ST ALBERTO HURTADO, PRIEST - 18 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 18th of August

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST ALBERTO HURTADO, PRIEST 

Saint Alberto Hurtado was born in Chile (of Basque origin) on January 22, 1901, into a once-aristocratic family. When he was four, St Alberto's father died, and the family, now impoverished, was forced to live with a succession of relatives. A scholarship enabled him to attend St Ignatius Academy, a Jesuit school in Santiago. Later he studied law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

HE WAS ORDAINED TO THE PRIESTHOOD IN 1933

St Alberto entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in 1923. After philosophy and theology studies in Spain and Belgium, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1933.

St Alberto was interested in improving the lot of the poor. Upon his return to Chile in 1936, he became a teacher at the Pontifical Catholic University, but also reached out to the poor, especially to the young.

HE BEGAN WORKING FOR CATHOLIC ACTION

In 1940 St Alberto began working for Catholic Action and in the following year became the national director of the youth organisation. He founded his own organisation for poor and abandoned young people, Hogar de Cristo. St Alberto’s famous green pick-up truck would tour the streets of Santiago collecting children who had been abandoned. Gradually it developed from bringing them to an overnight home to including a network of schools and hostels. 

St Alberto established the Trade Union Association of Chile and published three volumes on the labour movement. He also founded a periodical, Mensaje.

HE WAS CANONISED IN 2005

St Alberto, experiencing sudden excruciating abdominal pain, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died very quickly after being admitted to hospital in 1952. He was beatified in 1994 and canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on October 23, 2005.