The Origins
With the words “Today a great work begins,” pronounced by Mosén Antonio Claret, gathered with five young priests in a small room of the Seminary of Vic, on July 16, 1849, the life of the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary takes off. 

Twenty days after the foundation, the news reached Fr. Claret of his appointment as Archbishop of Cuba, which he had to accept, in spite of his resistance.

With the 1868 revolution the Congregation was civilly suppressed, a good number of missionaries had to take refuge in France and Archbishop Claret had to go into exile, where he died a holy death in 1870.

The Congregation was becoming present in several countries of Europe, America and China. It developed its ministry of preaching the Gospel both in its traditional forms (popular missions and spiritual exercises) and in other new ones for the Congregation (teaching and parishes). Magazines were founded and publishing houses were opened, everything in line with the Claretian inspiration of the apostolate of the pen.

Trials and sufferings were not lacking either in these years: during the Mexican revolution (1927) Fr. Andrés Solá died a martyr; and in the Spanish war (1936) 271 missionaries -fathers, brothers and students-, obtained the palm of martyrdom, among whom were the 51 Blessed Martyrs of Barbastro. In 1949 all the Claretian Missionaries were expelled from China.

The canonization of the Founder, Anthony Mary Claret, on May 7, 1950, marked a congregational historic milestone. It was not only the recognition of a man’s holiness, but above all, a Church’s back-up to the work of the Congregation.

In November 2015, the Claretian missionaries began a new mission in Hong Kong, assuming a parish in the periphery titled of the Epiphany, the largest in the territory of the diocese, since it covers half of the island of Lantao, the largest of Hong Kong.

During the first quarter of 2018, the Statistics of the Congregation: 467 Houses with 2,937 Members (20 Bishops, 1 Permanent Deacon, 132 Brothers, 2204 Priests, 455 Professed, 125 Novices)

Claretian Missionaries are present in 69 countries around the world.

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