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Charles de Foucauld
Journey to Tamanrasset
Journey to Tamanrasset
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1
He was a born-monk, or rather, a hermit. Those were his deepest instincts. It just
took him a little while to ind his way. Those deep hermit instincts were already
!isibly present in the e"plorer.# $.-F. %autier
He is one o those men o whom it is diicult to write somethin& without resortin&
to animosity or admiration ' that is, without passion. That is because he is a !ery
lar&e i&ure and also !ery human( he is a bit beyond us. )t dierent turns, he
disconcerts us, humbles us, comorts us and irritates us. *e like to know that he is
human, e!en !ery human. )nd then we suer to see how human he is at times,
while in other circumstances he is so holy. +id he make a synthesis o these
contradictions and is it possible or us to do the same,... It is not a -uestion o
tryin& to !iolate. the secrets o his /tory. but o tryin& to reco&ni0e the true
&reatness that was his and which made him and makes him a &uide or us.#
+om Jean 1eclerc
2uoted in reerence to /t. 3ernard in Nova et Vetera, June 4567, p. 485
2
Charles de Foucauld
Journey to Tamanrasset
Introduction
This book grew out of a session that was given in Lyon, France for the lay
communities of Charles de Foucauld from July 26, 1! to "ugust 2, 1!# The te$t,
which had been ta%ed, transcribed and edited, had ke%t its oral style and a%%eared under
the title Un Regard Neuf sur Charles de Foucauld# The su%%lies &uickly ran out and
continuing interest has led to a new re'working and editing of the te$t#
(hat is still to be said about this man that has not been said before) (hy another
book about someone who has already been the sub*ect of so many biogra%hies)
+ have tried to a%%roach the life and writings of Charles de Foucauld by limiting
myself to certain events and circumstances of his life in detail# +n so doing + have tried to
res%ect the conte$t and chronology of those events in order to discover the true
motivation behind them# + had to resist the tem%tation to answer the needs of those who
desired a chronological overview of his *ourney# +nstead, my research led me over %aths
where few had traveled before and sometimes into forests where there was always a risk
of getting lost# ,ut it also led me to discover hidden marvels#
(hile there seems to be interest today in this a%%roach to Charles de Foucauld
there was already interest back in 121 following the %ublication of -en. ,a/in0s
biogra%hy# " *ournalist of the time wrote,
1+ would like to know how grace worked its way in this soul# + have been shown
the beginning and the end of the *ourney but no one has said anything about what
ha%%ened along the way2 +t would be so interesting3 That is why the story of
Father de Foucauld must be retold# The ins and outs of his soul must be
thoroughly turned over in the ho%es of discovering an admirable harvest#4
1
5r# 5autheville, a contem%orary who s%ent si$ months in Tamanrasset in close
contact with Charles de Foucauld, wrote in the same vein6
1+ saw in him someone much more human and much more interested by the
events of this world than what 7r# ,a/in %resented in his book# There he comes
across as a saint ready for beatification#4
2
" half'century later it seems somewhat indiscreet and irreverent to want to dig
into the 1ins and outs of this soul4 who, though not beatified, seems already haloed and
ideali/ed as someone to imitate# +t could seem ina%%ro%riate to dig into not only his
writings but also the details of his life and to take a close look at his behavior and the
idiosyncrasies of such a great man, his ways and tem%erament# 5oing so might seem to
1
-obert 8em%, La Libert, 9ct :1, 121# ;uoted by Jean'Fran<ois =i$ in the second edition of -en.
,a/in0s Charles de Foucauld, Exporateur au Maroc, ermite au Sahara, >aris, >lon, 1?, %#@#
2
Aeorges Aorr.e, Les mitis sahariennes du !"re de Foucauld, >aris, "rthaud, 1B6, vol +, %#2@2#
:
be *um%ing on the bandwagon of those who try to denigrate the iconoclasts of certain
times# ,ut it is necessary to delineate the %ious images that hagiogra%hy has %resented us
and to remove the %laster that hides the real %erson, without giving the im%ression of
destroying the statue itself#
This research has rather led us to discover at every ste% along the way a new
dimension of both his humanity and his holiness# The results of this long study of
Charles de Foucauld led us to the same conclusion that 5r# C.risson reached after a much
shorter encounter with him# Ce wrote this to -en. ,a/in, 1Contrary to what they say
about famous %eo%le, Fr# de Foucauld dis%ro%ortionately grew in stature when one saw
him close u%, every day#4
:
+n this book + have tried to limit myself to certain moments of Charles de
Foucauld0s life without hiding the evolution and changes of direction that took %lace#
These changes always followed the same %attern of, first, an 1inner movement4 or a
1%rofound im%ulse4 which then grew into an 1intense desire4 which then became a
1duty4# These are the words that he used when seeking advice and counsel and which we
find even more often in the notes that Fr# Cuvelin wrote back to him on these occasions#
They invite us to discover the motivations behind the a%%arent changes over the course of
his life# They are a unifying factor throughout his many different e$%eriences all the way
to Tamanrasset# That 1%ower that moves him4 remains mysterious# +t is not *ust the inner
dynamic of an e$traordinary man# That is why it does not cease to raise &uestions for
those who take an interest in this man, a man who fascinates some while confusing
others#
:
-en. ,a/in, Charles de Foucauld, Exporateur au Maroc, ermite au Sahara, >aris, >lon, 1?, %#:!@#
B
3io&raphical 1andmarks
The following two %ages contain a table that divides the Charles de Foucauld0s ?!
years into two nearly e&ual %arts#
Dach %age is further divided in two6 the first %age se%arates the %eriod in which he
had com%letely lost his faith Ethirteen yearsFG the second se%arates the last into 2 %eriods
of fifteen years that we will com%are, analy/ing significant moments in his evolution#
These four %eriods revolve around events that are marked by abandonment of
religious %ractice, conversion to Aod in 9ctober of 1!!6 and his %riestly ordination in
1H1#
?
1!?!
1!?
1!6H
1!61
1!62
1!6:
1!6B
1!6?
1!66
1!6@
1!6!
1!6
1!@H
1!@1
1!@2
1!@:
=trasbourg
(issembourg
=trasbourg
=wit/erland
Iancy
,irth =e%tember 1?
th
,irth of his sister, 7arie
5eath of his %arents
(ar
1
st
Communion, "%ril 2!
th

6 years old
12 years old
1B years old
1!@B
1!@?
1!@6
1!@@
1!@!
1!@
1!!H
1!!1
1!!2
1!!:
1!!B
1!!?
1!!6
Iancy
>aris
>aris'Iancy
=t# Cyr
=t# Cyr
=aumur
>ony'J'7ousson'
,Kne
=.tif'Dvian'
7ascara
"lgiers
7arocco
"lgiers
"lgiers'"lgerian
=ahara
>aris
=chool at =t# Aenevieve
E-ue des >ostesF
D$%elled from school, 7arch
>re%aration for =t# Cyr
5eath of his Arandfather,
February :
rd
5ismissed from the military
D$%loratory tri% through
7orocco
EJune 1!!:'7ay 1!!BF
7arriage >lans
Conversion end of 9ctober
2H years old
2? years old
2! years old
6
1!!@
1!!!
1!!
1!H
1!1
1!2
1!:
1!B
1!?
1!6
1!@
1!!
1!
1HH
1H1
>aris
Coly Land
Iotre 5ame des Ieiges
"kbLs
"kbLs M "lgiers M -ome
Ia/areth
Ia/areth M I# 5# des
Ieiges
I#5# de Ieiges M "lgeria
>ilgrimage
Dntered the Tra%%ists
Left the Tra%%ists
Cermit in Ia/areth
>re%aration for
9rdination
-eturn to "lgeria
:2 years old
B: years old
1H2
1H:
1HB
1H?
1H6
1H@
1H!
1H
11H
111
112
11:
11B
11?
116
,eni "bbLs
Tri% to the =outh
,eni "bbLs M Coggar M
Tamanrasset
Tamanrasset'"lgiers
+n =alah'"drar'Tamanrasset
Tamanrasset
Tamanrasset M "ssekrem

Tamanrasset
Tamanrasset
"ugust, =ettles in
Tamanrasset
Tri% to "lgiers via
,eni "bbLs
Tri% throughout the
=outh
+llness
1
st
tri% to France
E?monthsF
2
nd
tri% to France
E? monthsF
:
rd
tri% to France
E@ monthsF
(ar
Construction of
1castle4
7oved to 1castle4 M
5eath 5ec 1
st

?H years old
?! years old
@
) Happy Childhood
Charles de Foucauld described the first fifteen years of his life as taking %lace in
the bosom of a faith'filled, %racticing Catholic family# +n general most %eo%le have
described his childhood as unha%%y# ,ut that is not at all what he remembers about it#
For him it was a time of ha%%iness# Cowever, he was hardly si$ years old when both of
his %arents died within a few months of each other# Cis mother died first, followed by the
death of his father# Ce %ractically did not know his father as he had been living away
from the family due to illness# +f he barely mentioned his father, he ke%t a vivid memory
of his mother whom he considered to be a saint# Ce es%ecially recalled his grandfather,
colonel 7orlet who raised Charles and his younger sister 7arie after their %arents0
deaths# (e can read what he has to say at the time of his grandfather0s death if we are
not convinced# (ithout this affectionate u%bringing that many have described as too
rela$ed, would Charles have become the free's%irited man who was admired by a whole
generation)
Cis childhood was also affected by the war of 1!@H# "s for many of the French,
es%ecially those who lived in "lsace or Lorraine, it was a time of e$ile# The family had
to flee =trasburg and take refuge in western France and, later, in =wit/erland# Ce was
twelve years old# Letters that he wrote to a cousin during this %eriod give us his child0s
eye view of this time of war and destruction# +t is necessary to mention this, even though
it is not of %rimary im%ortance in our study, because his life would also end in a time of
war#
"mong his ha%%y memories is the 1
th
birthday %arty for his very dear cousin,
7arie 7oitessier# Dleven years old at the time, he already considered her as his
confidante and as a second mother# Ce and his sister used to s%end summer vacations in
Iormandy with the 7oitessier family, with 7arie and her sister Catherine# The
corres%ondence between Charles and 7arie began at this time#
(e should also recall his first communion that took %lace at this time, as it is
something that he mentioned# Cis cousin, 7arie, came from >aris to take %art in the
celebration and gave him a book by ,ossuet, Les l#ations sur les M$st"res% +t was a
small book of meditations on the Aos%els that was ty%ically given for first communions#
This book had a certain influence on the rest of his life#
Later he said that he lost his faith at the age of 1? and attributed this to his choice
of reading materials as well as to a lack of %hiloso%hical formation# +t is interesting to
note that the marriage of 7arie 7oitessier to 9livier de ,ondy took %lace at this time#
The %erson that was closer to him that anyone else married and, in some sense, left him#
Ce never made any reference to what many have considered his broken'heart#
) wild youn& man
The second %eriod of his youth, the time of his lack of faith, covers a thirteen'year
%eriod# Charles de Foucauld characteri/ed it as a 1descent into death#4 Ce abandoned all
religious %ractices and references# Ce 1unlearned how to %ray4 and his life became
meaningless# (hat was he looking for) Later he said that he had been sliding into a way
!
that led to death, that was drowning him in evil# 17y life began to be a death,4 he wrote#
1
+t was only his grandfather0s love for him that ke%t him from giving in to the most
e$treme e$cesses# Ce was sent to a Jesuit school in >aris to %re%are for higher studies Ein
Dnglish we do say College for studies after what we call high schoolF# Ce was e$%elled
for unruly conduct and for not doing his assignments#
Ce e$%erienced a real breaking %oint during this %eriod of his life# Charles was
barely 2H years old when, on February :, 1!@!, his grandfather died# Ce was in his
second year at =t# Cyr 7ilitary "cademy# Dven fourteen years later he remembered this
as a tremendously %ainful event# +t would remain a %ainful memory his entire life, even
more so than the deaths of his %arents# From that time on life lost its sweetness,
ha%%iness and the *oy of being family# Cis letters to a childhood friend, Aabriel Tourdes
with whom he corres%onded until his death, tell us a lot about his youth# 9n February ?,
1!@!, the day after his grandfather0s death Charles wrote,
1+ don0t have to think when + write to you# (e can tell each other everything# +t
is so good3 "mong other things, when + write to you it reminds me of a whole
%eriod of my life that is now %ast# + have such ha%%y memories of that %eaceful
time with my family# (e shared such good times together, discovering literature
and the &uiet goodness that + en*oyed while + was close to grandfather# "ll of this
comes back to me as + write to you and it is infinitely %recious to me# + can see
myself as we began to discover how to think as we entered manhood# +n the
s%ringtime we took walks together at the %lant nursery, we would share and read
books there# (e were so ha%%y, at %eace and carefree# (e trusted the future# E+
think this is goodF Nou are still ha%%y# Nou still take walks at the nursery when
the weather is nice# ,ut it0s not like it used to be# (e no longer go there alone to
walk along the little used %aths where it0s &uiet# Nou go with grou%s of friends
and women to en*oy the music and the lively atmos%here and the crowds along
the %athways# Nou have also begun a new %eriod of your life# + have to tell you
that you have lost something in the %rocess# ,ut you are ha%%y at least# (hen
you will have tired of the fun you will return to the bosom of your family as
before, ha%%y to be with them and with your books# +t is not the same for me#
"ll at once + have lost my family, my %eace of mind and that carefree s%irit that
was so sweet# + will never have it again# + will never again be ha%%y like + was at
Iancy in the good old days that we so often s%ent together# 7y only consolation
is that + have understood the ha%%iness that was mine at that time and + en*oyed it#
Try to do the same#4
2

" letter that %receded his grandfather0s death, although undated, gives an insight
into the feelings of this twenty year old6
19h, if + were only ten years older3 + don0t know what +0ll be doing ten years
from now but + will %robably have retired from military service# + will begin my
life as a bachelor, living alone in a small country house# +t is so good to be free
and at %eace# ,ut it is hard to be alone# "nd it seems to me that + will necessarily
1
Charles de Foucauld, La &erni"re !lace, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@B, %#1H1#
2
Charles de Foucauld, Lettres ' un ami de l$ce, Correspondance indite a#ec (abriel )ourdes *+,-./
+0+12, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!2, %% @2'@:#

