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ANOTHER HERO
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Recently, Pope Francis announced the imminent canonization of a number of Beati, or “blesseds”—including Br Charles de Foucauld. He’s not quite on the level of Cardinal Newman or Francis of Assisi or Ignatius Loyola in my personal pantheon of inspired witnesses, but he’s close. Why do I revere him? Why would I want to be at his canonization?
Briefly: his life spanned the years 1858-1916. He was orphaned before he was six, brought up by a devout grandfather, and he was a faithful Catholic at a young age. But after his grandfather died, Charles’ drifting from the Faith came to a breaking point, and he turned inward and toward a life of pleasure. He joined the army for a short while, then resolved to explore North Africa, falling in love with Morocco. But he was still restless.
His cousin recommended a priest, Abbe Huvelin, for spiritual guidance. It led to confession and his “re-conversion,” he entered the Cistercians, and he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, falling in love this time with Nazareth and the “hidden life” of Jesus, into which he desperately wanted to enter. He felt the need for more solitude than even the Trappists were able to offer. He was finally ordained a priest and made the choice to live “the hidden life of Jesus in Nazareth” in the Sahara.
He resolved to become a “universal brother,” welcoming all who might come to him, whether Christian or Tuareg Bedouin. He ultimately settled at a site called Tamanrasset. He was accidentally caught up in the conflicts of World War I, and he was shot in his compound.
Charles drew up a “Rule of Life,” hoping and praying that he might found a congregation that would supply bring him other “brothers.” It never happened in his lifetime, but later his writings were found and put into practice, first by the “Little Sisters of Jesus,” and then by the “Little Brothers of Jesus.” The sisters’ motherhouse is in Rome, on the property of Tre Fontane, the traditional site of the martyrdom of St Paul.
Associations of priests developed, following a small way with Charles as inspiration: the “Jesus Caritas Fellowship.” While I was in Rome I was part of the seminarians’ version, and once a month we made days of recollection at the sisters’ motherhouse, where they’d recreated Charles’ chapel from Tamanrasset. From this experience I grew to have a tremendous regard for Charles and the brothers and sisters his life inspired. For those intrigued, perhaps the easiest entry is in the Modern Spiritual Masters Series (published by Orbis), with Charles’ writings selected and introduced by Robert Ellsberg. After that, Seeds of the Desert is written by René Voillaume, once the Prior General of the Little Brothers.
One last thing: his “Prayer of Abandonment” is something that has inspired me every day for years—even when I can’t fully (or partially) put it into practice. I pray it at the end of my daily Rosary. And it is the text of the meditation for Station XII of my Stations of the Cross: “Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will…”
I probably won’t be able to get to the canonization, but now perhaps you can see why I’d want to.
