October 24 marks the feast days of several saints of the Christian church. Among these is Antonio María Claret, who was born in Sallent, Spain in 1807. He founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who are now known as the Claretians. Claret went on preaching missions to various regions of Spain and eventually was appointed archbishop of Santiago, Cuba. His efforts at reforms were met with hostility and he was wounded in an assassination attempt in 1856. Returning to Spain he became the confessor of Queen Isabel II. Following her to France when a revolt drove her from the throne, he then took refuge in a Cistercian monastery near Narbonne when Spain demanded his arrest. In his lifetime, he preached over 25,000 sermons, and published over 144 books and pamphlets.
The feast of St. Aretas is celebrated on October 24, as well. A leader of the Christian community of Najran in the early 6th century, Aretas was executed during the persecution of Christians by the Jewish king Dhu Nuwas in 523. According to an account by John of Ephesus, Dhu Nuwas was a convert to Judaism who took revenge upon local Christians because of their persecution of his co-religionists. Najran is now known as al-Ukhdud in Saudi Arabia. The persecution is apparently described and condemned in the Koran.
Births recorded for this day in 1788 include that of Sarah J. B. Hale, the author of the ditty “Mary had a little Lamb.”
King Charles II of England wrote to his sister Henrietta on October 24, 1664 of news that gladdened his royal heart. Wrote the king, “You will have heard of our taking of New Amsterdam, which lies just by New England. ‘Tis a place of great importance to trade. It did belong to England heretofore, but the Dutch by degrees drove our people out and built a very good town, but we have got the better of it. And ‘tis now called New York.” Thus the Big Apple of discord enter history.
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