be condemned to such an e$istence# "t the same time you will be %eaceful and
ha%%y with your family6 O2P + am not that way and %robably never will be# ,ut
who knows) 7aybe + will still have some ha%%y moments but they will never be
ha%%ier than those that + will s%end with you#4
:
The last sentence e$%resses the tone of many of his letters to Aabriel Tourdes# +t
also reveals a certain %ossessiveness and the absolute &uality of his friendshi%# Ce
wanted to have him all to himself during their vacations and %lanned what they would do
each day ahead of time# (e can already recogni/e the bent towards organi/ation that we
find throughout his life# Ce wanted it all, right away and all the time#
These letters are a good indicator of the de%th of his 1state of boredom#4
(hatever he did was aimed at chasing away this boredom, distracting and amusing him#
9n one level we can characteri/e this %eriod with two words6 1food4 and 1books4# The
books were not only about the content, although he would always read a great deal# They
were also about the &uality of the bindings# Ce inherited thousands of books from his
grandfather which he had had to classify# (e see how attached he was, not only to books,
but to anything that he could %ossess# +f we sto% for a moment and look at what he
%urchased we can already get an idea about his relationshi% with money# Ce had to buy
what no one else yet owned, the clothes that no one else had access to# There are bills
from shoe stores and tailor sho%s, etc and they are very significant#
1"ll goodness, kindness and care for what others thought had disa%%eared from
my soul# (hat were left were self'centeredness, sensuality, %ride and the vices
that accom%any these# O2P 7y ardent love of family O2P was still lively,
although less so# +t was a beacon, the last light in the midst of %rofound darkness#
O2P +t, too, lost much of its brilliance although it did not com%letely go out# "nd
then it was night, there was nothing left# + could no longer see either Aod or
others# There was only myself2 "nd + was totally self'centered, in darkness and
in filth# The worldliest of my com%anions had lost all esteem for me# + disgusted
and revolted them# + was more like a %ig than a man# + was rolling in this muck34
B
"t the end of his military formation at =t# Cyr, Charles entered the =chool of
Cavalry of =aumur# 5es%ite the fact that he did very little work he did manage to
graduate with his commission, albeit at the bottom of his class# +f we read his letters to
Aabriel Tourdes at this time we would be led to believe that learning horsemanshi% filled
his days# ,ut other sources tell us that he was a rather %oor horseman, %robably because
he was so overweight# E(hen he arrived at =t# Cyr they couldn0t find a uniform large
enough to fit him#F To kee% loneliness and boredom at bay he organi/ed %arties and lived
in high style, dis%osing of and abusing the inheritance he had received from his
grandfather#
Q%on graduation he was assigned to the B
th
Cussard division, garrisoned at >ont'
J'7ousson# There he led a life of %leasure, having found a few com%anions worthy to
share his com%any#
,ut this life of %leasure only further %rovoked the feelings of em%tiness6
:
9%# cit#, %% @H'@1#
B
Charles de Foucauld, La derni"re place, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@B, %% :'B#
1H
12a sadness + never felt before or since# +t returned each evening as soon as +
found myself alone in my a%artment2 +t held me numb and de%ressed during the
%arties# + had organi/ed them, but when they actually took %lace, + was
s%eechless, bored and disgusted2 + have never felt such sadness, uneasiness or
worry as + did then#4
?
+s this the em%tiness that can hollow out a s%ace and %re%are the way for
something else) (ould a genuine love have been able to o%en u% and fill the loneliness
of his heart) " woman, about whom we know nothing, %layed a role for several months#
(e know her only as 7imi and their dalliances earned him disci%linary action# They
thought that this situation would resolve itself, as his regiment was due to leave for
"lgeria# ,ut his su%erior officers became sus%icious when they saw the amount of
baggage that Lieutenant de Foucauld was taking along# They sent orders ahead to im%ose
further disci%linary action should he bring that woman with him# "nd so, shortly after his
arrival at ,Kne, "lgeria, he was %laced under arrest# The im%osed %unishment only
became more severe as the %rocess made its way through the chain of command resulting
in %rison time from Iovember 1!!H until January 1!!1# Q%on his release his s&uadron
was sent to =.tif which was located further in the interior of the country# +t was there, on
February 6, 1!!1, that he received the order to leave 7imi# Ce %rotested that their
relationshi% in no way im%eded his military service and that it was a matter of his
%ersonal life# "s a result he received notification on 7arch 2?
th
that he was discharged for
1disobeying orders in addition to notorious misconduct#4
The %leasure of adventure
+ think that 1"dventure4 communicates the sense well
Charles de Foucauld left for Rvian, France with 7imi# They had hardly been
there a week or two when he received a letter from =.tif that would change his life# +n a
letter dated 9ctober 2, 1!!1 to Aabriel Tourdes he described it this way#
1+ should have ke%t you u% to date with my wanderings# "s you know + left the
B
th
Cussard 5ivision in "%ril Ebecause of a womanF# +n fact, + brought the
discharge on myself# =.tif is an awful garrison and the work was boring# "nd so +
ha%%ily returned to France and where + decided to settle into this en*oyable life'
style as long as %ossible# + settled near Rvian# Nou know what a wonderful %lace
it is# + had hardly had time to taste the %leasure of it when + received a letter from
=.tif telling me that %art of my regiment was leaving for Tunisia# =uch an
e$%edition is too rare a %leasure to %ass u% without trying to take %art#4
1
Ce immediately asked to be reinstated, even without his %revious rank, no matter
what they asked him to do, and %romised to never see 7imi again# (e could say that he
was ready for all, acce%ting all, as long as they sent him where the action was because he
?
9%# cit#, %# 1H1#
1
Charles de Foucauld, Lettres ' un ami de l$ce, Correspondance indit a#ec (abriel )ourdes *+,-./
+0+12, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!2, %#116#
11
didn0t want to live his life in a garrison# To en*oy such a rare %leasure was the reaction of
the e%icurean in him# Cis reading material these months was "risto%hanes#
Cis motives may have been more com%le$ than what he e$%ressed but are we able
to find another e$%lanation than the one that he himself %rovides us with) Cis various
biogra%hers have not been able to kee% themselves from imagining nobler or dee%er
e$%lanations# They have come u% with any number of suggestions6 la/iness and
boredom, dissatisfaction with his love life, regret, nostalgia for a better life, a surge of
chivalry, a sense of %atriotic duty, colonialist %assion, his military mind'set and a sense of
solidarity with his comrades in arms, a sense of honor2 what else) Io one mentioned
%leasure# "nd on this note he ended what he sim%ly called 1the situation with a woman#4
5ue to the sanctions against him Charles was not allowed to re'enlist with his old
regiment# +nstead he was sent to the B
th
Chasseurs of "frica# E+t is often erroneously said
that he went to the B
th
Cussards which had changed their name#F Ce landed in 9ran,
"lgeria and met u% with the troo%s in 7ascara who were waging a cam%aign against the
rebels of Cheikh ,ou "mama# Ce is a totally different man than the one who had been at
=t Cyr, =aumur, >ont'J'7ousson or =.tif# ,ut it is difficult to know e$actly who he was
now# (e mostly have from recollections from those who had known him that were
written down at a much later time or from La%errine who had heard stories about him#
Fit/'James had met him both *ust before and *ust after this e$%edition south of 9ran and
wrote only many years later6
1Ce acted notably from the start and immediately liked by his new -egiment#
Foucauld showed he was able to endure fatigue and hardshi%s *ust as well as he
had given himself over to %leasure# Ce was always in a good mood, ha%%ily %ut
u% with hunger and es%ecially thirst and was very good to his men# Ce was
always thinking of how to make it easier for them and shared everything he had
with them# Caving to ration water, he gave his share to others# Ce always gave
an e$am%le of initiative, courage, intelligence and energy#4
2
La%errine su%%lied us with these better'known comments6
1+n the midst of the dangers and hardshi%s of these colonial e$%editions, this
educated %layboy showed himself to be a soldier and a leader# Ce ha%%ily %ut u%
with the most difficult situations, giving of himself and devotedly caring for his
men# The only thing that was left of the de Foucauld of =aumur and >ont'J'
7ousson was the tiny edition of "risto%hanes that he always carried with him#
Ce remained a little bit snobbish in that when he was not able to obtain his
favorite brand of cigars he sim%ly &uit smoking2 The "rabs had a %rofound
effect on him#4
:
The little that can be said about this short %eriod of his life underlines that the
motivating factor of the decision that he made at Dvian was %leasure# +t led him to
change directions and undertake a warrior e$%edition# (as it the %earl of great %rice for
2
>aul Lesourd, La #raie figure du !"re de Foucauld, >aris, Flammarion, 1::, %# 62#
:
-evue de Cavalerie, octobre 11:, CCF, no# !, %#1B:, 1Les .ta%es de la conversion d0un Cussard, le >Lre
de Foucauld#4
12
which he was ready to leave everything that had begun to be a source of %leasure for
him)
+f we continue to read his 9ctober 2, 1!!1 letter to Aabriel Tourdes we discover
the source of his new'found ha%%iness6
1They did send me back to "frica but not to the -egiment + had desired# + would
have at least wanted to be sent to the %rovince of Constantine# (ell, + haven0t
lost much by coming here instead# +n the three and a half months that + have been
with the B
th
Chasseurs of "frica + have not s%ent 2 nights in a house2 + am %art
of a military column O2P that tours the high %lateaus south of =aSda# +t is so
funny# + like the %atrol life as much as + dislike life in the garrison# "nd that is
saying a lot# + ho%e that this tour of duty will last a long time# (hen it does end +
will try to be transferred some%lace where the action is# +f + am unable to do that +
don0t know what + will do# Iothing could make me ready to live in a garrison
again#4
B
The cam%aign ended rather &uickly and he couldn0t stand the idea of living in the
garrison at 7ascara# "round January 2H, 1!!2 he asked to be sent elsewhere and finally
resigned from the army# Cis military e$%erience in "lgeria lasted less than 1! months#
Ce e$%lained his reasons for leaving to Aabriel Tourdes in a letter dated February 1!,
1!!2#
1+ hate living in the garrison# + find it so very tiresome in %eacetime, which is
most of the time, O2P and + had decided a long time ago that + would &uit the
military for good# =ince + felt this way + %referred to leave immediately rather
than drag around for a few more years, aimless and bored with it all# + would
rather en*oy my youth by traveling# "t least then + would be learning something
and not wasting my time#4
?
(e can underline the word 1immediately#4
=ome new motivations also a%%eared6 the desire to travel as well as not to lose
his time# Ten years later he described this %eriod of his life in a letter to his friend Cenri
5uveyrier dated February 21, 1!26
1+ s%ent seven or eight months living in a tent in the =ahara south of 9ran# +t gave
me a real taste for the traveling that had always attracted me# + handed in my
resignation in 1!!2 in order to give free reign to my desire for adventure#4
Ce had now substituted the words taste, desire and attraction for what he used to
call %leasure and en*oyment# Ce would use this same vocabulary the rest of his life in
s%eaking of his vocation# +f he had been asked why he left the army at that moment he
could have used the same words that he used to s%eak of later leaving the Tra%%ists6
B
Charles de Foucauld, Lettre ' un ami de l$ce, Correspondance indite a#ec (abriel )ourdes *+,-./
+0+12, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!2, %%# 116'11@#
?
9%# cit#, %#11!#
1:
1+ left for the same reason that + entered, not from inconsistency but rather
consistency in seeking an ideal that + ho%ed to find there# + did not find it there#4
6
Further letters to Aabriel Tourdes tell us about his travel %lans throughout Iorth
"frica, =audi "rabia and %ossibly as far as Jerusalem where he ho%ed to meet 5r#
,altha/ar, a doctor whom he had met south of 9ran, "lgeria# +n his letter of February 1!,
1!!2 to Aabriel Tourdes he wrote6
1Iow let me ask you for a favor that that + need you to do for me# Nou can
a%%reciate that it would be a shame to undertake such wonderful tri%s stu%idly and
as nothing more than a tourist# + want to be serious about it O2P Find out about
all of the books that + will need O2P + don0t know anyone else who is serious
enough to do this for me and who would be willing to do it out of friendshi%# =o +
am sim%ly asking you directly#4
@
Iot wishing to travel 1stu%idly4, but usefully and intelligently, he sent a list of the
books he wanted his friend to obtain for him#
Then, suddenly, it is no longer a &uestion of traveling Dast but rather (est to the
7agreb E"rabic word for 7oroccoF region of Iorth "frica# For the "rab world this is
considered the far (est, the totally o%%osite direction from the 7iddle Dast# This was a
first change of direction# (hy did he want to go to 7orocco) (as it because it seemed
to him to be the only one that had not really been e$%lored) (e can see in this his desire
to do what others had not done before or had not been able to do#
+n June 1!!2 he was in "lgiers# Ce left some very concrete traces of his %assage
there# "t the Iational Library there is the list of books that he borrowed, returned and
later borrowed again as he called on the hel% of some of the most com%etent %eo%le of his
time in %re%aring this e$%loration# "mong these were 7acCarthy, 7aunoir and
5uveyrier, the noted e$%lorer who would become a close friend# 5uveyrier had *ust
%ublished his book about the Tuareg %eo%le after com%leting the first e$%edition among
them#
(hat was his work schedule) +n a letter to Aabriel Tourdes dated Iovember 2@,
1!!2, after e$cusing himself for not having written in a long time he wrote6
1Nou know me# Nou know, too, that although + don0t write often + also don0t
forget about my friends, es%ecially you who are not a friend but the friend# "t
%resent + feel less like writing than ever# The reason is that the one habit that +
ke%t from my former %osition is that of drawing u% a work schedule# 9ld soldier
that you are, you know all about those# 9nce + had arrived here + made one u% for
myself and + have horribly filled it u%# "ccording to it + begin work at @ in the
morning and finish around midnight, with two half'hour breaks for meals# Dvery
moment is filled with some class or other, "rabic, Cistory, Aeogra%hy, and so on#
"s for corres%ondence, O2P + left it for after working hours, meaning after
6
Charles de Foucauld, Crier l3E#angile, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!2, %#1B?#
@
Charles de Foucauld, Lettres ' un ami de l$ce, Correspondance indite a#ec (abriel )ourdes *+,-./
+0+12, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!2, %#11#
1B
midnight, but by that time O2P + am so slee%yG O2P That is why + have fallen so
behind in my corres%ondence#4
!
(e can be sur%rised to know that when he lived in Tamanrasset he s%ent 1H hours
and B? minutes a day on linguistic studies# ,ut when we know that when he was 2B
years old he s%ent 16 hours a day studying, we are less sur%rised3
(e will not insist on the im%ortance of Charles de Foucauld0s 7oroccan
e$%edition# (ould that adventure be enough to fill the em%tiness that was making itself
felt within him) Ce found some sort of fulfillment in the risks that he undertook# Ce
could have become into$icated by the dangers as well as by his success# +t brought out
the best in himG his inner strength, his courage and his tenacity as well as his ingenuity,
his tact and his drive to accom%lish his goal# The de Foucauld family motto was, 1Iever
retreat4# Cis sister worried about him and begged him to come home# Ce wrote to her in
January 1!!B, 1(hen one sets off to do a thing, one must never return without having
done it#4

+n the same vein he wrote to a cousin, 1"t no %rice do + want to return without
seeing what + set off to see or going where + said + would go#4
(hen he did return, 5uveyrier %resented him to the French Aeogra%hical =ociety
who accorded him a gold medal for his work# (e can recall a few significant &uotes
from the awards ceremony6
1Ce accom%lished this without government hel% of any kind, at his own e$%ense,
sacrificing his future in the military# "n even greater sacrifice, if that is %ossible,
is that he traveled disguised as a Jew in the midst of a %o%ulation that considers
Jews inferior, although useful# Ce bravely shouldered this role, with absolute
disregard for his own well being, without tent or bed, and with little baggage# Ce
traveled this way throughout eleven months among a %eo%le who two or three
times discovered his mas&uerade and threatened him with the merited
%unishment, that is, death# O2P 9ne does not know what to admire more6 the
beautiful and useful results of his work or the devotion, courage and ascetic self'
forgetfulness with which this young officer accom%lished it O2P, sacrificing
more than his comfort, having taken and lived out much more than a vow of
%overty and misery O2P4
1H
These words carry something of a %ro%hetic weight on the li%s of someone who
did not believe in Aod and who, when he wrote them, knew nothing of the future that lay
before Charles de Foucauld#
,ut this e$%edition would not satisfy the growing feeling of em%tiness that
Charles de Foucauld was e$%eriencing# Ce had regained a certain %lace of %restige, one
that he had lost, es%ecially in the eyes of his family# "nd it was not *ust any %lace, but
first %lace# Cis gold medal won him international esteem as one of the great e$%lorers of
his day and a career o%ened before him# 5id he understand his first article, 1Journey
through 7orocco,4 to be the story of his own inner *ourney) Ie$t came the %ublication
of Reconnaissance au Maroc4# 5id he begin to 1recogni/e4 something else that seemed
!
5p%cit#, %#12?#

