From the moment of his conversion, which took place one day at the end of October 1886, Charles de Foucauld wanted to live only for God and for more than three years he searched for a way. During the year 1889 he participated in four different retreats: from the Benedictines of Solesmes, to the Great Trappist of Soligny, to the Trappist of Notre Dame des Neiges and to the Jesuits of Villa Manrèse de Clamart, with whom he carried out a discernment with the Ignatian method. Writing to the prior of Solesmes, Don Huvelin, the priest who welcomed his conversion and who has directed him ever since, he presented him as a “brave explorer of Morocco”, a “fervent pilgrim to the Holy Land”, a perfect gentleman, an excellent Christian “who loves religion” [2] (JFS, 78).
To Cousin Marie de Bondy [3] – Paris, September 20, 1889
Tuesday, Wednesday, today, Fr. Huvelin told me many things; We sought once again because I wanted to enter religious life: – to accompany, as far as possible, Our Lord in his sufferings; is to be buried in Our Lord with St. Paul [4] ; – ES DEIR » Elegi abjectus esse » [5] for Our Lord was [“Abyece”] ; – it is to follow the example of the lonely people who dug caves in the mountain where Our Lord fasted, to fast all their lives at his feet…
Seeking more austerity and simplicity than the Benedictines, Charles spent a few days at the Grande Trappe de Soligny, finally at the Trappe Notre-Dame des Neiges. Before a definite decision, there follows a “retreat of choice” of the Jesuits of Villa Manrèse in Clamart. The choice falls on Notre-Dame des Neiges, in the Ardèche, with the prospect of leaving for an even poorer branch, still under construction, the Trappe di Cheikhlé near Akbès, in the mountains of Ottoman Syria, in a predominantly Kurdish area, Trappa where the “mother house” would have found refuge if it had been affected by the expulsion decrees, Already implemented for other monasteries by the anti-clerical republican government. What attracted Charles to Syria was undoubtedly the greatest poverty, but also the desire to distance himself from his loved ones and above all the dispensation, being abroad.
On January 15, 1890, he fulfilled what he would celebrate for years to come as the day of the “Greatest Sacrifice”: Leaving loved ones. On January 26 (the feast of St. Alberic), ten days after his entry into the Trappists, he became Brother Marie-Albéric. On the same day he received the habit of a novice, and the following June he left for Syria.
Still at Notre-Dame des Neiges, Brother Marie-Albéric confessed his aridity and the difficulty of practicing “spiritual obedience” [6] , a few months later, in his first letter to Fr. Huvelin [7] , expressed his first concerns.
To P. Huvelin – October 30-November 5, 1890
… I thought of her a lot on the feast day of St. Teresa; A year ago, on the same day, I heard her preach in the chapel of the Carmelite nuns of St. Denis… I’m miserable, but others pray for her, included down there…
On paper I arrived after a month; Somewhere in the province there is cholera and quarantines delay the postal service; Heaven grant that, since you wrote to me, illness has given you a little respite, and may your poor body at last enjoy a rest! …
November 5 –I apologize for this long interruption… Here it is not customary to write, as far as possible, on Sundays and holidays… Yesterday, the feast of San Carlo, I thought of you, knowing that you also reminded me of it… Day of the Dead I joined her and prayed for her departed loved ones… and on All Saints’ Day, contemplating up there those who came to the tribulation of this world, but who now no longer weep because God has wiped away their tears, I thought of her and of those I love… On November 1 we were told in the chapter that we are in full anger; not only does it wander around us, but on All Hallows’ Night we had a serious case in the same monastery… By the time you get my letter, maybe it’s all over… In addition, a few months ago it was agreed that if anything happened to me, it would be telegraphed.
… You expect me to be quite poor: no, we are poor for the rich, but not like Our Lord, not like I was in Morocco or like St. Francis… I deplore it without anger, and I remain silent on this point as well, and in obedience; little by little, without being noticed, especially when I am professed – if God allows me to live until that moment – I will be able to obtain permissions that will make me, at least myself, better to practice poverty: for now I observe silence…. – Your son in Our Lord Fr. Maria Alberico.
A un amigo del Instituto Gabriel Tourdes – Akbès (Siria), 11 de mayo de 1891
Mi queridísimo Gabriel, en la Trappe no se escribe, lo sabes, pero para amigos como tú hay una excepción… Debo decir para un amigo como tú… ¿Por qué tienen tantos? ¡Feliz cuando tienes uno! ¿Con qué más tengo en común mis recuerdos de infancia en Estrasburgo y mis recuerdos de juventud en Nancy? ¿Con quién más he caminado tanto, leído tanto? Y tú tampoco tienes un segundo amigo como yo; Nuestras vidas fueron unidas dulcemente en nuestra juventud, y estos lazos son tan sólidos que no se han formado otros más fuertes… Por eso pedí permiso a mi Superiora para escribirte, explicándote que no eres un amigo sino El Amigo ., algo completamente especial para mí… Como la vida conventual no estrecha el corazón sino que lo ensancha, mi pedido fue aceptado sin vacilación… Todo lo que es una cuestión de cariño es maravillamente comprendido por los monjes… Pobres monjes separados de todo lo que ama, no por asco, o por desesperación, o por amargura, pero sólo por amor a Dios, a quien quieren entregarse en cuerpo y alma, como piensan a menudo en los que han dejado atrás. ¡Cómo se entregan y cómo oran por ellos! ¡Y qué es todo su corazón, esa parte de ellos más querida día a día que han dejado en el mundo! … La clausura no es el lugar del olvido, es el lugar del amor… “Dios es amor»… “Quien ama es hijo de Dios y conoce a Dios»… “Si uno no ama a los hombres que ve, ¿cómo podría uno ama a Dios que no puede ser visto?»[8] … aquí están las palabras del apóstol de las que nos alimentamos… ya ves que nuestra comida es buena… así que no quiero quejarme del régimen trapense. Te escribo para pedirte noticias y darte las mías: ¿cómo estás de salud? ¿Sigues en Saint-Dié?
