Charles de Foucauld

Desirous of imitating the hidden life of Jesus in Nazareth, Charles de Foucauld entered the Trappists in 1890. He spent seven years at the monastery of Notre-Dame des Neiges (Ardèche, France) and then at the Trappist monastery of Akbès in Syria. Believing that the Trappist life did not sufficiently correspond to his ideal of extreme poverty, he left the order in 1897 to become a servant and hermit for the Poor Clares of Nazareth. Ordained a priest on June 9, 1901, for the diocese of Viviers (Ardèche), he decided to return to the Algerian Sahara to reach the most neglected populations. He first established himself in Béni Abbès (1901-1905), where he built a hermitage, welcomed the poor, bought the freedom of slaves, and sought to be the "universal brother." In 1905, he settled in Tamanrasset, in the heart of the Hoggar massif, among the Tuareg. There, he led a life of intense prayer, Eucharistic adoration, and daily service. Respectful of the local culture, he carried out monumental linguistic and ethnographic work: he translated thousands of verses of Tuareg poetry and wrote a four-volume Tuareg-French dictionary that remains an authority today. On December 1, 1916, in the midst of the First World War, his fort in Tamanrasset was surrounded by a band of Senussi raiders. Taken hostage, he was shot by his panicked young guard during an alert.

The process for his beatification opened as early as 1927. However, the investigation was slowed by the Second World War, then suspended in 1956 due to political tensions linked to the Algerian War of Independence, as some feared that the cause of a former French army officer would not be judged with objectivity. Under the impetus of Pope Paul VI, the work resumed in 1967. On April 24, 2001, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thus declaring him "Venerable." The miracle required for his beatification occurred in Italy in 1984. Giovanna Citeri Pulici, a resident of the Milan region suffering from bone cancer (osteosarcoma) with a life-threatening prognosis, was inexplicably healed after her husband, Giovanni Pulici, invoked the intercession of Charles de Foucauld with the help of two nuns and their parish priest. This miracle was officially recognized by the Vatican in 2004.

Charles de Foucauld was beatified on November 13, 2005, by Pope Benedict XVI. The solemn celebration took place in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, presided over by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The second miracle, paving the way for his canonization, occurred on November 30, 2016, in Saumur (France), the exact eve of the centenary of the hermit's death. Charle, a 21-year-old apprentice carpenter working on the roof of the chapel of the Lycée Saint-Louis, fell more than 15 meters. He was impaled on the wooden upright of a bench that pierced his abdomen through and through. Despite the violence of the impact, no vital organ was touched, and the young man recovered completely in a few weeks without any physical or psychological aftereffects. During his hospitalization, fervent prayers of intercession were addressed to Blessed Charles de Foucauld by the faithful of the local parish of Saumur, which bears his name. The miracle was officially recognized by Pope Francis on May 27, 2020. The solemn canonization of Charles de Foucauld was celebrated by Pope Francis on May 15, 2022, in St. Peter's Square in Rome.

The spirituality of Saint Charles de Foucauld is based on the imitation of the "life of Nazareth": a humble, hidden existence, marked by manual labor, silent prayer, and fraternal presence in the midst of men. Centered on the Eucharist and the Gospel, he developed the ideal of the "universal brother," seeking to love every person without distinction of religion or culture, and to "proclaim the Gospel with his whole life" through the sole testimony of goodness. Although he died alone without having been able to found a community during his lifetime, his spiritual legacy is immense. His writings and rules of life inspired the creation of numerous religious congregations and lay associations that today form the "Spiritual Family of Charles de Foucauld." Among the major foundations are the Little Brothers of Jesus (founded in 1933 by Father René Voillaume) and the Little Sisters of Jesus (founded in 1939 by Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus).