October 24 Anthony Mary Claret b. 12/24/1807 d. 1870 bl. 1899 c. 1950

Thommy and John,

Good morning
I love you

October 24th 2008 is a slow day for me as well as on the saints’ calendar. I pulled out Anthony Mary Claret because Catholics Online – getting their info directly from Butler – tells us that Anthony Mary wanted to be a Jesuit but because of his health, he was not accepted into the order…. 1963 is a long time ago. I don’t have many specific memories of the evolution of my desire to become a Jesuit. In the eighth grade, our parish priest dissuaded me from pursuing attendance at a Junior Seminary – he saw my view of that as an escape more than a calling. What I saw in the Jesuits at Cheverus – and learned about them from stories, study, and traveling to the hub of the universe with the basketball team – attracted me: teachers and priests, a twofer of my own callings…. I was locked into the discernment tract before we headed to NYC – an important piece of my identity as I was thrown into Molloy and 1200+ students and the Marist Brothers. I do not remember all the screenings held – I’m sure some of them were more subtle than the day of interviews at the Provincial’s office in Boston [Fr. Burke was the deal maker for me there! He later showed up at the novitiate as the assistant novice master, probably twenty plus years Fr. Bertrand’s senior.] …. I don’t remember submitting any medical evidence – though the Jesuits saw me enough from Freshman football to several retreats my senior year. I was as healthy as a 5’9” 190+# seventeen year old could be. I played football competitively; I played basketball on the street; I was a good enough swimmer/surfer to be a ocean beach life guard. So, I guess I was healthy. [I wonder how they would read me now? Weight. Heart. Activity? Other criteria? Probably my age alone has become a barrier to my getting into most religious/vocational organizations; not to mention ordinary jobs…. Almost sixty is not entry level material….]

Things are vey slow. Too very slow. Precipitously too slow. And too much of my current zeitgeist looks like some of the worst of my memories of my mother’s last years – even with stuff more in boxes than just piles. Videbimus. I’m packing your stuff separately; plus stuff to be given to you; passed on to you; a piece of your legacy…. Some of it of real value; some of it worth some money, too…. 

I wish on this Friday before Halloween I had more stories to tell you….

Catholic Online: Saints and Angels
Biography of Anthony Mary Claret on line (www.olrl.org/lives)



Oct 24
Anthony Mary Claret b. 12/24/1807 d. 1870 bl. 1899 c. 1950


Anthony’s father, Juan, was a weaver in Salient, Catalonia, Spain. His mother was Josefa. What does that tell you about him? How well do you know his zeitgeist – and what of that informs you about this person you know was canonized for us? Fill in the background; go from ground to figure – a relationship not only in personal perception but also in the gestalt in our personal and cultural psychology, persona….

Anthony took up weaving. Now the projection opportunities begin . Did the boy gladly, admiringly, take up his father’s profession? Was it familial necessity? Did the father require it? Some combination of these? Other reasons? What do the questions tell us about us? How do our answers reveal us as well as the saint? 

Anthony wanted to become a Jesuit. [We have an autobiography as well as substantial biographical information on this nineteenth century figure. Let’s give some credibility to this desire.] As son, apprentice weaver, Anthony also studied for the priesthood. What was it about the Jesuits that appealed to Anthony? Why a religious order and not a secular priest? How do we get to know a man based on his choices? His expressed desires? From his autobiography? (and what he chose not to put there? Maybe a similar question for scripture? E.g., Luke’s comprehensive history obviously leaves out more that he could possibly have written. What do the omissions/edits tell us? For me, personally, I say more by what I don’t say; do more in what I don’t do….)

We have the story of an experience from when Anthony was five. He’d learned in catechism class about the eternal suffering of sinners in hell. He had some sense of the suffering of the poor, aged, sick, prisoners et al. He couldn’t get his little head around the infiniteness of hell. He didn’t want anyone to suffer in this world, never mind forever in the next - - thus, some foundation for his desire to save souls from such a fate….

