Daily Saint

St. Charles de Foucauld believed that holiness called him to be “among the furthest removed, the most abandoned.” He moved to Tamanrasset among the Tuareg to share in their daily life. He learned their language, translated the Gospels and Psalms, and created a Tuareg-French dictionary. Their generous hospitality and faith impressed him and shaped his own spiritual practice of brotherhood.

His pilgrimage to the Holy Land awakened in him the desire to live as Jesus did during His hidden years in Nazareth. The spiritual practice centered on doing the ordinary: working, being close to family, and praying in obscurity. This practice led to St. Charles’s labor as a gardener and sacristan, and his choosing to live among the marginalized.

In December 1916, during World War I, tensions and violence flared around French presences in Algeria. While living in his hermitage in Tamanrasset, St. Charles went out to warn two visiting French soldiers of danger from bandits. He and the soldiers were seized; St. Charles was shot and killed. He died a martyr because his assassination occurred in the context of his Christian witness to the Muslim world, a sacrifice he had personally reflected on and chosen. His fidelity to Christ, both in life and in death, was evident in his dedication to the missionary work he was doing when he was killed. His presence in that place and time, and for his purpose there, made his death a witness to his Christian faith.

A carpenter named Charlie survived a 50-foot fall onto a wooden pew. The fall should have been fatal. The pew’s armrest impaled the worker, penetrating near his heart and out through his back. Yet Charlie managed to get up and call emergency assistance for himself. This event took place on the 100th anniversary of St. Charles de Foucauld’s death.
Charlie’s employer, a Catholic, called his wife, who texted the family’s parish priest at St. Charles de Foucauld Parish. The parishioners prayed fervently for Charlie’s recovery. Doctors could not explain his survival. He was hospitalized for a week and soon returned to work. He had no long-term health consequences from the fall. In 2020, the Church recognized the incident as a miracle, paving the way for St. Charles’s canonization in 2022.

Father,
I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures—
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.

Charles de Foucauld