Saints Commemorated in December & January
I must confess, metaphorically at least, that I hadn’t realised there was such
a defined hierarchy in the Calendar of the Scottish Episcopal Church and
that each holy and saint’s day listed was assigned a number which indicates
its category. Feasts in categories 1 - 4 should be kept by the whole church.
Days in categories 5 and 6 may be kept according to diocesan or local
discretion and, commemorations not included in this Calendar may be
observed only with the approval of the bishop.
Usually, these columns deal with only those in the Premier League of
beatification but, in Brigitte’s absence, this issue will drop down a few steps
and look at some of the less known, but no less noteworthy, individuals who
grace the Calendar.
Born in Strasbourg in 1858,
Charles de Foucauld joined
the Cistercian Trappist
order, first in France and then
at Akbès on the Syrian-
Turkish border. He left in 1897
to follow an undefined religious
vocation in Nazareth where he
began to lead a solitary life of
prayer near a convent of Poor Clares. In 1901, 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".
He moved to southern Algeria and used the highest point in the region,
the Assekrem, as a place of retreat. Living close to the Tuareg people, and
sharing their life and hardships, he made a ten-year study of their language
and cultural traditions. It was during this period that he formulated the idea of
founding a new religious institute, under the name of the Little Brothers of
Jesus.
On 1 December 1916, de Foucauld was dragged from his fortress by an
armed gang. They had intended to kidnap de Foucauld, but, when the gang
was disturbed, one startled 15-year-old bandit shot him through the head,
killing him instantly. For years, the French authorities pursued and, in 1943,
his killer was apprehended and executed at Djanet the following year.
De Foucauld was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on 13 November 2005,
and is listed as a martyr in the liturgy of the Catholic Church.
His life and works are marked on December 1 on the Church Calendar.
18