-en. ,a/in, Charles de Foucauld, explorateur au Maroc, ermite au Sahara, >aris, >lon, 121, %#@2#
1H
-a%%ort fait J la =ociet. de A.ogra%hie de >aris dans la s.ance g.n.rale du 2B avril 1!!? %ar 7# Cenri
5uveyrier sur le voyage de 7# le Ticomte Charles de Foucauld au 7aroc, %%# 12, 1B et 21#
1?
*ust beyond his gras%) Cis e$%editions had taken %lace in southern 7orocco, in the
/aouSa of Tisint# =urely the loneliness of that tri%, the difficulties and re%eated death
threats %layed some %art in it all# ,ut it was es%ecially his contact with %eo%le of faith
that was the determining factor# 5id not his contact with %eo%le whom he said 1live in
the continual %resence of Aod4, %eo%le who became his friends, o%en u% another whole
dimension of life) E+ think this is goodF
12the sight of this faith and these souls living in the continual %resence of Aod
hel%ed me to recogni/e something greater and truer than worldly
%reoccu%ations#4
11
The time o con!ersion
Caving returned from 7orocco Charles de Foucauld was busy writing his
Reconnaissance au Maroc
+
in the course of which he made several tri%s between France
and "lgeria# Ce regularly visited Commander Titre in "lgiers as he worked on his ma%s
and there he met the Commander0s daughter, 7arie'7arguerite# -omance blossomed
and there was even talk of becoming engaged# ,ut his family was vehemently o%%osed
to the marriage# Cis brother'in'law, -aymond de ,lic, then his "unt +ne/ 7oitessier tried
to dissuade him# Finally his cousin, 7arie de ,ondy, managed to convince him and he
would later say that she had 1saved4 him from this marriage#
"fter this %ainful break'u%, at the end of July 1!!?, Charles de Foucauld became
ill# "fter some rest he traveled alone to southern "lgeria in order to verify and com%are
the observations that he had made in 7orocco# Cis lengthy tri% of three and a half
months took him from Tiaret, to "flou and on to AhardaSa# There he connected with a
military column headed to the oasis of Dl Aolea about 1HHH kms# from "lgiers# There
they were to set u% a station for homing %igeons to facilitate communication with this
area that did not yet have a %ermanent French %ost# ,efore leaving Dl Aolea he wrote to
his friend, Cenri 5uveyrier, who had been the first Frenchman to travel that far# They set
out for 9uargla from where the military column went on to AhadhaSa while Charles de
Foucauld traveled Dast to Tunis, %assing through Touggourt, Dl 9ued, and southern
Tunisia# Cis desert meandering ended with the year 1!!?#
2
Ce returned to France at the beginning of 1!!6 and after a visit with his sister near
Arasse in the 7idi region of the country, he settled in >aris at ?H rue de 7iromesnil, not
far from where his "unt and cousins lived at rue d0"n*ou# Ce lived there as if he were
still in the =ahara, slee%ing on the floor and wearing a gandoura, while working on his
ma%s, %roof'reading the te$t for his book and %lanning further travels#
Cis letter to 5uveyrier dated February 21, 1!2 underlines the im%ortance of the
events of 1!!6 for his %ersonal inner *ourney# Ce continually mulled it over #
:
11
LCC, H!#H@#1H1#
1
Charles de Foucauld, Reconnaissance au Maroc, >aris, Challamel, 1!!!# -..dition de la 1re %artie de
l0ouvrage, >lan de la Tour ETarF, Rditions d0"u*ourd0hui, collection 1Les +ntrouvables4, 1!?#
2
The sketches that he made during this tri% can be found in Es6uisses Sahariennes %ublished by the Centre
d0.tudes sur l0histoire du =ahara, >aris, Jean 7aisonneuve, 1!?#
:
The com%lete te$t of this letter can be found in the anne$# +t contains the first written account of his
conversion#
16
1+ returned to >aris in 1!!6 in this state of mind# 7y sister was no longer
in >aris, having married and moved to ,ourgogne# ,ut + was welcomed at my
aunt0s home as if + had never left or caused so much worry to those who loved me#
(ithin these walls that became my home, although + was actually living in
another house, + found %eo%le who modeled every virtue combined with great
intelligence and dee% religious conviction# + became infatuated by such virtue and
chose my reading material in function of it, reading the ancient moralists, far from
any religious thinking# +t was virtue that attracted me2 but + found less
nourishment and insight than + e$%ected from these ancient %hiloso%hers
B
2 "nd
then, &uite by accident, + came across a few %ages of ,ossuet
?
and + found in them
so much more de%th than + had in any of the ancients2 "s + continued to read
this book, little by little, + began to reali/e that the faith of such a keen mind M the
same faith that + saw each day in the bright minds of my own family M was
%erha%s not as incom%atible with common sense as + had thought# +t was the end
of 1!!6# + felt an overwhelming desire for silence and recollection# "t the core of
my being + wondered if truth were really know to men2 + made that strange
%rayer to a Aod in whom + did not even yet believe to reveal himself to me if he
e$isted2 +t seemed to me that, in the state of doubt and confusion in which +
found myself, the wisest course of action for me would be to study the Catholic
faith of which + knew so little# + went to see a %riest, Fr# Cuvelin, whom + had met
at my aunt0s house# Ce was kind enough to answer all of my &uestions and
%atient enough to receive me as often as + wished# + became convinced of the
truth of the Catholic faith and Fr# Cuvelin became for me a real father# + began
leading a Christian life#
=everal months after this turnabout + thought about entering a religious
order but Fr# Cuvelin, as well as my family, encouraged me to marry2 + let some
time %ass24
+n his Meditations on the (ospels
7
, written in Ia/areth and Jerusalem between
=e%tember 1!@ and February 1!, we find the following commentary about the return
of the %rodigal son6
17y Aod, you are so good3 This is what you did for me3 + was young and + went
far from you, left your house etc, and went to a foreign land, the land of the
%rofane, of unbelief, indifference and earthly %assions# + stayed there a long time,
thirteen years, s&uandering my youth in sin and folly# Nour first grace, not the
first in my life because your graces to me had been countless throughout every
hour of my life, but the first in which + saw the first glimmer of my conversion,
was to let me know famine, material and s%iritual famine# Nou had the goodness
to let me suffer from material difficulties, to suffer from the thorns of such a
cra/ed lifestyle# Nou let me suffer from material famine
@
# Nou let me suffer from
B
Cis reading consisted entirely of ancient %hiloso%hers without any of the modern writers#
?
+t was El#ations sur les m$st"res that 7arie de ,ondy had given him for his first communion#
6
Charles de Foucauld, L38mitation du 9ien/im, 7ontrouge, Iouvelle Cit., 1@, %# @!#
@
=eeing how he was s&uandering his fortune, his family had his money %laced into a trust fund by the
courts#
1@
s%iritual famine through a dee% desire for a better moral state, a thirst for virtue
and a need for moral well being# "nd then, when + turned so timidly towards you,
and %rayed that strange %rayer, U+f you e$ist, let me know you0, 9h Aod of
goodness, who has never ceased to work within me and around me at every
moment since my birth, who has brought me to this moment, with what
tenderness you ran to embrace me and with what swiftness you once more gave
me the robe of innocence#4
+n a letter dated "ugust 1B, 1H1 to Cenry de Castries he wrote6
1For 12 years + lived believing nothing and denying nothing, having given u% all
ho%e of ever finding the truth and not even believing in Aod# Iothing could be
%roved to me#4
Ce went on6
1(hile + was in >aris2 + was being urged on by an inner grace# + started going
to church even though + still had no faith# +t was the only %lace where + felt some
%eace and + s%ent many hours there re%eating that strange %rayer, U7y Aod, if you
e$ist, let me know you#04
(e find this same %hrase in at least si$ or seven different letters# +t underscores
the im%ortance of this %rayer in his life# Ce even wrote to his cousin, Louis de Foucauld,
who was *ust a bit older than himself and e&ually unbelieving, 1Nou can do it, too#4
EIovember 2!, 1!BF# "nd it must have had some effect on him since he rediscovered
his faith when he was about to be married# Could this %rayer have become something of
a method for him) (e find the same suggestion in a letter to his friend Aabriel Tourdes
who had *ust lost his sister
!
# 1>ray this short %rayer that + made to him#4
+n a meditation on >salm :1 he again recalled the time of his conversion, insisting
as in the following &uotes, on the im%ortant role of certain %ersons#
1 U,lessed are those whose sin is forgiven0# O2P "t this time, eleven years ago
you converted me# Dleven years ago, without looking for it, you brought my
sinful soul back to the foldG O2P "nd with what sweetness you bestowed that
grace u%on meG +t wasn0t that there was no %ain at this time, as %ain is necessary
in the %urification of the soul, but how you let me feel the sweetness of your
hand32 Nou %laced me in such hands# Nou entrusted me to such souls3 Cow
gentle and dear were those whom you used to do your work3 Nou were so good3
5ivinely good

34
+n a meditation from Iovember !, 1!@ we find the same thoughts6
1=uch graces3 +t was all your doing, my Aod6 this need for silence, the
recollection, the s%iritual reading, the desire to go inside your churches even
!
Charles de Foucauld, Lettre ' un ami de l$ce, Correspondance indite a#ec (abriel )ourdes *+,-./
+0+12, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!2, letter of February 6, 1!2, %# 1B#

Charles de Foucauld, :ui peut rsister ' &ieu, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!H, %#21H#
1!
though + didn0t believe in you, the confusion in my soul, the anguish, the seeking
after the truth, and that %rayer, U7y Aod, if you e$ist, let me know you34 +t was
all your doing, your work alone2 " lovely soul hel%ed you through silence,
gentleness, goodness and %erfection2 +t showed itself and was so good and
s%read a fragrance that drew me but it did nothing of itself3 Nou, my Jesus, my
=avior, you did it all, both within and without32 Nou drew me to yourself
through the beauty of a soul in whom virtue was so beautiful that it ravished my
heart forever2 Nou drew me to the truth through the beauty of that same soul6
Nou gave me four graces# The first was to ins%ire this thought in me, Usince this
soul is so intelligent, the religion which she so fervently believes must not be the
folly that + thought it was#0 The second was to ins%ire another thought within me,
U=ince this religion is not folly, maybe the truth that can not be found u%on this
earth or within any %hiloso%hical system is to be found there#0 The third made me
say, UThen study this religion# Find a %rofessor of the Catholic faith, an educated
%riest, and go to the bottom of it and see if it is worth having faith in it#0 The
fourth was the incom%arable grace that had me ask Fr# Cuvelin to teach me2 +n
making me enter his confessional on one of the last days of 9ctober
1H
, between
the 2@
th
and the :H
th
+ think, you gave me every good thing, my Aod O2P (hat a
blessed day, what day of blessing
11
234
Charles de Foucauld fre&uently made allusion to this month of 9ctober 1!!6 and
the events that filled its days# " whole series of circumstances brought him to seek out
Fr# Cuvelin6 1une$%ected solitude, illnesses among those he loved,4 he said# +n fact,
7arie de ,ondy was sick at this time# Ce also learned that because of his own state of
health, Fr# Cuvelin was discontinuing the conferences that he usually gave# This
motivated him to ask Fr# Cuvelin for %rivate catechism lessons# There was also another
notable event that it is very revealing of Charles0 tem%erament#
5uring the summer of 1!!6, the 5uke of "umale was sent into e$ile along with
all of the members of the royal family# Ce had been the commander of the B
th
regiment of
Chasseurs of "frica# Charles de Foucauld felt it was his duty to re%resent his regiment in
>aris at the moment of this de%arture into e$ile and re&uested official authori/ation from
the colonel in charge of that regiment# Cis re&uest was seen as anti're%ublican
%rovocation and was sent on to the 7inister of the "rmy who handed down his *udgment
on =e%tember 1!# Charles was sus%ended from military service for a one year %eriod and
e$%elled from the ranks# Charles de Foucauld had arrived *ust one week earlier in Tunis
to fulfill his military service as a reserve officer# This sanction meant that he found
himself alone and aimless#
12
+s that what this 1une$%ected solitude4 was all about that made him return to
France in 9ctober 1!!6) Ce found 7arie de ,ondy sick and, in the midst of a certain
number of emotional u%heavals, he addressed himself to Fr# Cuvelin for 1religious
instruction# Ce had me kneel down and make my confession and sent me to receive
1H
9ne of the only dates that he did not %recisely record# Ce will always refer to it as one of the last days of
9ctober, 1!!6#
11
Charles de Foucauld, La derni"re place, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@B, %%#1H?'1H6#
12
Cf% >ierre =ourisseau 1;uelles circonstances .tonnantes)4 9CF, >aris, 9ctober 1!6, no# !B, %%#1@'22#
1
communion forthwith
1:
#4 +n asking him to make an act of humility through confession
Fr# Cuvelin asked him to do something that %rovoked a com%lete about face#
9ver the following months he often went to s%eak with Fr# Cuvelin at length# +t
did not ha%%en all at once but from that moment on, Fr# Cuvelin became his s%iritual
father and remained so until his death in 11H# 7arie de ,ondy became a real mother to
him, one who had birthed him in the faith after having been already like a second mother
to him#
The time or !ocation
+n his letter to 5uveyrier we read that *ust a few months after what he called his
1big change4 he was already thinking about entering a religious order# That would have
been at the beginning of 1!!@# ,ut Fr# Cuvelin was encouraging him to marry, as was his
family# +n fact, his family was unaware of the 1enormous change4 that had taken %lace in
him# They sim%ly thought he had started going back to church# Dven 7arie de ,ondy
only reali/ed later what an im%ortant role she had %layed in his conversion# ,ut we must
take what he wrote to Cenri de Castries on "ugust 1B, 1H1 very seriously6
1"s soon as + believed there was a Aod + understood that + could do nothing else
than to live for him alone# 7y religious vocation dates from the moment +
believed# Aod is so great3 There is such a difference between Aod and all that is
not Aod324
Cis 1all or nothing4 tendency shows itself clearly here6 everything and right
away# Ce can0t do anything else# Ce went on to say in this letter, 1+ wanted to be a
religious and to live for Aod alone, to do whatever was most %erfect to do, no matter
what#4
"mong the young women who attended Fr# Cuvelin0s conferences were the two
daughters of his friend, 7r# de -ichemont# 9ne of them had taken %rivate vows while
living in the world Ein voto, they called itF and was not interested in marriage# The
second, however, was not only free to marry but was *ust the ty%e that would have suited
the Tiscount Charles de Foucauld# ,ut he wanted nothing to do with marriage#
Cis book, Reconnaissance au Maroc, was %ublished at the beginning of 1!!!#
Caving finished this he was free to consider other things and %re%are other e$%editions#
Fr# Cuvelin insisted that he make a %ilgrimage to the Coly Land so that, geogra%her that
he was, he could walk where Jesus had walked# Charles de Foucauld was not at all
interested in this %lan# Ce was in too much of a hurry but he finally acce%ted to go# =o at
the end of 1!!! he sailed for the Coly Land and made the %ilgrimage in his usual style,
alone# Ce wrote6
1"fter s%ending Christmas, 1!!!, in ,ethlehem, having assisted at 7idnight
7ass, receiving communion in the Arotto and s%ending two or three days there, +
returned to Jerusalem# + had felt such an uns%eakable sweetness in that Arotto
where + could almost hear the voices of Jesus, 7ary and Jose%h and where + felt
1:
Charles de Foucauld, La derni"re place, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@B, %# 1H6#
2H
so close to them# "nd then, alas, after one short hour0s walk + was before the
dome of the Church of the Coly =e%ulcher, Calvary and the 7ount of 9lives#
(hether + wanted it or not, my thoughts shifted and + found myself at the foot of
the cross#4
1
"t the beginning of January 1!! he arrived in Ia/areth# There he discovered the
humble and obscure life of the di#ine ;or<er# +t was a kind of shock and also a call that
had a determining effect u%on him# +t es%ecially held an answer to the &uestion that he
had been asking himself since the day of his conversion, 1(hat must + do)4
+n Ia/areth Charles de Foucauld glim%sed this Aod who had walked among us#
Ce met him at the fountain, with 7ary# Ce saw him as he watched the craftsmen at their
work# "nd he saw him according to his %resent state of mind, of one who wants to make
a radical change of life'style# +n the streets of Ia/areth he received a revelation of what
he should do6 Aod took on our humanity and lived among us# Therefore, in order to
walk in the footste%s of Jesus he must take that same road# Ce understood the life of
Jesus of Ia/areth not so much in an accurate historic sense but in the sense that it could
serve as a model for him as he sought to change the direction of his life# Charles had
been reintegrated into the heart of his family# Ce had received fame and recognition as
one of the greatest e$%lorers of all time# Ce had received the gold medal from the French
Aeogra%hical =ociety# +f he was going to make a change he was not going to be content
with living like everyone else# Ce was going to have to move to the o%%osite end of the
s%ectrum from what his life had been#
For him 1conversion4 meant to allow oneself to be transformed by something that
came from outside of himself# +t meant to lead a life that was totally different from what
his life had been# The aristocrat who was so self'conscious of his rank and who attached
such im%ortance to the refinements of a%%earances, could not be content with something
sim%le and ordinary# For the famous e$%lorer, a change of life'style meant living not *ust
without fame or recognition but as someone, unknown, forgotten, looked'down on and
mistreated# Ce loved his work6 to discover lands and %eo%les and to share that
knowledge with others2# (hat could be more thrilling) Ce had edited his manuscri%t
with tremendous attention to detail, a sur%rising scientific rigor and consummate
%erfection# From now on, he wanted to give himself to work that held no interest for
anyone, was monotonous and worthless#
+f he had grown u% in a working'class or farm family he would not have
considered the life of Jesus of Ia/areth as undesirable, degrading or ab*ect# That is clear#
,ut his e$tremist tem%erament %ushed him to create for himself a model to imitate, a
Jesus in whose >assion he had seen what true abasement was all about# Ce could only
see Jesus as one who was mistreated, scourged, tortured and condemned to a shameful
death# "t that moment he could not see the beauty of manual work, the &uality of the
harmonious relationshi%s that Jesus, in his %erfect humanity, had with his neighbors nor
the sur%rising intimacy of his family life# +n his way of thinking, Jesus could only be the
%oorest man who ever lived in Ia/areth and, why not, the worst dressed# " car%enter0s
life could only have been monotonous and worthless# Jesus must have been looked down
on and ill treated# That is why he must have been reminded of that %hrase from a homily
1
Charles de Foucauld, =Cette ch"re derni"re place4 Lettres ' mes fr"res de la )rappe, >aris, Cerf, 11,
letter of december 21, 1!6 to Fr# Jerome, % 1B@#
21
of Fr# Cuvelin0s, 1Jesus so took the last %lace that no one has ever been able to take it
from him#4
+t is im%ortant to situate Charles de Foucauld0s conversion in terms of this inverse
movement, a movement to the e$treme o%%osite of what his life had been, to what he
wanted it to become# Ce always imagined Jesus as being *ust the o%%osite of what he
was# =o Charles set out to live what he felt was the %oorest and most miserable life he
could imagine# Ce remembered having seen a monk at the 7onastery of Fontgombault
whose miserable, dirty and %atched habit attracted him# This then became for him who
had been so refined and fashionable, the model he sought to e$em%lify# Ce could not
have led a life that was sim%ly %oor# Ce had to be the %oorest# Ce couldn0t look for a
lowly %lace# Ce had to have the last %lace# +n his vocabulary he always uses the
su%erlative6 the %oorest, the last %lace# +t0s not good enough that it be %oorer, it has to be
the %oorestG not *ust a lower status, but the last %lace# +n so doing he gave himself an
ideal that did not e$ist and that was im%ossible to attain, but he didn0t reali/e it# ,ut it
really was in the streets of Ia/areth that he felt called to imitate the hidden life of Jesus at
Ia/areth# This is how and when Ia/areth came to %lay such an im%ortant role in his life
even if many years later he wrote to Fr# Caron
2
, 1+ am an old sinner who, the day after his
conversion, felt irresistibly called by Jesus to lead the hidden life of Ia/areth#4
:
+n fact,
it was two years later#
From then on the &uestion became, 1(hat must + do to lead the life of Ia/areth)4
Charles de Foucauld s%ent the entire year of 1!! trying to understand with Fr# Cuvelin0s
hel% how to answer this call from Aod# Ce said that they had eliminated all of the active
orders e$ce%t the Franciscans because of =t# Francis0 %overty# ,ut, in fact, they would
rule out the Franciscans as well# There was no mention of the Carthusians even though
he seemed %ushed to a solitary life# +n the first letter that we have to 7arie de ,ondy on
=e%tember 2H, 1!!, he e$%ressed his ideal as he saw it at that moment as he shared with
her his most recent meeting with Fr# Cuvelin# 1"gain we looked at my reasons for
wanting to enter religious life6 ' in order to kee% com%any with 9ur Lord, as much as
%ossible in his sufferings '#4
For Fr# Cuvelin it was clear that a man of Charles0 social class should enter a
%lace like the 7onastery of =olesmes and he was friends with the "bbot there# =o he sent
his directee to stay at =olesmes for a while# ,ut Charles saw very &uickly that he would
never be able to live out his ideal of Ia/areth at =olesmes# =o he thought about the
Tra%%ists of =oligny# There was no &uestion of going back to Fontgombault as it was too
close to the chateau of ,arre where 7arie de ,ondy s%ent her vacations# "t =oligny he
felt that the Tra%%ist life corres%onded to his ideal of Ia/areth with its life of manual
work#
,ut he wanted to find a Tra%%ist 7onastery that was more isolated# Fr# Cuvelin
s%oke to him about a very %oor foundation that had *ust been made in =yria by the "bbey
of Iotre 5ame de Ieiges# 5om >olycar%, the brother of one of his friends
B
, and someone
in whom he had great confidence, was %art of the new foundation# Father Cuvelin was
ready to entrust Charles to them# This monastery had the advantage of being the %oorest
2
"uthor of the book au pa$s de >sus adolescent, >aris, -# Caton, 1H?# +n Cha%ter ? he s%oke of Charles
de Foucauld whom he had known# Fr# Caron was also involved in the beginnings of the ssociation of the
brothers and sisters of the Sacred ?eart of >esus%
:
@@A Lettres indites du !"re de Foucauld Eto Canon CaronF, >aris, ,onne >resse, 1B@#
B
Cf% Jean'Fran<ois =i$, 8tinraire spirituel de Charles de Foucauld, >aris, =euil, 1?!, note 2?, %# 11B#
22
one in the order and was very isolated# From that time on, Charles only thought about
going to =yria but he first had to go to Iotre 5ame de Ieiges where he would have to
make his novitiate# +n 9ctober he wrote to the Tra%%ists of Iotre 5ame des Ieiges to see
if they would acce%t him, agreeing to send him to "kbLs, =yria# Ce did not %resent
himself as a %oor and ignorant man# 9ne has only to read his letters to Fr# Dugene to see
understand what was going on6
1+ find that your 9rder is where the Christian life and the life of com%lete union
with 9ur Lord is lived# O2P 7y desire is for that life in which it seems to me that 9ur
Lord is as much consoled and glorified as he can be by men#4
?
Cis final decision was made during a retreat that he made at the end of Iovember
at the Jesuit Couse in Clamart# "t the end of this retreat of election according to the
D$ercises of =t# +gnatius
6
, it was decided that he would enter the Tra%%ists on January 1
st

