Blessed Charles
de Foucauld
Hermit
1858 Strasbourg – 1916 Hoggar
A young man
stepped into a confessional in Saint Augustine's Church in Paris, leaned
towards the priest, and said, «Father, I do not have faith. Please teach me.»
The priest fixed his eyes on him... «Kneel down and confess to God, you will
believe!»—«But, I didn't come for that...»—«Confess!» The man who came for
faith understood that it was forgiveness that would bring him light. He knelt
down and confessed his entire life. When the penitent had received absolution
for his sins, the priest went on, «Are you fasting?»—«Yes.»—«Go to communion!»
At once the young man approached the holy table—this was his «second first
Communion»... It was late October 1886. This priest, well known for his spiritual
direction, was Father Huvelin. The young man, 28 years old, was Charles de
Foucauld.
Born September 15, 1858 in
Strasbourg into a very Christian family, Charles lost his mother, then his
father, in the same year, 1864. He was then entrusted, along with his only
sister, Marie, to the care of his grandfather, Monsieur de Morlet, a retired
colonel. Affectionate, passionate, and studious, Charles was spoiled by his
grandfather, who responded to the boy's fits of anger with indulgence,
considering them a sign of character. Monsieur de Morlet and the two children
moved to Nancy in 1872. At that point Charles began mixing his studies with all
sorts of readings chosen without discernment. At the end of his school years,
he lost all faith, «and that was not my only sin,» he would later admit...
«Children are thrown into the world without being given the weapons necessary
to fight the host of enemies they will find both within and outside of
themselves. Christian philosophers resolved, so long ago and so clearly, all
the questions that every young man feverishly asks himself, without suspecting
that the answers are right there, luminous and clear, just a step away!» He
would later insist that his nephews have Christian teachers: «I never had a bad
teacher, but youth must be taught not by neutrals, but by faith-filled and holy
souls, who moreover know how to give the reason for their beliefs and inspire
young people with a firm confidence in the truth of their faith...»
All impiety, all
desire for evil
Graduated from high school,
curious about everything, determined to enjoy himself and yet sad, Charles left
for Paris to prepare for the Saint-Cyr military academy. He would later say of
himself that he was all egoism, all vanity, all impiety, all desire for evil...
His laziness was such that he was expelled in his second year... All the same,
he was admitted to the school in 1876, one of the last in his class. In 1878,
he went on to the cavalry school in Saumur, where he lived, a friend said, «the
pleasant life of the Epicurean philosopher»: Charles lived it up, dressed in
great style, and held one party after another. His uncle voiced his opinion
about this and gave him a legal advisor, to the nephew's great anger. In 1880,
Second Lieutenant de Foucauld left with his regiment for Algeria. A young woman
joined him there, presenting herself as his lawful wife. When his superiors
realized the truth, they asked him to send his companion back to France.
Charles absolutely refused. The punishment was immediate — suspension for
insubordination and misconduct. Then the Algerian Muslim leader Bou-Amama's
insurrection began. Foucauld could not bear the thought that his friends were
going to battle, to honor and danger, without him. He obtained permission to
rejoin the regiment. «In the midst of the dangers and deprivations of the
colonial expeditions,» one of his friends, General Laperrine, would say, «he
proved himself a soldier and a leader...»
He was twenty-four years old. He
was attracted by the silence of the North African countries, the wide-open
spaces, the unpredictable and primitive way of life, the mysteriousness of the
inhabitants... He resigned from the army and set off on a most difficult
expedition—to explore Morocco, a country at the time still very closed, especially
to Christians. Accompanied by a Moroccan-born Jewish rabbi and passing himself
off as a rabbi, too, Charles crossed the border in June 1883. For eleven
months, he criss-crossed Morocco. A number of surveying instruments, hidden in
the folds of his garments, allowed him, at the constant risk of being caught,
to make observations and take notes on this still unexplored country. In May
1884, he returned to France loaded with scientific data which he wrote up in a
book, Reconnaissance au Maroc, that immediately gained him great respect
in scientific circles.
His family welcomed him with joy
and affection. They knew his excesses and his state of mind, but did not
reproach him. On the contrary, they congratulated him on the success of his
adventure and put him in contact with the most select company, carefully chosen
for its quality of mind and Christian convictions. Charles had been deeply
affected by what he had seen in North Africa, and especially the continual
invocation of God. All of the religious aspects of Muslim life led him to say
to himself, «And me with no religion!» He even imagined becoming Muslim but,
even at first glance, it seemed to him that the religion of Mohammed could not
be true, because it was «too materialistic.» In spite of the pleasant life he
was leading, his sadness only grew. In his free time, he looked at the books of
pagan philosophers. Their answers seemed weak...
