For a few years, several of my priest friends and I have been meeting each month for priestly fraternity.  We share some food, we pray together, and we discuss our vocation as priests, supporting each other in our ministries.  About a year ago, we decided that we need a bit more formal structure, and one of the priests suggested that we become a Jesus Caritas group.  Jesus Caritas is an international fraternity of mostly diocesan priests, inspired by Blessed Charles de Foucauld.  Since I really did not know much about Bl. Charles, I have recently immersed myself into his spirituality and what writings of his I have been able to find in English.  The work I have enjoyed the most is Hidden in God: Discovering the Desert Vision of Charles De Foucauld by Bonnie Thurston.
    Charles de Foucauld was born in 1858 into a French aristocratic family.  Orphaned at age six, he was raised by his grandparents.  Given the fortune that his parents left him, Charles was given an excellent education -- not that he appreciated it at first.  Continuing his family’s military tradition, he attended the French military academy at St. Cyr, although he was nearly rejected for being overweight.  While he did become an officer, his comrades referred to him as “Piggy,” and his superior officers commented that he seemed to have no thought for anything except his own pleasure and entertainment.  A cavalry officer, Charles was sent Algeria in north Africa.  His conduct did not improve much as he was often disciplined for poor work, unexcused absences, tardiness, and incorrect dress.  Caught in public with his concubine, he was dismissed from the army for conduct unbecoming an officer.
    When his regiment was being sent to Tunisia to put down a revolt, Charles was able to get himself reinstated in the army, and it was there in North Africa that his conversion from a thoroughly worldly life to a life in Christ began.  He proved to be a fine battle officer, but the silence of the desert and the faith of the Muslims he encountered awakened his own spiritual yearnings.
    After leaving the army again, Charles spent 1883 and 1884 exploring Morocco, and the book he wrote on the area’s natural history and local customs of the people made him famous.  Yet his new celebrity did not satisfy is heart.  In 1886, Charles sought spiritual guidance and after receiving Holy Communion, his religious vocation exploded.  As he wrote, “My religious vocation was born at the same instant as my faith.”
    He joined a Trappist monastery in Syria, and started his theological studies.  After several years, Charles felt that the Trappist life was not strict enough for him, so he went to live as maintenance man for a Poor Clare monastery in Nazareth.  He lived in a shack on the monastery’s ground.  He considered the four years there in Nazareth some of the happiest in his life.  The nuns encouraged him to go get ordained; hoping he would return and be their chaplain.  He was ordained a priest in 1901 at the Cathedral in Viviers, France, but instead of returning to the Poor Clares in Nazareth, Charles desired to take Jesus to the Muslims, who had returned him to God.  So he set sail for Morocco, the only Catholic priest there, and he made his home in the Sahara desert.
    He served the French legions in the area, but he mostly lived among the Tuareg tribe, who were Muslims.  For 15 years he lived among them, and while they called him a holy man, he did not have any converts.  He had hoped that others from France would join him, but the few that came only stayed a short while.  
    On December 1, 1916, shortly after he celebrated Mass, Charles answered a knock at the door.  Three men burst in and took him prisoner.  It is not clear what they truly intended, but they shot and killed Blessed Charles.  His body was not found until December 21, when French soldiers came to check on him.
    These are merely the facts of Blessed Charles de Foucauld’s life.  Over the next few weeks I will share a bit of the spiritual legacy that he has left us.