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 escala
de 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.
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).
A. A. MacErlean (Catholic Encyclopedia)
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