No one has been
able to take it from Him....
And so it was that,
providentially, Charles met Father Huvelin one evening in 1886 at his Aunt
Moytessier's home. This man of God's affection for sinners touched even the
most indifferent; he thought of their final hour when they would be judged,
condemned forever. This particular evening, the two men exchanged small talk, but
Providence was bringing about the confession that would effect a total change
in Foucauld's life. In November 1888, Charles left for the Holy Land which he
traveled through for four months. Nazareth above all appealed to him—it
inspired in him an enduring love for the hidden life, obedience, the lowly
condition freely chosen. For he thought of Him who had lived there for thirty
years, and of whom Father Huvelin had said, «Our Lord so took the lowest place
that no one has been able to take it from Him.» After his return, three
retreats helped him to discern his vocation—God was calling him to be a
Trappist monk. He gave away all his possessions and set out, at the end of
1889, for the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of the Snows, in Ardeche (France).
On January 26, 1890, the Father Abbot clothed him with the habit and gave him
the name Brother Alberic.
At thirty-two years of age, he
adapted effortlessly to the rules of the monastery. The only thing that was
difficult for his proud nature was obedience. In his struggles, he was
sustained by his initial intention: «I wanted to enter religious life to keep
Our Lord company in His sufferings... Jesus is taking me by the hand, placing
me in His peace, chasing away the sadness as soon as it tries to draw near.» On
June 27, 1890, Brother Alberic fulfilled a plan about which he had spoken to
his Abbot from the day of his arrival: to join a very poor monastery in Syria,
the Trappist monastery of Akbes, so as to live there unknown, even poorer, and
to be close to the Holy Land where the Son of God had suffered and worked.
There, the monks lived in the midst of a population made up of Kurds, Syrians,
Turks, and Armenians, who would be, he wrote, «a brave, hard-working, and
honest people, if they were instructed, governed, and above all, converted...
It is our responsibility to build the future of these peoples. The future, the
only real future, is eternal life. This life is only the short test that
prepares us for the other... Preaching in Muslim countries is difficult, but
over so many centuries missionaries have overcome plenty of other
difficulties... Let us give them the example of a perfect life, of a better and
divine life.»
In 1892, a few months after
taking his vows, Brother Alberic received the order to begin theological
studies for the priesthood. In spite of the «extreme repugnance» he felt for
everything that distanced him from the lowest place that he had come for, he
set to work. At the same time, he explained to the Father Abbot General the
persistent attraction he felt for an even poorer way of life, outside the
Cistercian order. The Father Abbot sent him to Rome for two years of studies.
Obedient, Brother Alberic arrived there in October 1896. However, the following
January, the Abbot General gave him permission to leave the Trappist order to
follow God's call.
«I was infinitely
happy»
Brother Charles of Jesus—the name
he gave himself from then on—then returned to Nazareth. The Poor Clare nuns
took him on as a servant. «I was infinitely happy to be poor, clothed as a
laborer, in the same lowly condition as Jesus...» He spent long hours in
adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. One day, he let these words of
gratitude escape from his heart: «My God, we all must sing Your mercies, all of
us created for eternal glory and redeemed by the Blood of Jesus, by Your Blood,
my Lord Jesus, Who are beside me in this tabernacle. But if we all must, how
much more so I, who have been since childhood enveloped by so many graces, son
of a holy mother, having learned from her to know You, to love You and to pray
to You as soon as I could speak! And the catechisms, the first confessions...
the examples of piety received in my family... and after a long and good
preparation, that First Communion!...
«When, despite so many graces, I
began to stray from You, with what sweetness You called me back to You through
my grandfather's voice, with what mercy You kept me from falling into the worst
excesses by preserving my tenderness for him in my heart!... But despite all
that, alas, I distanced myself, I distanced myself more and more from You, my
Lord and my life... and so my life began to be a death, or rather it was
already a death in Your eyes... And in this state of death, You still preserved
me—all faith had gone, but respect and regard for religion remained intact...
