Saint of the Month - December 2016: Saint Charles de Foucald

St. Charles de Foucauld

A Universal Brother

Memorial: December 1st

Looking at photographs of this holy man, I can sense the immense depth of his faith just by looking at his eyes.  Photos of several other modern Saints and Blesseds have that same "look" in their eyes, too.  It's like they know something... or more like they found something - something so awesome and valuable that it made them completely happy and contented.  Faith tells us what that "something" is - it's God... and Bl. Charles de Foucauld was full of God.

Born on September 15, 1858, in Strasbourg, France.  Sadly, at the tender age of 6, he was orphaned along with his sister and both children were sent to live with their grandparents who were well-to-do. Soon after moving in with them the grandmother died of a heart attack, leaving the grandfather to raise the children alone.  Perhaps due to the trauma of the tragedies he endured from an early age, Charles lost his faith at age 15 and professed agnosticism.

After his schooling was completed Charles joined the French army during which his grandfather passed away, leaving him with a large inheritance.  The carefree soldier was sent to Algeria, in northern Africa, where he reportedly spent his inheritance living a hedonistic lifestyle; enjoying fine food and drink, and the company of several mistresses, which lead to his discharge from the military.  Charles then took to exploring neighboring Morocco in the early 1880s before returning to France. 

Influenced by the deep faith of Jews and Muslims he encountered in his travels, Charles began to question his own agnostic views and the careless manner in which he lived.  Through the counsel and prayers of a devout female cousin and a priest close to his family, he eventually regained his belief in God and was reconciled with the Catholic Church in 1886.  Charles' conversion was so profound he wrote of the experience in the following manner: "The moment I realized that God existed, I knew I could not do otherwise than to live for him alone." He spent the rest of his years making good on those words.

Charles, the young soldier

First off, Charles joined the Trappists in Ardeche, France, and later transferred to the congregation's foundation in Syria.  In 1897, he left the monastery and ended up in Jerusalem where he worked as a handyman and sacristan for a Poor Clare convent.  The Mother Superior there, sensing something special in Charles, advised him to become a priest so he traveled to Rome to enter seminary.  He was ordained in 1901 at the age of 43.

After his ordination, Charles returned to Algeria to pursue a life of austerity in the arid deserts and with high hopes of founding a new religious congregation.  However, his ideas and strict ascetic manner of living failed to attract followers so the would-be hermit, instead, focused on practicing a radical form of charity and love for neighbor.  He settled in Tamanrasset among the Tuareg people, a fierce but poor tribe of nomadic Muslims, who were at first wary of him.  Charles once wrote:

  "Let us concern ourselves with those who lack everything... those to whom no one gives a thought.  Let us be the friends of those who have no friends, their brother.  The love of God, the love of men, that is my whole life, that will be my whole life, I hope."

Bro. Charles' austere hermitage 

Brother Charles of Jesus, as he came to be known, so impressed the Tuaregs with his evident goodness and sincerity, that he lived among them in harmony and mutual respect.  He made no effort to preach and covert his Muslim brethren, but rather he preferred to simply "shout the Gospel with his life" and live as a "universal brother" to all.  Of course, he also did a lot of praying, which he offered before the Blessed Sacrament - our Eucharistic Lord - that he was permitted to conserve in his primitive hermitage. He ministered and served his adopted people in this manner for the next 15 years, until his untimely death. 

  "Sacred Heart of Jesus, thank you for this, the first tabernacle in the lands of the Tuareg!  May it be the first of many, and proclaim salvation to many souls!  Radiate out from this tabernacle on all those round about, people who surround you yet do not know you." ~ Words of Bro. Charles of Jesus

In 1916, anti-French sentiments erupted in Algeria in the wake of World War I.  On the evening of December 1st of that year, Bro. Charles' hermitage was raided by marauders from a neighboring tribe who intended to take him as a hostage for ransom.  According to a witness to the event, the frail priest was dragged from his cell and physically assaulted, but in the face of the violence directed at him, he remained at peace.  His attackers also attempted to force him to betray Christ but he calmly refused.  Finally, when Bro. Charles shouted a warning of the looming danger to approaching passerbys, he was shot dead by his panicked guard; a mere boy with a gun.  Thus, the final action performed by the holy hermit was a heroic deed motivated by charity.  He was only 58.

Little Brother Charles of Jesus,

a man who radiated love for God

and love for neighbor.

As further confirmation of the fruitfulness of his sanctity, this humble brother who failed in his effort to found a congregation in his lifetime, has been recognized as the posthumous founder of at least 5 modern congregations that were inspired into being by his faith-example and writings.  Per the words of Jesus, himself: "By their fruits we will know them."

Bro. Charles was Beatified on November 13, 2005 and Pope Francis Canonized him in May 15, 2022 - St. Charles de Foucauld, pray for us!

Prayer of Abandonment

(composed by Bl. Charles de Foucauld)

Father,

I abandon myself into your hands;

do with me what you will.  Whatever you

may do, I thank you: I am ready for all,

I accept all.  Let only your will be done in

me, and in all your creatures.  I wish no

more than this, O Lord.  Into your hands I

commend my soul; I offer it to you with all

the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord,

and so need to give myself, to surrender

myself into your hands, without reserve,

and with boundless confidence, for you

are my Father.  Amen.