or during the first week of January# Ce took his time to bid his farewells to everyone but
only told his sister, his brother'in'law and 7arie de ,ondy that he was leaving to *oin the
Tra%%ists as he wanted to see how things would go# Fr# Cuvelin asked him to %ut off his
entrance for a short time because of the cold weather# ,ut it was also because his family,
es%ecially 7arie de ,ondy, as well as himself, needed time to get accustomed to the idea
of such a se%aration#
?
Charles de Foucauld, =Cette Ch"re derni"re place4Lettres ' mes fr"res de la )rappe, >aris, Cerf, 11,
%%#:@':!#
6
+gnatian method that he always used in making decisions and choices#
2:
The day o &reatest sacriice
(ithout a doubt, January 1?, 1!H marked the life of Charles de Foucauld as no
other day# +ts im%ortance cannot be stressed enough both in its humanity as well as in
understanding the de%th of the %assionate love of Jesus that enabled Charles de Foucauld
to make such an act# "s it is easy to embellish such an event + will limit myself to citing
Charles0 own words# This allows us to see the im%ortance that he %laced on this
se%aration from the world#
Few %eo%le were aware of his imminent de%arture6
1(hen + leave,4 he wrote to his sister, 1+ will say that + am going on some tri%
without mentioning that + am entering or in any way think of *oining religious
life#4
January 1:
th
he wrote to his brother'in'law and the ne$t day, the 1B
th
, a last letter
to his sister6
1+ leave >aris tomorrow# + will be at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges the ne$t day around
2 o0clock# >ray for me# + will %ray for you and your family# Arowing closer to
Aod does not make us forget one another# + will write to you the day after + arrive
at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges# ,ut after this first letter, you will know that my
silence means that there is nothing new# "nd + will understand your silence in the
same way# (hen we are so close to Aod and so filled with Aod we have trouble
finding the little things to say of which letters are made# +t is better to %ray for
those one loves and to offer with them the sacrifice of se%aration#4
(e could, as did -en. ,a/in on %age 1HH of his book
B
, leave the rest of the
%age blank and ski% directly to January 16
th
where we would find Charles already arrived
at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges, ski%%ing com%letely the day of January 1?
th
# ,ut on the
contrary we will tarry over this day in order to give it all of the im%ortance that it
re%resented for Charles# +n his notebook where he listed all of the im%ortant dates, this is
the first# 7aybe it is sim%ly because it is in early January# ,ut in another list of dates he
seems to list a chronology as if marking the beginning of his life6 1Left the rue d0"n*ou
(ednesday, January 1?, 1!H at seven o0clock in the evening, EFeast of =t# >aul the
Cermit, =t# John Calybite, =t# 7aurF#4
(e have a fairly good idea of what took %lace that day from the many letters that
Charles wrote throughout his life in which he alluded to it# +t began with an early
morning visit to Fr# Cuvelin who was leaving >aris that same day# (e know this from a
letter that he wrote to 7arie de ,ondy on January 1B, 1!B6 1+ continue my letter2 +t is
in the morning Ein "kbesF, 66B? in >aris, the same time as when + last saw Fr# Cuvelin
after his morning 7ass#4
Charles and 7arie assisted at the am 7ass in 9ur Lady0s Cha%el in the Church
of =t# "ugustine where Charles had received communion that morning after having gone
to confession in 9ctober of 1!!6# They received communion together for the last time
and then returned to the house on rue d0"n*ou where he stayed until about : in the
B1
-en. ,a/in, Charles de Foucauld, explorateur au Maroc, ermite au Sahara, >aris, >lon, 121#
2B
afternoon# Ce left 7arie to visit Fr# Cuvelin at rue de Laborde as he had not been able to
travel because of illness# " last conversation, a last blessing, a last goodbye# Ce then
made a last visit in =t# "ugustine0s Church, a last %rayer# Charles returned to the house
on rue d0"n*ou at about B %m 1for the last time#4 Three hours later he would leave for
the train that would take him far from all those he loved# The hands of the clock seemed
to race# "t @61H %m 7arie blessed him and he left the house in tears#
There was nothing e$traordinary in this day# +t was like so many leave'takings for
convents and monasteries, for mission lands2 restrained emotions, the %ainful
se%arations from families, the sacrifice, the normal sorrow that would &uickly be
forgotten as the course of life took over# That would not be the case with Charles de
Foucauld# Ce would never forget that day# (e will not be able to understand his
writings, his manner of s%eaking about suffering or his %rayer if we don0t gras% the
im%ortance of this moment in Charles0 life# -eading several of his letters on the
anniversary of this date is convincing enough6
January 1?, 1HH6
1+t is 66?? in the evening in >aris# Ten years ago at this very hour + was sitting in
your living room, my eyes going back and forth between you and the clock# Cow vivid
that day still is for me32 + thought of it as + received communion this morning3## +
thought of you the entire day32 Ten years32 +t seems like yesterday24
January 1?, 1H66
1+t is ? o0clock in the evening# =i$teen years ago + was there with you# + can still
see you as if it were ha%%ening now2 + can still see the hands of the clock marking off
those last hours# + can still see it24
5ecember !, 1H@6
1The years %ass but rather than calming the %ain of se%aration, it seems *ust as
%ainful#4
There is also a note from January 1?, 1!? written in "kbLs on the back of an
envelo%e that he had received# Charles de Foucauld answered &uestions that he had
asked himself using the famous he$ametric method of ;uintilien that he used whenever
he tried to make a discernment in his choices6 :uisB :uidB UbiB :uibus auxiliisB
CurB :uomodoB :uandoB
1Quis? The sinner whom you have lead by such grace and mercy#
Quid? Leave in order to6 1# be able Uto love you with a greater loveG0 2# lead the
life that will glorify you the most, that is, the life that will lead to my own and my
neighbors sanctification, that is, the life that is most like your ownG :# to offer you the
greatest sacrifice of which + am ca%able by leaving behind all that + love#
Ubi? +n a non'Christian country, in a Tra%%ist 7onastery, far from all that + love#
2?
Quibus auxiliis? (ith your grace, such grace3 Thank you, thank you infinitely3
2 (ith the hel% of the %rayers of 9ur Lady, =aint Jose%h, =aint 7ary 7agdeleine, =aint
John the ,a%tist, my guardian angel, of all the saints and of so many %eo%le who love me
and have gone before me, of your servant Fr# Cuvelin and so many other holy %eo%le2
Through your e$am%le and that of 9ur Lady, =aint Jose%h, =aint 7ary 7agdeleine, =aint
John the ,a%tistG through the hel% of =aint >aul the Cermit and =aint "nthony whose
feast is these days2 Through the e$am%le, strength and goodness of your servant and of
Fr# Cuvelin# Thanks to you and to them3 ,less them and be ,lessed3
Cur? +n order to glorify you and console your heart as much as %ossible#
Quomodo? (ith %ure intentions, obedience and courage2 5ear Aod, enliven
me with these until my death in order that + might accom%lish your will and give you as
much glory as is %ossible3 ,y offering myself entirely to you, %raying for those + love
and for all of your children#
Quando? "t ten minutes %ast seven it will be five years2 and today, 9 my Aod3
(ith my whole soul + renew the offering of my entire self to you, in order to breathe only
for you, to use every moment of my life in order to glorify you and to console your Ceart
as much as %ossible by the most %erfect accom%lishment of all that you want me to do3
"men# "men# "men#4
2
These same reflections can be found throughout Charles0 life on this anniversary
date, not *ust in the first years but fifteen and eighteen years later as well# They tell us
that January 1?
th
was the day of the greatest sacrifice for him in the sadness and %ain of
se%aration# 9n January 1?
th
, 1HH he wrote to 7arie de ,ondy6 1+t was a sacrifice that
used u% all of my tears it seems because since that day + have never cried# +t seems that +
have no tears left324
7ore than any other, the letter that he wrote to his cousin the day after he left
home for the Tra%%ists e$%resses this %ain6
1(here was + yesterday at this hour) + was there with you, saying good'bye, it
was hard but sweet because at least + saw you2 Twenty'four hours is such a
small thing# + still have not understood that + bid you adieu forever6 =o little was
able to se%arate us in the %ast# Cow can we ever be so com%letely se%arated in the
future) ,ut + know it is the truth# + desire it and yet cannot believe it# "t nine in
the morning, at four o0clock, now and always + feel so close to you although my
eyes will never again meet your eyes#
:
4
The intensity of these last hours in the world, what made them a holocaust was
that it was to be forever6 1never again4, 1forever4#
" note written in Ia/areth seven years later on the back of an envelo%e Ean
e$tract of a letter or a draftF confirms the dominant emotion6
2
Charles de Foucauld, Ao$ageur dans la nuit, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@, %% 2?'26#
:
Letter from January 16, 1!H to 7arie de ,ondy, first letter %ublished in Charles de Foucauld, Lettres '
Madame de 9ond$, >aris, 5escl.e 5e ,rouwer, 166#
26
19nce + arrived at the monastery + suffered greatly2 not from the community#
They were all so good to me2 but the thought of my family tortured meG
sometimes + re%eated it to myself, always, always, never, never, live here always
and never see them again2 Cow good Jesus was in hel%ing me with his sweet
%rotection to overcome the obstacles of my family, the devil and myself#4
B
This note follows another where he wrote, 1To say it in one word, leave
everything, my child, and you will find everything#4
The other as%ect of this sacrifice was how total it was# This is very clear in a
letter to 7arie de ,ondy on July 16, 1!16
19n January 1?
th
+ left everything behind but there remained the embarrassing fact
of my rank and my money# +t gave me great %leasure to cast these out the
window#4
Ten years later, on "ugust 1B, 1H1 he told Cenri de Castries6
1+ tenderly loved what little family Aod had left me# ,ut, wishing to make a
sacrifice in imitation of Ce who had made so many, + left for a Tra%%ist monastery
in "rmenia about 12 years ago#4
,ut there is also a more %ositive note to this day, something of a real %assage from
death to life6
1+t is the day that, in tears, + left my family eight years ago in order to be totally
yours, my beloved Lord3 Nou dried those tears6 Nou made of that day a day of
celebration, something of a day of birth, for to live for you alone is true life2 +t
is a ste%%ing stone between the day of our birth into this world and the day that
we will be reborn in heaven through your infinite mercy24
?
The day of birth, dies natalis, in martyrology the day of death is the day of
entrance into life# +t is good to mention the number of 1conversion4 moments throughout
the course of Charles0 life, 1days of birth4# Dach conversion is like a successive birth into
life, true life, as he says# Ce could write each one as the starting %oint of a new life# Jean
Auitton was correct in %resenting Charles de Foucauld as a 1man who never ceased to be
reborn#4
6
+t is in this sense that January 1?, 1!H was for him a %assage through death that
could only be truly com%leted by his %hysical death# +t is what gave such im%ortance
throughout the rest of his life to thoughts of death and that final meeting with Jesus#
17onths are added to months and will lead one day to that final month#4
@
Nes, death
B
Charles de Foucauld, Ao$ageur dans la nuit, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@, %#?, n# @1#
?
Charles de Foucauld, Considrations sur les fCtes de l3anne, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!@, dated Jan# 1?,
1!!, %# 1H?#
6
Le Figaro, 5.c# 12, 1!2#
@
L7,, July 16, 1!1#
2@
would be sweet not only because it would lead to that %erfect union with Jesus but
because it would also allow one to be reunited with those he had so %ainfully left behind#
January 1?, 1!H marked an end, a consummation# The %assages that we have
cited could allow one to think that only the sentimental and affective dominated# +t is
therefore necessary to take another look at the %rofound motivation of such a wrenching
sacrifice#
+t all began with that first conversion# The three years before that moment he was
living in something of a new world, a world filled with faith# Dverything looked
different in this new light# The day that he acce%ted to see himself as a sinner and
welcomed Aod0s forgiveness a new life began, as he said in that letter to Cenri de
Castries on "ugust 1B, 1H16
1"s soon as + believed there was a Aod + understood that + could do nothing else
than to live for him alone# 7y religious vocation dates from the moment +
believed# Aod is so great3 There is such a difference between Aod and all that is
not Aod324
From the very first moment he felt he had to make a radical choice6 religious life,
all or nothing# Ce wanted it all and right away# Ce e$%erienced his call as %ractically
being unable to do anything else6 the desire to live for Aod alone, the irresistible
attraction to the 9ne who would become ever more his beloved ,rother and Lord#
"s we have seen, Fr# Cuvelin did not see things in the same way# (ise and
intelligent counselor that he was, he wanted to see Charles marry without delay# ,ut
Charles wanted nothing to do with marriage# Ce felt that he had been sei/ed by =omeone
who wanted him entirely and Charles wanted to live for Cim alone#
+f his conversion had only led to the faith of his childhood Charles could have
easily fallen into militant fundamentalism or religious sentimentality# +n fact, it had been
a meeting with the living Aod, with a close and loving Aod# The Aod to whom he had
%rayed, 1if you e$ist let me know you,4 was encountered in a loving communion, a Aod
who loves and who must be loved in return# This Aod took flesh and had a name6 Jesus#
Charles0 entire s%irituality was centered in the %erson of Jesus, his Aod, his Lord, his
,rother and, later in the language of the mystics, his beloved =%ouse#
To his friend, 5uveyrier, the young monk confided, "%ril 2B, 1!H6
1(hy did + enter the Tra%%ists) That is what you are asking of your friend# For
love, for %ure love# O2P + love our Lord Jesus Christ, even if it is with a heart that
wishes to love better and more dee%lyG but + do love him, and + can0t stand the
thought of living a life other than his own, to lead a gentle and honored life while
his was the most difficult and des%ised that there ever was# + do not want to go
through life in first class while the one + love was in the lowest class# O2P The
greatest sacrifice for me, so great that everything else seems as nothing, is the
se%aration forever with a family whom + adore and my true friends and to whom +
am so dee%ly attached6 + count about four or five as such friends and you are
among the first of these# This is to tell you how hard it is for me to think that +
2!
will never see you again O2P the love of Aod and love of others is my entire life
and + ho%e it always will be#4
!
Ce e$%lained it differently to his cousin6 he left in order to 1be with4 Jesus in a
fellowshi% of every moment, 1kee% com%any with Jesus, as much as %ossible in his
sufferings#4
Let us not forget that this was his s%irituality, and of the weight of meaning
behind his words at that moment# Dven if we are not very comfortable with this way of
s%eaking we can understand what he meant# +t is not *ust the language of an era# +t is
e$%ressive of his own tem%erament and of the sacrifice that he had made# 5uveyrier,
unbeliever that he was, was not able to understand the transformation that his friend had
undergone# Ce worried, 1Ce has such an elitist nature and + fear that he has either caught
an incurable illness or has been %rofoundly emotionally disturbed#4

