Saint Anthony Claret was born in Spain in 1807 and, like his father, initially worked as a weaver. In his free time, he devoted himself to studying Latin. At the age of 22, he entered the seminary and was ordained a priest in 1835. For the next ten years, he preached and served in missions. In 1849, he founded the Claretian congregation. Soon after, he was appointed Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, where he successfully reformed both the clergy and the laity.

Claret later returned to Spain to serve as Queen Isabella II’s confessor, supervise his congregation, and publish several books. In 1868, following the Spanish Revolution, both Archbishop Claret and the queen were forced into exile. After the First Vatican Council, he took refuge in a Cistercian monastery in France, where he passed away in 1870. He was canonized in 1950.