We’re told that Anthony Mary Claret was remarkable for his piety, modesty, and obedience. Piety – how one persistently relates to God, by self and in community. And your piety? Modesty – fulfilling God’s gifts and recognizing that such talent, resources, and accomplishments are gifts as well as duties. Obedience 

Anthony took special delight in receiving and visiting the Blessed Sacrament. That’s like daily mass. And praying in church – if you can find a church that is unlocked for such prayers. Anthony had a devotion to our Blessed Mother, shown by his making pilgrimages to the nearby Shrine of Our Lady of Furimanya - - [Remember what Notre Dame means; and our pilgrimages there.] Anthony also recited the rosary often.

Anthony Mary Claret tells us about his most serious temptations. One against chastity. The other, an urge to rebel against his mother and against Mary. He attributes his success against Satan’s temptations to prayer [a continuing personal relationship with God], patience, and humility.


Anthony Mary Claret was ordained in 1835 [remember he came to study for the priesthood after a turn as weaver….]. He resolved never to waste a moment of his life. [An aside. It’s impossible to not behave; to not act. Therefore, what do we do that we might define as a waste? For whom? For what? Your rearview mirror doesn’t go back very far so use it to ponder this question. What have you done that you’d now describe as wasted time? Then do an about face and look to the ultimate end of the road, from the threshold of the pearly gates, what would you look back and see as waste, as time better spent doing something else – especially things to better serve you when you stand there with Peter and Jesus….

Anthony Mary Claret wrote 144 books and preached some 25,000 sermons. From 1835 to 1870, 35 years – that’s over 700/year, almost two per day, every day, for his entire priestly life…. What drove Anthony? In his own words: “At any cost I must discharge the ministry I have received from God Our Lord, which is to preach the Gospel... I have no worldly end in view, but... that God may be known, loved and served by all the world... that sins and offenses against Him may be hindered as much as possible... Another thing that spurs me on to preach ceaselessly is the thought of the multitude of souls which fall in the depths of hell... ….If you had a beloved brother who, sick and in the throes of delirium, were to insult you with all the angry words imaginable, would you abandon him? I am certain you wouldn't. You would have even more compassion for him, do your utmost for his speedy recovery. This is how I feel in regard to sinners. …. You may say the sinner doesn't think of hell, nor even believe in it. So much the worse for him. Do you by chance think he will escape condemnation because of his unbelief? Truth is independent of belief... I must warn sinners and make them see the precipice which leads to the unquenchable fires of hell, for they will surely go there if they do not amend their ways.”

“Woe to me if I do not preach and warn them, for I would be held responsible for their condemnation…”

“How often I pray, with St. Catherine of Siena: 'O my God, grant me a place by the gates of hell, that I may stop those who enter there saying: Where are you going, unhappy one? Back, go back! Make a good confession. Save your soul. Don't come here to be lost for all eternity!"

Anthony Mary Claret felt himself called to serve in the foreign missions. Still, in obedience and with patience [whew, would that I had much of either!], he served as curate in his hometown, then as pastor in Viladrau, Catalonia; a war torn area. …. In 1842, Fr Claret was named Apostolic Missionary for all of Catalonia. A vast area where religious practice, Church discipline too, suffered from the French invasion, the Carlist war [look it up], and the shift of political power to the anti religious Liberal Party. [would anti religious and liberal be redundant? I suggest yes….]

Imagine the bravery in faith that was necessary for this priest to walk the roads of mid-nineteenth century Catalonia. And what kind of persuasiveness was necessary for him to reach the unreligious and the bandits; as well as to shore up the faithful….? In this place, at this time, how the priest lived was necessary for the success of his mission. Maybe moreso for Fr Claret at that time than for us now – but I think not. How we live, travel, present ourselves – with piety, prayer, obedience, exemplars of the virtues of our faith, the essentials of our vocations, the foundations of our missions - how we live is more important than what we are doing…. Father Claret explains the necessity of poverty …. “Noticing that such abnegation edified everyone and made a deep impression, I did all in my power to continue the practice."

Consider this for a lesson in fatherhood, in leadership – [a lesson that I have put into the preamble of my prayers. Maybe better late than never….] As much as he hated and dreaded sin, he did not scold, ridicule, or terrify sinners, for he learned that only meekness could win them to repentance. These qualities require training, practice, dedication, discipline….

