{"ok":true,"date":"2027-10-23","dateKey":"10-23","liturgicalDay":"St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Confessor","rank":"Double","color":"white","quoteOfTheDay":{"text":"Now ‘he who raised him’ from the dead ‘will also raise us up’ if we do his will, and walk in his commandments […].","author":"St. Polycarp of Smyrna","source":"Epistle to the Philippians, Chapter 2, §2","treasuryHref":"/wisdom#raised-if-we-do-his-will","category":"Confidence and Daily Self-Denial"},"season":"Time after Pentecost","novenas":[],"octaveContexts":[],"subject":"City of God in Exile: St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Confessor - 2027-10-23","previewText":"St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Confessor. Revelation Was Entrusted to the Church. Resist private judgment when it sets itself above the Church's received doctrine.","plainText":"CITY OF GOD IN EXILE\nSt. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Confessor\n2027-10-23 - Time after Pentecost - Double - white\nPLAIN-LANGUAGE GUIDE FOR TODAY\nEucharist: the sacrament in which, after the consecration at Mass, Jesus Christ is truly present—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—under the appearances of bread and wine.\nConfessor: in the traditional calendar, a male saint who openly professed the Faith by a holy life but was not killed as a martyr.\nApostolic: belonging to the faith, mission, teaching, or authority handed down from Christ through the apostles.\nThe full Breviary lessons preserve an older English translation. Read the modern explanation first; it identifies the people, event, and doctrine before the historical wording appears.\nTODAY IN THE ROMAN YEAR\nSt. Anthony Mary Claret joined preaching, prayer, penance, devotion to Our Lady, and defense of Catholic truth. Zeal for souls does not flatter them or hide what endangers salvation; it speaks as a father who desires their conversion and eternal life. Ask the Immaculate Heart of Mary to purify your motives before you try to influence another soul. Receive the Catholic inheritance of love for Our Lady with gratitude and without embarrassment. Consecrate the place and persons entrusted to your duty to Jesus through Mary.\n\n\"The whole earth is full of her glory, especially among Christians, by whom she is taken as the protectress of many kingdoms, provinces, dioceses and cities.\"\nSt. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 9\n\nThe public honor once offered to Our Lady reminds the soul that religion is not meant to be hidden as a private preference. Christian peoples placed homes, cities, and kingdoms beneath her protection because they understood that Christ's reign concerns the whole order of life.\n\nYou may not govern a kingdom, but some portion of the City has been entrusted to you: a room, a household duty, a conversation, a child, a suffering soul, or the custody of your own senses. Place that territory under Our Lady today, then remove from it whatever is unworthy of her Divine Son.\n\nPRACTICE\nName the graces God has preserved for you in exile and thank Him for them plainly.\n\nQUOTE OF THE DAY\n\"Now ‘he who raised him’ from the dead ‘will also raise us up’ if we do his will, and walk in his commandments […].\"\nSt. Polycarp of Smyrna, Epistle to the Philippians, Chapter 2, §2\n\nROMAN MARTYROLOGY - October 23\nIN the territory of Ossuma, in Spain, near Cadiz, the holy martyrs Servandus and Germanus, in the persecution of Diocletian, under the lieutenant Viator. After being subjected to scourging, imprisonment in a foul dungeon, want of food and drink, and the fatigue of a very long journey, which they had to perform loaded with fetters, they at length reached the term of their martyrdom by having their heads stricken off. Germanus was buried at Merida, and Servandus at Seville. — At Antioch, in Syria, the birthday of the holy priest Theodore, who was arrested in the persecution of the impious Julian. After being racked, after suffering many severe torments, and the burning of his sides with torches, as he persevered in the confession of Christ, he was put to the sword, and thus consummated his martyrdom. — At Granada, in Spain, blessed Peter Paschasius, bishop of Jaen and martyr, of the Order of Mercedarians. He suffered on the 6th of December. — At Constantinople, St. Ignatius, bishop, who, for having reproved the emperor Bardas for putting away his wife, was subjected by him to many insults and driven into banishment. Being restored to his See by the Roman Pontiff Nicholas, he finally rested in peace. — At Bordeaux, St. Severin, bishop of Cologne and confessor. — At Rouen, St. Romanus, bishop. — At Salerno, St. Verus, bishop. — In Picardy, St. Domitius, priest. — In Poitou, St. Benedict, confessor. — Near Villack, in Hungary, St. John of Capistran, confessor, of the Order of Minorites, illustrious by the sanctity of his life, and his zeal for the propagation of the Catholic faith. By his prayers and miracles, he routed a most powerful army of Turks and forced them to raise the seige of Belgrade.\n\nGOSPEL OF THE DAY\nPreach the Gospel to every creature.\nSt. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Confessor - Mark 16:15-18\n\"Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature.\"\nLet zeal remain clean. Defend the faith because souls are loved, and let prayer keep courage from becoming anger.\n\nTHE CHURCH'S READING OF THE GOSPEL\nWhat This Gospel Teaches\nMissionary preaching is charity because souls need Christ, doctrine, conversion, and the sacraments.\nSt. Anthony Mary Claret joins episcopal courage, Marian devotion, and public defense of Catholic truth.