Charles de Foucauld, born as Charles Eugène, vicomte de Foucauld de Pontbriand (15 September 1858 – 1 December 1916), in religion Charles of Jesus, was a French monk, Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara in Algeria. He was also an explorer, geographer, ethnographer. Before joining the Trappists as a monk, he was a soldier in the 2nd Hussar Regiment. He was murdered by Bedouin bandits in 1916. His inspiration and writings led to the founding of a number of religious congregations inspired by his example. He was canonized in 2022.
Orphaned at the age of six, de Foucauld was brought up by his maternal grandfather, Colonel Beaudet de Morlet. He undertook officer training at the Saint-Cyr Military Academy. Upon graduating from the academy, he opted to join the cavalry. Ordained in Viviers in 1901, he decided to settle in the Algerian Sahara at Béni Abbès. His ambition was to form a new congregation, but nobody joined him. Taking the religious name Charles of Jesus, he later moved to Tamanghasset and lived with the Berbers, adopting a new apostolic approach, preaching not through sermons, but through his example.
On 1 December 1916, de Foucauld was killed by a bandit at his hermitage. He was quickly considered to be a martyr of faith and was the object of veneration following the success of the biography written by René Bazin. The foundation of newer religious congregations, spiritual families, and a renewal of eremitic life are inspired by Charles de Foucauld's life and writings. His beatification process started in 1927, eleven years after his death. He was declared venerable on 24 April 2001 by Pope John Paul II, then beatified on 13 November 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI. On 27 May 2020, the Vatican announced that a miracle had been attributed to de Foucauld's intercession.Church promulgates new decrees for causes of saints, in Vatican News, 27 May 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020. De Foucauld was canonized by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022.
Biography Childhood
De Foucauld's family was originally from the Périgord region of France and part of the old French nobility; their motto being Jamais arrière ("Never behind"). Several of his ancestors took part in the crusades, a source of prestige within the French nobility. His great-great-uncle, Armand de Foucauld de Pontbriand, a vicar general and first cousin of the archbishop of Arles, Monseigneur Jean Marie du Lau d'Allemans, as well as the archbishop himself, were victims of the September massacres that took place during the French Revolution. His mother, Élisabeth de Morlet, was from the Lorraine aristocracy whilst his grandfather had made a fortune during the revolution as a republican. Élisabeth de Morlet married the viscount Édouard de Foucauld de Pontbriand, a forest inspector, in 1855.
On 17 July 1857, their first child, Charles, was born and died one month later. Their second son, whom they named Charles Eugène, was born in Strasbourg on 15 September 1858 in the family house on Place Broglie at what was previously mayor Dietrich's mansion, where La Marseillaise was sung for the first time, in 1792.
A few months after his birth, his father was transferred to Wissembourg. In 1861, Charles was three and a half years old when his sister, Marie-Inès-Rodolphine, was born. His profoundly religious mother educated him in the Catholic faith, steeped in acts of devotion and piety. She died following a miscarriage on 13 March 1864, followed by her husband, who suffered from neurasthenia, on 9 August. The now orphaned Charles (age 6) and his sister Marie (age 3) were put in the care of their paternal grandmother, Viscountess Clothilde de Foucauld, who died of a heart attack shortly afterwards.
The children were then taken in by their maternal grandparents, Colonel Beaudet de Morlet and his wife, who lived in Strasbourg. De Morlet, an alumnus of the École Polytechnique and engineering officer, provided his grandchildren with an affectionate upbringing. Charles wrote of him: "My grandfather whose beautiful intelligence I admired, whose infinite tenderness surrounded my childhood and youth with an atmosphere of love, the warmth of which I still feel emotionally."
Charles pursued his studies at the Saint-Arbogast episcopal school and went to Strasbourg high school in 1868. At the time, an introvert and short-tempered, he was often ill and pursued his education thanks to private tuition.
He spent the summer of 1868 with his aunt, Inès Moitessier, who felt responsible for her nephew. Her daughter, Marie Moitessier (later Marie de Bondy), eight years older than Charles, became fast friends with him. She was a fervent churchgoer who was very close to Charles, sometimes acting as a maternal figure for him.
In 1870, the de Morlet family fled the Franco-Prussian War and found refuge in Bern, Switzerland. Following the French defeat, the family moved to Nancy in October 1871. Charles had four years of secular highschool left. Jules Duvaux was a teacher of his, and he bonded with fellow student Gabriel Tourdes. Both students had a passion for classical literature, and Gabriel remained, according to Charles, one of the "two incomparable friends" of his life. His education in a secular school developed nurtured patriotic sentiment, alongside a mistrust for the German Empire. His First Communion took place on 28 April 1872, and his confirmation at the hands of Monseigneur Joseph-Alfred Foulon in Nancy followed shortly thereafter.