… Háblame mucho de ti, mi buen Gabriel, nada será más dulce para mí: ¿estás triste, estás satisfecho, la vida te parece pesada o ligera? Aquí está el resumen de todo y lo más importante en el corazón de un amigo que quiere alegrarse si estás bien y llorar si estás triste… Pienso a menudo en esa casa en el faubourg Stanislas donde solía ir a buscarte todas las noches hacia el final de su cena en la que estuve allí tantas veces y donde me sentí como en familia. Y ahora te doy una noticia: mi buen Gabriel, ¡ay!, hemos desaprendido juntos a orar al buen Dios [9], sin embargo, busca en el fondo de tu memoria o más bien en el fondo de tu corazón una oración y dísela para agradecerle, a este buen Dios, por todas las gracias que me ha dado… Te digo la paz, la calma, en la que he vivido desde que estoy en un convento es imposible… … Pienso a menudo en las palabras de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo en la víspera de su muerte: “La paz os dejo, la paz os doy, no como el mundo da», siento aquí esta paz, paz que nada puede expresar, paz desconocida en el mundo, que yo no había venido a buscar y de la que no tenía idea, pero que Dios me da en su infinita bondad… La mayor felicidad que puede tener un hombre es recibir de Dios la vocación religiosa, esto es de lo que no tuve dudas y lo observo con un agradecimiento que no puede ser lo suficientemente grande, ni lo suficientemente conmovido… Repito,busca una oracion para agradecer alPadre Nuestro Con los beneficios con los que colma a tu amigo… Si quieres acercarte completamente a mí y vivir un momento de mi vida, entra un minuto en una iglesia (paso 8 horas al día allí con delicias) y piensa en mí. apuntando al altar … Con demasiada frecuencia pienso en ti mirando al altar. Si quieres hacerte una idea de mi vida, lee Les moines d’Occident [10] , las obras de los monjes en los países bárbaros en la Edad Media te darán una idea de nuestra vida en Siria [11] …
A su prima Marie de Bondy – Akbès, 16 de julio de 1891
Ayer se cumplieron dieciocho meses que me despedí de ella; me parece que ha pasado tan poco tiempo y tanto tiempo; A fuerza de sucederse, los meses traerán consigo el último, un día… Hágase la voluntad del Señor; Quisiera ir ready to Él, pero nada me da esperanza… Que se haga enteramente Su bendita voluntad, si me quedo aquí poco o mucho tiempo, pero que Él saque de nuestras vidas, largas o cortas, la mayor consuelo posible para Su corazón: eso es todo lo que ambos necesitamos; nos abandonamos y solo queremos vivir para ÉL…
… Por la presente envío mi renuncia como oficial de reserva, y solicito pasar sin ningún grado en el Ejército Territorial. Es un paso que me agrada: el 15 de enero dejé todo lo que era bueno para mí, pero aún quedaba una carga miserable, mi rango, mi pequeña fortuna, y ahora estoy feliz de tirarla por la ventana (como dijo el reverendo Padre quería hacer con sus muebles); En unos dos meses recibiré, para firmarlos, los documentos para la donación de mis pequeñas posesiones, y luego se terminará con las posesiones materiales [12] …
Al marqués Antoine de Morès [13] – Akbès, 23 de diciembre de 1891
Mi querido Antoine, soy novicio en Trappe desde hace casi dos años, se acerca el día en que pronunciaré mis votos. Quiero anunciarlo a ti, mi viejo amigo, a ti a quien mi corazón ha permanecido tan apegado. Es una gracia infinita que Dios me da. Gracias por mi. Es la mejor parte que me da.
Me conoces, sabes mi cariño por ti. Ni el tiempo ni la ausencia la han cambiado. Siempre podrás contar con mi corazón que nunca ha dejado de estar apegado a ti y que lo es aún más ahora que está en NUESTRO SEÑOR.
This farewell, which I send you at the moment of leaving the last ties that unite me to the world, to tell you, to repeat to you all the affection, all the attachment, the deep devotion of your friend in NSJC – Charles de Foucauld [14 ] .
To my explorer friend Henri Duveyrier [15] – Akbès (Syria), February 21, 1892 [My friend Duveyrier, a non-believer, was disturbed by the conversion and especially by the religious choice of the young man. Carlos responds with a big and important confession.]
Dear and very good friend, allow me [16], since he writes to me as a brother would, to suppress the “Lord” among us, so that the intimacy of the heart overflows until it becomes visible… How I thank you, how I am moved by your beautiful letter of December 28th! She does not approve, she fears religious vows, and in this regard she tells me everything that the most tender affection suggests: affection is very sweet to me and fills me with emotion and gratitude, disapproval cannot surprise me; Six years ago I was as far away from the Catholic religion as you can be, I didn’t have any kind of faith, I couldn’t then, if I had a friend who wanted to be a Trappist, show him my attachment. better than writing what you wrote to me—so far from me as to be scandalized by any of your objections! I see nothing but his affection and my only feeling is gratitude and excitement seeing how good he is! …
However, I cannot tell you that your letter has changed my purposes: the life to which I am now attached has attracted me for four and a half years, I have been determined to embrace it for three years, I have been leading it for two: Has there ever been, you see, a decision meditated for a longer time and tried more seriously?