"s if it were a kind

of %ro%hetic statement that he made to the Aeogra%hical =ociety, Cenri 5uveyrier used
the words 1incurable illness4 and 1%rofoundly disturbed4# These words beg a &uestion
and the 7uslim mystic +bn "rabi %rovides a fitting answer6 1The one who has the illness
called Jesus will never be cured#4 +t is only the strength of Charles0 dee% faith Ethat over
the course of the %revious three years grew more and more into a %assionate loveF that
can e$%lain his willingness to embrace such a definitive ru%ture with everyone he held so
dear and which he described in the %ainful terms that we have seen# 5id he not write to
Aabriel Tourdes on Iovember 1!, 1!!?6 1(e are both too %hiloso%hical to believe that
anything in this world is final)4 The miracle of his faith is that he was able to live this
situation %eacefully and *oyfully until his death with admirable %erseverance#
Charles renewed his sacrifice when, several months later he left France for "kbLs#
Ce should have stayed at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges for two years in order to com%lete his
novitiate there# ,ut on January 26, the feast of =t# "lberic, a monk remembered among
the Tra%%ists, he took the habit and began his novitiate under the name of brother 7arie'
"lberic# ,ut in order to avoid being called into military service because of his status as a
reserve officer he was authori/ed by the Tra%%ists to leave immediately for "kbLs# Ce
informed his military su%eriors of his change of residence only after he had left the
country and was subse&uently dis%ensed from fulfilling his military service# (e know
from various sources, and he said it himself, that he also didn0t find what he was looking
for at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges but %ut u% with it while waiting to go to "kbLs#
June 2@, 1!H on the eve of his de%arture from 7arseille he wrote to his cousin6
1+ can see myself on the boat that will take me away tomorrow# + can feel each
wave, one after the other, taking me further and further away### 7y only recourse is to
think that each one is a ste% closer to the end of this life#4
The boat0s de%arture was the visible sign of the greater se%aration that Charles
wished to %lace between himself and his family# July !
th
he wrote to his cousin,
1Tomorrow + will be in "le$andrette and + will say goodbye to this sea, the last link to the
country where all of you live and breathe#4 +t was a real inner %assage of se%aration and
distancing#
!
-en. >ottier, Un !rince saharien mconnu ?enri &u#e$rier, >aris, >lon, 1:!, %%#22?'226#

5p% cit#, %# 22H, letter J 7# 7aunoir du 1!#H2#1!!!#

2
/e!en 9ears as ) Trappist :onk
The seven years that Charles s%ent with the Tra%%ists re%resents one of the longest
%eriods of stability in his life# Ce s%ent the first si$ months at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges
and was in "kbLs until =e%tember 1!6# From there he was sent to the 7onastery of
=taou.li near "lgiers for a few weeks, and then on to -ome#
=o this was &uite a long %eriod of time# ,ut it became clear that he could not find
in "kbLs, anymore than at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges, the ideal that he had glim%sed in the
streets of Ia/areth and imagined to be his calling# +t would be hard to find a monastery
any %oorer than the newly founded "kbLs where the monks lived in shacks as they
worked to build a monastery in the midst of a sea of mud# ,ut for someone who was *ust
arriving, who desired to live as %oorly as %ossible in imitation of a Jesus he imagined to
have lived in the very lowest %lace and the most e$treme %overty, the very idea of
building a monastery to settle into was contrary to everything in him# The ways of the
world, as well as grou% living, went against his grain#
Charles0 first letters from "kbLs show him ha%%ily entering into the life of the
monastery community# February 2, 1!2 he made sim%le vows and the same day wrote
to his cousin, 1=o now + no longer belong to myself in any way#4 Ce went as far as to say
that he never felt ha%%ier in his life, a real s%iritual eu%horia, e$ce%t maybe for when he
returned from his %ilgrimage to the Coly Land, having received such an insight at
Ia/areth#
,ut very &uickly that same year, and es%ecially during the following year, he
began to e$%ress criticisms about the Tra%%ists because of the changes that their
Constitutions were undergoing# "t a Aeneral "ssembly it had been decided that all of
the Tra%%ists would be united and therefore the 7aster Aeneral a%%lied one common
-ule of Life to all of the monastic communities# ,rother 7arie "lberic did not see this as
a movement towards %erfection# Ce would have %referred that each monastery be
inde%endent and that each would have the freedom to follow the -ule as it saw fit in a
desire for greater %erfection# Ce felt that by a%%lying a common observance for all that
they would be obliged to ado%t a 1middle4 course that would, in fact, lead to mediocrity#
(hen he finally read the te$t of the new Constitutions he noted that, des%ite it all, there
were some %ositive %oints#
Cowever he became %re'occu%ied with another &uestion about which he wrote to
Fr# Cuvelin on =e%tember 22, 1!:6 1=ome very good modifications to the 9rder have
been made following the Coly Father0s directives6 but these modifications and
im%rovements will not kee% evil from growing#4 5id he think that something like a
virus, with all of its conse&uences, had attacked the monastic life)
1They are *ust distancing themselves more and more from the %overty and
humility of the sim%le life of Ia/areth that + came here looking for# + am in no
way detached from this ideal and am so distressed to see 9ur Lord leading it
alone without anyone or any grou% of souls in our Church seeking to live it with
:H
him, sharing out of love for him and in his love the blessed *oy of 9ur Lady and
=aint Jose%h#4
+f no one else was thinking of it, shouldn0t he) Ce added in his letter to Fr#
Cuvelin6
1(ould there not be a way to start a small congregation to live this life, to
live only from the work of our hands, as did 9ur Lord# Ce did not live off of
collections, or offerings or satisfy himself to direct foreign workers#
1
Could we not find a few souls to follow 9ur Lord in this way) To live by
following all of his counsels, renouncing all %rivate %ro%erty, collective as well as
individual# "nd conse&uently and absolutely being against all that 9ur Lord was
against, any lawsuits, arguments, claims over %ro%erty and with a strict obligation
to give alms# +f we have two habits, then to give one away# +f we have food to
eat, to share it with those who have none, without holding back for another day2
all of the e$am%les of his hidden life and every counsel that came from his
mouth2 a life of work and %rayer, not two kinds of religious as at CVteau$ but
*ust one, as =t ,enedict wanted2 Iot the com%licated ,enedictine liturgies2
,ut long hours of meditation, the rosary, Coly 7ass# 9ur liturgies close the door
to "rabs, Turks, "rmenians, etc2 who are good Catholics but do not know our
language# + would so like to see these little nests of fervent and working life, like
that of 9ur Lord0s, be established under the %rotection of 7ary and Jose%h# They
would be close to all these isolated missions in the 7iddle Dast, to offer a refuge
to the %eo%le of these countries whom Aod calls to his service and love2
+s this a dream, Father) +s it an illusion of the devil) 9r is it an invitation
from the Aood Lord) +f + were sure that it came from Aod + would do whatever
was necessary right at this moment, not tomorrow, to enter this way# (hen +
think about it, + find that it is %erfect6 To follow the e$am%le and counsel of 9ur
Lord can only be e$cellent2 "nd what is more, it is what + have always been
looking forG it is what + came seeking among the Tra%%istsG it is not any new
vocationG if such a community of souls had e$isted several years ago + would have
run to them right away, as you know2 =ince it does not e$ist and nothing is even
close to it or re%laces it, should we not try to form such a grou%)2 +t should be
formed with the aim of s%reading it among the infidel countries, 7uslim and
others2 + re%eat, when + think about it + find it %erfect2 ,ut when + think about
the one who has this ardent thought, this sinner, this weak and miserable %erson, +
do not find in him the stuff Aod ordinarily uses to do good things2 +t is true that
once it has begun, if it comes from Aod, Aod will make it grow and he will draw
other souls who are ca%able of being the first stones of his house, souls before
whom + will remain in the nothingness that is my true %lace# =omething else
gives me courage to take u% such a task des%ite my misery and sinfulness# That
is, 9ur Lord said that when one has sinned much, one must love much# =o,
Father, do you think that this comes from the Aood Lord) + will act only
according to your answer and advice, as you know, because a father remains
always a father and you are such a father for me3 Nou see how much + need
1
They had asked him to oversee the construction of a road# EL7, Feb 2!, 1!:F
:1
you2 This idea has been so strong for two months now that + could no longer
kee% from s%eaking about it with my confessor, Fr# >olycar%# + mentioned it to
him two weeks ago but with many less details than + have with you# Ce advised
me to let this thought slee% for the moment and not to worry about it until it
comes u% through some event2 That is also what + thought to do but the issue
will necessarily come u% in little more than a year when it will be time for me to
make final vows O2P For the moment + try not to think about it but + am not very
successful at that# "t any rate, + needed to tell you about it and now that is done2
+ continue studying theology, very ha%%y to study it O2P + have written four whole
%ages about myself# +t saddens and frightens me#4
Qnfortunately we do not have Fr# Cuvelin0s answer to this letter but we do know
that he advised him to wait and try not to think about it all and to give himself fully over
to living the Tra%%ist life#
1!B was a %eaceful time for him# 9n Iovember 1?, 1!: he had written to
7arie de ,ondy6
1+ wait2 + am in the same state as before entering the Tra%%ists, trying to
clean the slate of my own desires concerning this resolution O2P + have such an
ardent desire to follow him more closely2 ,ut is it his will) + do not know6 but
before trying another life'style + must know that it is his will2 + am at %eace as +
wait for his will to make itself known#4
1!? was marked by several im%ortant events, not the least of which was the
massacre of the "rmenian %o%ulation of which he wrote to Fr# Cuvelin on January 16,
1!66
17y soul is in the same state as ever6 same desires and feelings6 nothing
has changed since last autumn6 with time it becomes ever steadier2 O2P + am
not writing to you about myself today# Nou must certainly be aware of the horrors
that have taken %lace in this areaG in the monastery everything is &uite calm and +
am at %eace as if the rest of the world did not even e$ist# ,ut all the while at a
short distance from us in "rmenia there have been terrible massacres6 they s%eak
of 6H,HHH killed2 and those who have survived are suffering terribly in the
burnt out ruins of their villages, stri%%ed of everything, hungry# +t seemed to me
that the only thing that + could do for these unfortunate %eo%le was to write to you
and tell you about their situation in case you would know someone able and
willing to hel% them and whose charity you could orient in their direction#4
(e see clearly that this man of action could not remain untouched by the situation
and that he must do something right away#
February 2, 1!6 brother 7arie "lberic renewed his vows but he desired more
and more the life of Ia/areth# 9n 7arch 1
th
, the feast of =t# Jose%h, he wrote to his
s%iritual director Ethe letter was lostF to tell him his thoughts about his u%'coming final
vows the following year and that he must make a decision about it# Fr# Cuvelin answered
on June 1?
th
6
:2
1+ read and reread your letter2 + have made you wait so long for an
answer when you have been so thirsty for some res%onse from me# ,ut it seemed
to me that you were not wasting your time there by studying theology, taking in
sure and varied teachings, %re%aring your heart and mind through such teaching
for a mystical life that is %ure and without illusions# Cow dee%ly =t# ,ernard, as
well as =t# "ugustine, were nourished by =acred =cri%ture3 Cis sure mysticism is
like a flower born of religious truth3 =o, my dear child, you have not wasted your
time3
+ had ho%ed, dear child, that you would have found what you were looking
for with the Tra%%ists, that you would have found enough %overty, humility and
obedience in order to follow 9ur Lord in his life at Ia/areth# + thought that when
you entered you would have been able to say, UCere + find my rest forever#02 +
am sorry that this is not the case# There is something too dee% in you that moves
you from within towards another ideal# Little by little whatever it is will lead you
to leave this setting and you will find yourself on the outside#
+ do not think that you can sto% this movement# M tell your su%eriors at
=taou.li
2
2 sim%ly tell them what you think M tell them how highly you regard
their life and also of this invincible inner movement that has been working at you
for such a long time no matter what you do, and of how it is taking you towards
another ideal2 Tell them, my dear child, your thoughts and feelings# + think you
can do this2 you should do so because a %ainful s%lit is ha%%ening within your
soul and you are no longer %resent to the life there O2P
+ am not making you wait any longer for an answer from me, you see,
des%ite my own regrets and my own high regard for the 9rder you entered# + do
not think that you have a higher calling2 + do not see you better2 oh no3 ,ut +
do think that you feel called elsewhere# =o + do not make you wait any longer#
=how my letter to them M talk to them# (rite to =taou.li# + would have wanted to
see you remain %art of a family that loves you so much and to whom you could
have given so much# O2P
+ am ha%%y that they have entrusted these souls to your care#4
Ce is not talking about novices but about two or%hans who asked to enter the
9rder# "cce%ted as 1oblates4 brother 7arie "lberic was charged with their formation#
This %artly e$%lains why he began, around the month of 7ay, writing meditations on the
Aos%el,
:
taking %assages that have to do with %rayer and faith# Chronologically these are
the first of his writings and, a%%ro%riately, -en. ,a/in %laced these meditations at the
beginning of Ecrits Spirituels#
B
Dverything else that brother 7arie "lberic had written
before this time, and he wrote e$tensively during his years with the Tra%%ists contrary to
what has been said, he burned# Ce later regretted this# (e do not know %recisely how
2
The 7onastery of "kbLs was no longer attached to Iotre 5ame des Ieiges but to =taou.li, a flourishing
monastery near "lgiers, which was able to %rovide for it# 5om Louis de Aon/aga, brother of 5om 7artin
who was the abbot of Iotre 5ame des Ieiges, had been the first abbot of "kbLs before being named to
=taou.li# Tery attached to brother 7arie "lberic, he did everything in his %ower to kee% him with the
Tra%%ists#
:
Charles de Foucauld, L3Esprit de >sus, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@!#
B
-en. ,a/in, Ecrits Spirituels de Charles de Foucauld, >aris, J# de Aigord, 1?1#
::
much he wrote but these meditations were in little handmade notebooks and this one was
number 164# Therefore we can assume that there were ? others that disa%%eared#
These meditations are very difficult to date with %recision as they contain neither
%ersonal nor liturgical references# +n my o%inion they must be dated around the end of
his time with the Tra%%ists of "kbLs# (e find in this notebook a meditation on the 9ur
Father that he later co%ied into another notebook with the later date, allowing some to
think that it had been written at the later date# ,ut it was a word for word co%y of the
earlier te$t# +n these early writings at the end of his commentary on the Aos%el of =t#
Luke, he wrote a meditation on Jesus0 %rayer on the cross6 1Father, + commend my life
into your hands#4 (hat is called the 1>rayer of "bandon4
?
is taken from this te$t#
"fter receiving Fr# Cuvelin0s letter, brother 7arie "lberic submitted a formal
re&uest to leave the Tra%%ists# Ce had already written his entire first -ule of Life
6
for
those who would come to live with him on a 21 $ 2@ cm %iece of %a%er folder in half# +t
is a very interesting te$t that he entitled Congregation of the Little 9rothers of >esus# +t is
strong and absolute and clearly shows his radical nature# (hen Fr# Cuvelin received this
document he answered the following on "ugust 2, 1!66
1+ am so sad, my child, and + blame myself for having given that decision
ad duritiam cordis Eagainst my better *udgmentF M + felt that things could not go
on any longer as they were, given your feelings and the *udgments that you were
making about everything around you M not about the %eo%le M but about the very
life'style3 The grace that + would ho%e for you, my friend and my child, would be
for you to be able to be become very Ulittle,0 to find some corner of the monastery
in which to nestle down and to have the faith to believe that one follows the Lord
and is close to him wherever one obeys and humbles oneself3 Ia/areth is
wherever one works, wherever one submits oneself2 +t is a house that one builds
within one0s heart, or rather, that one allows the hands of the gentle and humble
Christ Child to build3
+ am so u%set by all of this, my child3 +f you are refused the %ermission
that you are seeking, see in it the will of Aod and take it to mean that you should
stay %ut, and, in the darkness, wait3 + cannot see another way# Continue studying
Theology# +f your su%eriors tell you to try again, do it with a loyal heart# (hat
frightens me the most, my dear child, is not the life that you imagine for yourself
if you were to remain alone, nor that of =t# "le$is
@
, as you say M but to see you
founding or even thinking of founding something# + do not see you directing
other souls, my child3 Nour rule is totally im%ossible# Cave no doubts about what
+ think of it3 The >o%e hesitated to a%%rove the Franciscan rule of life# Ce found
it too demanding2 ,ut this rule2 To tell you the truth it terrifies me3 Life in
the shadow of some convent if you must2 but do not write a -ule, + beg you#
=ee how much + suffer because of this, my child# (hen + wrote to you + had the
feeling that things could not go on as they had# Nou had begun to *udge the life
that you had once embraced# Nou no longer entered into its s%irit# Nou no longer
had the s%irit of a religious but an inde%endent s%irit3 This is why + have written
you such a letter3 + am so troubled by it all# Can you see) 9%en your heart to
?
Cf% "ntoine Chatelard6 1Le %remier .crit s%irituel de Charles de Foucauld4, 2##
6
Charles de Foucauld, R"glements et &irectoire, 7ontrouge, Iouvelle Cit., 1?, %# 2@#
@
Cermit model#
:B
your su%eriors and take %ure and sim%le obedience as a light# "nd es%ecially, do
not think of founding anything# +f you are absolutely %ut off by the s%irit of =t#
,ernard and of the Tra%%ists then lead another life2 but do not try to attract
com%anions M + beg you#
There in the 7iddle Dast, you could have given so much to the 9rder,
have brought out the beauty, the firmness of the foundations, the greatness, have
served it well in a thousand ways2 have %lunged yourself into it through
mortification and, es%ecially, humility# ,ut you will never find enough
mortification for your taste# Nou will always be wondering about things and
looking for what comes ne$t2 Nou need to be on your guard against always
being carried to the limit# +t leaves you agitated and unable to settle anywhere#
9nly those hearts that are not given to e$tremes can live on the edge in that way#
"h, your letter really bothered me, my child3 + thought that you would
have continued to wait2 (ell, %lace yourself into the hands of your su%eriors#
-eceive their decisions with sim%licity# =tudy theology# "nd es%ecially,
do not try to found anything3 + am very close to you2 + %ray for you with all my
heart#
=how my letter to your su%eriors, my child3
,elieve in my faithful, dee% and %ainful affection for you in our Lord#4
+t0s hard to %ut the %hoto of the manuscri%t in because the te$t is in French2 ,ut
the te$t is
:?
Te"t o a :editation o 3r. :arie-)lb;ric rom which was drawn
what is called the <rayer o )bandon#
1 UFather, into your hands + commend my s%irit#0
+t is the last %rayer of our 7aster, of our ,eloved2 may it be ours2 7ay it not only be
the %rayer of our last moment, but that of all our moments#
Father, + %lace myself in your hands#
Father, + entrust myself to you#
Father, + abandon myself to you#
Father, do with me what you will#
(hatever you may do with me, + thank youG
Thank you for all, + am ready for all, + acce%t all
+ thank you for all#
>rovided that your (ill be done in me, my Aod#
>rovided that your (ill be done in all your creatures,
+n all your children, in all those whom your heart loves#
+ desire nothing else, my Aod#
+ %lace my soul into your hands#
+ give it to you, my Aod, with all the love of my heart,
,ecause + love you
"nd because of this love + need to give myself
To %lace myself into you0re your hands without reserve,
+ %lace myself into your hands with infinite confidence,
,ecause you are my Father#4
The )ct o )bandonment
:6
"fter receiving Fr# Cuvelin0s %ermission, brother 7arie "lberic %resented his
re&uest to be relieved of his vows and to leave the monastery to the "bbot Aeneral of the
Tra%%ists# ,efore any decision could be made he was asked to go to the monastery of
=taou.li for a time of discernment where 5om Louis de Aon/ague was the "bbot# "t the
end of a month, E9ctober 1!6F, he was asked to go to -ome to study for a minimum of
two, ma$imum of three years# Ce left with Fr# Cenri who would study with him#
9ne can read his first letters from -ome to Fr# Jerome, a young monk who sat
ne$t to him in choir at =taou.li# The younger man had become &uite taken with this
monk of such %restigious re%utation, who had come from the 7iddle Dast and, being
much older, seemed to be surrounded with an aura of holiness#
Caving arrived in -ome he sto%%ed writing the series of meditations on the
Aos%els that he had begun towards the end of his time at =taou.li# +n a similar notebook
E%ages tied together with string and covered with news%a%erF he began another series of
meditations in a com%letely different style on the 9ld Testament, beginning with Aenesis#
These are much easier to situate than the %revious series as he mentioned some of the
difficulties that he was dealing with at that moment# Ce s%oke about his solemn vows
that were drawing nearer, of his desire to take the last %lace while, if he remained at the
monastery he felt that they would %romote him# (e see in these meditations his desire to
seek the (ill of Aod# 9n occasion he brings u% his %revious choices more e$%licitly6
1>overty, ab*ection, %enance, my only desire as you know, my Aod, is to %ractice
them to the e$tent and in the manner that you would have me do2 ,ut what is the
manner and measure)4
1
From the meditations dated 5ecember 2?
th
, 26
th
, :1
st
and January 1
st
we can see
that he sto%%ed these nearly daily reflections on January 1?
th
# 9n this day, while
continuing his classes, he began a kind of &uasi retreat as he awaited the decision of his
Tra%%ist su%eriors# They had to decide one way or the other about his future as soon as
the "bbot returned from a tri% and before the end of the month#
,rother 7arie "lberic must have %romised to send co%ies of some of his
meditations to Fr# Jerome# 5ecember 21
st
he wrote to him6
1Thank you so much for having the goodness to send me such an abundant
su%%ly of %a%er# + have already begun using it and will try to finish this little
%ro*ect as soon as %ossible# Thank you#4
2
1
Charles de Foucauld, :ui peut resister &ieuB, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!H, %%# 6B'6?#
2
Charles de Foucauld, 1Cette ch"re derni"re place4 Lettres ' mes fr"res de la )rappe, >aris, Cerf, 11, %
1B@#
:@
(hat %ro*ect could have needed %a%er) (as it not at this time that he began to
co%y the meditations on the Aos%els that he had written in "kbLs into a new notebook
:
, a
clean, clearly written word for word co%y with very few corrections)
"round January 1?,

