Calle del Padre Claret
It honors Saint Anthony Mary Claret, the Catalan priest who founded the Claretian missionaries and served as confessor to Queen Isabella II.
The name recalls Anthony Mary Claret, born in Sallent de Llobregat in 1807, the son of weavers who in 1849 founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Claretians who preach across half the world today. He became archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, where he evangelized the enslaved on the plantations, and in 1857 he arrived in Madrid as confessor to Isabella II. He spent eleven years near the throne, never ceasing to preach in the streets. He died in exile in France in 1870 and was canonized in 1950.
The dedication suits the neighborhood: a few steps away stands the parish of San Antonio María Claret, run by his own missionaries. Calle del Padre Claret thus shares its blocks with the house of the founder’s disciples, settled in Prosperidad.