Why did I make this painful choice, so cruel to myself and to those who love me? Far be it from me to selfishly try to live in peace! I speak to you of this peace because without seeking it I found it, but it was far from being my goal.
The cause which made me leave all that I love in the world, that is to say, a very small number of near relatives and intimate friends whose sight and company were infinitely sweet and good to me and who are ever and gradually more present and tenderly dear to my heart – you were among them, you know – this cause, therefore, it does not seem possible to you to understand, far from the Catholic faith; I would not have understood you six years ago, but I want to tell you that your fraternal affection demands this fraternal openness and, you feel, a very intimate openness.
We Catholics believe in one God, immaterial, whose unity encompasses three Persons, an incomprehensible mystery, we believe that one of these three Persons, while remaining eternally united to the other two, has been united, in the course of time, with a human body and soul formed by God without the cooperation of a man and this [ PersonHe lived on earth, working, teaching the truth and mysteries of God, testing his words with miracles, giving the rules and the example of virtues. This God perfectly united to a man is Jesus Christ. That I owe love and obedience to God is evident. As for man, his will is that he should work for his own betterment and that of others: virtues are internal and, as she says, can be practiced even on a throne, St. Louis testifies to this…
But the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ calls those for whom this is possible, those on whom family and society do not impose pressing duties, to lead a life as close as possible to the one God led on earth: there is no love without imitation [17] And this imitation, you know, becomes a necessity when the lover is poor, unhappy, suffering, despised… Who would dare to say that he loves if he consented to live in the joys of the heart and in comfort, while being loved one suffers in soul and body?
Now, Jesus’ life in this world was that of a poor craftsman, a despised, poor, wearisome life. His last three years were spent in an apostolate that earned him above all rejections, ingratitude and persecution. In the end, he was condemned to death and left this life in unheard-of torments…
I too have wanted, with many others, though unworthy, to love God with all my heart and to imitate him in the limits of my weakness, God grant that I may always be better!
Jesus was obedient on earth, I entered a religious order to be obedient like Him. I chose a poor, despised Order, where one works, to share the poverty, the abjection, the weariness of Jesus. And finally, since the life of Jesus was all sacrifice and all pain, I wanted to sacrifice with Him and for Him all that constituted my happiness, the presence of those I love.
You see, it’s the sacrifice I’ve gone so far to seek. Not by personal impulse, but by a common vocation of thousands of people…
This is the story of my vocation. In accordance with his wishes, I did not oppose his feelings and opened my soul to him… I repeat, I find it difficult to understand, even more difficult for her to admit what I have just told her; Six years ago I would have treated these things as imaginary, as dreams, and I would have looked at whoever wrote the previous page, let me speak, like a little, if not very crazy… How could I change so much?
Él muy amablemente me reprocha saber poco sobre mi vida pasada – es simple, aquí está en pocas palabras. A la edad de cinco años y medio, en 1864, perdí a mi padre ya mi madre, y desde entonces he sido criado por mi abuelo y mi abuela maternos, siendo mi madre hija única. Tengo una hermana que fue criada conmigo por estos bisabuelos. Mi abuelo, el señor de Morlet, antiguo ingeniero, se despidió en Alsacia, donde nos quedamos hasta la guerra. Después de 1870 nos vinimos a vivir a Nancy. En esta ciudad completé mis estudios y fui admitido en St Cyr.
There, too, I felt the immense pain of losing my grandfather, whose fine intelligence I admired, whose infinite tenderness enveloped my childhood and youth with an atmosphere of love whose warmth I always feel with emotion. It was a great pain to me and after 14 years (February 3, 1878) he is still very much alive. My Dear Grandmother [18] She had been so ill a few years earlier that she had to be admitted to a nursing home where she passed away softly.
When my grandfather died, my sister was taken in by my aunt Madame Moitessier, my father’s sister, who lives in Paris. This domestic home has been ours ever since and the gestures of kindness we have received are endless. You see, in my past I find only kindness towards myself and gratitude to feel. I took little advantage of the positive aspects of family life with my aunt. From St Cyr he went to Saumur, then in a regiment of Hussars, then in the Cacciatori d’Africa. In a year I passed the garrisons of Bona, Sétif, Mascara, and made expeditions to the south of Oranés. In 1881-82 I lived seven or eight months in a tent in the Oran Sahara and this gave me a very intense pleasure in travelling, for which I had always felt attraction. I resigned in 1882 in order to freely indulge this desire for adventure. I prepared for a year and a half in Algiers for the trip to Morocco. I did so and spent another year and a half in Algiers writing the report. At the beginning of 1886 I came to Paris to publish the report of the voyage and with the idea of preparing another.
I had been brought up as a Christian, but by the age of 15 or 16 all faith had disappeared from me. The readings for which he was avid had produced this result. I did not recognize myself in any philosophical doctrine, finding none solidly founded. I was left in total doubt, especially far from the Catholic faith, many dogmas of which, in my opinion, deeply offended reason… At the same age my life became disordered, it remained so for a long time without this preventing a very strong inclination for study [ 19] Tags. I was very unruly in the regiment, I was away from my parents, I saw very little of my family from 1878 to 1886 and the least they knew of my life, especially in the early part of this period, could only displease them.
I was at that time when I returned to Paris in 1886, my sister had left, married, and was living in Burgundy. But I found in my aunt the same welcome as if I had never left the house and thought of those who loved me. In this domestic environment which immediately became mine even though I lived in another house, I found the example of all the virtues combined with the sight of high intelligences and deep religious convictions.