1!@ he finished this manuscri%t that contains his mediation
on the 9ur Father# Ce made a se%arate co%y of it on January 2:
rd
# The same day he
received authori/ation to leave the Tra%%ists# For the ne$t week he had to continue living
as if nothing had changed in his life# Io one at the monastery had been informed of the
decision# 9n that same day he sto%%ed writing his co%ies and dated what he had written
with this date on which the (ill of Aod had been so clearly manifested to him# "fter
January 1?, 1!H, it is one of the key dates in his life# This January 2:
rd
is not a
(ednesday as he mistakenly wrote, nor a Friday as ,isho% Jac&ueline says in his
collection of Charles0 writings# -ather, it was a =aturday and the vigil of the Feast of the
Coly Family# (e read in his notebook, 1The "bbot Aeneral informed me6 9ur Lord0s
(ill for me is that + should leave the 9rder and follow him in ab*ection and %overty24
and in the other notebook where he had written about 1leaving "n*ou =treet4 he wrote6
1-eceived the decision of the "bbot Aeneral that the will of Aod is that +
should leave the 9rder to follow 9ur Lord in his way of ab*ection and %overty#
(ednesday January 2:, 1!@, feast of the engagement of the ,lessed Tirgin with
=t# Jose%h and vigil of the Feast of the Coly Family#4
+n order to reali/e what this re%resented for him we only have to read what he had
%reviously written in his meditations on the 9ld Testament6
1,lessed are you, =t# "braham3 ,lessed be you, =t# +saac, who let
yourself be so gently bound u%on the altar3 ,lessed are you for all ages, my Aod,
you who bring forth such virtues among men3 Love means to obey you, to obey
you as they did, with the same swiftness, with the same faith, in those times when
the heart and s%irit are shaken, when one0s entire way of thinking has been turned
u%side down# Love is being ready to sacrifice to your (ill, absolutely and
immediately, all that one holds most dear, O2P the sacrifice of the only =on, of
that which is dearest to our hearts, that we cherish the most2 Love means being
ready to give all that one has in e$change for every suffering out of love for the
Lord24
B
9ne can imagine that he was alluding to the sacrifice that he made on January 1?,
1!H, but there was more to it than that6
1That is what you did2 =t# "braham3 +t is what Nou did, 9h =on of Aod,
when you came from heaven to live such a life and die such a death32 7y Lord
and my Aod, hel% me to also do the same, according to your most holy (ill# =t#
"braham, =t# +saac, %ray for me#4
?
:
This notebook is in the %ossession of the de Foucauld family# Fr# Cenri, who had ke%t it as a souvenir,
sent it to Louis de Foucauld, thinking that Charles de Foucauld must have wanted him to receive it# +n fact,
this cousin was to have visited him in -ome at this time but was finally unable to go#
B
Charles de Foucauld, :ui peut rsister ' &ieuB, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!H, %%# 6B'6?#
?
9%# cit#, %%#6B'6?#
:!
+n mid'January 1!@ he relived the sacrifice of "braham# Ce was ready to
sacrifice it all6 all that he had desired, all that he carried in his heart and which was the
reason for which he was asking to leave the Tra%%ists# +f ever there was a moment in his
life when he had abandoned himself to the decision of another, this was it# +t0s what he
wrote to Fr# Jerome on January 2B
th
6
1This week + have really had to %ractice obedience# + still need to %ractice
it, as well as courage6 O2P For the last three years + have been asking to change
from being a choir monk to a lay brother, either as %art of the 9rder or in another
religious 9rder in the 7iddle DastG + believe that this is my vocationG to have a
lower rankG + asked this with the %ermission of my confessor6 my su%eriors told
me to s%end some time at =taou.li before making any decision6 once + arrived
there, + was sur%rised to be told to go to -ome where + e$%ected to be made to
wait a long time to receive my heart0s desire, O2P our good O2P Father Aeneral
asked to see me, e$amined my case, reflected about my vocation, %rayed,
gathered his counsel, and together they unanimously declared that Aod0s will for
me is that + should follow this way of ab*ection, %overty and humble manual
workG the life of the worker from Ia/areth that Ce himself has showed me for
such a long time# O2P Nesterday + received this news from my good and e$cellent
Father Aeneral# + am greatly touched by all of his goodness towards me# ,ut
where + really needed obedience was before the decision had been made# + had
%romised Aod that + would do whatever my reverend Father would tell me to do
after having e$amined my vocation, and to do whatever my confessor told me# +f
they had told me, 1Nou will make your solemn vows in ten days4 and then, 1you
will then be ordained,4 + would have *oyfully obeyed certain that + was doing the
will of Aod# =ince + was only seeking the will of Aod, and my su%eriors also
were only seeking the same, it was im%ossible that Aod would not make known
his (ill#4
6
Charles immediately wrote to Fr# Cuvelin with ideas for his future, and Fr#
Cuvelin waited until January 2@
th
to write back6
1Nes, *ust as you do, + see you in the 7iddle Dast2 O2P + %refer
Ca%harnum or Ia/areth, or some Franciscan house M not in their house M but only
living in the shadow of their community M asking only s%iritual su%%ort of them
and living in %overty2 on their doorste%2 That is what + see, my dear friend#
5o not think about gathering other souls to *oin you, and es%ecially do not
give them any rule of life# =im%ly live your life and, if others come, share that
life together, without any rules# Let me be very clear on this %oint#4
Ce was be able to find a religious house to live ne$t to but would he be able to
live without creating a rule of life for himself and for others)
6
Charles de Foucauld, =Cette ch"re derni"re place4 Lettres ' mes fr"res de la )rappe, >aris, Cerf, 11,
%%# 1?H'1?1#
:
9n February 1B
th
, he made vows of %er%etual chastity and %overty into the hands
of his confessor, Tra%%ist Fr# -obert Lescand, %romising to never have in his %ossession
or for his use anything more than a %oor worker might have# 9n February 1@
th
this
former Tra%%ist set sail for the Coly Land, acce%ting the Tra%%ists0 offer to %ay his fare
on a cargo shi%# Ce followed Fr# Cuvelin0s advice in a letter dated January 2@
th
where he
said, 1acce%t with sim%licity what is offered to you#4
To Imitate Jesus o =a0areth
(hen he arrived in Ia/areth, Charles de Foucauld thought he had finally found
the %lace where he would be able to imitate the life of Jesus# Ce met a Franciscan who
recogni/ed him and who directed him to the >oor Clare 7onastery, letting them know
who he was# The >oor Clares received him because of that recommendation although he
was unaware of it# (ith his old blue shirt he thought that he had %assed for a homeless
man# Ce took u% residence in the shadow of this convent6
+ am living in a little house within the enclosure of the sisters whose ha%%y
servant + amG + am all alone there O2P +t0s a delightful hermitage, com%letely
alone2 + get u% when my guardian angel awakens me and %ray until the
"ngelusG (hen the "ngelus sounds + go to the Franciscan monastery, where a
grotto marks the %lace of the Coly Family0s houseG + stay there until about 6 a#m#
saying my rosary and attending the 7asses O2P +t is tremendously sweet to ga/e
on the same rock walls that Jesus ga/ed u%on and touched with his hands#
"t 6 a#m# + return to the sister0s convent O2P + %re%are the sacristy and
cha%el for 7ass and %ray until 7ass at @# + serve 7ass2 O2P Then + do
whatever they ask of me O2P
+f they have an errand for me to do, + do it, but that is &uite rareG in
general, + s%end my day doing little things in my room near the sacristy6 at ? %#m#
+ %re%are everything for benediction of the ,lessed =acrament on the days that
this takes %lace O2P
Then + remain in the cha%el until @6:H %#m# Then + return to my hermitage
where + read until # (hen + hear the bell that rings at + know that it is time for
evening %rayerG + %ray and then go to slee%# + read during my meals which + take
alone O2P The only %eo%le + see are my confessor, every week for confession, and
the sisters on the rare occasions that they ask something of me#4
1
This %eriod in Ia/areth and in which Charles de Foucauld began calling himself
,rother Charles, is certainly the one which least resembled the life of Jesus at Ia/areth#
+t is much more like what he began to refer to in -ome as the 1life of Jesus in the
5esert#4 +n -ome he had, for the first time distinguished between the 1three lives of
Jesus46 1Jesus in Ia/areth,4 1Jesus in the 5esert,4 and 1Jesus0 %ublic life#4 Dach %erson
1
-en. ,a/in, Charles de Foucauld, explorateur au Maroc, ermite au Sahara, >aris, >lon, 121, Letter to
-aymond de ,lic "%ril 2B, 1!@, %%# 1?1'1?2#
BH
was called to imitate Jesus in one of these as%ects of his life# For him, it was the life of
Ia/areth#
" great deal of im%ortance has been %aid to these distinctions of his, certainly too
much# They did not last a long time since in 1H1 he decided that there were four %eriods
in the life of Jesus, each corres%onding to different religious orders# +n fact, it is difficult
to see the difference between the life of Ia/areth and that of the 5esert as his
descri%tions of Jesus0 life de%ended u%on what Charles is living at the time#
"t this %oint we need to look at the word 1+mitation4
2
which should be used rather
s%aringly# (e must first look at the literary genre so that the reader does not become
discouraged by the language that can seem naSve and obsolete, nor by a style that can
seem overly de%endant u%on his will# +t is im%ortant to recover the %rofound ins%iration
and original intuition that is hidden behind certain e$%ressions, es%ecially when Charles
s%eaks of imitating Jesus#
+n a document dated 12@ ,isho% Iouet s%oke of his visit to Charles de
Foucauld0s house in Tamanrasset6 1(hen he had no visitors he would go out in front of
his hermitage *ust before nightfall#4 This little detail led the ,isho% to reflect, 19ne can
be reminded of Jesus of Ia/areth who, having finished his workday, would sit and rest a
while on a rock overlooking the village# Fr# de Foucauld who so loved the life of
Ia/areth did as the divine workman did#4
This vignette illustrates my %oint well# (e can ask ourselves who is the %ro%osed
model, Jesus or Charles de Foucauld) (ho imitates whom) "s we read Charles0
meditations we can ask ourselves this &uestion fre&uently#
For D$am%le, concerning %overty Charles has Jesus s%eaking6
1-emember my words and e$am%les concerning %overty6 born in a grotto,
raised in a %oor house, the child of %oor %arents, living in %overty from the work
of my hands until + began to s%end my entire days %reaching, then acce%ting to
live from almsgiving, but only acce%ting what + needed to live, as %oorly as when
+ was a worker#4
:
From where did he take this notion if not from the resolution that he made a year
earlier as a vow)
(here did he ever get the idea that Jesus lived in a strict cloister with 7ary and
Jose%h, having as little contact with neighbors as %ossible) (as it not what he e$%ressed
in the -ule that he was in the %rocess of writing in Ia/areth in 1!)
(here did he learn that Jesus worked eight hours a day) +t seems that it was only
as he was %re%aring to live in Tamanrasset in 1H? that he reali/ed that Jesus had lived
without cloister, without any religious habit, had few %ossessions and did not engage in
e$tensive almsgiving# "t that %oint he still saw Jesus living, not in the village but on its
outskirts# 5id he have to wait until the last year of his life when he moved closer to
%eo%le in order to reali/e that Jesus lived in the heart of the village and not *ust near it)
,rother Charles successively constructed models for himself according to his
need for one, according to what he felt called to live at the various stages of his life# Ce
did not always esca%e an imaginative reconstruction# Cis way of e$%ressing his desire to
2
"ntoine Chatelard, 1Limitation de l0+mitation,4 -evue >esus Caritas, no# 26@, : trimestre, 1@, %# B6#
:
Charles de Foucauld, Crier l3D#angile, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!2, %#12H#
B1
be like Jesus is like the story of the little boy who wanted to imitate Jesus in every thing
but who refused to hang u% his *acket when he came home from school# Cis brother, in
order to tease him, would say, 1Nou know, Jesus always hung u% his *acket when his
mother told him to#4
B
+n the conclusion to the resolutions written in his Iotebook on July 22, 1H?, after
having re%eated seven times 1as Jesus at Ia/areth,4 he wrote, 1>ray as Jesus did, as often
as Jesus did2 be faithful to the breviary and the rosary each day#4 (e half e$%ect him to
say, 1"s Jesus at Ia/areth#4 Ce esca%ed the %itfall here but in other %laces we find such
anachronisms#
+t is im%ossible to %aint a static %icture of Jesus from the descri%tions that his
disci%le %rovides us with# Cas anyone succeeded in making an accurate, historical
%ortrait of that Aalilean) (hat does it matter that the 17odLle Qni&ue4 E" meditative,
scri%tural image of JesusF resembles more what ,rother Charles wished to be) The
model is the same but the %ortraits are different, sometimes com%limentary, and
sometimes contradictory# +s this not the way in which each one welcomes the (ord of
Aod in their daily life) +t can never be some kind of norm that one dreams of attaining#
-ather it is a life that one enters into little by little, reading the (ord of Aod and
welcoming it anew each day# Life forces us to read it differently than the day before,
gives it each day a different shade of meaning that we didn0t notice the day before#
=uffering brings out an as%ect that we were never aware of in the same way and love
sheds a new light on images that left us heretofore unmoved#
,rother Charles did not have any illusions about this# ,ut his faith suggested a
kind of naSvet. that was the fruit of the sim%le gift of s%iritual childhood that hel%ed him
to move beyond %ure rational thinking# Ce was sim%ly trying, for his own benefit, to %ut
his faith into words# =ometimes he was *ust trying to %ersuade himself that the choices
that he was making had a solid foundation# For e$am%le, the day that he reali/ed that
ordination to the %riesthood would resolve his dilemma he imagined Jesus clothed with
the dignity of %riesthood, while remaining humble6 1+ must situate humility as 9ur Lord
did, %ractice it as he did, and following his e$am%le, %ractice it in the %riesthood#4
?
+t is
his way of lending legitimacy to his desires and *ustifying his %ractical decisions# Cis
motivations matter little to us# +t is u% to us to use his writings as they were intended, 1to
do some good for others4 or to understand that they were often for his own %ersonal use#
(hen ,rother Charles s%eaks of doing some good for others he connected it with
the vocabulary of imitation# Ce felt it was a duty to also be a good e$am%le for others to
imitate# "s much as he s%eaks about doing good by sim%ly being who one is called to be,
he cannot refrain from doing certain things %urely as an e$am%le to them# +n his mind
this is what Jesus did# Ce e$%lains certain actions of Jesus as being done only to set for us
an e$am%le#
$"tract rom the Counsels# or the brothers and sisters o the /acred
Heart
B
Cerv. Linard de Auertechin, 1=uivre J.sus est'ce l0imiter)4, Re#ue thologi6ue de Lou#ain, 1?, 1!B, ?'
2@, %# 16, note 21#
?
L"C, 26#HB#1HH
B2
"rticle 1# +mitation of 9ur ,eloved Lord Jesus M The brothers and sisters of the =acred
Ceart will make it their rule to ask, in all things, what Jesus would think, say and do in
their %lace, and to do it# They will make continual efforts to become more and more like
9ur Lord Jesus, taking as their model his life in Ia/areth which contains e$am%les for
every situation# The measure of imitation is the measure of love# M 1+f someone wishes
to serve me, they should follow me,4 1+ have given you the e$am%le so that as + have
done, you also should do,4 1The disci%le is not above the 7aster, but is %erfect if he
resembles his 7aster,4 1+ am the light of the world# (hoever follows me does not walk
in the dark, but will have the light of life#4 M For the glory of Aod and the good of souls,
the brothers and sisters will work to develo% in others the imitation of 9ur Lord Jesus'
Christ#
The Temptations o =a0areth
+t is necessary to linger a while in Ia/areth
1
with Charles in order to understand
the de%th of his own humanity# Ce had enclosed himself in such a s%ecial situation, one
for which he was so little suited# Io wonder that he was constantly in turmoil, tem%ted
to be elsewhere, doing something else# +n looking at the %eriod of Ia/areth through this
somewhat negative lens of tem%tation and his desire to esca%e, we catch a glim%se of the
de%th of his character and of the role that Fr# Cuvelin %layed as a s%iritual director, one of
the great s%iritual directors of the nineteenth century#
The irst Temptation( to be& unds or the <oor Clares
The first tem%tation came from his innate need to do something useful after eight
months of inactivity, living in the >oor Clare0s garden# Ce was led to understand that the
sisters, es%ecially those in Jerusalem, needed funds# "s early as the end of his retreat of
1!@ he came u% with the idea to look for funds for them# =ince Fr# Cuvelin had
recommended that he should obey the sisters no matter what they asked of him, he felt
that it was his duty to undertake this %ro*ect# Ce shared his idea with Fr# Cuvelin who
answered him on 5ecember
th
6
19h, don0t leave Ia/areth O2P + see too many dangers for your soul in a
life of traveling and soliciting funds2 5evote yourself to living in that &uiet little
%lace where 9ur Lord worked O2P 5o everything in your %ower to stay in
Ia/areth6 you will be more useful to the 7others Ethe >oor ClaresF in this way34
1
Fr# >hili%%e Thirie/, Charles de Foucauld ' NaEareth, +,0-/+0FF# This book can be obtained from the
7onastery of the >oor Clares M >oste -estante M 16HHH Ia/areth, +srael, tel6 H6#?@#1#@@#
B:
This first tem%tation lasted until the end of 1!@# +n his Iew Near0s greeting of
January 1
st
1!!, Fr# Cuvelin insisted, 17ay your new year begin and end in the obscurity
of Ia/areth, in work and contem%lation# +t is my dee%est wish for the sake of your soul#4
"nd, having received a letter from ,rother Charles he wrote again on January 1?
th
, 1Nes,
+ dee%ly believe that the will of Aod for you is that you stay in Ia/areth# +t is there that
9ur Lord will allow to blossom that which he wishes to see grow in you#4
The second temptation( return to the Trappists
The %eace did not last long# +n a very detailed review of life on January 1?
th

