SPAIN, 1951, a series on famous Spaniards, Scott 775, and its FDI cancel
which coincided with the dedication of a 15-ton statue of the saint in his birthplace, Sallent

St. Anthony Claret was born in Spain in 1807 and was ordained a diocesan priest in 1835. He went to Rome and there on 2 November 1893 he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus for which he had great admiration. But, as in the case of Albert Adam Chmielowski, health reasons forced him to leave the novitiate and return to pastoral work in his native Spain. He became a missionary, a social reformer, a wonder-worker, author of almost 150 books, and a promoter of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In 1849 he founded the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (the Claretian Missionaries), and in 1855 the Claretian Missionary Sisters. He became the archbishop of Santiago, Cuba in 1850 and returned to Spain in 1857 as confessor of the Queen (among many other ministries). From 1869 to 1870 he took part in the First Vatican Council. He was beatified in 1934 and canonized in 1950. In his autobiography Claret very graciously wrote about his Jesuit novitiate days: It was there that I learned how to give the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, and methods for preaching, catechizing, hearing confessions usefully and effectively, as well as many other things that have stood me in good stead.

 
A cinderella from between 1934 and 1950
SPAIN, 1947, a cinderella from Montserrat (Cataluña), 1947; these were to collect funds since they cost 25 céntimos
THE UNITED STATES, a cinderella put out by the Claretian Fathers to advertise the National Shrine of St. Jude in Chicago after 1949

   
SPAIN, three Spanish cinderellas, to honor the Claretian seminaries, the centenary in 1970 of his death,
and the founding of the Claretians at Vich, Spain in 1849.

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