In October 1873, when he was 15, whilst in a Rhetoric class, he began to distance himself from the faith before becoming agnostic. He later affirmed, "The philosophers are all in discord. I spent twelve years not denying and believing nothing, despairing of the truth, not even believing in God. No proof to me seemed evident."Letter from Charles de Foucauld to Henri de Castries on 14 August 1901, translated from French; orig.: "Les philosophes sont tous en désaccord. Je demeurai douze ans sans nier et sans rien croire, désespérant de la vérité, ne croyant même pas en Dieu. Aucune preuve ne me paraissait évidente" This loss of the faith was accompanied by uneasiness; Charles found himself to be "all selfishness, all impiousness, all evil desire, I was as though distraught".Letter from Charles de Foucauld to Marie de Castries on 17 April 1892, translated from French; orig.: "tout égoïsme, toute impiété, tout désir de mal, j'étais comme affolé"
On 11 April 1874, his cousin Marie married Olivier de Bondy. A few months later, on 12 August 1874, Charles obtained his baccalauréat with the distinction "mention bien" (equivalent to magna cum laude).
A dissipated youth
Charles was sent to the Sainte-Geneviève school (now located in Versailles), run by the Jesuits, at that time located in the Latin Quarter of Paris, in order to prepare the admission test for the Saint-Cyr Military Academy. Charles was opposed to the strictness of the boarding school and decided to abandon all religious practice. He obtained his second baccalauréat in August 1875. He led a dissipated lifestyle at that point in time and was expelled from the school for being "lazy and undisciplined"Translated from French, orig.: "paresse et indiscipline" in March 1876.
He then returned to Nancy, where he studied tutoring whilst secretly perusing light readings. During his readings with Gabriel Tourdes, he wanted to "completely enjoy that which is pleasant to the mind and body".Translated from French, orig.: "jouir d'une façon complète de ce qui est agréable au corps et à l'esprit" This reading introduced the two students to the works of Aristotle, Voltaire, Erasmus, Rabelais and Laurence Sterne.
In June 1876, he applied for entrance to the Saint-Cyr Military Academy, and was accepted eighty-second out of four hundred and twelve. He was one of the youngest in his class. His record at Saint-Cyr was a mixed one and he graduated 333rd out of a class of 386.Fleming, Fergus (2003). The Sword and the Cross: Two Men and an Empire of Sand. New York: Grove Press. p. 23 .
The death of de Foucauld's grandfather and the receipt of a substantial inheritance, was followed by his entry into the French cavalry school at Saumur. Continuing to lead an extravagant life style, de Foucauld was posted to the 4th Regiment of Chasseurs d'Afrique in Algeria. Bored with garrison service he travelled in Morocco (1883–84), the Sahara (1885), and Palestine (1888–89). While reverting to being a wealthy young socialite when in Paris, de Foucauld became an increasingly serious student of the geography and culture of Algeria and Morocco. In 1885, the Societe de Geographie de Paris awarded him its gold medal in recognition of his exploration and research.Fleming, Fergus (2003). The Sword and the Cross: Two Men and an Empire of Sand. New York: Grove Press. p. 58 .
Religious life
On 14 January 1890, de Foucauld entered the Trappist monastery of Notre-Dame des Neiges, where he received, as a novice, the religious name Marie-Albéric on the feast of St. Alberic, 26 January. According to a plea which he sent to the abbot prior to his entrance in Notre-Dame des Neiges, after some months of novitiate Br. Marie-Albéric was sent to the abbey of La Trappe at Akbès on the Syrian-Turkish border.René Bazin, Charles de Foucauld – Hermit and Explorer, Benziger Bros., New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, 1923, pp. 90 ff. But despite the strict life of the Trappists according to their vow of poverty, de Foucauld considered the life of the residents in the surrounding villages to be more miserable.
In 1897, after seven years, he therefore left the order and began to lead a life of prayer near a convent of Poor Clares in Nazareth where he worked as a porter and servant.René Bazin, Charles de Foucauld – Hermit and Explorer, Benziger Bros., New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, 1923, pp. 132 ff. After some time, it was suggested to him that he be ordained, so he returned to Akbès for some time in order to prepare for the ordination to the priesthood. On 9 June 1901, at the age of 43, he received the ordination.
After that, he went to the Sahara in French Algeria and continued to live an eremitical lifestyle. At that time he adopted the religious name Charles of Jesus.René Bazin, Charles de Foucauld – Hermit and Explorer, Benziger Bros., New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, 1923, pp. 139 et al. 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" and both himself and the future members as "Little Brothers of Jesus".René Bazin, Charles de Foucauld – Hermit and Explorer, Benziger Bros., New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, 1923, p. 184 et al
De Foucauld moved to be with the Tuareg people, in Tamanghasset in southern Algeria. This region is the central part of the Sahara with the Ahaggar Mountains (the Hoggar) immediately to the west. De Foucauld used the highest point in the region, the Assekrem, as a place of retreat. Living close to the Tuareg and sharing their life and hardships, he made a ten-year study of their language and cultural traditions. He learned the Tuareg language and worked on a dictionary and grammar. His dictionary manuscript was published posthumously in four volumes. It has become known among Berberologists for its rich and apt descriptions.
Death