Saint Anthony Mary Claret - Catholic Apologetics Information

28. My parents and teacher not only instructed me in the truths I had to believe but also in the
virtues I needed to practice. With regard to my neighbor, they told me never to take or covet what
belongs to others and that, if I ever found something, I should return it to its owner. It just so happened
that one day after school, as I was walking along the street toward home, I saw a quarter 23 lying on the
ground. I picked it up and wondered to whom I should return it. Since I couldn't see anyone on the street,
I decided that it must have fallen from the window of the nearest house. So I went up to the house, asked
for the head of the house, and gave him the quarter.
29. I was trained so well in obedience and resignation that I was always content with whatever
was done, decided, or given to me by way of food or clothing. I never remember saying "I don't like
this" or "I want that." I was so used to thinking like this that even later, when I was a priest, my mother,
who was always very fond of me, used to say, "Anthony, would you like this?" I would always answer,
"I always like what you like." "But," she would say, "there are always some things we like better than
others." And then I'd say, "Whatever you give me is what I like best of all." And so she died without
finding out what material things I liked the best 24 .
Chapter V
AT WORK IN THE FACTORY
30. When I was still a small boy in elementary school, a distinguished visitor to the school asked
me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I answered that I wanted to be a priest 25 . Accordingly, when I
had successfully completed my elementary school, I was enrolled in the Latin class taught by a very holy
and learned priest, Dr. John Riera. From him I learned and memorized nouns, verbs, genders, and a bit
more, but as the class was discontinued I could no longer study and had to give it up 26 .
31. Since my father manufactured thread and cloth, he set me to work in his factory 27 . I obeyed
without a word, a long face, or any sign of displeasure. I set to work as hard as I could and never spent
an idle, half-hearted day. I did everything to the best of my ability so as not to displease my dear parents
in the slightest, because I loved them very much and they loved me.
32. What used to hurt me the most was to hear that my parents would have to scold a worker for
not doing his job properly. I am sure that I suffered more than the one who was being corrected because
I am so tender-hearted that when I see someone hurt I feel it more than he does.
33. My father set me to work on every job available in his well-equipped little thread and textile
factory. For a long time I and another young man were in charge of putting the finishing touches on the
work of everyone else in the shop. Whenever we had to correct anyone, it upset me a great deal; yet I did
my duty. I always tried to find something good to say about the piece of finished work. I would praise its
good points, saying that this or that about it was very good but that it had such and such a defect and if
these little defects were corrected, it would really be a perfect job.
34. I didn't know why I did things this way, but in time I came to see that it was the result of a
special grace of kindness that the Lord had granted me. This is why the workers always took correction
from me and mended their ways. My friend, however, who was a better worker than I but lacked this gift
of kindness, always got upset when he had to correct anybody. He would scold the workers harshly and
they would get angry, and often they wouldn't know what it was they were supposed to correct. I learned
from this that everyone, even the rudest people, should be treated kindly and affably and that much more
may be gained by kindness than by harshness and irritability.
23 A quarter was worth three centimos.
24 The Saint's mother died in 1842, when he was 35 years old.
25 The distinguished visitor was probably the Archbishop of Palmyra and Abbe of la Granja, Bishop Felix Amat, who had retired in
Sallent, together with his sister, the mother of His Excellency, Torres Amat. Bishop Felix conferred the sacrament of Confirmation on
Anthony on December 12,1814.
26 Anthony attended only one course, and perhaps not a complete one, because his teacher died and the Latin school closed in
1819. (Cf. Sola, History of Sallent, pp. 323-32).
27 His first job in the little family factory was tending the spinning jenny, loading the bobbins that had to be fed into the shuttles of
the looms. (Apostolic Process, Vich, session 69.)
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