CrucisSt. Charles de Foucauld
St. Charles de Foucauld was born on 15 September 1858 in Strasbourg, France, into an aristocratic family, and lost his faith as a young man, living for a time a dissolute life as a cavalry officer and later distinguishing himself as an explorer of Morocco. The witness of Muslim piety he encountered, and the patient love of his devout cousin, led to a profound reconversion in 1886, when he knelt in a Paris church and rediscovered God.
He became a Trappist, then a hermit, and was ordained a priest in 1901, settling at last among the Tuareg people of the Algerian Sahara at Tamanrasset. There he lived a hidden life of prayer, hospitality, and friendship, seeking to be a "universal brother" and to preach the Gospel simply by his presence and charity rather than by words. He compiled a pioneering Tuareg dictionary and grammar. He was killed at his hermitage on 1 December 1916. Canonized in 2022, he inspired the Little Brothers and Little Sisters of Jesus.
Selected quotes
“Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.”
“I am ready for all, I accept all; let only your will be done in me and in all your creatures.”
“The one thing necessary is to do the will of God; in that alone is peace.”