. He also promoted human development on the island, founding an agricultural school and even writing manuals on farming himself. With Antonia París of Tarragona, he founded the Apostolic Institute of Mary Immaculate, a women’s congregation that adopted the Rule of St. Benedict.
Naturally, opposition arose. Dissatisfied clergy stirred up nationalist sentiment against him. He suffered four more assassination attempts, one of them leaving him seriously wounded.
Later, Queen Isabella II called him to Madrid to be her confessor. He resigned from Santiago and, while serving at court, also worked as the queen’s advisor and spiritual guide of the princes. Never idle, he continued hearing confessions in Madrid’s churches. When religious orders were banned in Spain, Isabella appointed him head of a group of priests at El Escorial. Claret transformed the monastery into a seminary, created a library, and established a school that later became a higher institute. As usual, he also wrote books related to his work—this time on education and pedagogy.
Opposed by liberal politicians, he resigned from El Escorial. From then on, he worked tirelessly to restore religious life in Spain and to secure official recognition for religious orders. As the queen’s confessor, he traveled throughout Spain, preaching wherever he went. He also founded the Academy of St. Michael for artists and writers, insisted on the dignity of new bishops, and fought for the protection of religious education for the young.
These efforts brought him many enemies. He was slandered and accused of meddling in politics. But what finally led him to step down as royal confessor was not the attacks but his refusal to accept Spain’s recognition of the Kingdom of Italy, which he saw as an offense against the pope’s rights. When he consulted Pope Pius IX, the pope told him to continue at the queen’s side, and Claret did so—even accompanying her into exile in Paris.
He attended the First Vatican Council but without playing a leading role. When his health declined, he withdrew to Prades, near Perpignan, but soon faced new accusations of plotting against the French Republic. To escape persecution, he retired to the Cistercian abbey of Fontfroide, where he died at age sixty-three, on October 24, 1870. His body was later transferred to Vic, where it is still venerated.
He was canonized in 1950. Saint Anthony Mary Claret is one of the greatest apostles of the nineteenth century. The religious order he founded, the Claretian Missionaries—formally, the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary—carry on his work. His feast is now celebrated on October 24, the day of his death.