«Through circumstances You made
me stay chaste, and soon, at the end of the winter of 1886, having brought me
back to my family in Paris, chastity became for me a sweetness and a need of my
heart. It was You Who did that, my God, You alone; I, alas, was for nothing in
it! It was necessary to prepare my soul for the Truth. The demon is too much
master of an unchaste soul to allow the Truth to enter it... You, my God, could
not enter a soul where the demon of impure passions reigns as master... My God,
how will I sing Your mercies!...
«A beautiful soul was assisting
You, but through its silence, its gentleness, its perfection. It allowed itself
to be seen, it was good and emitted its alluring fragrance, but it did not act.
You, my Jesus, my Savior, You did everything inside as well as outside. So you
gave me four graces. The first was to inspire me with the thought that since
this soul was so intelligent, the Religion that it believed in so firmly could
not be the madness I first thought. The second was to inspire me with this next
thought: since this Religion is not madness, perhaps Truth is on earth in no
other religion, nor in any other philosophical system, but this one? The third
was to tell me to then study this Religion, to take a teacher for Catholicism,
a learned priest, and see what there is in it. The fourth was the incomparable
grace of introducing me to Father Huvelin... And since then, my God, it has
been nothing but a series of graces... A rising tide, always rising!»
One Mass more each
day
Brother Charles' reputation for
holiness spread unbeknownst to him. The Abbess of the Poor Clares in Jerusalem
urged him to prepare for the priesthood. To overcome his resistance, she
pointed out that if he did, there would be one more Mass in the world every
day. If he had received gifts, were they for himself alone? This argument got
to him—a reply from Father Huvelin did the rest. Brother Charles returned to
Our Lady of the Snows in France where he prepared for his ordination which took
place on June 9, 1900. What would he do now? With the consent of the Bishop of
Viviers and Father Huvelin, he would go to bring the Gospel to the peoples of
the Sahara, whom he considered to be among the most abandoned...
From then on, Father Charles of
Jesus's life took place in the desert—first at Beni-Abbes, in the southern
Oran, then in Tamanrasset, in the Hoggar Mountains, 1,500 km south of Algiers.
He knew that he was certainly the first priest to ever live in and celebrate
the Holy Mass in these places. His purpose was to open the hearts of the
Muslims—Arabs, then Tuaregs—by bringing them into contact with Christian
civilization and with a priest, so that they could later be evangelized by
missionaries in the ordinary sense of the word. He showed them a great and
selfless charity, speaking to them about God and teaching them the precepts of
natural religion.
It has been claimed that Father
de Foucauld did not preach the faith in any way, and limited himself to being a
silent presence in the midst of the Muslims. This already annoyed General
Laperine, who noted in his journal: «What about his conversation! And his
dress!» When anyone arrived at the door of his hermitage, Brother Charles would
appear, wrapped in a white caftan, on which was sewn a red heart surmounted by
a cross, his eyes full of serenity and his hand outstretched. The image of the
Sacred Heart proclaimed the faith of this white man, and his whole life
revealed the Gospel. The natives made no mistake about it. In a report to the
Apostolic Prefect for the Sahara, Brother Charles wrote, «For the slaves
(slavery being then a common practice in the desert), I have a little room
where I gather them together...; little by little, I am teaching them to pray
to Jesus... Poor travelers also find humble refuge and a poor meal at the
Fraternity, with a warm welcome and a few words to incline them to goodness and
to Jesus...» He wrote to a friend: «I am cut to the heart when I see children
from the town set off in search of adventure, with no trade, no education, no
religious instruction... A few good Sisters of Charity would, in a short time
and with God's help, give this whole country to Jesus.»
A cure for sadness
For a long time, he had dreamed
of gathering a community around himself—the «Little Brothers of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus,» missionaries who would make Jesus known and loved through a
life of prayer, charity, and poverty, led among these vast tribes who did not
know the one Savior. He nevertheless wrote, «Right now I am in a state of great
peace. This will last as long as Jesus wants. I have the Blessed Sacrament, and
the love of Jesus. Others have the earth, I have the good Lord... When I am
sad, here is my cure: I say the glorious mysteries of the Rosary, and I tell myself,
'After all, what difference does it make if I am poor, and nothing comes of the
good I hope for? None of that keeps our beloved Jesus—Who wants the good a
thousand times more than I—from being blessed, eternally and infinitely
blessed!...'»