,rother Charles admitted that he was often tormented by %ride# +n fact, it had nothing to
do with %ride but was again a sym%tom of his need to do something and be useful# +t was
the beginning of the second tem%tation6
+ must tell you that lately, es%ecially on the anniversaries of *oining the Tra%%ists
and my %rofession EFeb 2F, + am often tormented by thoughts of %ride6 =ometimes
+ find myself thinking that + could have done some good by staying with the
Tra%%ists6 two more years and + would have been the =u%erior6 with the grace of
Aod + could have done some good in that little monastery of "kbLs that is so well
situated for the sanctification of the monks and the local %eo%le2 + see clearly
that this is a tem%tation6 + do not have the &ualities to be a =u%erior, neither the
authority, the firmness, the clear *udgment, nor the e$%erience, the knowledge, the
insight, nor anything at all2 and the s%irit of the Tra%%ists, as it is actually lived,
does not corres%ond to my own call O2P in my shack, at the foot of the tabernacle
in the >oor Clares0 cha%el, in my days of work and my nights of %rayer, + have
everything that + looked for and desired these %ast eight years# +t is so clear that
the Aood Lord %re%ared this %lace for me, that this is what my eyes were looking
for2 +t is that imitation of 9ur Lord in obscurity and %overty2 ,ut the
tem%tation is there#4
2
Ce saw clearly that this was a tem%tation, one of the devil0s tricks# This life
should have been enough for him as it was for Jesus# ,ut there was nothing to do# The
tem%tation was there# =hould he sto% reading the theology books that seem to encourage
such tem%tation to greatness) =hould he read the %hiloso%hy books with the danger to
ambition that they re%resented) =hould he discontinue using the breviary) =o many
false %roblems and useless &uestions# The real issue was his need to do something# The
>oor Clares in Jerusalem would like him to come there# =hould he go and hel% them)
Ce could not see that his real %roblem was one of needing to do something#
February 1
st
he wrote another letter to Fr# Cuvelin telling him how ha%%y he was
to be in Ia/areth, to read and meditate, but that the desire to return to the Tra%%ist
7onastery was still there6 1"s + told you before, sometimes + think about returning to the
7onastery2 something is %ushing me in that direction6 + do not know if it is grace or
tem%tation#4 For him the desire to leave Ia/areth was not one of taking back that which
had been given but a desire to go further in giving himself6 1+ do not want to take
anything back, but to try to hold on to everything and to move further ahead#4
2
L"C, 16#H1#1!!
BB
,ut instead, the isolation in which he was living became something negative6 1it
seems to me that it is better to work for the benefit of others, even if that is a struggle,
than to be satisfied and by myself###4
The fact of feeling comfortable where he was turned against him6 1+ am too
comfortable here#4 The tem%tation was to see his life as becoming bourgeois and
therefore to see that working elsewhere as much as %ossible in the service of Aod would
be better# These 1vague thoughts4 are ty%ical of tem%tation# Ce continued in the
following letter6
1(hen + consider what are the best ways in which + could serve Aod the most, it
seems to me that 1' + could do no better than returning to the Tra%%ists O2PG 2'
that Aod would have me be in a Tra%%ist 7onastery of the 7iddle Dast, :' that +
should yet remain a while in this dear and blessed Ia/areth24
(ithout waiting for answers to his first two letters, ,rother Charles wrote a third,
longer letter on 7arch :
rd
, more or less re%eating what he had already written in case the
other two letters had been lost# +n order to communicate what he felt, he s%oke not only
of something that was %ushing him, 1something outside of himself4 Ehe uses that
e$%ression three times in the %ost scri%t of his letter of Feb# 1F but also 1as if, from the
outside, his soul had been hooked, someone had used a crook over it O2P the hook had
awakened in him the desire to work for the Aood Lord#4
Ce felt that in his ha%%iness in being in Ia/areth that he was useless, without
giving anything back# Ce used the words 1do4, 1work4 and 1results4 ten times in *ust one
%age# 9n February 1
st
he hit on the key word, 1efficaciousness#4 Let0s take a look at the
three or four rough s%ots or holes that allowed the hook to take hold6
1F the desire to work for the good of soulsG
2F the desire to be ordained a %riest# This was the first time that this came u% if we
disregard what he wrote in 1!6 at the time of the "rmenian 7assacre around
"kbLs# (hy %riesthood) To %artici%ate in the work of AodG
:F the %ri/e was to be found in the sureness of monastic obedience, the best defense
against all tem%tationG
BF the mission of the Tra%%ists, the work that they accom%lish for the worldG in
7uslim countries one cannot work more effectively than by founding Tra%%ist
7onasteries, 1centers of light and virtue#4 9n 7arch :
rd
he wrote to Fr# Cuvelin,
1+t is u% to you to see if this im%ulse, these hooks are a tem%tation or a call#4
+n his res%onse of February 1
th
, Fr# Cuvelin had only mentioned the last of these6
1Nes, live, live Eto say long'live Ia/areth would sound strangeF Ia/areth
in everything O2P Nes, remain there O2P (e will see about the Tra%%ists later on
M maybe M but you need to be nourished in Ia/areth for a while yet# The 7aster
gives you all that you need to build yourself u% there3 O2P + have nothing to say
about the Tra%%ists for the moment2 in any event, that idea would have to %rove
itself and become more solid# ,elieve me when + say that what you are
e$%eriencing in Ia/areth is the sign that Aod wishes you to remain there#4
B?
,rother Charles had been so sure that Fr# Cuvelin would be delighted to see him
return to the Tra%%ists that he had allowed himself to become &uite elated by his desires#
(hen he read Fr# Cuvelin0s letter his balloon burst# Ce immediately wrote back, 7arch
!
th
6
1+ was like a boat with all of its sails unfurled6 when + read your letter the
sails came down and now the boat is still in the water O2P without any a%%arent
movement and ready to remain so indefinitely#4
"bandonment became concrete, within human reach, and the (ill of Aod showed
itself through another %erson#
1+t is so sweet to recogni/e the will of Aod O2P + have Ucommended my
soul into your hands,0 do with it as you see best for the Consolation of the Ceart
of Jesus2 it is all that + desire, absolutely all#4
,ut then he added, 17y only sadness is to see so many souls that are being lost or
are suffering#4 (e can hear him saying that he is not doing anything for them# The battle
was nearly over# The &uestions that he asked at the end of his letter seem small in
com%arison#
(e can do a %arallel reading of this %eriod with his Considerations sur les fCtes
de lane that he wrote between Iovember 1, 1!@ and Iovember 1, 1!!# 5uring the
month of 7arch, month of tem%tation, and until Daster every meditation, whether on the
words of Jesus or his actions, end with the same resolution underlined several times6
19bey your 5irector#4
From 7arch 1B
th
'21
st
, without ever leaving his shack in Ia/areth, ,rother Charles
followed Jesus to D%hraim, to the banks of the Jordan -iver, where he had withdrawn to
%ray# 5uring this retreat ,rother Charles wrote long reflections about obedience to one0s
=%iritual 5irector#
:
This tem%tation lasted for more than si$ months during 1!!# +t is still there on
June 1@
th
, the Feast of the =acred Ceart#
B
9n June 2B
th
he wrote his thoughts about
Ia/areth
?
, and again on June 2
th
6
1,e careful about tem%tations to ambition, no matter what form they take
or through whom they comeG do not let yourself be led away from imitation of the
hidden life of Jesus, away from sharing that life, through any consideration,
counsel, thought or %erson6 9nly one %erson has the right to command in my
name, your 5irector6 UCe who hears him, hears me#04
6
Throughout these si$ months Charles wanted to remain the little brother of Jesus,
%resent in the heart of the Coly Family of Ia/areth or at his feet during his %ublic
ministry but was constantly fighting tem%tation6 that of ambition or e$altation, that of
:
Charles de Foucauld, Crier l3E#angile, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!2, %%# !B'!#
B
Charles de Foucauld, Considrations sur les fCtes de l3nne, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!@, %%# BBH s&#
?
9%# cit#, %# B??#
6
9%# cit#, %#B6B#
B6
running away from the %resent moment instead of doing that which was the most %erfect
at every moment6
1imagine for a moment the frightful ingratitude of desiring anything other
than the life of Ia/areth, so com%lete and so %erfect that Jesus deigns to bestow
u%on you with his own hand# Nou will be tem%ted away from this life that is so
beautiful and so divineG the greater the gift that Jesus has given you, the more the
devil is *ealous, the more he will use the most subtle or violent tricks to take you
away from itG he will whis%er in your ear and in the ears of othersG but Uno one is
tem%ted beyond their strength0G 5o not be sur%rised by tem%tations, nor sur%rised
by contradictions6 the more your life is like Jesus0 life, the less the world will
understand#4
@
+n his meditations on the Aos%el from that same day he wrote two more %ages
trying to convince himself that he must live only in the %resent moment and not in the
future#
!
rom a letter to Father Hu!elin ' <entecost 4>55
7y beloved Father,
This little retreat has come to an end# The Aood Lord is %leased to have it end in a
%rofound %eace2# facta est tran&uillitas magna2# This %hrase sums u% the state of my
soul since my last letter2# + admire Aod0s goodness and that invincible and never
flagging %atience with which Ce leads me by the hand, re%airs my faults and brings all to
a good end2 This retreat which began in such tem%tation, with such troubles, in
angustiis, ends in overwhelming %eace2
The Third Temptation( The Jerusalem +an&ers
,y July 1!! we find ,rother Charles battling what we might call the tem%tation
of Jerusalem or of visibility# +f we look at it from that angle it is fairly clear that Ia/areth
and Jerusalem are at o%%osite ends of the s%ectrum# This tem%tation came from outside#
The "bbess of the >oor Clare community of Jerusalem, 7other Dlisabeth, was curious
about this %henomenon of holiness that she had heard so much about# =he arranged for
Charles to come to Jerusalem# =he had almost managed to do so the %receding 9ctober
@
9%# cit#, % B6?#
!
Charles de Foucauld, La 9ont de &ieu, 7ontrouge, Iouvelle Cit., 16, %#1@B#
B@
but in his letter dated =e%tember 16, 1!@ Fr# Cuvelin was very negative about such a
%ro%osition6 1Nou should remain in obscurity, in your sim%le %lace, %racticing obedience,
burying yourself in this life# + am very clear about this, my child, and you can say that +
said so#4 (hen he heard that ,rother Charles had not gone, his letter from 9ctober 16
th

reflects how glad he was about the decision6 1+ am so ha%%y that you have remained in
Ia/arethG + was &uite worried about you being in Jerusalem#4 (hat would be cause for
worry) (e shall see how right his intuitions were#
9n July !
th
the sisters asked ,rother Charles to take a letter to Jerusalem# Ce
didn0t see that it was a %rete$t# "n ailing Fr# Cuvelin learned about it through two letters
that have been lost# From his sick bed he wrote on "ugust 26
th
, not hiding his %reference
for Ia/areth but acce%ting what was %resented as an urgent situation# 7other Dlisabeth
suggested that ,rother Charles remain in Jerusalem and gather a grou% of com%anions
there# Cis absence from Ia/areth lasted only B days#
" second visit to Jerusalem of five months began on =e%tember 11
th
# "s 7other
Dlisabeth had rekindled the idea of gathering com%anions he began thinking about a
young man whom he had known in "kbLs who had left the Tra%%ists# "t the end of
=e%tember ,rother Charles traveled to "le$andrette to find him but he had no desire to
leave his mother in order to follow ,rother Charles# ,ack in Jerusalem he wrote to Fr#
Cuvelin on 9ctober B
th
and shared his disa%%ointment# Fr# Cuvelin res%onded on 9ctober
1?
th
, 1+ am so ha%%y O2P that this man did not wish to follow you O2P + am dee%ly
convinced of this O2P -emain in the shadows of the monastery of Jerusalem, *ust as you
did in Ia/areth M in the shadows# That is the right word# + was so glad when you were
there where Aod had led you#4
,ut at the same time ,rother Charles was in the %rocess of writing a new rule

of
life, having rediscovered his desire to found a community# 9n 9ctober 1?
th
, in fewer than
ten sentences, he wrote to Fr# Cuvelin about starting a new community following the rule
of =t# ,enedict# ,ut by the end of 9ctober he had already abandoned =t# ,enedict for the
less structured rule of =t# "ugustine6 1" few souls gathered together to live the life of
Ia/areth O2P a little family, a little monastic home, very small and sim%leG nothing
,enedictine about it#4
1H
Fr# Cuvelin saw Jerusalem as a risk to the life of obscurity and hiddenness, to
living in the 1shadows4 about which he had s%oken, and he was correct to be worried
about it# The danger was 7other Dlisabeth# =he was not like the abbess of Ia/areth who
had develo%ed a great sisterly affection for ,rother Charles# =he was a mother# Ce did
not sim%ly see her as 1a beautiful soul4 but as a saint with the 1cool head and fiery heart4
of Theresa of "vila# Cad she not been the founder of five monasteries, including
>.rigueu$, >aray'le'7onial, Ia/areth and Jerusalem) (ith her unsto%%able character,
she wanted to start dressing him as a religious instead of in his blue work shirt, see him
ordained a %riest and then make him cha%lain to the >oor Clares# =he wanted to see him
gather a grou% of followers and felt that, at the age of forty, it was time to leave the life of
Ia/areth and begin the work of evangeli/ation# (e know this through a letter written to
Fr# Cuvelin where he recounts the dialogue between 1she4 and 1+4 and 1she4 and 1+,4 an
almost word for word account of their conversations#
11