\nError corrected: The timid peace that lets public error harm souls because warning feels costly.\n- Where does this error tempt me in practice?\n- What act does this Gospel require of me today?\n\nHIGHLIGHTED SAINT\nSt. Anthony Mary Claret\nBishop, missionary, preacher, and defender of Catholic doctrine.\nSt. Anthony Mary Claret labored as a missionary preacher, bishop, founder, and servant of souls.\nHis witness joins apostolic zeal to doctrinal defense, Marian devotion, and pastoral courage in a time of public attacks against the Church.\nLet St. Anthony Mary Claret teach defensive courage. The Catholic answer to error is not hatred, but truth preached for the salvation of souls.\nFROM MATINS\nApostolic fire formed before the Eucharist and beneath Our Lady's gaze.\nPapal Witness - Canonization Homily - St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Confessor - site-added devotional observance\nPope Pius XII\n\"Not with human resources, but armed with divine help.\"\n- Pope Pius XII joins St. Anthony Mary Claret's purity, active charity, prayer for the salvation of others, tireless journeys, and preaching to the reform of both private and public morals in the spirit of the Gospel.\n- Before his public apostolate, the young textile worker spent his free hours in church before the Blessed Sacrament or an image of the Mother of God; later he embraced seminary doctrine, discipline, supernatural formation, and conformity to Jesus Christ.\n- His missions answered ignorance of God's commandments and weariness of heavenly things with preaching ordered to tears, sincere resolutions, and a true renewal of morals rather than momentary emotion.\n- As archbishop and royal confessor he endured danger, sought the salvation of the soul entrusted to him, defended the rights of the Church, and promoted the Catholic religion; he also founded the missionary congregation dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.\n- Pope Pius XII proposes him to workers, priests, bishops, and the whole Christian people as a summons to the perfection proper to each state of life, from which genuine remedies for disordered times may arise.\nSeek apostolic zeal at its source: prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, devotion to Our Lady, sound doctrine, discipline, holiness of life, and complete surrender to God. Then preach the commandments, defend the Church, and labor for a conversion that reforms conduct rather than merely stirring feelings.\nFULL BREVIARY LESSONS\nPrayer and Apostolate\nWhen we attentively recall the life of the holy citizen of heaven Anthony Mary Claret, we know not whether to admire more the purity of his soul, which from tender childhood he preserved unstained with the greatest care and diligence like a lily among thorns; the ardor of his charity, by which he was driven to strive to relieve every kind of misery; or, finally, the zeal of his tireless apostolate. Moved by that zeal day and night, he contributed greatly to reforming private and public morals in the spirit of the Gospel by urgent prayers offered to God for the salvation of others, by undertaking innumerable journeys, and by sermons breathing divine love.\nAs a young man he practiced the weaver's trade in obedience to his father's will. He shone before the other workers in the workshop by such an example of Christian virtue that he aroused the admiration of all; and whenever he was able to rest from his manual labor, he hastened to the church. There, either at the altar of the august Sacrament or before an image of the Virgin Mother of God, he passed the sweetest hours in prayer and contemplation. Divine Providence willed that, before he was raised to higher things, he should give workers also splendid examples of uprightness and holiness to imitate.\nDoctrine, Discipline, and Missionary Preaching\nAfter some years, with divine grace helping him to overcome various difficulties, he was at last able to accomplish what he had always desired: to devote himself wholly to God. Admitted to the seminary of his diocese, he earnestly took care to learn doctrine with eager diligence, to obey most carefully the established rules of discipline, above all to adorn his soul with heavenly gifts, and to reproduce in himself by word and deed a living image of Jesus Christ. Thus, when his course of studies was completed and he had received sacred orders, he sprang as a valiant soldier into the open field of the apostolate, armed not with human resources but with divine help, and from the beginning of his priestly ministry brought forth the richest fruits of salvation.\nSeeing that Christian piety was languishing, churches were being deserted, and public morals were being ruined with the greatest harm, either through the widespread ignorance of the divine commandments or through a certain weariness of heavenly things that had crept into many souls, he adopted the timely plan of undertaking sacred campaigns called missions. In various cities, towns, and villages he preached to the people for a fixed number of days. In giving these sermons his face shone with the divine charity by which he burned, and such forceful eloquence burst from his mouth and from the depths of his heart that he often moved those present to tears and, more importantly, to form sincere resolutions for a better and holier life. Thus there came about not merely a salutary amendment but a renewal of morals.