JANUARY
22
1864. The Congregation will be 25 years old; it’s time to process its approval and the Constitutions. For this, Rome asks for News about their development and current status. Claret entrusts this to Fr. Joseph Xifre.
1864. Claret, faithful to the friendship with the Fuster family, of Calella (Barcelona), gives his condolences to Grandma Prisca, who washed his clothes when he preached there, 20 years ago.
CONSTITUTION OF THE INSTITUTE (1858-1870)
THE MISSIONARIES AT HOME
The Constitutions, the Directory and the Directori are what ruled the life of the missionaries. The Constitutions and the Directory had been written by Claret, while the Directori was the work of Fr. Clotet dedicated to the Brothers. Life at home was pretty regulated from the start. They got up at four in the morning, and after an hour of private meditation they celebrated Mass. There was a mandatory Moral conference, an examination of conscience, and lunch at twelve-fifteen, in which there was a reading. In the afternoon, after prayers, there was another conference about preaching and an outing. Returning, there was a conference on Spirituality, dinner, visit to the Blessed Sacrament and recreation until a quarter to ten when they were going to rest. But, although everything was regulated, the family atmosphere, the ideal of the Founder, was always felt. They were not religious in the canonical sense of the word, because they did not make vows, neither public nor private. From the beginning, although they were not subject to this kind of life, they showed themselves to be religious observers.
Joseph Gras Granollers
Founder (1834-1918)
Agramunt (Lérida, Spain). He was born on this day. Between 1860 and 1865 he lived in Madrid and Ecija (Seville), where he was the tutor of the Marquis of Peñaflor’s sons and carried out various tasks of apostolate. He earned a position as canon in the Abbey of Sacromonte, in Granada, where he resided from then on. He was Professor of Ecclesiastical History of the College attached to the Abbey until his death on July 7th. His main activity was focused on writing, especially in newspapers and magazines, making Catholic propaganda his means of apostolate. With the same character as a publicist, he founded the religious-literary society Academy and Court of Christ in 1866 in Granada. In 1876 he founded the religious institute Daughters of Christ the King, a congregation dedicated to Christian childhood education. He frequently consulted Father Claret about the projects he founded, receiving encouragement and advice through numerous letters, as well as about the Academy and Court of Christ. He also requested indulgences for his publications.
A Marian Telegraph
I never tired of being in church before the image of Our Lady of the Rosary, and I talked and prayed so trustingly that I was quite sure the Blessed Virgin heard me. I used to imagine a sort of wire running from the image in front of me to its heavenly one. Although I had not yet seen a telegraph line at that time, I had imagined how it would be to have a telegraph line to heaven. I can’t explain how attentive, fervent, and devout I was at prayer then, but I was more so then than I am now. (Aut 48)
FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION
Claret expresses with imagination the closeness he felt when praying to the Virgin.
- How do you live in the close presence of Mary?
- Do you express it with concrete gestures?
- Pray a mystery of the Rosary with other brothers in the community.
- Write a litany to the Virgin Mary that expresses your relationship with her.
We are talking about responding to God’s grace
or how to be creatively faithful to the gift we have received
and carry out ministry with foresight and enthusiasm.”
(Aquilino Bocos Merino, Herencia y profecia, 76)