October 24th. St. Anthony Claret.

He was a Catalan, i.e. a native of the region of Spain whose capital is Barcelona, and was born in 1807. He worked as a weaver until he was drawn to the religious life; he always wanted to be a foreign missionary but for many years his health prevented it. He was, however, responsible for the founding of an Order of missionary clergy which still exists today, and who are commonly known as the Claretian Fathers. He was then nominated as Archbishop of Santiago in Cuba, which was still a Spanish possession, and worked heroically for the interests of the most oppressed, especially workers in the sugar plantations who were to all intents and purposes slaves. He returned to Spain in 1857, and devoted himself to writing, but also to encouraging scientific, musical and linguistic studies. He was a Christian humanist in a country not always noted for its enlightenment. He also served as personal Chaplain to the Queen (Isabel II) and when she was driven out of the country in the Spanish revolution of 1868 he accompanied her into exile in France, dying just over the border at Narbonne, in 1870. He was canonised in 1950.