Alcide-Vital Lataste

The life and work of Father Jean-Joseph Lataste are intrinsically linked to the foundation of the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of Bethany. In September 1864, the young priest, then assigned to the convent in Bordeaux, was sent to preach a spiritual retreat at the women's prison in Cadillac, housed in the former castle of the Dukes of Épernon. This prison held approximately 400 inmates sentenced to forced labor and subjected to absolute silence. Approaching this ministry with apprehension, Father Lataste was deeply moved by the fervor, repentance, and faith of these women. During a night of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, he observed with wonder that almost all the inmates took turns praying in exemplary recollection. He then exclaimed: "I have seen wonders!". Struck by the grace at work in these women whom society considered definitively lost, he understood that several of them aspired to dedicate their lives to God upon their release from prison. However, at that time, no convent would accept former inmates. Father Lataste then conceived the revolutionary project of founding a contemplative and apostolic religious family where former prisoners ("the rehabilitated") and women with unblemished pasts ("the rehabilitators") would live together under the same Dominican habit, in perfect equality and absolute discretion regarding their past, so that "no human gaze could henceforth discern the former sinners from those who had not sinned". To make his project known and defend it against the prejudices of the time and the reluctance of his own religious family, he published a brochure in May 1866 entitled Les Réhabilitées. On August 14, 1866, with the precious help of Sister Henri-Dominique Berthier (Mother Henri-Dominique), a former nun of the Presentation of Tours who became the co-founder and first superior of the work, the first community of the Dominican Sisters of Bethany was officially established in Frasne-le-Château (Haute-Saône), in the diocese of Besançon. Despite internal opposition within the Dominican Order, which imposed restrictions on him and limited his leadership mandate to two years, Father Lataste actively supported the young foundation. On July 22, 1868, the feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene (patroness of the congregation), the first two "rehabilitated" women received the religious habit. On Christmas Eve 1868, he gave the habit to Sister Noël, a former inmate of Cadillac whom he had personally saved from suicide a few years earlier. Exhausted by his preaching work and a severe pleural infection (tuberculosis), Father Lataste passed away holily on March 10, 1869, in Frasne-le-Château, at the age of 36, forgiving all his detractors.

From the moment of his death, Father Jean-Joseph Lataste left a profound reputation for holiness among the Sisters of Bethany and the faithful. In 1937, his beatification process was officially opened in the diocese of Besançon. On this occasion, his remains were exhumed and found intact; they were then transferred to the chapel of the Sisters' convent in Frasne-le-Château, then subsequently to Grandfontaine, and finally to Montferrand-le-Château. On June 1, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to publish the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby conferring upon him the title of Venerable.

The beatification of Father Jean-Joseph Lataste was made possible by the official recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession. The miracle concerns the complete, instantaneous, and scientifically inexplicable healing of Florent Mahaux, a 74-year-old man residing in Saint-Germain (province of Namur, Belgium). In February 1943, he was suffering from a voluminous abdominal swelling in the left iliac fossa, linked to a neoplasm of the intestine (terminal digestive cancer). While his general condition was extremely compromised and the doctors had no more hope, his daughter, who was preparing to enter the novitiate of the Sisters of Bethany, prayed fervently to Father Lataste to obtain her father's healing. Florent Mahaux was suddenly and totally cured. After a diocesan inquiry conducted in the diocese of Namur starting in 1998, the medical and theological file was transmitted to Rome. On June 27, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree authenticating this miracle. The beatification ceremony was celebrated on June 3, 2012, at the Micropolis exhibition center in Besançon, France. The solemn mass was presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and delegate of the Pope, in the presence of numerous bishops, Dominican friars, and Sisters of Bethany. On November 21, 2018, the Archdiocese of Besançon proceeded with the canonical opening of a new diocesan process concerning another alleged healing attributed to the intercession of the Blessed, thus opening the way for his future canonization.

The spirituality of Blessed Jean-Joseph Lataste is centered on the infinite mercy of God, reconciliation, and Christian hope. His famous formula summarizes his evangelical message: "God does not look at what we have been, He is only touched by what we are." He held a particular devotion to Saint Mary Magdalene, the figure of the forgiven sinner who became the apostle to the apostles, whom he considered the perfect model of rehabilitation through love. He also had immense confidence in Saint Joseph. In 1868, he wrote to Pope Pius IX to offer his life in exchange for the proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church and the insertion of his name into the Canon of the Mass. One year after his death, in December 1870, Pius IX indeed declared Saint Joseph Patron of the Universal Church, and in 2013, Pope Francis decreed the introduction of his name into all Eucharistic prayers. The legacy of Father Lataste continues today through the Dominicans of Bethany, who pursue their mission of prayer, Eucharistic adoration, and presence among incarcerated or marginalized persons. His spirituality also inspires many laypeople gathered within the Lataste Fraternity, as well as initiatives for reintegration and prison ministry throughout the world, such as the lay Dominican fraternity established in the prison of Norfolk (Massachusetts, United States).