First of all, I became passionate about virtue and oriented my reading in this direction, I will gladly study the moralists of antiquity, I was very far from any religion and only ancient virtue attracted me… I found these ancient philosophers less ardent and less solid. than I expected… I happened to read a few pages of a book by Bossuet [20] in which I found much more than had happened to me among the ancient moralists… I continued reading the volume, and little by little, I came to say to myself that the faith of so great a spirit, what I saw every day so close to me in such beautiful minds, in my own family, was perhaps not so incompatible with common sense as it had seemed to me until then.
It was the end of 1886. Then I felt a deep need to recover. I wondered in the depths of my soul if the truth could really be known to men… I then made this strange prayer, I asked God, in whom I did not yet believe, to make himself known to me, if he ever existed… It seemed to me that the wisest thing to do, in the doubt that arose in me, was to study this Catholic faith. I knew her very little, I sent her to know the learned priest whom I knew a little because I had seen him at my aunt’s house, this priest is Don Huvelin. He was kind enough to answer my questions, patience to see me as many times as I wanted. I became convinced of the truth of the Catholic religion. Since then, Fr. Huvelin has become a father to me and I have lived as a Christian.
A few months after this great change, I thought of entering the convent, but Father Huvelin, as my family pushed me to marry… I let time pass… Time brought me here and I thank God, I came here like so many others, outside the desire for sacrifice and I have found, along with the very concrete sacrifice, a peace of soul (not only of conscience) that I was not looking for at all. Now all my parents have adapted to the idea of meeting me here because they believe that it is God’s call that has called me. Try to resign yourself to them, dear friend to whom I am writing such a fraternal letter.
As for me, what helped me in so cruel a sacrifice is the conviction to which I have arrived that the good work contained in this sacrifice will be worth a surplus of divine graces to all whom I love, and that they will benefit from my absence for this reason better than they would have had in a presence dear to their affection.
Here I am with no secrets in front of you, look at this letter in which, alas, I have not had time to speak of you, of my disgust at knowing that you are tired of rheumatism, I see you, although the letter speaks only of me, the best sign of my attachment to her, of my gratitude for her affection, Of my willingness to reciprocate as a brother.
I warmly thank Miss Rose for her memory, I am very touched, the poor monk that I am, her brother in God, will pray for her; That recently a po mi.
I am hers with all my heart, she knows it and sees it, and I do not hesitate to leave her, certain that she will allow me to embrace her fraternally: Brother Marie-Albéric.
[A month later, Duveyrier committed suicide, disgraced by the accusation made by a journalist morally responsible for the massacre, by the Tuaregs, of the Flatters mission, charged with studying the route of an old road on which to build a trans-Saharan railway, a mission he instructed and supported (massacre that took place in the early days of 1881 between the Hoggar and Tripolitania).]
To his high school classmate Gabriel Tourdes-Akbès, Wednesday, August 10, 1892
… It’s nice to love each other, my good Gabriel, it’s good to know through a great experience that you can absolutely count on a soul… So it’s like you’re counting on me and I’m counting on you… We have only seen each other in the last ten six years and we always love each other as in the days of youth, as in the moment of every morning, every afternoon we meet when we share everything, conferences, walks, studies, thoughts… We also share our families, so we are comfortable and well in each other’s homes… It is infinitely sweet to see after this great separation that the termiture, the trust, the abandonment remained absolutely the same… it’s good to love, Gabriel… How happy I’d be if you’d visit me!
… May the good Lord lead you here one day… I beg for you, rest assured… What I ask of you, you know, I ask of you all the good of this world and in the next, and above all the first good that is to know it, so that you may soon be able to say to me the expression of St. Augustine: “Why did I know you so late and so late did you love beauty always old and ever new?”[21]Tags. And this Beauty is my life, I feel too much the value of such happiness not to desire it with all my soul for you, my dear Gabriel, I cannot love you without having this I wish as much ardent as my love… It’s the greatest of goods, I’ll never console myself not to share it with you[22] …
To Monsieur Maunoir-Akbès, January 30, 1893 [Brother Marie-Albéric, who received the news of the “sad end of our poor friend” Duveyrier, replied to the Secretary General of the French Geographical Society.]
… He comforts me by telling me how little he was aware of his actions in the last days of his life; I hope that God, in His infinite goodness, has shown him mercy: he was, as you say, such an upright character, such a lofty soul, such a delicate heart! Far be it from me to judge severely whom I have so tenderly loved! I have no right! “Judge not, lest we be judged,” said Our Lord Jesus Christ, and so often He recommends that we take care of the plank that is in our eye and not the speck that is in the eye of others! To love and pray, that’s what we have to do, and not to judge [23] …
[The more time passes, the more Charles distances himself from the trap. At the General Chapter of 1892, held in Rome under the gaze of Pope Leo XIII, a process of reunification of the three Cistercian branches had begun, and then, in June 1893, the Trappists of Akbès received the new Customs and Constitutions, which Fr. Marie-Albéric seems to mitigate poverty too much. This is what he expresses in several letters to Fr. Huvelin, until he presents him with a first draft of his plans for the foundation of a new congregation.]
To Father Huvelin-Akbès, October 22, 1893
It has been a long time since I wrote to you, dear father, and having obtained permission, I knock at your door to converse with you.
“And the soul?” I asked myself first… It seems to me that not much has changed: she continues to live on what she put into her, she loves the people she loved and she loves them more than before… She is always full of misery, lacking in humility and simplicity, perhaps too stubborn in her ideas, certainly too indolent in her actions.
