Canonisation of Charles de Foucauld

**Laly** · 05-10-2022, 09:09 PM

In five days, on 15 May, Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916) will be canonised. He will become a Saint!

This French noble had an amazing life. He was a military man with a dissolute lifestyle and he explored the Middle East and Northern Africa, on which he wrote important geographical and ethnographical studies. But at thirty years old, under the influence of his cousin Madame de Bondy, he radically changed his life, converting to Christ and becoming a monk.

He went to Algeria and became a hermit in the desert. He wrote there the first Turareg-French dictionary, lexicons and he translated the Gospels in Tuareg language. Despite all the years spent there, he never managed to convert any Muslim to Christianity. He was assassinated by an Algerian.

He wrote, concerning Islam:

“Our divine model is Our Lord Jesus Christ, poor, chaste, not resisting against evil and suffering everything, peaceable, forgiving and blessing. The example in Islam is Muhammad, getting rich, giving himself up to sensual pleasures, making war: the movements coming from these two very opposed sources must be so opposed!”