A Modern Saint: Alberto Hurtado, S.J.

August 26, 2010

Continued from Page 1

Despite his hectic schedule, Alberto understood the need for the balance between prayer and work, striving to be a "contemplative in action." On the one hand, the activist is the one who at every moment recognizes "the divine impulse." On the other, prayer should not encourage a "sleepy sort of laziness under the pretext of keeping ourselves united with God." I like to think of him as the patron saint of multitaskers.

By the age of 50, though, Alberto seemed to his friends worn out. After a physician-ordered vacation, he returned to discover that he had pancreatic cancer. The end would come quickly and painfully. Yet during his suffering he was often heard to say, "I am content, O Lord, I am content." He died at age 51.

His funeral, in the Church of St. Ignatius in Santiago, was filled with so many of the poor who venerated Padre Hurtado that many of his close friends had to remain outside. Alberto Hurtado was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. All of Chile celebrated the man whom the country's president called one of Chile's "founding fathers."

One of my Jesuit friends, Tom, who recently worked in Chile, told me that he once met a man named Juanito, one of the original children rescued from poverty by Padre Hurtado. Tom visited Juanito's house when sick, and the old man started passionately to pound the table saying, "This man was a saint! What a good man that he gave himself . . . and his selflessness."

Tom said, "For me it seems that saints are from another time. But holy cow! Here was someone who knew him!" Juanito died four days later.

In Santiago, near the original Hogar, is a shrine to Alberto, where many come to pray. Inside is his beat-up green pickup.

James Martin, SJ, is culture editor of America magazine and author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything. This first appeared in a post on In All Things and is reprinted with permission.

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