The success of this missionary [see for example the Mission at Olot.], especially since he personified much of the holiness that was detested and feared, eventually put Fr Claret’s life at risk. In 1848, the bishop sent Anthony Mary Claret to the Canary Islands - - where he became quickly overwhelmingly successful in his replanted mission…. In Telde, where morals were lax and they’d suffered a drought, Fr Claret not only led great change, he promised and they received rains at the end of his 28-day mission. The pastor in the city reported to the bishop: “This town has never seen the like of it. The bitterest of enemies have made peace. Scandals, both public and private, have been terminated, and amends made. Broken marriages have been mended. Restitutions have been made… Because no one can withstand the fire of his preaching, the kindness and liveliness of his manner, his forceful reproofs... and the impact of his reasoning.”

Many reported that in the confessional Fr Claret saw into their hearts, probed their conscience. I suggest to you the healing power of confession. Beginning with a true act of contrition, an authentic opening of your soul to the Spirit. Even when the priest is the ordinary man we know, or know of, our coming to cleanse our souls, to restore our closeness with God, will all any priest [and we have many club handed spiritualists] tap into that readiness to reunite with God, Church, family, self….

Discernment of consciences was one of the singular graces with which God favored His servant. By a single word of the penitent he knew the secrets of his soul. There were occasions on which, without ever having seen the persons, he knew the state of their consciences.

Fr Claret gave himself to hearing confessions four, five, ten, or more hours every day. He had a talent. He gave it to his vocation. …. I also wonder ‘where have all the confessors gone’? and the confessees?

It was during this period on the Canaries that we begin to hear about many Anthony Mary Claret miracles. The list is long and venerable. The healing of an epileptic woman. A communal confrontation with Satan. A plentiful harvest for those who attended a mission but ruined crops, as Fr Claret promised, for those who chose harvesting their wheat to nurturing their souls. Unbelievable!? Of course! They are miracles. Given to us to reinforce our faith [not to challenge it].

In 1850, Anthony Mary Claret was consecrated Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba. It was at this consecration that he added the name of Mary to his own. Claret brought his missionary zeal to Cuba – and was the first bishop of Santiago, half the island, to tour his entire archdiocese.

The statistics from his Cuba days are overwhelming! In his first two years he confirmed 100,000 persons, was instrumental in bringing 300,000 to the confessional, married in the church 9,000 couples who had been living in concubinage, and reunited 300 couples who were divorced. Furthermore, during his first visit alone he distributed free – or in exchange for bad books – 38,217 books, 83,500 holy cards, 20,663 rosaries, and 8931 medals.

Anthony Mary Claret was in Cuba for six years. He rejuvenated the archdiocese!

Queen Isabella II recalled the Archbishop to be her confessor. A position that Anthony Mary Claret believed was not for his nature, his vocation, his mission in life. And he went to serve his queen and church. But not to be involved in the intrigues of the Court. Some doubted his neutrality; others detested his Catholic piety. [The Masons were among those who not only wanted to eradicate the church from Spain, wanted to eliminate this archbishop from the face of the earth; at least from influence at court. Your maternal grandfather was a Mason. And we love him dearly anyway….] Anthony Mary Claret kept in mind: “If you were of the world, the world would love you. But since you are not of the world, the world abhors you." There were more than a dozen attempts on his life….

Anthony Mary Claret advised the monarchy on appointing the best priests to be bishops. He also advised them on to whom to give their generous charity. It does matter from whom you seek and get your advice. It does matter to whom you give your advice…. And, of course, what that advice is…  And, don’t forget to give generously to charity… selectively, Catholically….

Anthony Mary Claret tells us of the blessings of visions that he received. One of the reasons he asked to have his autobiography published post humorous was to keep such reports from interfering with his relationship with his people, the high and the low of them all.

This 19th-century saint was a missionary, a religious founder, an organizer of the lay apostolate, a social reformer, a queen's chaplain, a prophet and wonder-worker, a writer and publisher, an Archbishop, and a promoter of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. What, then, is the thread that ties together these and the many other aspects of his career? Anthony Mary Claret had a quenchless thirst to rescue souls.



I love you
Dad