Saint Charles de Foucauld

Life story

Charles de Foucauld was born on 15 September 1858 in Strasbourg, France, into an aristocratic family. Orphaned young, he was raised by his grandfather, attended the military school of Saint-Cyr and served as a cavalry officer. He lived an unrestrained life and left the army, then in 1883–1884 travelled through Morocco in disguise, making a survey that geographers later praised.

In October 1886, in Paris, after meeting the priest Henri Huvelin, he returned to the Catholic faith. He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, joined the Trappists in France and Syria, and then lived as a servant at Nazareth. He was ordained a priest in 1901 and went to Algeria, first to Béni Abbès and from 1905 to Tamanrasset, among the Tuareg. He learned their language, compiled a dictionary and collected Tuareg poetry.

He hoped to found a religious community but had no members at his death. On 1 December 1916, amid war and unrest, an armed group came to his hermitage at Tamanrasset and killed him. In later decades several religious congregations and lay groups drew inspiration from him, notably the Little Brothers and Little Sisters of Jesus. He was beatified in 2005 and canonised on 15 May 2022.

The notes he left on Tuareg language and life were later used by scholars, especially the Tuareg–French dictionary published after his death. His small hermitage at Tamanrasset is still preserved as a place of remembrance.

Works and witness

• Army officer, then explored Morocco in 1883–1884
• Returned to the faith in October 1886 in Paris
• Ordained in 1901; lived among the Tuareg at Tamanrasset
• Compiled a Tuareg dictionary; killed in 1916, canonised in 2022

Saints from the same country

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Joan of Arc, Saint Francis de Sales

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Charles de Foucauld, Reconnaissance au Maroc

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.