Saint of the Month - January 2024: Saint Mutien-Marie Wiaux

St. Mutien-Marie Wiaux

"The Brother who always prayed"

Feast: January 30th

Born on March 20, 1841 in the hamlet of Mellet, Belgium, little Louis-Joseph Wiaux was baptized the same day in the parish church.  Blessed with highly devout Christian parents, he learned the Faith from them and developed a piety that was exceptional compared to other children his age.  In particular, he had a singular love for Our Lady, which he maintained all his life.

After completing primary school, he apprenticed with his father - the local blacksmith - but realized early on that the Lord was tugging at his heart; a call he couldn't resist.  So, in April 1856, at the youthful age of just 15, he left Mellet to pursue religious life.  Per the suggestion of his priest, he applied with, and was accepted at the novitiate of the teaching institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Namur.  There, on the Feast of the Visitation in 1856, he was clothed in the habit and given the name Bro. Mutien-Marie.

Initially, Bro. Mutien was assigned to train and teach elementary courses in Chimay where he stayed for a year.  He was then transferred to a school in Brussels for another year-long assignment.  In 1859, his superiors sent him to their boarding school in Malonne, where he remained for the rest of his earthly life.

The youthful Bro. Mutien-Marie

Although the new religious enjoyed his vocation, it wasn't all smooth sailing for Bro. Mutien.  Being from a humble background and of simple mind, he had difficulty teaching the academic curriculum and his superiors at first considered dismissing him from the institute.  Instead, through the intervention of one of his fellow  teachers, they allowed him to teach art and music; two subjects Mutien had no prior knowledge of, but to which he diligently applied himself to learning in order to convince his superiors to allow him to remain.

In addition to his lack of experience, the young religious had to contend with certain disruptive students.  Fortunately for both parties, Bro. Mutien was a determined and committed saint-in-the-making, and his exemplary patience, innate piety, and genuine concern for his students eventually won the youth over ... and his companions, too.

It goes without saying, everyone came to love and respect Bro. Mutien as a model religious of great virtue.  He was not one of those Saints reknown for great signs and wonders, but instead, his sanctity was revealed through his consistent exercise of deep prayer, and diligently living his institute's Rule along with the precepts of our Catholic Faith.  His day-to-day routine usually consisted of:

• Rising at 4:30 AM for his first visit to the Tabernacle for Eucharistic Adoration, followed by a stop at Our Lady's altar for the rosary

• Holy Mass

• Teaching Architecture, Art, and Music Lessons

• Additional visits, in between classes, to the Blessed Sacrament and to a Lourdes Grotto replica on the school grounds 

The students widely referred to him as the "Brother who is always praying", while Mutien's fellow religious described him as a "Living Rule"; none could recall any occasion in which the Saint ever made the slightest infraction to their Rule.  On his part, Mutien was humble, fulfilling his daily duties with zero fanfare; going about in constant prayer, and sometimes caught up in ecstasy in the chapel with his face reflecting God's Light.   For him, personally, praying and subjecting himself in obedience to the Rule and to his superiors was equivalent to fulfilling the Divine Will of God.  This was his simple way of living his vocation ‐ "holy monotony", as this author likes to call it - for a span of 50+ years!

A later photo of St. Mutien-Marie

Bro. Mutien's peaceful death occurred on January 30, 1917; he was 75-years-old.  Almost immediately after his passing, his intercession was invoked by many and cures were reported at his tomb, which lead to an inquiry into his virtues only six years later.

The Church declared Bro. Mutien-Marie Wiaux a Saint on December 10, 1989.  He is considered a Patron Saint for both Teachers and Students.

St. Mutien-Marie Wiaux,

pray for us!