St. Anthony Mary Claret

Bishop, Confessor (III Class)

Anthony Mary Claret founded the Missionary Sons of the Heart of Mary, the Teaching Sisters of Mary Immaculate, and other communities of nuns. For many years he labored in Catalonia, for six years in Cuba as Archbishop of Santiago, and finally in Madrid. He died in exile in France in 1870.

Happy Birthday, Anna!

After spending the whole night on the bus (16 hours!) we arrived around noon at La Sainte Baume (the holy cave) in which St. Mary Magdalene spent the last few decades of her life. It is not too far from Marseilles, where Mary's brother Lazarus was the first bishop. The cave is in the cliff face pictured below, just above the tree line. Mercifully, there was a little cafe where we were able to have some coffee before beginning the hour long uphill walk to the cave shrine. Inside are an altar and tabernacle, statues, and a large relic of the Magdalene. Although it is not made explicit in the Gospels themselves, the most ancient traditions of East and West hold that Mary Magdalene, Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and the women from whom were cast seven demons are one and the same woman.

Because the bus drivers are bound by law to take a 9 hour break after driving for a period of 20 hours, we were obliged to remain in the area around the holy cave until 9:00pm. So, it was decided that we were use the three vans to shuttle everyone to the nearby seaside. The town of Cassis was chosen, and off we went (Lisa, Maria, and I in the first load). It turned out to take quite a bit longer to get there than was estimated, so much so that only those of us who left first actually made it there. It probably wasn't worth the hassle it turned out to be, but we were happy to get our feet wet in the Mediterranean for the first time.

We finally got back on the road around 10:00 pm and headed off to Carcassonne where accommodations had been arranged for us in a diocesan retreat center.