Alpert Mosch

On July 11, 1865, the young Brother Alpert was sent to the Saint-Joseph school, located on Rue Lafayette in Paris. This work, initially founded by the Jesuit Fathers, was intended for the free instruction, in French and German, of the children of poor German emigrants. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, Brother Alpert courageously devoted himself on the battlefields, notably at Champigny, to caring for the wounded. It was during this period of deprivation that he contracted a violent case of furunculosis. After the war and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany, many Alsatian and Lorrainer families emigrated to Paris. The Saint-Joseph school then became the Mission for Alsatians and Lorrainers. On September 14, 1879, Brother Alpert was appointed its Director. An outstanding educator, he knew how to combine great kindness with firm discipline. Under his leadership, the work developed considerably: he energized the youth patronage, founded a very active section of the Saint-Benoît-Labre Association (created at the initiative of Brother Exupérien Mas), and established nights of adoration for his students at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre.

At the height of his apostolic activity, Brother Alpert was struck by a terrible health trial: he was afflicted with locomotor ataxia (a form of progressive paralysis). Despite the suffering and increasing physical difficulties, he refused to slow down his activity. He continued to painfully climb the stairs of his school and to carry out his mission as director and catechist with heroic dedication, unalterable joy, and a deep spirit of service. He accepted this progressive paralysis as a grace of union with the Passion of Christ. On July 15, 1896, his state of health having seriously deteriorated, he had to leave his beloved school to be admitted to the infirmary of the Mother House, on Rue Oudinot in Paris. It was there that he passed away holily on April 6, 1898 (some secondary sources erroneously mention the date of April 16, 1898).

The reputation for holiness of Brother Alpert spread rapidly after his death. The steps toward his beatification began as early as 1899. The diocesan informative process opened in Paris on May 14, 1929, and closed on April 21, 1932. After the examination of his writings (decree of February 19, 1963) and the study of his cause, the heroic nature of his virtues was officially recognized by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. On January 12, 1996, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thus conferring upon him the title of Venerable. In May 1998, on the occasion of the centenary of his death, his mortal remains were transferred from the Bagneux cemetery to the Church of Saint-Joseph-Artisan (Rue Lafayette, Paris), in the very heart of the neighborhood where he had dedicated himself to the working-class youth.

The spirituality of the Venerable Brother Alpert rests on confident abandonment to the will of God in the heart of suffering, and on a passionate love for the Christian education of the most destitute youth. His legacy remains alive within the Lasallian Family and the Saint-Joseph-Artisan parish in Paris, where his tomb is regularly adorned with flowers and prayed at, particularly for the youth of the neighborhood. He remains a model of the Christian educator who knew how to transmit the faith through example, prayer (notably Eucharistic adoration), and a radiant joy despite illness.