The Foundation Around the year 1812 in a village in Catalonia, Spain, a small boy used to spend sleepless nights thinking of a truth which was very hard for him to digest: “those who die in mortal sin are forever condemned!” He used to ask himself: "Are they forever condemned, to a whole eternity, forever? What can I do to save these unfortunate ones from being condemned forever?" Years later, a room in the diocesan seminary of Vic, Spain became the meeting place for 6 priests, on July 16, 1849. Their leader was a priest of very short stature – Mosen Antony Claret. His intent with those 5 like-minded priests was the founding a missionary society to actualize his childhood dream: to save the unfortunate ones… And Mosen Claret exclaimed prophetically like a great visionary, "Today we commence a great work." This foundation took place on the feast of the Holy Cross and the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Claret did not act on the spur of the moment. He had been thinking for a long time about preparing priests to proclaim the Gospel and then bringing together those who felt animated by “a spirit like his”, in order to do with others what he could not do by himself. His experience as an itinerant missionary in Catalonia and the Canary Islands convinced him that people needed to be evangelized and there were not enough priests who were sufficiently prepared or zealous enough for this mission. But, as Claret acknowledged, it was not his own idea but a divine inspiration that caused him to start what seemed such a shaky enterprise. “How great can it be since we are so young and so few?” asked Fr. Manuel Vilaró, one of the priests gathered at the Seminary in Vic. Had it not been for God the conditions surrounding the Congregation’s birth would have caused it to fail. Only 20 days after its founding, Fr. Claret received news of his appointment as Archbishop of Cuba, which he accepted despite his reluctance. The Congregation was left in God’s hands and under the guidance of one of the co-founders, Fr. Esteban Sala, who died in 1858. Another of the co-founders, José Xifré, took over the directorship. Archbishop Claret, called back from Cuba to Madrid to be Confessor to Queen Isabella II, contrived to remain very close to the new Superior General and to all the missionaries. He attended the General Chapters. He edited the Constitutions, which the Holy See approved on 11 February 1870, a few months before his death. He provided guidance for the Institute, as well as contributing financial help for its needs. He also wrote his Autobiography for the good of the Congregation and at the order of the Superior General, who had once been his spiritual director. The Congregation then suffered a new and difficult situation. With the coming of the Revolution of 1868, the Congregation was suppressed by the state and all the Missionaries had to seek refuge in France. Archbishop Claret also had to go there into exile where he died a holy death in 1870. This was also the time when the Congregation had its first martyr, Fr. Francisco Crusats. But the Founder had the great satisfaction of seeing new foundations spring up throughout Spain, as well as in Africa (Argel) and Latin America (Chile).