Father Alberto
Hurtado sj

 

It was a rainy, cold night in Santiago, Chile, in October 1944 when Fr Alberto Hurtado SJ unexpectedly encountered a homeless person who was sick, shivering, and having a high fever. The accidental meeting moved him to tears because there was no shelter to bring the homeless person. Fr Hurtado always believed Christ lives in others, especially those suffering and disadvantaged.

 

Later, on October 16, 1944, speaking at a women’s retreat, he spontaneously brought this incident to the ladies. The force of his inspirational speech so strongly impacted all the women attending the retreat that they immediately started donating to organize it. It gave form to what would become one of his most significant and best-known apostolic works, the Hogar de Cristo, founded by him on October 19, 1944, in Chile.