Alberto Hurtado was born in the city of Viña del Mar on January 22nd, 1901. In 1909, he entered San Ignacio School where he was distinguished for being a good, cheerful and compassionate classmate. He studied and worked to help his mother, but his real vocation was to be a priest. He entered the novitiate and his mother was very happy. He was ordained as priest in 1933 in Belgium. One night, he found a poor, sick and miserable boy who didn’t have a place to go. Another night, he saw a group of abandoned children who slept under the bridges of the Mapocho River, so he asked for help from some generous people. After those events, he founded “El Hogar de Cristo”, his greatest charitable fund.
One day in 1952, Father Hurtado was taken to hospital. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. After a brief battle with the illness, he died in Santiago. Father Hurtado was beatified on October 16, 1994 by Pope John Paul II and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 23, 2005.