Blessed Charles de Faucauld
Blessed Charles de Foucauld (born Charles Eugène de Foucauld, September 15, 1858 AD in Strasbourg, Alsace, France; died December 1, 1916 AD in Tamanrasset, Algeria) was a French Catholic priest, religious founder, and martyr who lived as a hermit among the Tuareg people of the Sahara Desert. A former French army officer and explorer who underwent a profound conversion, he sought to live the hidden life of Jesus at Nazareth in solidarity with the poorest and most marginalized people he could find. He was beatified in 2005 by Pope John Paul II and canonized in 2022 by Pope Francis. His feast day is December 1.
Stored in Cargo: Blessed Charles de Faucauld
| Blessed Charles de Faucauld | |
|---|---|
| Feast Day | December 01 |
| Profession | Hermit; priest; founder of the Little Brothers of Jesus; explorer; army officer; linguist |
| Rel. Affiliation | Congregation of the Little Brothers of Jesus (founded posthumously from his writings); formerly Trappist (1890–1897) |
| Patronage | Algeria; Sahara; hermits; soldiers; explorers; the Tuareg people |
| Attributes | Habit with heart and cross emblem; Sahara desert; Tuareg; Sacred Heart |
| Birthplace | Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace-Lorraine, France |
| Death Place | Tamanrasset, Tamanrasset Province, Algeria |
| Cause of Death | Martyrdom; shot by Tuareg raiders during World War I |
| Primary Shrine | Hermitage at Assekrem, Tamanrasset Province, Algeria — a hermitage near his martyrdom site maintained by Little Brothers of Jesus |
| Liturgical Class | Optional Memorial (since canonization 2022) |
| Historic Class | Not included |
Biography
Early life and conversion
Charles de Foucauld was born in 1858 in Strasbourg into an aristocratic French family. He lost both his parents by age six and was raised by his grandfather. He attended the Saint-Cyr military academy but led a dissolute life as a young officer. He served in Algeria and Morocco, and undertook a daring solo exploration of Morocco in 1883–1884 disguised as a Jewish rabbi — an expedition that won him a gold medal from the Paris Geographical Society and established him as a serious explorer.
The experience of Islam among the Moroccan people, and contact with Jewish and Muslim faith, stirred something in him. In 1886, back in Paris, he made his confession to Father Henri Huvelin at Saint-Augustin church and underwent a sudden, complete conversion. He left his fortune and his military career.
Hidden life at Nazareth
After years of discernment, Foucauld became a Trappist monk in 1890, eventually living at the Trappist house of Akbes in Syria. But he felt called to something more radical — the very poverty of Jesus. In 1897, he left the Trappists (with permission) and went to Nazareth in the Holy Land, where he lived as a servant of the Poor Clares, doing manual work, wearing a rough robe, eating almost nothing, spending hours in prayer. He sought to imitate the thirty years of Jesus's hidden, poor, working life in Nazareth.
In 1900 he was ordained a priest in France. In 1901, he went to Algeria, to Beni Abbès in the Saharan south, and established a small hermitage. He called it the "Fraternity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus" and envisioned a community of fraternal life that would serve the poorest, but no one came to join him.
Among the Tuareg
In 1905, responding to the suggestion of General Laperrine (a former comrade), Foucauld moved further into the Sahara, to Tamanrasset among the Tuareg — a Berber nomadic people of the central Sahara. He learned their language (Tamahaq), compiled a Tuareg–French dictionary and grammar, and collected their poetry and oral traditions. He lived in utter poverty, often near starvation, sustained by the Eucharist and his hours of prayer.
He wrote the Rule of the Little Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — envisioning small fraternities living in poverty among the poor — but never saw a single member in his lifetime.
Martyrdom
During World War I, the Sahara became unstable. On December 1, 1916, a group of raiders (associated with the Senussi movement backed by the Ottomans) came to his hermitage. Foucauld was pulled outside; a young man guarding him panicked when French soldiers approached and shot him. He was 58. He was found alone, kneeling in the desert sand.
Legacy
His writings and his life inspired the founding of the Little Brothers of Jesus and the Little Sisters of Jesus by René Voillaume and Madeleine Delbrêl in the 1930s and 1940s. These congregations carry his vision of fraternal life among the poor into the contemporary world.
He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2005. Pope Francis canonized him on May 15, 2022 — the first new saint canonized in the post-pandemic period.
Significant locations
Legend
Birth location: Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace-Lorraine, France
Death location: Tamanrasset, Tamanrasset Province, Algeria
Notable location: Where he lived as a hermit for years among the Tuareg; where he was martyred on December 1, 1916 (Tamanrasset, Algeria)
Notable location: Where he lived as a servant of the Poor Clares, seeking to imitate the hidden life of Jesus; central to his spirituality (Nazareth, Israel)
Notable location: His first hermitage in Algeria, established 1901; he called it the Fraternity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Beni Abbès, Béchar Province, Algeria)
Notable location: The Trappist monastery where he made his retreat and felt called to a life beyond the Trappists; later became a Trappist himself (Notre-Dame de Neige, Ardèche, France)
Notable location:
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Shrines
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Known shrines
- Hermitage at Assekrem, Tamanrasset Province, Algeria — the high plateau hermitage near Tamanrasset maintained by the Little Brothers of Jesus; accessible by 4WD; a pilgrimage site.
- Sanctuary of Our Lady of Africa, Algiers, Algeria — contains remembrance of Charles de Foucauld.
Feast day
December 1
Veneration
Charles de Foucauld is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church with a feast day on December 1. He was beatified in 2005 and canonized in 2022 by Pope Francis.
Prayers
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