Rome, Italy. After the Mass in honor of St. Anthony Mary Claret on Thursday evening, October 24, 2019 at the Basilica of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the presence of the artists, project designers, workers, Claretians of the three General Houses in Rome, the Claretian Family in Rome, Fr. Mathew Vattamattam, CMF, blessed the Claret Chapel Museum of the General Curia.
The inauguration of the formerly known “Chapel of Relics” now renovated and renamed as “Claret Chapel Museum” took place in 1983. Fr. Manuel Garde, CMF, member of the then Claretian Secretariat, took the task of meticulously identifying and placing the description of every relic which was in the possession of the General Government in that period.
Thirty-six years after, in view of the 150th anniversary of the death of the Father Founder, the General Government felt that it is time to renovate the museum-chapel. It is important to note, that to date, the Museum exclusively displays relics which are directly or indirectly related to the person of the Father Founder, without any additions related to the co-founders, martyrs or the Congregation, in order to concentrate exclusively on his historical and spiritual memory of Claret.
Fina Valldaura and Maria Plá, the same people responsible for the design of the Casa Claret museum in Sallent (Spain), in coordination with the General Econome of the Congregation, designed the fresh simple but beautiful look of the said sacred space.
Below is a video regarding the Chapel-Museum:
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