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Saint Solomon Leclercq
Image: Dguendel · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Saint Solomon Leclercq

Teaching brother killed in the September 1792 massacres for refusing the oath

Rank
Saint
Kind
Martyr, Religious
Life
1745 – 1792
Era
18th century
Feast
2 September
Countries
France
France

Life story

Guillaume-Nicolas-Louis Leclercq was born on 15 November 1745 at Boulogne-sur-Mer in France. On 25 March 1767 he entered the novitiate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools at Rouen and took the name Solomon; he took vows in 1769 and made final profession in 1772. Biographies describe him as somewhat shy but a gentle, firm teacher. He was director of novices at Maréville from 1773, its procurator in 1777, a mathematics teacher at the Melun scholasticate from 1780, and from 1787 secretary to the Superior General.

When the Revolution required clergy and religious to swear an oath under the government's laws, he refused. On 15 August 1792 he was arrested in Paris and held with many priests and religious in a former Carmelite convent used as a prison.

He was killed on 2 September 1792, aged 46, in the garden of the Carmelite house during the September massacres. He was the first Brother of his institute to die as a martyr. On 17 October 1926 Pius XI beatified him with other martyrs of those killings. Pope Francis approved a miracle on 9 May 2016, concerning a five-year-old girl in Venezuela bitten by an unidentified animal in 2007 who recovered after prayers to him, and canonised him on 16 October 2016. He is the only one of the group to be canonised; the rest are blessed. His feast day is 2 September.

Works and witness

  • Entered the Brothers of the Christian Schools at Rouen on 25 March 1767
  • Director of novices, mathematics teacher and secretary to the Superior General
  • Refused the revolutionary oath and was arrested on 15 August 1792
  • Killed on 2 September 1792 at the Carmelite convent in Paris
  • Beatified in 1926 and canonised in 2016

Saints from the same country

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

References

  • Catholic World Report: 'A Saint among 115 martyred Blesseds: Saint Solomon Leclerq' (2 Sept 2023)

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