Exupérien Mas

The work of Brother Exupérien Mas is structured around two major axes: the spiritual renewal of his congregation and social commitment to working-class youth. On the spiritual level, he was the great initiator of the "monthly retreat," a day of recollection intended to regularly revive the inner life of the Brothers, as well as the "second novitiate," a time of deep spiritual renewal lasting nine months. He also dedicated himself to disseminating and promoting the spiritual and pedagogical writings of the institute's founder, Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle. On the social level, Brother Exupérien was extremely sensitive to the living conditions and the future of young workers from the working classes. In 1881, in collaboration with Abbé Henri Chaumont, he founded the Association of Saint Benedict Joseph Labre (or Saint-Labre Society). This work offered young apprentices and employees a solid spiritual and moral formation to help them live as Christians in their workplace. The members of this association would be at the origin of the creation, in 1887, of the Union of Commerce and Industry Employees (SECI), the very first Christian-inspired union in France, which would later give birth to the French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC). During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, he organized and directed the "great ambulance of Longchamp," the largest mobile hospital in Paris, where hundreds of Brothers dedicated themselves as nurses and stretcher-bearers. During the Paris Commune, while attempting to protect young Brothers from forced enlistment, he was arrested and imprisoned at the Mazas prison. After his release, he was elected Assistant to the Superior General in 1873. Faced with the secularization laws of 1880 and 1904, he deployed considerable energy to open independent schools and advocated for the "secularization" of the Brothers (teaching in civilian clothing) in order to save educational works in France.

Brother Exupérien Mas enjoyed a reputation for great holiness during his lifetime, both among his students and his confreres. His spiritual influence extended far beyond the scope of his institute. From 1897 to 1904, he served on the Superior Council of Public Instruction as a representative of private education. His moral authority and deep piety made a strong impression on his colleagues and fostered several notable conversions, including those of the academicians Xavier Marmier and François Coppée. Exhausted by a life of labor and devotion, he passed away peacefully in Paris on January 31, 1905, at the age of 76. His death stirred deep emotion, and there was a unanimous consensus regarding his memory, with many exclaiming: "A saint has died!". Initially buried in the Brothers' cemetery in Paris, his body was transferred on June 11, 1949, to the chapel of the Notre-Dame des Retraites retirement home in Athis-Mons (Essonne), a place he had himself helped to acquire and animate.

The cause for the beatification and canonization of Brother Exupérien Mas was officially introduced in the diocese of Paris in 1922. The diocesan process gathered numerous testimonies regarding the heroic nature of his virtues and the fruitfulness of his apostolate. The decree of validity for the process was promulgated by the Holy See on April 6, 1979. On March 3, 1990, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby conferring upon him the official title of Venerable. For his beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession is required by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The spirituality of Brother Exupérien Mas is deeply rooted in the Lasallian charism, characterized by the intimate union between prayer and educational action. A master of spiritual energy, he considered the interior life to be the indispensable source of all apostolate. His legacy is perpetuated through the training structures he renovated within the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, but also through the Christian social movement in France. By inspiring the creation of the first Christian trade union (the SECI), he paved the way for a trade unionism concerned with human dignity and the values of the Gospel, of which the CFTC remains the direct heir today.