Calle Padre Claret

Before preaching across half of Spain, Anthony Mary Claret worked at looms. He was born in Sallent, near Barcelona, in 1807, into a family of weavers, and gave himself to the textile trade as a young man before discovering another calling. Ordained a priest, he traveled through Catalonia and the Canary Islands as a missionary, and in 1849 he founded in Vic the congregation of the Claretians, the religious family that would carry his name around the world. His life moved between continents and palaces. As archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, he built parishes and seminaries there and opened savings banks for workers. Back in Spain, Isabella II made him her confessor. He died in exile, in France, in 1870, and became the patron of textile workers, the trade where he had begun. The street’s name reflects a close tie: a few steps away stands the parish of San Antonio María Claret, run by the Claretians themselves.