Blessed Pere Tarrés i Claret

Priest and Physician: 1905-1950

His life

+ Pere was born into a pious Catholic family in Manresa, Spain. Two of his sisters became Conceptionist nuns. Educated by the Piarist Fathers and Jesuits, Pere worked in a local pharmacy before beginning medical studies in Barcelona.

+ A member of Catholic Action, Pere received his medical degree in 1928. With another doctor, he founded the Our Lady of Mercy Clinic in Barcelona, which focused on treating those with tuberculosis who could not otherwise afford adequate treatment.

+ Pere was on retreat when the Spanish Civil War erupted. During the anti-Christian persecutions that followed, he continued working in the clinic, secretly bringing Communion to Catholics who were in hiding. He was eventually dragged into the army of the Spanish Republic and served as an army doctor.

+ After the war, Pere began seminary studies and was ordained a priest in 1943. He served as a chaplain for various organizations and women’s religious communities. He also taught moral theology in the seminary in Barcelona.

+ In May 1950, Pere was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphatic cancer and died after only a few months of illness on August 31. He offered his final sufferings for the sanctification of priests.

+ Blessed Pere Tarrés i Claret was beatified in 2004.

Quote:

“As a medical practitioner, he devoted himself with special concern to the poorest of the sick, convinced that ‘the sick person is a symbol of the suffering Christ.’  Ordained a priest, he devoted himself with generous daring to the tasks of his ministry, ever faithful to the commitment he had made on the eve of his Ordination: ‘A single resolution, Lord, cost what it may.’”—Pope Saint John Paul II

Prayer

We humbly ask you, almighty God,
that at the intercession of blessed Pere
you may multiply your gifts among us
and order our days in peace.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Common of Pastors—For One Pastor)

~

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.