… According to the dispositions of the Holy Father, very happy modifications have been made in the Order: but these modifications and improvements will not prevent the development of evil… They will give greater unity to the Order, they will to prevent abbots from doing what they like, they will raise the level of education of priests. But they will take away more and more of the humility and poverty of that modest life of Nazareth which I have come to seek, which I am infinitely far from having renounced, and which I see with great sorrow practiced only by Our Lord; No soul, no group of souls in the Church today thinks of practicing it with Him, and of sharing by His love and in His love the joy of the Blessed Virgin and of St. Joseph. It would not be possible to form a small congregation to lead such a life.[24]No souls were to be found to follow this Our Lord, to follow Him by practising all His counsels, absolutely abandoning all property, both collective and individual, and consequently totally forbidding that which Our Lord forbids, every dispute, every conflict, every complaint, making an absolute duty of lemon, offering one pledge when one has two, giving food, when one can, To the one who has nothing, does he not look at every morning?… All the examples of life are hidden and all the recommendations that went up to your mouth… A life of work and prayer… there are not two types of religious, as in Citeaux, even one, as St. Benedict wanted… But not until the complicated liturgy, until the prolonged prayer, the rosary, the Holy Mass; Our liturgy will enclose the door of our convents for Arabs, Turks, Armenians, etc. who sounded good Catholics but do not understand a word of our languages[25]; how I would gladly see these nests of fervent and industrious life, reproducing that of Our Lord, rise under his protection and under the gaze of Mari and Joseph around all those missions of the East so isolated to offer a refuge[26]to the inhabitants of those regions whom God calls to his exclusive love and service!
Is this a dream, a sweet father, an illusion of the devil, or an inspiration, at the invitation of the Good Gods? He will be supposed to be called God, today and no tomorrow will take the necessary steps to enter this path. When I think about this project, I find the perfect scenario: following the examples and recommendations of Our Lord cannot be an excellent proposal. Plus, it’s the one I’ve always been looking for: to go out on the street just to find it; It is not a new vocation; If such a group of souls had existed a few years ago, they would have rushed there directly, you know that…
Since it doesn’t exist and there’s no doubt that someone likes it or replaces it, shouldn’t we try to form it? And to train it with the desire to see it spread above all to the infidel countries of Islamic species and others? …
… Another thought encourages me to learn a work so inadequate for my misery as a sinner: Our Lord has said that he who has sinned much should love much.[27] …
[Around Christmas 1893 Charles went through a particularly difficult time, of anxiety, of misery, of darkness, as he would record several times later. To overcome it, he will soon record, if he commends to Mary, who loves the name of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, asking her to take him in her arms as she raised her son Jesus.[28] . ]
To her cousin Marie de Bondy – Akbes, January 3, 1894
… Everything tells me to follow my desires; Movements of the heart, reasoning, fidelity to the first resolutions: everyone tells me that it is most perfect and sure… but since Father Polycarp also tells me that he waits and entrusts everything to the Blessed Virgin, I do so, because this is the case of the feeling of my impotence and my weakness… When you meet me on a boat, hold on to the thought of having to take me out to sea… My heart has me more than my humility; But what absolutely laughs at me is obedience.[29] …
A en primer Louis de Foucauld – Akbès, November 28, 1894 [As he does with the search for his friends, Charles tries to propose to his cousin Louis, a non-believer, his own path of conversion.]
… I was telling you to pray even before you believe in God… This is what I did when I began to realize, to glimpse that the Catholic religion was perhaps not an absurdity, I often said this prayer: “My God, if it exists, you must know me.” You can do it too: I don’t know any other merit in my life, it’s after I heard this prayer for some time, finding myself in a very sincere disposition to embrace the truth with my whole being. soul if I meet her, to have used the appropriate means to discover it: wanting to know a science, a language, one takes a teacher; inquiring to know about religion, and being enlightened about the difficulties which seem to me insoluble, I sought a professor, like another acquaintance: I turned to Don Huvelin, a former pupil of the École normale, who I knew to be a very learned man: he lives in the Rue de Laborde,[30] …
To his cousin Louis de Foucauld – Akbès, June 23, 1895
… In the midst of your affairs, sometimes read books about God. Therein lies our most serious business and our first duty. Try to say as soon as possible with St. Augustine: “Beauty always ancient and always new, why did I know you so late and so late beloved?” You who were a passionate heart, you should read a little about St. Augustine, he is so ardent and so spiritual… No wonder he must have known God so late. If every perfection, every beauty, every wisdom, everything that our dreams can imagine is more tender, more admirable, more seductive, pay no attention to it, it is a strange folly.[31] …
To his brother-in-law Raymond de Blic – May 3, 1896 [While they were still thinking about Nazareth, terrible events bothered him: the persecutions against the Armenians. I wrote about him on several occasions, between 1895 and 1896, in his first, to P. Huvelin[32] and his brother-in-law.]
… I am writing to send you an offer, not for us, God will not want you, because you will never be poor enough, until you are a victim of persecution. On the orders of the sultan they massacred 140,000 Christians a month ago… In the most wanted town, Marache, the garrison was reduced to 4,500 Christians in two days.
