Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga
Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga (born January 22, 1901 in Viña del Mar, Chile; died August 18, 1952 in Santiago, Chile) was a Chilean Jesuit priest, social apostle, founder of the Hogar de Cristo (Home of Christ) for the homeless poor, and one of the great Catholic social activists of twentieth-century Latin America. Orphaned as a child, educated by the Jesuits, ordained a Jesuit priest, and formed by the social teaching of the Church, Alberto Hurtado dedicated his priestly life to the poorest of the poor in Chile—founding shelters, a labor movement, a Catholic social-action journal, and a community of service workers that transformed the face of the Chilean Church's relationship to poverty. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 16, 1994, and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 23, 2005. His feast day is August 18.
Alberto Hurtado is one of the most beloved saints of Chile and of Latin American Catholicism. His example—a Jesuit intellectual of deep prayer and rigorous formation who also drove a truck to pick up homeless people from the streets and slept in the shelters he ran—has made him a model for the integration of contemplation and action, of social justice and personal holiness, in the Latin American Catholic tradition. His famous phrase summarizes his spirit: "Happy me, Lord, if at the end of my life you can say of me: he was a man who did as much as he could."
Stored in Cargo: Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga
| Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga | |
|---|---|
| Feast Day | August 18 |
| Profession | Jesuit Priest; Social Apostle; Founder |
| Rel. Affiliation | Society of Jesus (Jesuits) |
| Patronage | Chile; the poor; social workers; labor organizers |
| Attributes | Jesuit cassock; cross; truck (associated with collecting the homeless) |
| Birthplace | Viña del Mar, Valparaíso Region, Chile |
| Death Place | Santiago, Chile |
| Cause of Death | Natural causes (pancreatic cancer) |
| Primary Shrine | Santuario Padre Hurtado, Santiago, Chile |
| Liturgical Class | Memorial (Chile); Optional Memorial (Society of Jesus) |
| Historic Class | Not included |
Biography
Birth
Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga was born on January 22, 1901, in Viña del Mar, a coastal city in the Valparaíso region of Chile. His family was of the Chilean aristocracy, but the death of his father when Alberto was only four years old reduced the family to poverty. His mother, unable to maintain the household, was forced to place Alberto and his brother in various households and eventually in the care of Jesuit boarding schools on scholarship.
This early experience of poverty and displacement—of falling from a comfortable position into dependence on the charity of others—marked Alberto's formation deeply and gave him a personal understanding of vulnerability that would shape his entire apostolate.
Early Life
Alberto received his education at the Jesuit Colegio San Ignacio in Santiago. His experience of the Jesuits as educators and pastors awakened in him a vocation to the Jesuit life that he pursued with tenacity despite the obstacles of his family's poverty (which made the financial requirements of Jesuit formation difficult) and his brother's illness.
He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1923 and pursued the long Jesuit program of formation, studying in Chile, Belgium (at Louvain), and Spain. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1933 and returned to Chile in 1936, completing his theological studies with a doctorate in education from the Gregorian University in Rome in 1938.
His formation gave him deep roots in Ignatian spirituality, Thomistic theology, and the social teaching of the Church—the tradition of papal encyclicals on social justice inaugurated by Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891) and continued by Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno (1931). He was also deeply influenced by the personalist philosophy of French Catholic thinkers like Jacques Maritain and Emmanuel Mounier.
Occupation
After returning to Chile, Father Alberto Hurtado threw himself into an apostolate of dramatic breadth and intensity. He served as a Jesuit professor and spiritual director at the Colegio San Ignacio; he gave retreats and missions throughout Chile; he wrote books on Catholic social teaching (including ¿Es Chile un país católico? ["Is Chile a Catholic Country?"], 1941, a provocative challenge to nominal Catholicism); and he founded a range of social institutions.
The most enduring of his foundations was the **Hogar de Cristo** (Home of Christ), established in 1944. The Hogar de Cristo began when Alberto encountered the homeless poor sleeping in doorways and under bridges in Santiago on a winter night and decided to do something immediate and concrete. Starting with a trailer, he picked up homeless men from the streets, housed them, fed them, and organized the Hogar de Cristo into a network of shelters that eventually served thousands of people annually. The Hogar de Cristo is today the largest Catholic social welfare organization in Chile, operating a vast network of residences, rehabilitation centers, and service programs.
Father Hurtado drove the Hogar de Cristo's truck himself, sometimes arriving at 3 AM to collect the men sleeping in the streets—earning the affectionate nickname "El Caballero de Cristo" (The Knight of Christ) from the poor he served. His Jesuit formation and his social passion were not in tension: he saw the service of the poor as his prayer, and his prayer as the source of his service.
In 1947, he founded the **Acción Sindical Chilena** (ASICH), a Catholic workers' labor organization, to organize Chilean laborers according to the principles of Catholic social teaching. He also founded the journal Mensaje (Message), which became one of the most important Catholic intellectual journals in Chile and continues publication today.
