St Anthony Claret

Anthony’s father was a weaver, making things out of wool. When Anthony was old enough, he became a weaver like his father and then he went to study in the big city of Barcelona. When he was in his twenties, he began to feel called to become a priest and missionary. He wanted to join the Jesuits, and was studying in a Jesuit seminary when he became sick. Because of this, he went back home to be a priest. He served the poor there and worked hard as a parish priest. He still felt called to be a missionary and was sent to the Canary Islands to give retreats and share the Gospel. When he came back to Spain, he started an order called the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, now called The Claretians. The Queen of Spain, Queen Isabella, then asked Anthony to be the Archbishop of Cuba to help the people grow in their faith and make the Catholic Church stronger in that country. In only the first 2 years he was there, he helped make the priests in Cuba stronger, celebrated 9,000 weddings, and helped make the seminary better for the men studying to become priests. He also built schools, Churches, and hospitals and helped the poor in Cuba learn to make a living for themselves. He travelled throughout Cuba sharing the Gospel with everyone he could. He then went back to Spain where he served Queen Isabella as her confessor, helped the poor, and encouraged people to keep learning and growing in their faith. He wrote more than 100 books so that people could continue to learn after he was gone.