SHED THE BLOOD FOR LOVE

ON FEBRUARY 1^st, WE REMEMBER THE ATTACK THAT OUR FATHER CLARET SUFFERED IN HOLGUÍN (CUBA) and we celebrate the memory of all the Claretian Missionaries martyrs.

Our thanksgiving in the Claretian family for so many witnesses of the Faith!

 “… Continuing the pastoral visit, I arrived in this city of Holguin, and opened the visit on the first day of February 1856; In the morning I visited the only two parishes in the city, in the afternoon the Cemetery, and in the evening I preached a great assembly of the people, … and when leaving the temple, accompanied by four priests and a large crowd of people and the militaries, here I am faced by a man in a gesture of wanting to kiss the ring, and with a shaver he scratches a wound from my ear to my beard, breaking my cheek to the inside of my mouth, with the intention of taking the jugular; and as naturally I went with my hands to the wound, in the meantime it hurt my right arm. I was bathed in blood, and more at the time the surgeons came, and by the mercy of God I am already almost good. The aggressor was caught red-handed; I forgave him and declared in a loud voice that forgave him. I prayed to God for him, and I have begged the authorities not to punish him.

With the grace of the Lord, I am ready, Holy Father, to suffer other wounds and even death itself, if that is the will of God; …

    (From letter of Father Claret to Pope Pius IX, Holguin, February 23, 1856)

In his life handed over for the evangelization there have been inspired those who with the grace of God and love for Christ have shed blood in the mission of the Congregation.