Charles de Foucauld


Charles de Foucauld
Circa 1907
Born(1858-09-15)15 September 1858
Strasbourg, Second French Empire
Died1 December 1916(1916-12-01) (aged 58)
Tamanrasset, French Algeria
Venerated inCatholic Church
Anglican Communion[1]
Beatified13 November 2005, Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins
Canonized15 May 2022, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope Francis
Feast1 December
Attributeswhite religious habit with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, crowned with a cross

Charles Eugène, vicomte de Foucauld de Pontbriand,[2][3][4][5] (15 September 1858 – 1 December 1916), commonly known as Charles de Foucauld, was a French soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara in Algeria. He was assassinated in 1916. His inspiration and writings led to the founding of a number of religious communities inspired by his example, such as the Little Brothers of Jesus.

Orphaned at the age of six, de Foucauld was brought up by his maternal grandfather, Colonel Beaudet de Morlet. He undertook officer training at the Saint-Cyr Military Academy. Upon graduating from the academy he opted to join the cavalry. Ordained in Viviers in 1901,[6] he decided to settle in the Algerian Sahara at Béni Abbès. His ambition was to form a new congregation, but nobody joined him. Taking the religious name Charles of Jesus, he lived with the Berbers, adopting a new apostolic approach, preaching not through sermons, but through his example.

On 1 December 1916, de Foucauld was assassinated at his hermitage. He was quickly considered to be a martyr of faith[7][8] and was the object of veneration following the success of the biography written by René Bazin. New religious congregations, spiritual families, and a renewal of eremitic life are inspired by Charles de Foucauld's life and writings. His beatification process started in 1927 eleven years after his death. He was declared Venerable on 24 April 2001 by Pope John Paul II, then Blessed on 13 November 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI. On 27 May 2020, the Vatican announced that a miracle had been attributed to de Foucauld's intercession.[9] De Foucauld was canonized as a saint by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022 in Rome.

  1. ^ "The Spirituality of Charles de Foucauld". 27 May 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Charles Eugène, vicomte de Foucauld | Explorer, Hermit & Trappist | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  3. ^ Lechmere, Joscelyne (1934). "An Apostle of the Sahara: Pere Charles de Jesus (Vicomte de Foucauld)". The Irish Monthly. 62 (728): 82–90. ISSN 2009-2113. JSTOR 43655195.
  4. ^ Howe, Sonia (April 1928). "Charles de Foucauld, Explorer of Morocco and Knight Errant of Christ". The Muslim World. 18 (2): 124–146. doi:10.1111/j.1478-1913.1928.tb00712.x. ISSN 0027-4909.
  5. ^ "Charles de Foucauld : le drapeau et la croix". www.lhistoire.fr (in French). Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Bienheureux Charles de Foucauld – Eglise Catholique en Ardèche". ardeche.catholique.fr. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  7. ^ "The saintly model of Charles de Foucauld".
  8. ^ "Charles de Foucauld, Monastic and Martyr, 1916".
  9. ^ "Church promulgates new decrees for causes of saints", Vatican News, 27 May 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.