A Rich and Varied Life
Birth
1858
1858
- 15 September 1858 in Strasbourg in a family belonging to the nobility with the motto ‘Never backwards’ he was baptised.
Child and youth
1858-1876
1858-1876
« I, who have been surrounded, since childhood, with so many graces, son of a saintly mother… »
November 1897
- Charles had a sister, Marie, three years younger. His parents and his grandmother died one after the other in 1864. This left Charles psychologically scarred. The orphans were left in the care of their grandfather on their mother’s side, Colonel Morlet, a good but weak man.
- After the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, France lost Alsace-Lorraine. The family left Strasbourg for Nancy and kept its French nationality.
- Secondary school in Nancy, then Paris with the Jesuits where he passed his Baccalaureat and started the preparatory year for Saint-Cyr (Military Academy). Judged lazy and undisciplined, he was sent away during the year.
- Charles identified his loss of faith at the end of his time at secondary school, when he was about sixteen years old.
Military life
1876-1881
1876-1881
« I moved away from you more and more, Lord. All faith had disappeared from my life »
Retreat November 1897
- 1876 : He started at Saint-Cyr.
- 1878 : His grandfather died (March). He inherited a large fortune which he proceeded to squander. In October, he started at the Cavalry School in Saumur. He left it in 1879, 87th of 87. In school, he lived a life of pleasure and increased his acts of indiscipline and eccentricity (when on sentry duty, he left his post and disguised himself as a beggar…). He enjoyed drawing and improved himself by reading avidly.
- 1879 : Garrisoned in Pont-à-Mousson, he was profligate and associated with a young woman of ill repute, Mimi.
- 1880 : His regiment was sent to Algeria. He took Mimi with him, pretending she was his wife. When the deception was discovered, the Army summoned him to send her away. Charles refused and preferred to be taken out of action for « indiscipline and notorious misconduct ». He went back to France to live in Evian.
- 1881 : He found out that his regiment was engaged in a dangerous action in Algeria. He left Mimi, asked to be reinstated and to rejoin his comrades. For eight months, he was an excellent officer, appreciated by his superiors and his soldiers.
Explorations
1882 – 1886
1882 – 1886
«Islam has brought about a profound change in me »
Letter of 8 January 1901
- 1882 : Attracted by North Africa, he discharged himself from the Army and settled in Algeria to prepare for a scientific expedition in Morocco. He learnt to speak Arabic and Hebrew.
- June 1883 – May 1884 : Disguised as a rabbi, he travelled across Morocco illegally, guided by rabbi Mardochée. He risked his life several times. He was impressed by the faith and the prayers of the Muslims.
- 1884 : Charles got engaged in Algeria, but broke off the engagement because his family was opposed to the marriage.
- 1885 : He received the gold medal of the French Geographic Society for his first report on his expedition in Morocco.
- 1885 – 1886: Trip to South Algerian and Tunisian oases.
- 1886 : He returned to France, rediscovered his family, in particular his cousin Marie de Bondy. He edited Reconnaissance in Morocco. He lived a sober and ascetical life. He questioned himself about the inner life and spirituality. Despite having no apparent faith, he went into churches and repeated this strange prayer: « God, if you exist, make me know you ».
Conversion
1886 – 1889
1886 – 1889
« As soon as I believed that there is a God, I understood that I could not do anything else than live for him… »
Letter August 1901
- End October 1886: He entered the Saint-Augustine church in Paris to ask Abbé Huvelin (whom he came to know through Marie de Bondy) for religious instruction. Huvelin requested that he make his confession and receive Communion immediately.
- 1887-1888 : He stayed with his family, with his sister Marie, and started to think about a religious life.
- December 1888 – January 1889: He visited the Holy Land. Nazareth leaves a strong impression.
- Back in France he hands over his goods to his sister. He goes on many retreats to find a religious order where he could enter. He feels called to live « the hidden life of the humble and poor labourer of Nazareth ». The Trappist Order seems the most appropriate.
Religious life
1889 – 1897
1889 – 1897
« My religious vocation dates from the same hour as my faith: God is so great.»
August 1901
- 1890 (16 January) : He entered the Notre Dame des Neiges [Our Lady of the Snows] Trappist monastery in France. Six Months later, he went off to a much poorer trappist monastery in Akbes, Syria. He didn’t feel at ease. His way of life didn’t seem to encourage imitating Jesus in Nazareth. He drafted an initial constitution for a religious order « in his own way ». « I yearn for Nazareth… », so he writes. He asks to be relieved of his vows. In October 1896 he was sent to Rome for studies.