The Turkish government protects the Europeans, so we are safe: they have placed a picket of soldiers at our doorstep, to prevent us from suffering the slightest harm. It is painful to be so good to those who kill our hands, that it is better to suffer with those who the persecutors protect. It is shameful for Europe: with a word it could have prevented these horrors, and it did not. It is true that the world has known very little of what was going on here, since the Turkish government bought the press, god, huge sums in certain newspapers, no more to publish than the dispatches that emanate. But governments know the whole truth from embassies and advisers. What punishments from God are prepared for such ignominy! I come to call you to our rescue, to help us to relieve, to prevent several thousand Christians who escaped the massacres from dying in the shadows and fleeing to the mountains: do not dare to leave their hiding places for fear of being massacred, they have no resources. It is our imperative to deprive ourselves of everything for them, but we respect what we respect cannot be sufficient for these needs.[33] …
On July 12, 1896, his brother wrote to the general of the Reformed Cistercians (without knowing him personally), to ask for dispensation from the vows, feeling “drawn with an invincible force to another ideal.”[34]. In the meantime, the first religious community project, ” Congregation of the Little Brothers of Jesus” which bears the date of June 14, 1896, the feast of St. Basil. The last words of this Rule say: “All our efforts should tend to have in us and to show everyone the charity, the compassion, the tenderness, the infinite goodness of our divine Master.”[35] .
Fr. Huvelin, frightened by the “absolutely impracticable” regulation, exhorted him not to found anything, not to draw up any rules, to defend himself “against this movement has the infinity that generates anxiety”, to place himself at the disposal of his superiors.[36]. ] …
Once the request for dispensation from vows has been sent, Brother Marie Albéric remains silent and waits. In response, he was sent to the Trappa de Staueli in Algeria, a thriving Trappa on which Akbès had depended since 1894. He came up from Syria on September 17, 1896. Dom Louis de Gonzague became abbot of Staueli, of Akbès and brother of the abbot of Notre-Dame des Neiges, Dom Martin, who had him lodged. The decision was to send him to Rome to study theology to prepare him for the priesthood, not just solemn vows. The brother left Rome and was transferred to the Trappist Generalate (then in Via San Giovanni in Laterano) from October 30, 1896 to February 16, 1897, attending courses at the Roman College (corresponding to the current Gregorian).
The last period spent at La Trappa was a period of absolute neglect: Brother Marie-Albéric awaited admission to solemn vows or dispensation and salt from La Trappa. The meditations I wrote while attending theological courses in Rome (October 30, 1896 to January 23, 1897), did not ask questions as before: later they could be useful for any companion… At the head of this first notebook, that is, in the capacity of those who will remain as his “spiritual writings”, he places the phrase of Canticle 1:4: “Bring me after you, let us run to the smell of your perfumes”. He begins by meditating on Genesis and, at the same time, meditates on the Gospels.
Matthew 14:31 “O man of little faith, why hast thou doubted?” How great is the faith that Our Lord asks of us! And justly: what faith do we owe him… After Our Lord’s words, “Come,” Peter no longer had to fear anything and walk confidently on water…, so that when Jesus certainly called us to a state, given a vocation, we should not fear, until we unhesitatingly face the most insurmountable obstacles. Jesus said, “Come,” we have the grace to walk on the waves. It seems impossible to us, but Jesus is the Master of the impossible [37] …
Lk 23:46 “My Father, I ask my spirit into your hands”… It is the last prayer of our Master, of our Beloved… Let it be ours… And let it not be only that of all our moments: “My Father, I place myself in your hands; My Father, do to me as you please, whatever you do with me, I thank you; Thanks for everything; I’m ready for anything; Take it all; Thanks for everything. As long as your will is in me, my God, as long as your will is in all your creatures, in all your children, in all those who love your heart, I desire no more, my God; I put my soul in your hands; I give it to you, my God, with all the love of my heart, because I love you, and it is necessary to give me love, put me in your hands without measure; I place myself in your hands with infinite trust, for you are my Father[38] .
To Father Jérôme – Rome, November 8, 1896 [On the day of his marriage with Rome, written for the first time to a young Trappist from Staueli, who was preparing to pronounce his first vows, Father Jérôme, who had been entrusted to him for a “little direction”, to confirm him in his vocation, as he would write to Father Huvelin[39].]
May Jesus always be with you, my dearest Father.
Open on Sunday for writing.
… I wanted to tell you about my arrival in Rome, and here I am still on my way out of Algiers. It was painful for me. But blessed is God, and blessed is all pain.
We arrived in Rome on Friday at 1h 1/2 in the afternoon: we did not get off at the station of San Paolo, which is near St. Peter’s, it was not very feasible, and we bless the good Lord: if we had gotten off there, we would have had to take a wheelchair in a wheelchair and I would have been sick to enter so little poor in this city where St. Peter and St. Paul entered so poor, so wretched, and St. Paul in chains. This is how we walked from the station to the Public Prosecutor’s Office[40]and on our way and on our way we took leave at two churches where we adored the Blessed Sacrament from the first step to Rome, to tell her that she would live there according to her will, and we begged her to bow down for all her children and especially to those who want our God to love more in particular: she feels that she has not been forgotten in these first two visits to the good gods: we enter first into Santa Maria Maggiore, from where she attends the funeral of Our Lord (and from where, also, I believe, the relics of St. Jerome); Then we went to the church of Sant’Alfonso, where the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is preserved. This name is so good for the Blessed Virgin! We are in great need of his perpetual help, we so weak, so lame! For some time, especially for three years, he placed me under his protection, under this name. Three years ago, I had a lot of internal difficulties, a lot of anxiety, fear, darkness. I wanted to serve the good Lord, I was afraid of offending Him, I couldn’t see clearly, I was very sick. Then I prayed with all my heart under the protection of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, asking her to guide my steps, as she guided the children of Jesus, and to guide me in everything so as not to offend God, until it was a matter of consolation to Our Lord Jesus, who consoles as much as possible the Heart of Jesus who sees us and loves us. So it was sweet to place myself on the first day, from the first hour, at the feet of the image of this questioned and so good Mother. I need to tell you that you recommended it to me from the bottom of my heart and I told you and repeated to you as I give you: “Our Lady of Perpetual Help,
Al día siguiente de mi llegada, sábado, subimos a Hacienda por la mañana y caminamos hasta San Pedro: si es 1h 1/4 tarde. Al pasar delante del Coliseo donde tantos mártires dieron sus vidas con tanta alegría y dieron su sangre con tanto amor por Nuestro Señor Jesús. ¡Cómo fue amado Jesús en este lugar! …
[Más tarde escribiría entre las notas subre las fechas de los aniversarios: “Habiendo recibido ladeción de mi rev.mo general de que la voluntad de Dios es que deje la orden para continuar a Nuestro Señor en su abiección y pobreza: miércoles, 23 de enero de 1897 (fiesta de las bodas de la Santísima Virgen María con San José y víspera de la fiesta de la Sagrada Familia)»[41] . Esa misma tarde, el hermano Marie-Albéric escribió, lleno de alegría, una gran meditación sobre el Padre Nuestro[42] .]
