HURTADO CRUCHAGA, ALBERTO, BL.

Jesuit priest; b. Jan. 22, 1901, Viña del Mar, Chile; d. Aug. 18, 1952, Santiago de Chile. Hurtado, known as "the Apostle of the Poor," experienced poverty himself following the death of his aristocratic father when he was four. While attending the Jesuit Colegio San Ignacio (1909–17) in Santiago, he spent his Sunday afternoons tending the city's poor. He postponed entering the Jesuit novitiate until Aug. 14, 1923, in order to support his family, complete his military service, and earn a law degree (August 1923) at the Catholic University of Santiago.

He entered the Jesuit novitiate at Chillán (1923–24) and Córdoba, Argentina (1925). After professing his first vows (Aug. 15, 1925), he continued his studies in the humanities, philosophy, and theology in Spain (1927–32), Ireland, and finally Belgium, where he was ordained at Louvain in 1933. After completing his final year of training at Drongen, he returned to Santiago de Chile (1936) to teach theology at the Colegio San Ignacio and pedagogy at Catholic University of Santiago.

As a frequent retreat master he affected the lives of many young men. He fostered more than 100 priestly vocations and led others to committed service as laymen. In 1941, he undertook the chaplaincy of Catholic Action's youth movement in Santiago, and later nationally. In 1944, the charismatic priest challenged female retreatants to assist the city's poor. Their response resulted in the founding of El Hogar de Cristo (Christ's Hearth), family-like housing first for homeless children, then for adults, that provided vocational training and/or rehabilitation.

In 1945–46, while studying sociology at the Catholic University of America and residing with the Jesuit community at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., Fr. Hurtado visited Fr. Flanagan's Boys Town to adapt the concept to Chile. Returning to Chile he founded (1947) the Chilean Trade Union Association (ASICH) based on the social teachings of the Church. His last years were spent extending his work and the social teachings of the Church. He died in 1952 of pancreatic cancer.

His most famous composition is Is Chile a Catholic country? (Santiago 1941); however, between 1947 and 1950 he wrote on the Church's social teaching, including Social Humanism, On Unions, and The Christian Social Order. In 1951 he founded the journal Mensaje (Messages ) to further explain magisterial teaching on social justice.

During the beatification ceremony, Oct. 16, 1994, Pope John Paul II praised him for his use of modern communications methods to spread the Gospel.

Feast: Aug. 18 (Jesuits).

Bibliography: Alberto Hurtado: cómo lo vimos, ed. h. m. brunet (Santiago, Chile 1994). El padre Hurtado: quién fue?: qué haría hoy? (Santiago, Chile 1994). Padre Alberto Hurtado: "contento, señor, contento," vida, obra y testimonios (Santiago, Chile 1990). a. magnet, El Padre Hurtado (Santiago, Chile 1990). o. marfÁn, Alberto Hurtado: Cristo estaba en él (Santiago, Chile 1993). l. e. marius, Mensaje y compromiso del Padre Alberto Hurtado (Caracas 1994). j. l. ruiz–tagle ibaÑez, Alberto Hurtado: un hombre, un santo (Santiago, Chile 1992). j. vadell, Bienaventurados los pobres (Santiago, Chile 1978).

[k. i. rabenstein]