- January 1897 : The prior (father superior) of the Trappists gave him the freedom to follow his vocation.
Nazareth
1897 – 1900
1897 – 1900
« To resemble Jesus even more… »
August 1901
« By the mere fact of celebrating Mass…, I shall offer the biggest glory to God and I shall do the best possible thing for men. »
Letter of 26 April 1901
- As of March 1897 he was in … Nazareth, where he agreed to be a domestic servant of the Poor Clares. He lived in a shed near their cloister. « I receive permission to travel to Nazareth alone, and to live there unknown, as a labourer, doing my everyday work. Solitude – prayer – adoration – Gospel meditation – humble work. » He stayed there for four years. Little by little the Poor Clares and his confessor, father Huvelin, led him to request that he be ordained as a priest. He went back to France, to Notre Dame des Neiges, to prepare.
- June 1901 : He was ordained priest.
Beni-Abbès and trips to the Tuareg
1901 – 1906
1901 – 1906
« To continue in the Sahara the hidden life of Jesus, not to preach but to live in solitude and poverty the humble work of Jesus. »
April 1904
- September 1901 : Charles de Foucauld was in Algeria. He settled in Beni-Abbes and built a hermitage to found a monastic fraternity
- 1902 : He alerted friends and authorities to the evils of slavery… spoke out against the local bishop who refused to condemn slavery. He secured the release of several slaves.
- 1905 : He made several trips to visit the Tuareg, a nomadic/pastoral people. He learnt their language. No priest had visited their land before him. He drafted a catechism for them, and he started to translate the Gospel.
- 1906 : After all this time a companion joined him. But Brother Michel became ill and quickly left.
Tamanrasset – Three trips to France
1907-1916
1907-1916
« My apostolate must be that of goodness. When people see me they must say: “Because this man is good, so must be his religion. »
1909
- July 1907 : Charles settled in Tamanrasset. He undertook an enormous scientific work on the Tuareg language, their songs and poetry. He got help from an inhabitant. He was the only Christian and was not allowed to say Mass. But he chose to stay … for the people. That lasted for six months, then he obtained permission to celebrate on his own but not to expose the Blessed Sacrament.
- January 1908 : Exhausted, he fell ill and barely escaped death. The Tuareg saved him by sharing the small amount of goat’s milk that they had left in this period of drought. Charles was helpless and dependent upon his neighbours… He came to realise that friendship and brotherly love have to work via exchange and reciprocity.
- 1909 – 1911 – 1913 : Three trips to France to present his proposal for a « Union of the brothers and sisters of the Sacred Heart… a lay association for the conversion of the unbelieving. Fervent Christians of all classes, capable of making known, by their example, what Christian life is all about, and of showing the Gospel in their life. » (Rules – Advise, 1909-1913)
- 1914 : War broke out in France. Charles de Foucauld stayed in Tamanrasset on Laperrine’s advice (a military friend).
- 1915 : Riots in the desert : Moroccan Rezzous and Libyan Senoussites were a threat.
Last year and death
1916
1916
« Our annihilation is the most powerful way that we have to unite with Jesus and to do good for the souls. »
1st December 1916 to Marie de Bondy
- 1916 : A small fortress was built in Tamanrasset to protect the people. Charles installed himself there alone, waiting to welcome people living in the neighbourhood in case of danger. He continued to work on Tuareg poetry and proverbs.
- 1st December 1916 : Tuaregs of Senoussite tricked him into leaving the fortress, overpowered him and tied him up. During the plundering, soldiers arrived unexpectedly. They became desperate, a bullet was fired, he was killed. His body was buried in the ditch around the fortress.
« When the grain of wheat falls to the earth and it doesn’t die, it stays alone, but when it dies it bears a lot of fruit; I haven’t died, I am alone … Pray for my conversion so that I can die and bear fruit. »
to Suzanne Perret
At his death, Charles de Foucauld was alone … or almost. In France, 49 people had enrolled in the Association of the Brothers and Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for which he had obtained approval from the Church authorities. By 2001 there were 19 different Fraternities, lay people, priests and religious, living the Gospel throughout the world, based upon Charles de Foucauld’s intuitions.
Beatification
2001 – 2005
2001 – 2005
- He was declared Venerable on 24 April 2001 by Pope John Paul II
- He was declared Blessed on 13 November 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Canonisation
2022
« By identifying with the least he came at last to be the brother of all. »
Fratelli tutti, Pope Francis
- On 27 May 2020, the Vatican announced that a miracle had been attributed to de Foucauld’s intercession.
- Brother Charles de Foucauld was canonised as a saint by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022 in Rome.