St. Anthony Mary Claret

St. Anthony Mary Claret (23 December 1807 – 24 October 1870) was born at Sallent in Catalonia, Spain, the son of a weaver, and worked in textiles before being ordained a priest. Consumed with zeal for souls, he became one of the great popular missionaries of his century, preaching thousands of sermons and parish missions across Catalonia and the Canary Islands, and founding the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary — the Claretians — in 1849 to carry on this work of evangelization.

A pioneer of the Catholic press, he wrote and distributed a vast number of books, tracts, and pamphlets and founded a publishing house, for which he is honored as a patron of Catholic publishers and the religious press. In 1850 he was made archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, where he reformed the clergy, defended the poor and the enslaved, and survived an assassination attempt. Later confessor to Queen Isabella II of Spain, he shared her exile, took part in the First Vatican Council, and died in France. He was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950.