Saint Anthony-Mary Claret

October 23 Today is the feast day of Saint Antony-Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Fathers and the Sisters of Mary Immaculate.  Ora pro nobis. Saint Anthony was born at Sallent, near Barcelona on 23 Dec 1807.  He was the son of a small woollen manufacturer.  He received an elementary education in his native village.   He later wrote that, already at the age of five, my little heart trembled at the thought of hell, and I said to myself: Will those who fall into hell never stop suffering? No, never. Will they always suffer? Yes, always.  This thought remained profoundly engraved in my mind, and I can say that it is ever present to me. That is what has animated me to work for the conversion of sinners. Why? Because I received [from God] so tender a heart that I cannot see a misfortune without assisting it.   At the age of twelve became a weaver. The young Anthony practiced his father’s trade, the weaving of fabrics, in which he excelled, until one day in church, “All the efforts I made not to voluntarily entertain thoughts of my trade were in vain; I was like a wheel turning with great speed, which cannot ...

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