He died on August 18, 1952, of pancreatic cancer, in a Jesuit infirmary in Santiago. He was fifty-one years old.
Vocation
Alberto Hurtado's vocation was shaped by the Jesuit ideal of "finding God in all things" and by an acute social conscience formed by his own early poverty and by the social teaching of the Church. He described his approach in terms that have become part of Chilean Catholic heritage: "Christ on our highways, in the mines, in the fields: this is Chile." He had a gift for making the abstractions of Catholic social teaching concrete in personal encounter and in practical institutions.
He was a man of prayer who spent long hours before the Blessed Sacrament, a man of physical courage who drove trucks through dangerous neighborhoods at night, and a man of intellectual seriousness who wrote and lectured on Catholic social doctrine with scholarship and conviction.
Death
Alberto Hurtado died on August 18, 1952, of pancreatic cancer, at the Jesuit clinic in Santiago. He died at fifty-one, after a final illness borne with characteristic serenity and humor. His last reported words spoke of his happiness in God's service.
Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga met his death peacefully on August 18, 1952, in Santiago, Chile, dying of cancer at fifty-one after a lifetime of Jesuit priestly ministry and apostolic service to the poorest of the poor.
Significant events
- Born January 22, 1901 in Viña del Mar; orphaned young; educated by Jesuits.
- Entered the Jesuit novitiate, 1923; ordained priest, 1933; returned to Chile, 1936.
- Published ¿Es Chile un país católico? (1941), challenging nominal Catholicism in Chile.
- Founded the Hogar de Cristo (Home of Christ) for homeless poor in Santiago, 1944.
- Founded the Acción Sindical Chilena (ASICH) Catholic workers' organization, 1947.
- Founded the journal Mensaje (1951), still published today.
- Died August 18, 1952 of pancreatic cancer in Santiago, at age 51.
- Beatified October 16, 1994 by Pope John Paul II in Rome.
- Canonized October 23, 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.
Significant locations
Legend
Birth location: Viña del Mar, Valparaíso Region, Chile
Death location: Santiago, Chile
Notable location: Network of shelters he founded for the homeless poor of Chile (Hogar de Cristo, Santiago, Chile)
Notable location: Birthplace (Viña del Mar, Valparaíso Region, Chile)
Notable location: His religious province and base of operations (Jesuit Province of Chile, Santiago, Chile)
Notable location:
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Parishes
No parishes dedicated to Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga have been added to the database yet.
Media
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Shrines
Dynamic shrines
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No shrines where this saint is the primary saint.
List of shrines
Santuario Padre Hurtado, Alameda Avenue, Santiago, Chile
- The Sanctuary of Padre Hurtado (Santuario Padre Hurtado) on Alameda Avenue in Santiago is the primary shrine of Saint Alberto Hurtado and the spiritual heart of his veneration in Chile. Built adjacent to the Jesuit Colegio San Ignacio, the sanctuary houses his relics and is a center of pilgrimage for Chileans and visitors from across Latin America.
- Pilgrimage details: Avda. Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins (Alameda) 1535, Santiago, Chile. Open year-round. Archdiocese of Santiago.
- Facts: The Hogar de Cristo, which Alberto Hurtado founded, now operates more than 80 programs throughout Chile, serving over 50,000 people annually; it is one of the largest social welfare organizations in Latin American Catholic history.
Canonization
Servant of God
The cause of Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga was formally introduced by the Archdiocese of Santiago.
Venerable
Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga was declared Venerable as part of the process leading to his beatification.
Beatification
Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga was beatified on October 16, 1994, by Pope John Paul II in Rome.
Canonization
Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga was canonized on October 23, 2005, by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.
Miracles
Miracle for beatification
A miracle was confirmed through the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in preparation for the beatification of 1994.
Miracle for canonization
A miracle was confirmed through the Congregation for the Causes of Saints as part of the canonization process in 2005.
Patronage
Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga is venerated as a patron of Chile, of the homeless poor, of social workers, and of the labor movement in Latin America.
Feast day
August 18
Veneration
Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church with a feast day on August 18. He is one of the most beloved saints of Chile and of Latin American Catholicism. His canonization by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005—on the same day as Pope John Paul II and three other saints—was seen as a landmark event for the Chilean and Latin American Church. He is depicted in Jesuit cassock with the poor, or driving the truck he used to collect homeless people from the streets.
Prayers
Authored
There are prayers authored by this saint in prayers list yet.
Intercessory
There are no prayers asking for this saint's intercession in prayers list yet.
Books
Written about the saint
- Alberto Hurtado, ¿Es Chile un país católico? (1941) — his major sociological challenge to nominal Catholicism in Chile.
- Alberto Hurtado, Humanismo Social — on Catholic social teaching.
- Books about Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga
Written by the saint
- ¿Es Chile un país católico? (1941)
- Humanismo Social
- Moral Social
- Various articles in Mensaje and other publications.