When the First World War
(1914-18) broke out in Europe, Father Charles had been settled in the Hoggar
Mountains for nine years. Of the six Tuareg tribes in the midst of which he
lived, three had submitted themselves to France and remained loyal to it, but
the others took advantage of the European conflict to inspire the people with
the spirit of rebellion. They knew the hermit's great influence over the
Tuaregs of Hoggar. «Tamanrasset's great interest,» wrote a French doctor in
January 1914, «is Father de Foucauld's presence. Through his goodness,
holiness, and skill, he has gained great reputation among the people.» He
became the target of rebels who organized an attack. On December 1, 1916, they
silently approached the small fort where he lived and knocked on the door which
the hermit trustingly opened: he was then seized and tied up. Understanding
what was happening, he waited for death. Finally the moment so longed for, of
joining the Beloved had come! «Let us endure all insults,» he had written,
«blows, wounds, and death, in praying for those who hate us... following Jesus'
example, for no other reason than to show Jesus that we love Him.»
Surprised by two soldiers loyal
to France, the attackers panicked. The one guarding Father Charles shot him
point-blank in the head. The priest slowly slid down the wall and collapsed.
Father Charles de Foucauld was dead, a victim of his loving zeal for these
peoples in whom the light of faith had never shone. He had dedicated his life
to making known to them the true God incarnate in Jesus Christ, to enabling
them to experience the mercy from which he himself had benefited so
dramatically, and of which, from gratitude, he wanted to be the herald. It was
only on December 21 that Captain de La Roche, the commanding officer for the
Hoggar region, was able to get to Tamanrasset. On the priest's tomb he planted
a wooden cross. Then he entered into the fortified hermitage that the bandits
had pillaged. He recovered Father Charles' rosary, stations of the cross he had
delicately drawn in pen and ink on small boards, and a wooden cross that also
bore a very beautiful image of Christ...
Monstrance in the
sand
In disturbing the soil with his
foot, the young officer uncovered a tiny monstrance in the sand that still
contained the Sacred Host. He reverently picked it up, wiped it clean, and
wrapped it in a cloth. When the time came to leave Tamanrasset, he put it in
front of him, on the saddle of his camel, and in this manner traveled the 50 km
that separated Tamanrasset from Fort Motylinski. This was the first procession
of the Blessed Sacrament in the Sahara! On the way, the captain recalled a
conversation he had had with Father de Foucauld: «If anything should happen to
you,» he asked, «what should we do with the Blessed Sacrament?»—«There are two
solutions: make a perfect act of contrition and receive Communion yourself, or
mail the consecrated Host to the White Fathers.» He could not bring himself to
take the second option. So after summoning a sergeant who was a former
seminarian and a fervent Christian, the officer put on never-used white gloves,
and opened the monstrance. The Host was indeed there, just as the priest had
consecrated and adored it. The two young men asked one another: «Will you
receive it? Or me?» At last, the sergeant kneeled and received Communion.
At Beni-Abbes, Charles had
established a rule of life in which prayer took first place: Holy Mass followed
by thanksgiving, the breviary, Stations of the Cross, Rosary... But adoration
of the Most Blessed Sacrament was the most important of all; he devoted three
and a half hours to it daily, divided into three periods of silence. One reads
in his diary: «May 1903—Thirty years ago today I made my first Communion, and I
received the Good Lord for the first time... And here I am holding Jesus in my
poor hands! Him, putting Himself in my hands! And here, night and day, I
rejoice in the holy tabernacle where I possess Jesus, as it were, for myself!
Here, every morning I consecrate the Holy Eucharist, every evening I give
Benediction with it!»
With his burning love for Jesus
in the Eucharist, Brother Charles anticipated the call that the Servant of God
John Paul II would send forth to the whole Church a century later: «Dear
brothers and sisters... Here is the Church's treasure... In the Eucharist we
have Jesus, we have His redemptive sacrifice, we have His resurrection, we have
the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have adoration, obedience and love of the
Father. Were we to disregard the Eucharist, how could we overcome our own
deficiency? ... In the humble signs of bread and wine, changed into His Body
and Blood, Christ walks beside us as our strength and our food for the journey,
and He enables us to become, for everyone, witnesses of hope» (Ecclesia de
Eucharistia, April 17, 2003, nos. 59, 60, 62).
Charles de Foucauld, who was
beatified in Rome last November 13th, loved the Eucharist as though he saw
Christ present in it with his own eyes. Let us ask him to light in our souls an
ever-greater love for Him who wishes to remain in our midst as our confidant,
our support, our true and faithful Friend.
Dom Antoine Marie osb.
http://www.clairval.com/lettres/en/2006/01/25/2250106.htm