Por Padre Jérôme – Roma, 24 de enero de 1897 [Al día siguiente escribí un papel importante al joven trapense de Staueli, que dejó de pronunciar sus votos.]
… Tardé tres años en el medio para pasar del rango de religioso de coro al de ayudante, tanto en la orden como en otra orden religiosa establecida en Oriente; Creo que esta es mi vocación: bajar. Con permiso de mi confesor tuvo este pedido: mis superiores me dieron la orden, antes de aceptarla, de pasar algún tiempo en Staueli. Llegados allí, para Llegados allí, para mi gran sorpresa, recibió la orden de ir a Roma, y aquí, de donde se reunió con ellos para hacerme esperar mucho tiempo el permiso que había estado esperando durante mucho tiempo, cuando pensó que había Estuve allí todo durante dos años y en medio, sin pedir nada, sin hablar de ello en términos absolutos, nuestro buen y excelentísimo Reverendísimo Padre General me busca, examine mis sentimientos, reflexione sobre mi vocación, orar, reúna el consejo, y todos, por unanimidad, , declarando que es voluntad de Dios que se emprenda este camino de abyección, de pobreza, de humilde trabajo manual; Este camino de trabajo de Nazaret que el mismo me ha mostrado durante mucho tiempo y que, por tanto, me han abierto todas las puertas para dejarme ser un coro religioso y descender al rango de asistente y aprender…
Yesterday I received this news from my good and excellent Father General, whose attentions touch me so much. But where was the need for obedience in this: that, before her decision, she had promised the Good Gods that He would have told me… And everything he confessed to me he would tell me. So if I had been told, “In ten days he will make solemn vows,” and then again, “He will receive Holy Orders,” I would have obeyed with joy, certain that I was doing God’s will. Therefore, seeking absolutely nothing but God’s will, having superiors who at one time could not seek anything else, it was impossible for God not to give knowledge of His will.
… There is no vocation in the world as great as the life of the priest22Tags. What a vocation, dear brother, and how I bless God for having given it to you! Once I regretted not having received him, I regretted not having been clothed with this holy personage: it was at the crucial moment of the Armenian persecution. He would be a priest, he would know the language of the poor persecuted Christians, and he would be able to go from village to village, to give them courage to die for their God. He wasn’t worthy of that23Tags. But do you know what God has in store for you? The future is unknown. God leads us down such unexpected paths! How they guided me, I went around for six months: Staueli, Rome and now the known. We are the dry leaf, the speck of dust, the flake of foam. Let us be faithful and let ourselves be led with great love and obedience by God’s will, so that we may give His Heart the greatest possible consolation until a last breath of this blessed wind takes us to heaven. … From where we can do more good to others, there we are better: to forget completely, to dedicate ourselves completely to the children of our heavenly Father, here is the life of Our Lord, here is the life of every Christian, here is above all the life of the priest.24 …
[1] Cf. document to Duveyrier dated 21.02.1892.
[2] JFS, 78.
This is one of the earliest known letters written to her cousin. Of the 738 articles actually written, we know less than a third and only partially. The passages published so far show the great trust, affective and spiritual, between these two people. We played only a few. This is cited in the
Charles reads the Vulgate which translates the Greek Bible from the LXX, and this phrase is found in verse 11 of Psalm 84 (83): “… He will often use this expression, referring precisely to Jesus, or rather to the descent, to that of the Son of Phil 2:7 and “die” with him (cf. Romans 6:4-11; Col 2, 12, etc.).
Henri Huvelin (1838-1910), a cultured man, a graduate in history, a professor of the history of Christianity, who had preferred the work of the teacher, the director of consciences, the preacher (among his spiritual children were two well-known modernists, Bremond and Von Hügel), frequented the house of Charles’s paternal mother, Agnes de Foucauld Moitessier, and was the spiritual father of his first Marie de Bondy. Particularly interesting is the correspondence with P. Huvelin, as well as the knowledge and quotations in different forms, having been published in full. This first letter is found in it.
[9] The friend, who became a magistrate at Saint-Dié, remained a believer, despite impulses.
[11] LAL, pp. 86-88.
[12] LMB, p. 34.
[13]Classmates of the official students, with whom they shared a room and vicissitudes, with whom they borrowed a huge sum and with whom they asked to share adventure trips. De Morès was laid to rest in the desert by his own guides on June 5, 1896, during an expedition to the Tuaregs. See, at the end, what Charles will describe about it.
