After a childhood marked by the death of his father when he was 4, Alberto entered the Saint Ignatius College and remained there until completing his studies in 1917. He studied law at the Catholic University of Chile, successfully combining studies and service to others, organizing, together with other students, a legal consultancy for workers. Between August and November 1920, he did his military service in the Yungay regiment. Alberto wants to do God's will and prays a lot until he decides to enter the novitiate of the Jesuit fathers. The first part of his training takes place in Chillán, then in Corduba.
On August 15, 1925 he became a religious. Between 1927 and 1931 he studied philosophy and began the theology course at Sarriá in Spain; he continued his studies in Louvain where, between 1934 and 1935, he discussed the Doctorate in Pedagogical Sciences. On 24 August 1933 he was ordained a priest.
Before returning to Chile, he visited some European countries, with the aim of studying their various educational institutions and worked towards the foundation of the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Chile. On January 22, 1936, at the age of 35, he returned to his homeland . He is a professor of ethics and sociology. In Santiago, in February 1936, he began his apostolate with young people, above all in the Sant'Ignazio College and in the Catholic University: he promoted service to the poorest, because, he repeated: "Being Catholic is equivalent to being attentive to social issues". At the same time, he attaches great importance to the spiritual exercises.
At the beginning of 1941, he was appointed Assistant to the youth of Catholic Action in Santiago where the CA was born in 1923 under the impulse of Pius XI for an active participation of the laity in the life of the Church. Subsequently, he was appointed National Assistant of the same youth of Azione Cattolica. In this capacity, he travels the country, organizing groups and preaching spiritual exercises. His work is not always understood and, in November 1944, he resigns.
A month before his renunciation, as he himself recounts, on a cold and rainy night, "a poor person who has nowhere to take refuge" approaches him. This poor man impresses him deeply.
Thus was born the Hearth of Christ, El Hogar de Cristo, whose first seat was blessed by the Archbishop of Santiago, a living work still alive today in Chile. Alberto wants to "give back to the poor the awareness of their value as people, of their dignity of citizens, even more, of children of God". On June 13, 1947, the day of the Sacred Heart, together with a group of university students, he founded the Chilean Trade Union and Economic Action (ASICH) to look for "a way to carry out work that makes the Church present in the field of organized work". Between July 1947 and January 1948, he visits France, Lourdes, Spain and participates in the Week of Ecclesiastical Assistants of the Catholic Worker Youth. Then he goes to Rome and speaks with Fr. General of the Society of Jesus, with Msgr. Montini and was received in a special audience by Pius XII, who offered him all his support. Not without criticism, he continues his commitment until he is struck by a serious illness, which will lead him to death, which he accepted with courage and abandonment in God.
He was canonized by Benedict XVI on October 23, 2005.
