“The life of Charles de Foucauld was a succession of diverse actions, of periods of time, each of
them an abandonment of the previous position which brought about a new beginning, often of a
fundamental nature.” A. Chatelard (Little brother of Jesus)
| Birth: 1858 |
• 15 September 1858 in Strasbourg in a family belonging to the nobility with the motto “Never backwards”. He is baptized. |
| CHILDHOOD – YOUTH: 1858-1876 ”I, who have been surrounded, since childhood, with so many graces, son of a saintly mother...” |
• Charles has a sister, Marie, three years younger. • His parents die one after the other in 1864. It will leave Charles psychologically scarred. • The orphans are 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 has lost Alsace-Lorraine. The family leaves Strasbourg for Nancy and keeps its French nationality. • Secondary school in Nancy, then Paris with the Jesuits where he passes his “Baccalauréat” and starts the preparatory year for Saint Cyr (Military Academy). Judged lazy and undisciplined, he is sent away during the year. Charles identifies his loss of faith at the end of his time at secondary school, when about 16 years old. |
| MILITARY LIFE: 1876-1881 ”I moved away from you more and more, Lord. All faith had disappeared from my life” |
• 1876: He starts at Saint Cyr. • 1878: His grandfather dies (March). He inherits a very big fortune which he proceeds to squander. In October he starts at the Cavalry School in Saumur. He will leave it in 1879, 87th of 87. In school he lives a life of pleasure and increases his acts of indiscipline and eccentricity (when on sentry duty, he leaves his post and disguises himself as a beggar...) He draws and improves himself by much reading. • 1879: Garrisoned in Pont-à-Mousson, he is profligate and associates with a young woman of ill repute: Mimi. • 1880: His regiment is sent to Algeria. He takes Mimi with him, pretending she’s his wife. When the deception is discovered, the Army summons him to send her away. Charles refuses and prefers to be taken out of action for “indiscipline and notorious misconduct”. He goes back to France to live in Evian. • 1881: He finds out that his regiment is engaged in a dangerous action in Algeria. He leaves Mimi, asks to be reinstated and to rejoin his comrades. For 8 months, he is an excellent officer, appreciated by his superiors and his soldiers. |
| EXPLORATIONS: 1882-1886 ”The Islam has brought about a profound change in me” |
• 1882: Attracted by North Africa, he discharges himself from the Army and settles in Algeria to prepare for a scientific expedition in Morocco. He learns to speak Arabic and Hebrew. • June 1883 – May 1884: Disguised as a rabbi, he traverses Morocco illegally, guided by rabbi Mardochée. He risks his life several times. He is impressed by the faith and the prayers of the Muslims. • 1884: Charles gets engaged in Algeria, but breaks off the engagement because his family is opposed to the marriage. • 1885: He receives 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 returns to France, rediscovers his family, in particular his niece Marie de Bondy. He edits “Reconnaissance in Morocco”. He lives a sober and ascetical life. He questions himself on the inner life and spirituality. Without faith, he enters into churches and repeats this strange prayer: “God, if you exist, make me know you”. |
| CONVERSION: 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...” |
• End October 1886: He enters the Saint-Augustine church in Paris to ask Abbé Huvelin (whom he came to know via Marie de Bondy) for religious instruction. Huvelin requests that he confesses and receives Communion immediately. • 1887-1888: He stays with his family, with his sister Marie, and starts to think about a religious life. • December 1888 – January 1889: He visits 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 ”My religious vocation dates from the same hour as my faith: God is so great” |
• 1890 (16 January): He enters the “Notre Dame des Neiges” (“Our Lady of the Snows”) Trappist monastery in France. 6 Months later he goes off to a much poorer trappist monastery in Akbes, Syria. He doesn’t feel at ease. His way of life doesn’t seem to encourage imitating Jesus in Nazareth. He drafts 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 is sent to Rome for studies. • January 1897: The prior (father superior) of the Trappists gives him the freedom to follow his vocation. |
| NAZARETH: 1897-1900 “To resemble Jesus even more...” “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” |
• As of March 1897 he is found in ... Nazareth, where he has agreed to be a domestic servant of the Poor Clares. He lives 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 stays there for 4 years. Little by little the Poor Clares and his confessor, father Huvelin, lead him to requesting that he be ordained as a priest. He goes back to France, to Notre Dame des Neiges, to get prepared. • 9 June 1901: He is ordained priest. |
| BENI-ABBES AND TRIPS TO THE TUAREG: 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.” |
• September 1901: Charles de Foucauld is in Algeria. He settles in Beni-Abbes and builds a hermitage to found a monastic fraternity. • 1902: He alerts friends and authorities to the evils of slavery... He secures the release of several slaves. • 1905: He makes several trips to the Tuareg. He learns their language. No priest has visited their land before him. • He drafts a catechism for them and he starts to translate the Gospel. • 1906: After all this time a companion joins him. But brother Michel becomes ill and quickly leaves. |
| TAMANRASSET 3 TRIPS TO FRANCE: 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»” |
• July 1907: Charles settles in Tamanrasset. Enormous scientific work on the Tuareg and poetry. He gets help from an inhabitant. He’s the only Christian. He is not allowed, but chooses to stay... for the people. Then he obtains permission to celebrate and expose the Blessed Sacrament. • January 1908: Exhausted, he falls ill and the Tuareg save him by sharing the small milk that they have left in this dry period and depends upon his neighbours... His friendship and brotherly love have reciprocity. • 1909 - 1911 - 1913: Three trips to France, proposal for a “Union of the brothers Heart”, a lay association for the conversion “Fervent christians of all classes, capable by their example, what Christian life is showing the Gospel in their life”. (Rules 1913. • 1914: War breaks out in France. Charles Tamanrasset on Laperrine’s advice • 1915: Riots in the desert: Moroccan Rezzous Senoussites are a threat. |
| LAST YEAR – DEATH: 1916 ”Our annihilation is the most powerful way that we have to unite with Jesus and to do good for the souls.” ”When the grain of corn 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” |
• A small fortress is built in Tamanrasset. Charles installs himself there alone, waiting people living in the neighbourhood He continues to work on Tuareg poetry 1st December 1916: Tuaregs of Senoussite leave the fortress, overpowering him During the plundering, solders arrive They get desperate, a bullet is fired, and he gets hit His body is buried in the the ditch around At his death, Charles de Foucauld is alone France, 49 people have enrolled in the brothers and sisters of the Sacred Heart had obtained approval from the Church In 2001, 19 different Fraternities, lay religious, live the Gospel throughout Charles de Foucauld’s intuitions. |