\nA Shepherd of Courage and a Son of the Immaculate Heart\nWhen the fame of his holiness spread more widely each day, he was judged worthy to receive the archiepiscopal office in Cuba. Although he continually experienced the gravest difficulties and succeeding obstacles on the island, neither the harshest labors nor dangers of every kind deterred him from striving, as a most excellent and fearless shepherd, to accomplish what he had done in Spain as a good soldier of Christ. Later recalled to his native land as the Queen's confessor and counselor, he had nothing more at heart than to provide in the most fitting way he could for the salvation of his royal penitent, to defend the rights of the Church, and by every means to promote the progress of the Catholic religion.\nThe most salutary plan he had long conceived of founding a missionary congregation dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mother of God he was able not only to carry into effect but to strengthen and fortify with most wise laws. In the course of time this congregation spread with happy success through Spain, almost all the other nations of Europe, and even the distant regions of America, Africa, and Asia. If workers, priests, bishops, and finally the whole Christian people look to him, all have reason to be moved by his splendid examples and stirred to attain that Christian perfection proper to each one's state, from which alone timely remedies for these disturbed conditions can arise and better times be brought about.\nTHE PILGRIM'S SPIRITUAL CONFERENCE\nRevelation Was Entrusted to the Church\nThe Church places this truth before you today: Sacred Scripture and Apostolic Tradition are received within the Church, whose divinely assisted teaching office guards the deposit of faith. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. Private reading must remain subject to the faith once delivered, because the Scriptures belong to the Church that received, preserved, and interprets them.\nThe grace to be practiced is Apostolic zeal governed by Catholic truth, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Practice stewardship under God: receive what is entrusted, guard it from corruption, and order it toward Christ.\nThere is also an enemy to recognize: Resist private judgment when it sets itself above the Church's received doctrine. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing apostolic zeal governed by Catholic truth when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.\nDo the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Accept the responsibility of protection without becoming controlling; authority remains a service beneath God. Restore order to the part of the home or daily work now before you, and offer the whole of your household duties to Jesus through Mary.\nThe Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of apostolic; the witness placed beside it is St. Irenaeus.\nYour resolution before God: Name the graces God has preserved for you in exile and thank Him for them plainly.\nCarry this word: The soul in exile is not abandoned.\nTHE PILGRIM'S MIRROR\n\"If it be lawful and expedient to speak, speak then of God and of such things as are to the edifying of thy soul or of thy neighbour's.\"\nThomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, chapter 10, p. 18\nSpeech is a stewardship. Our Lady's recollection teaches the pilgrim that silence is not emptiness but a guard placed around charity and truth.\n\nNot every true observation must be spoken, and not every fault must be exposed by you. Before speaking, ask whether the words serve God's truth, a real duty, or the good of a soul. If they serve only irritation, curiosity, or the wish to appear discerning, let silence make the sacrifice.\nToday's Practice: Omit unnecessary remarks and use the silence to make holy aspirations.\nDAILY EXAMEN\nAsk whether the portion entrusted to you was more peaceful, pure, truthful, and prayerful because of your presence.\n- For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?\n- What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?\n- What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?\nPRAYER\nO Lord, when confusion, scarcity, or loneliness presses upon me, keep me from despair. Thou hast not abandoned the faithful who cling to truth.\nDAILY RULE FOR THE PILGRIM\nA brief rule to keep every day:\nBegin with morning prayer\nAdore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.\nKeep the Angelus\nPause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.\nSeek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament\nAttend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.\nReturn to Jesus and Mary\nUse frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.\nPray the Rosary\nKeep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.\nEnd with night prayer and examen\nGive thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.\nCONTINUE STUDY\nSt. Irenaeus and Apostolic Tradition: https://cityofgodinexile.com/champions-of-orthodoxy/st-irenaeus-and-apostolic-tradition-against-the-innovators?entered=1\nOpen this day in the Sacred Calendar: https://cityofgodinexile.com/sacred-calendar?date=2027-10-23&entered=1\nOpen this day's Daily Pilgrimage: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch?date=2027-10-23&entered=1\nBrowse the Formation Index: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch/formation?entered=1","html":"\n\n \n \n \n City of God in Exile: St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Confessor - 2027-10-23\n \n \n
\n St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Confessor. Revelation Was Entrusted to the Church. Resist private judgment when it sets itself above the Church's received doctrine.\n
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City of God in Exile

