Badal 2: Charles de Foucauld - Martyr

Badal 2: Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916)

Birth: September 15, 1858
Death: December 1, 1916.
He lived for 58 years.

Personality: He was Proud, Aesthete, Temperamental, Pleasure-Loving, Hardheaded, Impetuous and Self-Centered. But He was also Sensitive, Generous, Kind, Honest, and Single-minded.

Career: He was A French Military Officer, Explorer, Monk, Porter at Nazareth, Priest and a Little Brother to the Tuaregs.

1. He began as an agnostic. In his unbelief and as a colonial soldier to Africa, He became “captive” of the black continent and fascinated by Islam. He became truly present in the continent – explored it and learned its peoples and languages.

2. He came back to his Catholic Faith through Islam. It was a powerful experience of conversion. He lived in utter simplicity, became truly poor and lived a monastic life. He went back to the East, the Holy Land and became a Porter at Nazareth.

3. He discovered FRATERNITY as the essence of Jesus’ Caritas.

4. From the Holy Land, He went back to Africa … to be a “little” brother among the Tuaregs… and spent a monastic life almost like a hermit in the desert… in prayer and “welcome” to the pilgrims.

5. Killed in his hut…

6. Beatified – December 16, 2005 in Rome, Italy

(Bapa)