Louis-Édouard Cestac

Appointed vicar at the Cathedral of Bayonne, Abbé Cestac was deeply shaken by the material and moral misery of abandoned young girls and young women given over to prostitution in the city's suburbs. To respond to this distress, he founded on June 11, 1836, a first reception center for orphans in a house lent by the municipality, named "Le Grand Paradis." His sister Élise soon joined him to manage the establishment. In order to offer a path of reconstruction to young prostitutes wishing to change their lives (then called "penitents"), he acquired on credit, on November 24, 1838, the agricultural estate of Châteauneuf in Anglet. In 1839, this place became "Notre-Dame du Refuge." Abbé Cestac implemented an innovative support project there based on trust, freedom, prayer, and working the land. To ensure the longevity of this work, he founded a new religious family. On January 6, 1842, his first collaborators, including his own sister Élise (who took the name Sister Marie-Madeleine), pronounced their religious vows: the Congregation of the Servants of Mary was officially established. In 1851, a contemplative branch was born within the institute: the Solitaries of Saint Bernard (or Bernardines). These cloistered nuns, living under a rule of austerity inspired by the Cistercian tradition, welcomed former penitents wishing to devote themselves entirely to prayer and working the land in solitude and silence. Alongside his social action, Abbé Cestac proved to be an outstanding agronomist. Concerned with feeding the community of Notre-Dame du Refuge and participating in the economic development of his region, he transformed the estate into an experimental and innovative farm (crop trials, stabilization of sand dunes). His expertise led to his election as president of the agricultural committee of Bayonne in 1857. In recognition of his social and agricultural action, Emperor Napoleon III awarded him the Legion of Honor in 1865. At his death, which occurred on March 27, 1868, at Notre-Dame du Refuge in Anglet, the congregation numbered more than 900 Servants of Mary and had spread through numerous rural schools and orphanages in France and Spain.

After his death in the reputation of holiness, the cause for the beatification of Louis-Édouard Cestac was officially introduced under the pontificate of Saint Pius X on April 7, 1908, conferring upon him the title of Servant of God.

On November 13, 1976, Pope Paul VI promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby declaring him Venerable.

On June 13, 2014, Pope Francis signed the decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Louis-Édouard Cestac. This miracle concerns the scientifically inexplicable healing of a seriously ill man, obtained after prayers were addressed through his intercession.

The beatification ceremony was celebrated on May 31, 2015, at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Bayonne. It was presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, personal representative of Pope Francis, in the presence of the Bishop of Bayonne, Mgr. Marc Aillet, and nearly 2,000 faithful. His liturgical memorial is set for March 27, the day of his birth into heaven.

The spirituality of Louis-Édouard Cestac is profoundly Marian and abandoned to Providence. Describing himself as a "poor servant of the most holy Mother of God," he placed each of his initiatives under the patronage of the Virgin. During a decisive pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Buglose on July 19, 1838, while seeking financial resources for his works, he perceived interiorly these words from the Virgin: "Ask me only for my spirit." From then on, his trust in Providence became absolute.

He contributed actively to the spread of the Miraculous Medal and was the author of the famous prayer "August Queen of Heaven," which he composed following a spiritual inspiration received in 1864, exhorting the faithful to invoke the Queen of Angels to combat the forces of evil.

Today, the legacy of Blessed Louis-Édouard Cestac continues through the Congregation of the Servants of Mary of Anglet and the Bernardines, present on several continents (Europe, Africa, America, Asia), continuing their mission of education, welcoming vulnerable people, and contemplative prayer.