Charles de Foucauld - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz Catholic News New Zealand Mon, 15 Nov 2021 01:38:09 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-cathnewsfavicon-32x32.jpg Charles de Foucauld - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz 32 32 70145804 Devasahayam, the martyr who preached the equality of Dalits, to be saint https://cathnews.co.nz/2021/11/15/devasahayam-the-martyr-who-preached-the-equality-of-dalits-will-be-saint-next-15-may/ Mon, 15 Nov 2021 06:53:09 +0000 https://cathnews.co.nz/?p=142362 Pope Francis will canonise seven new saints in Rome next 15 May. One of them will be Lazarus Devasahayam, the first Indian layperson to be so recognised by the Catholic Church. The Vatican announced the date yesterday after the green light for the canonization was given on 3 May during the ordinary public consistory. Charles Read more

Devasahayam, the martyr who preached the equality of Dalits, to be saint... Read more]]> Pope Francis will canonise seven new saints in Rome next 15 May. One of them will be Lazarus Devasahayam, the first Indian layperson to be so recognised by the Catholic Church.

The Vatican announced the date yesterday after the green light for the canonization was given on 3 May during the ordinary public consistory. Charles de Foucauld will also be canonised in the same ceremony.

Born Devasahayam Pillai on 23 April 1712 in Nattalam, a village in Tamil Nadu, the future saint hailed from a high caste Hindu family. After embarking on a military career, he became an official in the royal palace of the Kingdom of Travancore.

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Devasahayam, the martyr who preached the equality of Dalits, to be saint]]> 142362 Charles de Foucauld — martyr without an executioner https://cathnews.co.nz/2016/12/06/charles-de-foucauld-martyr-without-an-executioner/ Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:12:17 +0000 https://cathnews.co.nz/?p=90157

Charles de Foucauld is the figure who teaches Catholics about the true nature of Christian martyrdom, too often distorted into a "persecutionism" ideology. Brother Michael Davide Semeraro, a Benedictine monk and spiritual teacher, looks at the experience of the "Little Brother" and his legacy, from an original perspective, 100 years on from his death. As Read more

Charles de Foucauld — martyr without an executioner... Read more]]> Charles de Foucauld is the figure who teaches Catholics about the true nature of Christian martyrdom, too often distorted into a "persecutionism" ideology. Brother Michael Davide Semeraro, a Benedictine monk and spiritual teacher, looks at the experience of the "Little Brother" and his legacy, from an original perspective, 100 years on from his death.

As Semeraro explains in his book "Charles de Foucauld. Explorer and Prophet of a Universal Brotherhood" (San Paolo Editions, 2016), De Foucauld is relevant as a figure in today's ecclesial climate: many see the Church's relationship with Islam as problematic if not hostile.

Brother Charles' experience is useful in reconsidering the sense and profound meaning of Christian martyrdom: "In his case, it simply lived in him there was no need to look for the executioner. This is the only way to escape the vicious cycle of revenge and enter the world of the Gospel. A Christian martyr doesn't need an executioner: what counts is the willingness to give one's life completely," the Benedictine explained to Vatican Insider.

This is where the subtle difference lies, separating the experiences of martyrs from those who use them as a pretext for defending an identity or as a trigger for indignation campaigns of a cultural-political nature.

Too often today, martyrdom undergoes a kind of "genetic modification", when the suffering of faithful is exploited for power or business-related reasons. Or when the reaction to this suffering leads simply to "rights being claimed", claims which remain confined within an "Amnesty-style" Church.

"What Charles de Foucauld represents in the history of the Church is a point of no return: his prophesy fell in the Sahara desert like an evangelical grain of sand on 1 December 2016. It opened up new paths well before the Second Vatican Council became aware of it," Semeraro explains. Continue reading

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