Antoine Chevrier

In 1857, guided by the advice of Saint Jean-Marie Vianney (the Curé of Ars) whom he went to consult, Father Chevrier accepted to become the chaplain of the "Cité de l'Enfant-Jésus." This work, founded by Camille Rambaud, aimed to house poor families and prepare street children for their first communion.

However, desiring to dedicate himself more freely to the religious and human instruction of the most abandoned children, he left the Cité de l'Enfant-Jésus in 1859. On December 10, 1860, he rented and then purchased a disreputable former dance hall in La Guillotière, called "Le Prado." He transformed this place of entertainment into a haven of education and prayer, thus founding the work of the Prado Providence.

At the Prado, Father Chevrier welcomed, free of charge and for six-month stays, adolescents of both sexes who were excluded from traditional school and parish circuits. Unlike the "convent-workshops" of the time, he categorically refused to make the children work. His goal was to provide them with a basic education (reading, writing) and to prepare them for their first communion in order to open the doors of faith and employment to them.

To perpetuate his work and respond to the lack of catechists, Father Chevrier decided to train priests from the same working-class background. In 1866, he opened a clerical school within the Prado itself. He thus founded the Society of the Priests of the Prado (today the Prado Secular Institute), whose members commit themselves to living as poor among the poor. He also relied on a group of female collaborators, which would give birth to the Sisters of the Prado. In 1874, he acquired a property in Limonest to establish the sisters' novitiate.

The life of Father Chevrier is a path of radical humility and suffering accepted for the love of Christ. He wrote a work of spiritual and priestly formation, The True Disciple (or The Priest according to the Gospel), which would remain unfinished.

The year 1878 was marked by a particularly painful trial: the first four priests he had formed, who had just been ordained in Rome, decided to leave him to join contemplative orders (the Trappists, the Grande Chartreuse) or to leave for distant missions. Feeling "abandoned on the cross," he accepted this trial with heroic patience.

Afflicted by a severe stomach ulcer, his health declined rapidly. He passed away at the Prado on October 2, 1879, at the age of 53. His funeral, celebrated on October 6, 1879, at the Church of Saint-Louis, gathered an immense crowd of nearly 10,000 people, mainly workers and the poor of the neighborhood. Even the secular and anti-clerical press of the time, notably the newspaper Le Progrès, paid him a vibrant tribute for his civic and social dedication.

The cause for the beatification of Antoine Chevrier was officially introduced in Rome on June 11, 1913. On January 16, 1953, Pope Pius XII promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby declaring him Venerable.

On October 4, 1986, during his apostolic journey to France, Pope John Paul II proclaimed Antoine Chevrier Blessed on the esplanade of Eurexpo in Lyon, before an assembly of 350,000 faithful.

His liturgical feast is set for October 2 (the day of his birth into heaven) in the Roman Martyrology, and is celebrated on October 3 in the proper calendar of the Diocese of Lyon. The cause for his canonization is currently underway.

The spirituality of Antoine Chevrier is deeply Christocentric and is articulated around three major mysteries, which he himself represented on the famous "Saint-Fons Painting" (a triptych drawn in his house of prayer in Saint-Fons): 1. The Crib: contemplation of the Son of God who becomes poor and small. 2. The Calvary: contemplation of the crucified Christ, symbol of death to self, patience, and total self-giving. 3. The Tabernacle: contemplation of Eucharistic charity, where Jesus gives himself entirely to men.

He summarized this requirement with a famous formula: "The priest is another Jesus Christ," called to be "bread good to eat" for others.

Today, the legacy of Blessed Antoine Chevrier is alive through the spiritual Prado Family, present in more than forty countries. It includes: - The Secular Institute of the Prado Priests (approximately 1,200 diocesan priests). - The Sisters of the Prado (society of apostolic life). - The female secular institute of the Prado (consecrated laywomen). - Permanent deacons and associated laypeople.

Furthermore, the Prado Association continues its social and educational work with thousands of young people in situations of precariousness or social breakdown.