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St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Confessor

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2027-10-23 - Time after Pentecost - Double - white

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“Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not.”
John 12:35
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Plain-Language Guide for Today

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Eucharist
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the sacrament in which, after the consecration at Mass, Jesus Christ is truly present—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—under the appearances of bread and wine.
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Confessor
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in the traditional calendar, a male saint who openly professed the Faith by a holy life but was not killed as a martyr.
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Apostolic
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belonging to the faith, mission, teaching, or authority handed down from Christ through the apostles.

The full Breviary lessons preserve an older English translation. Read the modern explanation first; it identifies the people, event, and doctrine before the historical wording appears.

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Today in the Roman Year

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St. Anthony Mary Claret joined preaching, prayer, penance, devotion to Our Lady, and defense of Catholic truth. Zeal for souls does not flatter them or hide what endangers salvation; it speaks as a father who desires their conversion and eternal life. Ask the Immaculate Heart of Mary to purify your motives before you try to influence another soul.

Receive the Catholic inheritance of love for Our Lady with gratitude and without embarrassment.

Consecrate the place and persons entrusted to your duty to Jesus through Mary.

“The whole earth is full of her glory, especially among Christians, by whom she is taken as the protectress of many kingdoms, provinces, dioceses and cities.”

St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 9

The public honor once offered to Our Lady reminds the soul that religion is not meant to be hidden as a private preference. Christian peoples placed homes, cities, and kingdoms beneath her protection because they understood that Christ's reign concerns the whole order of life.

You may not govern a kingdom, but some portion of the City has been entrusted to you: a room, a household duty, a conversation, a child, a suffering soul, or the custody of your own senses. Place that territory under Our Lady today, then remove from it whatever is unworthy of her Divine Son.

Name the graces God has preserved for you in exile and thank Him for them plainly.

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Quote of the Day

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“Now ‘he who raised him’ from the dead ‘will also raise us up’ if we do his will, and walk in his commandments […].”
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St. Polycarp of Smyrna, Epistle to the Philippians, Chapter 2, §2

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Roman Martyrology - October 23

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IN the territory of Ossuma, in Spain, near Cadiz, the holy martyrs Servandus and Germanus, in the persecution of Diocletian, under the lieutenant Viator. After being subjected to scourging, imprisonment in a foul dungeon, want of food and drink, and the fatigue of a very long journey, which they had to perform loaded with fetters, they at length reached the term of their martyrdom by having their heads stricken off. Germanus was buried at Merida, and Servandus at Seville. — At Antioch, in Syria, the birthday of the holy priest Theodore, who was arrested in the persecution of the impious Julian. After being racked, after suffering many severe torments, and the burning of his sides with torches, as he persevered in the confession of Christ, he was put to the sword, and thus consummated his martyrdom. — At Granada, in Spain, blessed Peter Paschasius, bishop of Jaen and martyr, of the Order of Mercedarians. He suffered on the 6th of December. — At Constantinople, St. Ignatius, bishop, who, for having reproved the emperor Bardas for putting away his wife, was subjected by him to many insults and driven into banishment. Being restored to his See by the Roman Pontiff Nicholas, he finally rested in peace. — At Bordeaux, St. Severin, bishop of Cologne and confessor. — At Rouen, St. Romanus, bishop. — At Salerno, St. Verus, bishop. — In Picardy, St. Domitius, priest. — In Poitou, St. Benedict, confessor. — Near Villack, in Hungary, St. John of Capistran, confessor, of the Order of Minorites, illustrious by the sanctity of his life, and his zeal for the propagation of the Catholic faith. By his prayers and miracles, he routed a most powerful army of Turks and forced them to raise the seige of Belgrade.

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Gospel of the Day

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Preach the Gospel to every creature.

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St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Confessor - Mark 16:15-18

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“Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
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Let zeal remain clean. Defend the faith because souls are loved, and let prayer keep courage from becoming anger.

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The Church's Reading of the Gospel

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What This Gospel Teaches

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Missionary preaching is charity because souls need Christ, doctrine, conversion, and the sacraments.

St. Anthony Mary Claret joins episcopal courage, Marian devotion, and public defense of Catholic truth.

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Error corrected: The timid peace that lets public error harm souls because warning feels costly.

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  • Where does this error tempt me in practice?
  • What act does this Gospel require of me today?
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Highlighted Saint

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St. Anthony Mary Claret

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Bishop, missionary, preacher, and defender of Catholic doctrine.

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St. Anthony Mary Claret labored as a missionary preacher, bishop, founder, and servant of souls.

His witness joins apostolic zeal to doctrinal defense, Marian devotion, and pastoral courage in a time of public attacks against the Church.

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Let St. Anthony Mary Claret teach defensive courage. The Catholic answer to error is not hatred, but truth preached for the salvation of souls.

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From Matins

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Apostolic fire formed before the Eucharist and beneath Our Lady's gaze.

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Papal Witness - Canonization Homily - St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Confessor - site-added devotional observance

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Pope Pius XII, Homily at the canonization of St. Anthony Mary Claret

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“Not with human resources, but armed with divine help.”
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  • Pope Pius XII joins St. Anthony Mary Claret's purity, active charity, prayer for the salvation of others, tireless journeys, and preaching to the reform of both private and public morals in the spirit of the Gospel.
  • Before his public apostolate, the young textile worker spent his free hours in church before the Blessed Sacrament or an image of the Mother of God; later he embraced seminary doctrine, discipline, supernatural formation, and conformity to Jesus Christ.
  • His missions answered ignorance of God's commandments and weariness of heavenly things with preaching ordered to tears, sincere resolutions, and a true renewal of morals rather than momentary emotion.
  • As archbishop and royal confessor he endured danger, sought the salvation of the soul entrusted to him, defended the rights of the Church, and promoted the Catholic religion; he also founded the missionary congregation dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
  • Pope Pius XII proposes him to workers, priests, bishops, and the whole Christian people as a summons to the perfection proper to each state of life, from which genuine remedies for disordered times may arise.
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Seek apostolic zeal at its source: prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, devotion to Our Lady, sound doctrine, discipline, holiness of life, and complete surrender to God. Then preach the commandments, defend the Church, and labor for a conversion that reforms conduct rather than merely stirring feelings.

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Full Breviary Lessons

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Prayer and Apostolate

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When we attentively recall the life of the holy citizen of heaven Anthony Mary Claret, we know not whether to admire more the purity of his soul, which from tender childhood he preserved unstained with the greatest care and diligence like a lily among thorns; the ardor of his charity, by which he was driven to strive to relieve every kind of misery; or, finally, the zeal of his tireless apostolate. Moved by that zeal day and night, he contributed greatly to reforming private and public morals in the spirit of the Gospel by urgent prayers offered to God for the salvation of others, by undertaking innumerable journeys, and by sermons breathing divine love.

As a young man he practiced the weaver's trade in obedience to his father's will. He shone before the other workers in the workshop by such an example of Christian virtue that he aroused the admiration of all; and whenever he was able to rest from his manual labor, he hastened to the church. There, either at the altar of the august Sacrament or before an image of the Virgin Mother of God, he passed the sweetest hours in prayer and contemplation. Divine Providence willed that, before he was raised to higher things, he should give workers also splendid examples of uprightness and holiness to imitate.

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Doctrine, Discipline, and Missionary Preaching

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After some years, with divine grace helping him to overcome various difficulties, he was at last able to accomplish what he had always desired: to devote himself wholly to God. Admitted to the seminary of his diocese, he earnestly took care to learn doctrine with eager diligence, to obey most carefully the established rules of discipline, above all to adorn his soul with heavenly gifts, and to reproduce in himself by word and deed a living image of Jesus Christ. Thus, when his course of studies was completed and he had received sacred orders, he sprang as a valiant soldier into the open field of the apostolate, armed not with human resources but with divine help, and from the beginning of his priestly ministry brought forth the richest fruits of salvation.

