Charles de Foucauld
| Blessed Charles de Foucauld | |
|---|---|
de Foucauld around 1907
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| Martyr | |
| Born |
September 15, 1858 Strasbourg, France |
| Died | December 1, 1916 (aged 58) Tamanrasset, French Algeria |
| Beatified | 13 November 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI |
| Feast | 1 December |
Blessed Charles Eugène de Foucauld (15 September 1858 – 1 December 1916) was a French Catholic religious and priest living among the Tuareg in the Sahara in Algeria. He was assassinated in 1916 outside the door of the fort he built for the protection of the Tuareg, and is considered by the Catholic Church to be a martyr. His inspiration and writings led to the founding of the Little Brothers of Jesus among other religious congregations. He was beatified on 13 November 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Charles de Foucauld was an officer of the French Army in North Africa where he first developed his strong feelings about the desert and solitude. On his subsequent return to France, and towards the end of October 1886, at the age of 28, he went through a conversion experience at the Church of Saint Augustin in Paris.
Charles de Foucauld was born in a house located 3, Place Broglie in Strasbourg, France. In 1925, the house was torn down along with two others to make way for the grand building of the Strasbourg branch of the Banque de France. A commemorative plaque was set in the façade.
In 1890, de Foucauld joined the Cistercian Trappist order first in France and then at Akbès on the Syrian-Turkish border, but left in 1897 to follow an undefined religious vocation in Nazareth. He began to lead a solitary life of prayer, near a convent of Poor Clares and it was suggested to him that he be ordained. In 1901, at the age of 43, he was ordained in Viviers, France, and returned to the Sahara in French Algeria and lived a virtually eremitical life. He first settled in Béni Abbès, near the Moroccan border, building a small hermitage for "adoration and hospitality", which he soon referred to as the "Fraternity".
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