In George Gorree, Paris 1946, p. 376, in note.
[15] This article is also quoted in very important passages, made fully known in various lectures to the friends of Charles de Foucauld’s spiritual family by Antoine Chatelard, younger brother of Jesus of Tamanrasset, an attentive researcher of the writings of Charles de Foucauld.
Henri Duveyrier (1840-1892), as an authorized member of the French Geographical Society, was consulted by Charles before his exploration in Morocco (20.06.1883-23.05.1884) and during the writing of his (published in February 1888) and then was a researcher, on 24 April 1885, at the Geographical Society. Charles offered Duveyrier the three notebooks of his next trip in 1885 through the Algerian-Tunisian Sahara. After an exchange of papers (the most famous and quoted, that of April 24, 1890 in which Brother Marie-Albéric explains the reason for his entry into the Trappists), it is a Duveyrier who will recount, For the first time, the stages of his conversion are described in this letter of February 21, 1892.
[17] In the menu I will repeat this concept of imitating love.
The latter, Amélie de Latouche, was the second wife of her maternal grandfather, and died on September 2, 1888 (she will report on this day on the “intimates of the anniversary”, written in a notebook dating from Tamanrasset (see .
[19] As we have seen, these are readings of personal interest, while studying school study.
“Tarde te amó, oh belleza tan vieja y tan nueva, tarde te he amado», en10, 27, 38.
, París 1946, p. 54 y 55.
[24]En febrero del mismo año se le encargó diseñar la construcción de la carretera que conduce al viñedo y luego supervisar a los trabajadores, la Trappe de Notre-Dame du S. Cœur de Akbès, todo en el proceso.
Fue el “refugio» que experimentó en las cofradías, la zauia muslim que lo acogió paulatinamente durante su viaje a Marruecos, esparticular el deBoujad y luego laDelawareTissint, cuya alabanza teje enpag. 122). Las fueron lugares de ferviente religiosidad, de estudio del Corán, de oración, dotados de bibliotecas, memorias y, sobre todo, abiertos a la hospitalidad gratuita para los estudiantes de los Coránicos, para los romeros y peregrinas, al igual que los antiguos monasterios y hospicios. -hospitales fuera de las rutas de peregrinación medievales. Después de todo, Charles conoce el Islam según su modelo. , y es este modelo el que permanecerá en su mente durante toda su vida.
muchas ocasiones Carlos recordó, de memoria, la frase de Lk 7,47 sobre la mujer pecadora que se lava los pies con lágrimas. Parry la tarjeta, cf. Páginas 36-39. El 4 de octubre siguiente escribió sobre el mismo proyecto a su primo (cf.
Ver carta en pág. Jérôme, 8 de noviembre de 1896 (en, pag. 139). Cf. también
La devoción a Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro huía de la infancia de Carlos, quien había visto su imagen en el dolor de su abuela paterna que moría frente a él de un infarto, según confesó en un escrito a su médico amigo Balthasar en una carta daed el 23 denero de 1891 (dada a conocer por el artículo de Antoine Chatelard “Charles de Foucauld et Notre-Dame du Perpétuel Secours», En Jesús Cáritas No. 259,3 Españoly trimestre 1995, págs. 61 a 68).
[29] LMB , pág. 45 y 46.
[30] Carta inédita , citada en documentos mimeografiados de las . Louis de Foucauld, coronel, a quien Carlos considera Sobre “Herman» (testamento de 1905, en , p. esguerra), como Charles los describió a Henry de Castries, p. 160) morirá “muy cristianamente después de haber confesado con pleno conocimiento» el 24 de noviembre de 1914 (después de una breve enfermedad, no en guerra), como escribiría Charles a Henry de Castriesver. Clase de su primera y amigo
[31] Cf.revista Jesús-Caritasy. Frances, n. 279, 3. y Trimestre 2000, p. 8.
[32] Cf. . .LMBp. 52 años LAH, pág. 41-42. EN 1917 p. Rafael, quien había sido su confesor en Akbès, testificará cómo, en este período, el Hno. Marie-Albéric, con su permiso, pasaron sus noches en adoración, rezando por la gracia del martirio (CCDP, p. 410).
[33] El artículo se cita a sí mismo en el Boletín Amitiés Charles de Foucauld,n° 123, julio de 1996, p. 5-6.
[34] CCDP , pág. 128 y 129.
[35] RD, pág. 36. Cf. LAH,p. 45 años
[36] Cf. . . LAH,p. 45 y 46.
[37] SG, pág. 106.
pág. 79. No sabemos exactamente cuándo comenzó Carlos a leer al p. Jean-Pierre de Caussade sj» Abandono a la Providencia»(esunoedición abreviada de 1861 presentada por el P. Henri Ramière sj, el jesuita que en el mismo año había financiadola de la estanciaen Nazaret, por lo tanto, poco después deesto está escrito (según la fecha propuesta por Antoine Chatelard). Más tarde, lo leyó y releyó, recomendándolo no sólo a sus amigos (cf. escrito a P. Jérôme del 8 de Mayo de 1899,
[39] Cf. . . LAH, p. 57.
[40] Then in Via San Giovanni in Laterano 95.
, p. 185; Cf.
Cf.
22 He replied to the young Trappist friend whom he had brought to Staueli, who confided to him his desire for the priesthood.
23 This is the only one who admits that he desired to be a priest before his “election” in 1900.
24 CCDP, pp. 151-53.
Cf. https://www-piccolifratellidigesu-com.translate.goog/testi-di-charles-de-foucauld/?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=es&_x_tr_hl=es&_x_tr_pto=sc