Seeing that Christian piety was languishing, churches were being deserted, and public morals were being ruined with the greatest harm, either through the widespread ignorance of the divine commandments or through a certain weariness of heavenly things that had crept into many souls, he adopted the timely plan of undertaking sacred campaigns called missions. In various cities, towns, and villages he preached to the people for a fixed number of days. In giving these sermons his face shone with the divine charity by which he burned, and such forceful eloquence burst from his mouth and from the depths of his heart that he often moved those present to tears and, more importantly, to form sincere resolutions for a better and holier life. Thus there came about not merely a salutary amendment but a renewal of morals.

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A Shepherd of Courage and a Son of the Immaculate Heart

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When the fame of his holiness spread more widely each day, he was judged worthy to receive the archiepiscopal office in Cuba. Although he continually experienced the gravest difficulties and succeeding obstacles on the island, neither the harshest labors nor dangers of every kind deterred him from striving, as a most excellent and fearless shepherd, to accomplish what he had done in Spain as a good soldier of Christ. Later recalled to his native land as the Queen's confessor and counselor, he had nothing more at heart than to provide in the most fitting way he could for the salvation of his royal penitent, to defend the rights of the Church, and by every means to promote the progress of the Catholic religion.

The most salutary plan he had long conceived of founding a missionary congregation dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mother of God he was able not only to carry into effect but to strengthen and fortify with most wise laws. In the course of time this congregation spread with happy success through Spain, almost all the other nations of Europe, and even the distant regions of America, Africa, and Asia. If workers, priests, bishops, and finally the whole Christian people look to him, all have reason to be moved by his splendid examples and stirred to attain that Christian perfection proper to each one's state, from which alone timely remedies for these disturbed conditions can arise and better times be brought about.

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The Pilgrim's Spiritual Conference

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Revelation Was Entrusted to the Church

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The Church places this truth before you today: Sacred Scripture and Apostolic Tradition are received within the Church, whose divinely assisted teaching office guards the deposit of faith. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. Private reading must remain subject to the faith once delivered, because the Scriptures belong to the Church that received, preserved, and interprets them.

The grace to be practiced is Apostolic zeal governed by Catholic truth, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Practice stewardship under God: receive what is entrusted, guard it from corruption, and order it toward Christ.

There is also an enemy to recognize: Resist private judgment when it sets itself above the Church's received doctrine. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing apostolic zeal governed by Catholic truth when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.

Do the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Accept the responsibility of protection without becoming controlling; authority remains a service beneath God. Restore order to the part of the home or daily work now before you, and offer the whole of your household duties to Jesus through Mary.

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The Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of apostolic; the witness placed beside it is St. Irenaeus.

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Your Resolution Before God

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Name the graces God has preserved for you in exile and thank Him for them plainly.

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The soul in exile is not abandoned.
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The Pilgrim's Mirror

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How shall I imitate Christ today?

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“If it be lawful and expedient to speak, speak then of God and of such things as are to the edifying of thy soul or of thy neighbour's.”
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Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, chapter 10, p. 18

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Speech is a stewardship. Our Lady's recollection teaches the pilgrim that silence is not emptiness but a guard placed around charity and truth.

Not every true observation must be spoken, and not every fault must be exposed by you. Before speaking, ask whether the words serve God's truth, a real duty, or the good of a soul. If they serve only irritation, curiosity, or the wish to appear discerning, let silence make the sacrifice.

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Today's Practice

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Omit unnecessary remarks and use the silence to make holy aspirations.

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Daily Examen

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Three questions before night prayer

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Ask whether the portion entrusted to you was more peaceful, pure, truthful, and prayerful because of your presence.

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  • For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?
  • What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?
  • What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?
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Prayer

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O Lord, when confusion, scarcity, or loneliness presses upon me, keep me from despair. Thou hast not abandoned the faithful who cling to truth.

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Daily Rule for the Pilgrim

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A brief rule to keep every day:

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Begin with morning prayer

Adore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.

Keep the Angelus

Pause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.

Seek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament

Attend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Return to Jesus and Mary

Use frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.

Pray the Rosary

Keep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.

End with night prayer and examen

Give thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.

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Continue Study

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Carry today's lesson into a focused chapter from the library.

\n St. Irenaeus and Apostolic Tradition\n
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Persevere, pilgrim.

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The gates remain open to the faithful.

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\n \"The\n
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