Bl. Pere Tarrés i Claret

  Posted on September 2, 2019  by admin  No comments

Born: 30 May 1905 in Manresa, Barcelona, Spain

Died: 31 August 1950 in his clinic in Barcelona, Spain of lymphoblastic lymphosarcoma, buried in the Montjuic cemetery, re-interred in the parish church of San Vicente of Sarrià on 6 November 1975

Beatified: 5 September 2004 by Pope John Paul II in Loreto, Italy

The son of Francesco and Carmen Tarrés i Claret, he and his sisters Francesca and Maria, both of whom became Conceptionist nuns, were raised in a Christian home. Due to his father‘s work as a mechanic, the family moved regularly. He received Confirmation on 31 May 1910, and his first Communion on 1 May 1913. Pere was educated by the Piarist Fathers and Jesuits, helped in a local pharmacy, and graduated from the College of Saint Ignatius. He studied medicine at the University of Barcelona, and attended the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri. Member of the Federation of Young Christians and Catholic Action. Pere’s father died in July 1925, and not long after his mother was in an accident that left her crippled for life. Received his degree in medicine in 1928. With Dr Gerardo Manresa, he founded the Our Lady of Mercy clinic in Barcelona which concentrated on treating tuberculosis patients.

Pere was on a spiritual retreat at the Montserrat monastery when the Spanish Civil War broke out and its anti–Christian persecutions began. He continued working at the clinic, and secretly bringing Communion to covert Catholics. Drafted by the Spanish Republic in July 1938 to serve as an army doctor, receiving the rank of captain. Along with treating patients, he studied Latin and philosophy, and after the war he taught at the University of Barcelona. He entered Barcelona seminary on 29 September 1939, and was ordained a priest in the archdiocese of Barcelona on 30 May 1943.

Studied theology at the Pontifical University in Salamanca, Spain, receiving his degree on 13 November 1944. Served as an official in Catholic Action, was active in parish youth ministry, and as chaplain of women‘s religious houses, including the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Taught moral theology and served as confessor at the seminary in Barcelona. Father Pere was diagnosed in May 1950 with an aggressive form of cancer. His health went rapidly downhill, and he offered his final months of suffering and death for the sanctification of his brother priests.