1+ began writing this rule twenty months ago when + went to "rmenia to bring that child back24 L"C,
2H#HB#1HH#
1H
L"C, 22#1H#!
11
L"C, 1?#1H#1!!#
B!
The early monks had warned their disci%les against two things that could threaten
their desert life6 1The monks should be as wary of women and of bisho%s as they are of
the devil#4
12
+n the abbess the two threats were combined in one %erson#
1:
+t was only in
January of 1! that ,rother Charles received a tardy res%onse from Fr# Cuvelin about
this latest %ro*ect# Ce had not known what to answer# The letter is dated 5ecember :H
th
#
"s with the idea of returning to the Tra%%ists he gave a clear answer# 1=tay where you
are32 8ee% to your solitude, silence and total obscurity O2P =tay %ut, stay where you
are# Tell the 7other "bbess# (ait for the sign that will surely come#4 =uch was Fr#
Cuvelin0s answer to the 1%er%le$ing4 avalanche of %ro%ositions that ,rother Charles had
made# ,y the time ,rother Charles received the answer, however, he had already written
two -ules, one %rovisional for the time that he would still be alone and the other for when
there would be several brothers with him# They were dated January 6
th
, Feast of the
D%i%hany#
"t the same time he invented a vow of 1cloister4 %rohibiting any travel for the
service of others# Ce saw this as the only solution to the >oor Clare0s re&uests for his
services# They had already asked him to travel to Ia/areth with a 5ominican %riest but
this had been %ost%oned#
1B
9n February 2H, 1! ,rother Charles returned to Ia/areth with the resolution to
remain there# (ho made this decision) "s soon as he heard the news Fr# Cuvelin rushed
to send his a%%roval, writing on 7arch 1:
th
6
1+ am so glad to see you back in Ia/areth3 (ith my whole heart + tell you
to remain in Ia/areth3 O2P + was so sad when you left this dear nesting %lace, and
it is with *oy that + tell you to return#4
(hen we read ,rother Charles0s letter of February !
th
to Fr# Cuvelin, written
before he left Jerusalem, one can think that it was sim%ly time for him to return6
1+ am so miserable3 +f you knew how backward + am, how la/y, %rideful,
uncharitable, self'centered, unfocused and distracted + am by the smallest things3
2 To be in such a state at my age after having received so many gracesG + am
confused32 + would so like to begin loving the Aood Lord, but, alas, + am so far
from doing so3 O2P =%eak to me often, dearest father, because your words do me
so much good and are so im%ortant to the %oor thing that + am# + am nothing,
%owerless, inca%able, really like a small child, but, sadly, not through innocence
nor humility, but rather because + have so little wisdom and my soul is so ill'
formed# + have not grown but have remained childish and s%iritless#4
"t this %oint he began a si$ty'day retreat from 7arch 1
th
to 7ay 21
st
, >entecost
=unday# +n the middle of this retreat 1in angustiis, a time of tem%tations and trouble,4 he
received a note from Fr# Cuvelin dated "%ril 2@
th
# +t was a res%onse to a lost letter that
must have been full of still more %ro*ects for the future6
12
Cassien, +nst# W+, 1!#
1:
The bisho%s traveled throughout the desert looking for %riests among the monks#
1B
Cf# L"C, 22#H1#1!#
B
15o not torment yourself with %hantoms, strange visions, the 1for how
longs42 do not worry yourself# =tay where you are# =tay3 Ia/areth has been
good for you, has filled you with good things# + can find nothing better to tell
you#4
The retreat ended %eacefully with ,rother Charles having made a resolution to
remain in Ia/areth with 1the worker, the =on of 7ary4 and in thanksgiving6
1+ cannot thank the Lord enough for having ins%ired me to make this
retreat, to have led me back to Ia/areth, for having directed me in such an
incom%arable way through you, beloved father, through the difficulties of this %ast
winter, to have so gently led me back to my vocation through you, and %ulled me
away from the dangers of Jerusalem2 + will not go to Jerusalem again2 + will
try to learn the lesson of this e$%erience in order to cling more faithfully and with
greater thanksgiving to my blessed vocation#4
This letter to Fr# Cuvelin dated >entecost 7onday, 7ay 22
nd
, marked the end of
the storm %rovoked by Jerusalem and all that this city re%resented as o%%osed to
Ia/areth#
+t was the end of all his %ro*ects# There was no longer any &uestion about
foundations, %riesthood, becoming the s%iritual director for the >oor Clares, or wearing a
religious habit# This state of %eace lasted &uite a while but unfortunately all of the letters
from this %eriod were lost# +t is only through the letters written by Fr# Cuvelin that we
have an insight into what ,rother Charles must have written at that time# These letters
give us the heart of Fr# Cuvelin0s message to ,rother Charles# 9n July 1!
th
he wrote6
1Nes, the silence, yes, the silence of Ia/areth M one is well %laced in
Ia/areth to live a life of obedience in silence M and what is the good to be done)
9ne accom%lishes good by who one is, much more than by what one says2 one
accom%lishes the good in being of Aod and for Aod3 Nes, stability2 yes, esto
ibi3 -emain there, gather moss there and allow the graces of Aod to %enetrate,
grow and become firmly rooted in the soul# 8ee% away from agitation and
%er%etual new beginnings# +t is true that we are always *ust starting but at least
always in the same direction and in the same way#4
"nd on "ugust 1B
th
6
1(hat a *oy O2P that you are really at your %lace, that you are ha%%y, that
you finally have the life that you desired, the life of Ia/areth, inside as well as
outside#4
"nd 9ctober 26
th
6
1,e aware of how sinful you are and humble yourself# Lose yourself in
your trust of Aod# The love of Aod e$ists des%ite all of our misery O2P 5o not
worry about aridity# (ait for Aod0s time#4
?H
This %eace lasted until February 1HH# +n a letter from the !
th
of that month
,rother Charles again thanked Fr# Cuvelin6 1+t is you who defended me from the
tem%tation of instability, of returning to the Tra%%ists, of %riesthood# + would have
succumbed without your hel%34 The remainder of his letter gives us a good insight into
his relationshi% with his director concerning the theme of 1tem%tation4, even in the little
things6
1+ want to tell you about two tem%tations that have distracted me for &uite
a while6 + always chase them away as being tem%tations but they always come
back# + am telling you about it in order to free myself of them because + know
that as soon as + tell you about a tem%tation + am delivered from it6 + am often
tem%ted to read a bit of =aint Thomas2 and also to try to %rocure the small ,ible
edited by Fr# Tigourou$ in several languages in order to read it#4
These two new tem%tations are therefore theology and e$egesis3
The ourth temptation( a better place elsewhere
This fourth tem%tation was situated within a short interval in 7arch of 1HH# +t
s%rang from a desire to run away from 1this sweet nest at the >oor Clares4 where he felt
so co/y and %rotected# Ce had no shortage of reasons for wanting to leave the >oor
Clares#
1+ see how very artificial my situation is here6 + am com%letely useless to
the >oor ClaresG the work + do is not really work at all Ehe was %ainting iconsFG +
serve and yet do nothingG worst of all, they know who + am and that makes my
situation artificial and undefined#4
1?
9n to% of that, his relationshi% with the "bbess had become %roblematic# =he
wanted to hold on to him and %aid him s%ecial attention# There had been little mention of
this until recently as the letters where he s%oke of it were left out of of what was
%ublished# ,ut it is one of the ma*or reasons that he wanted to get away from there# +t0s a
classic tem%tation6 to believe that a change will solve all of his %roblems# +n order to
live Ia/areth more fully he must go elsewhere# This else;here %resented itself under
two forms, each &uite different from the other#
Cis first idea was to go to a nearby village, not a town, where he could live alone
and unrecogni/ed#
16
Ce thought that he could 1settle in some field in the hills
overlooking Ia/areth in order to carry the cross of Jesus in %overty and work#4
1@
,ut
these ideas were vague and e%isodic as he e$%ressed in a letter dated 7arch 226
17ore than once + have thought about leaving here and finding a %lace
where + am really, and will absolutely remain, unknown O2P ,ut + would only do
1?
L"C, 26#H:#HH
16
Ce had already imagined something like living in a cave at the to% of the 7ount of the 9lives near
Jerusalem, H!#H2 1!#
1@
L"C, 26#HB#1HH
?1
this in order to more dee%ly bury myself in a life of obscurity, a humble and ab*ect
life of %rayer and work E1+0ve been thinking about asking the =isters of =t#
Tincent de >aul to let me work in one of their hos%itals in the Coly Land to hel%
care for the sickF
1!
24
Cis second idea seems to have s%rung from his idea about working in a hos%ital#
Ce had heard about a %oor, elderly widow whose son had wanted to enter a monastery but
had remained with her in order to care for her# Ce allowed himself to become caught u%
in this situation, which surely could have had a sim%le solution not re&uiring his
intervention, as events would later show# ,ut this never occurred to him# Ce saw it as a
call and a means of esca%ing his %resent situation# Cis salary could be used to care for
the widow# +n a letter dated 7arch 26
th
he laid out his %lan in detail, showing how it was
his vocation and the will of Aod for him# Ce only had to wait for Fr# Cuvelin0s
%ermission# ,ut another event cut short this latest idea which only lasted a week#
Cowever it is interesting to listen to his reasoning about this totally new way of
imagining his future# This strange %lan was totally o%%osed to his %revious idea of living
off in the hills around Ia/areth#
Cis life as a nurse or orderly in a hos%ital would be com%letely different# Ce
would lose everything but it would be on behalf of someone# Cad he never thought about
doing something for someone else until now) Certainly he had done everything for Jesus
and now he *ustified this %lan by saying that he would not be doing it for the widow, nor
for her son, but only for Jesus# Ce really seemed to have little love for these %eo%le who
were merely a %rete$t for him# ,ut let us not be taken in by this ty%e of reasoning that
may seem stri%%ed of meaning for those who are not initiated# +n order to %resent a truth
of faith, for e$am%le, 1(hatever you do to the least of these little ones you do to me,4
one would have to deny the evidence we find in the acts and feelings#
Let us rather observe the chink in the ideological wall of the monastic enclosure
that allowed love to flood Charles0s heart# Ce always described his motivations with
these key words, 15o unto others what you would have them do to you2 (hatever you
do for one of these little ones you do to me#4 (ith such reasoning he was sure of himself
and sure that his logic was sound and therefore from Aod# ,ut he had to wait for the
confirmation of obedience# "nd, as he wrote, he was convincing himself as well# Ce
does not see any subtle tem%tation that would make him abandon his course# Ce saw his
idea as being in such conformity with the Aos%el, so su%ernatural, so full of faith, ho%e
and charity, that it a%%eared to him as 1the %riceless treasure#4 Ce had no hesitation about
it6 this life of work in service of the sick would resolve all of his %roblems#
9ne can ask what ha%%ened to the values that he attributed to the life of Ia/areth,
of contem%lation, silence and solitude) Ce was already defending this new form of
contem%lative life# +t may have been a %assing and untried vision, but a %ro%hetic vision
nonetheless that o%ened new hori/ons# +t would only be %artly reali/ed in his own life,
but those who would later enter this way of Ia/areth in his footste%s can find in it a
confirmation of their choice and a word of encouragement#
1+ don0t think that %rayer will suffer O2P and anyway it is not the
sweetness of %rayer that one must seek but faithfulness to Cis (ill2 Ce will
1!
L"C, 26#H:#1HH
?2
give me the grace to see him in the sick %oor, and be aware of his %resence in the
midst of working in the hos%ital#4
Nes, the hours of %rayer would be fewer but they would be richer6 1+ s%end so
much time in %rayer now, but so %oorly#4 "t any rate, 17y soul will gain so much
through such a change#4 The >oor Clares would also gain6 17y de%arture O###P from them
will do them more good than all the time + s%ent there in fasting and %rayer#4
Cis argument was so convincing that he thought that Fr# Cuvelin could only
a%%rove of it# Qnfortunately, he did not have the time to res%ond before another
tem%tation followed &uickly and made ,rother Charles forget all about this %ro*ect# (e
can be sorry that he missed this occasion, this 1%riceless treasure,4 for still another
mirage# Ce would never have another o%%ortunity to work for a salary, not only in
serving others, but working in a hos%ital#
The Fith Temptation( The triumph o willulness# under the appearance o
de!otion# and piety#.
(ho would dare to use such words if they were not the very words of Fr# Cuvelin
himself in a letter dated 7ay 2H, 1HH)
This was the most serious of all the tem%tations# +t had multi%le conse&uences as
,rother Charles had reached such a level of hy%eractive creativity that he was ready to
listen to any voice in order to get out of Ia/areth# This could have been a good thing but
it also could have led him away from his vocation of imitating the life of Jesus in
Ia/areth#
This last tem%tation, or illusion, %layed itself out over a shorter %eriod of time
than those of returning to the Tra%%ists or of going to Jerusalem# ,ut it could have
changed the course of his life, taking him not only far from the original idea, but in the
o%%osite direction# +t can be %resented by summari/ing two months of feverish
corres%ondence with his s%iritual director and four months of his life when he believed
that he was 1taking care of Aod0s work#4 Cis letters with Fr# Cuvelin during this %eriod
take u% fifty %ages in Lettres ' l3abb ?u#elin# +n the longest of these letters he says that
he was only sharing %art his thinking on the sub*ect so as not to wear out his reader#
The 1hook4 was able to take hold this time through his /eal and his daredevil
character that was always ready to attem%t to do what no one else had succeeded at# Ce
wrote6 1=everal times they have tried to obtain title to the blessed and holy site Ethe
7ount of the ,eatitudesF without success O2P + feel im%elled as + have never been before
Ethat would mean more than when he e$%lored 7orocco, more than when he entered the
Tra%%ists or left again, more than for founding a new 9rderF to ac&uire this holy %lace
and establish a tabernacle there# "nd it is such a good thing in itself that + have no doubt
that it is not the will of Aod#4 "gain he inter%reted his own desires as being the will of
Aod#
+n order to %urchase the site, he had to find the money to %ay for it, &uickly and
secretly# Ce would go through Fr# Cuvelin to ask for this money first from his sister, then
his cousins, Catherine de Flaking and 7arie de ,ondy, and then other %ersons if
necessary# 9nce the site would be bought, it would have to be given to another
congregation# ,ut which one) Ce saw eight %ossibilities# "nd if no one wanted to own
?:
it this would not be a sign that he should give u% his idea# Io, it would mean that he
would have to settle there himself and therefore he should become a %riest and therefore
he should %re%are for ordination# Ce would have to find another solution for the widow
and her son, taking u% alms for her# Ce wrote all of this on 7arch :H
th
# Fr# Cuvelin only
dealt with the financial side of the &uestion and could not see how to reconcile this new
idea with the one before it, that of working as a nurse for the sake of the widow# (hen
the family wisely refused to give him the necessary funds, Fr# Cuvelin thought that
,rother Charles would give u% the idea and did not write further, not knowing what else
to say about the whole business# ,ut the humble ,rother Charles did not take his
family0s refusal as a sign from Aod to abandon the %ro*ect# To the contrary, he
inter%reted it to mean that he must find other means, %oorer and more difficult means, and
should go begging# The family was so horrified by the thought of this that they ended u%
giving him the money as a loan#
Ce s%ent the night of "%ril 2?
th
in %rayer before the ,lessed =acrament in order to
make a formal discernment# Ce wrote out his thinking in the form of a draft of a letter
that was 2H %ages once %rinted#
2H
9n the 26
th
he co%ied the essential %arts in a si$'%age
letter to Fr# Cuvelin6 17y vocation is to imitate as %erfectly as %ossible the hidden life of
9ur Lord at Ia/areth24 Ce had to find a way to make the %urchase of the 7ount of the
,eatitudes fit into his vocation# Ce therefore had to demonstrate how all of the virtues of
the hidden life could be better %racticed on that mountain rather than in Ia/areth at the
>oor Clares# Cis letter continued6
1+ will give you a shortened version so as not to tire you6 "s + look at
%rayer, the love of truth, ab*ection, %enance, courage, obedience to Aod, the total
desire to seek Aod0s goodness, recollection, the love of Aod, imitation of 9ur
Lord and ho%e, + come to the conclusion that + would be better off there than
here24
,rother Charles seems not to reali/e that this new way of imitating Jesus as a
%riest, doing good works and administering the sacraments, has nothing to do with the
life of Ia/areth# +t *ust shows how easy it is to *ustify one0s choices by saying that it is
1Ia/areth#4 ,ut it doesn0t matter# The Coly =%irit was %ushing him towards something
as yet unknown#
=o for ,rother Charles, now the 7ount of ,eatitudes had become the best %lace
to live his ideal of 1Ia/areth#4 >riesthood was no longer sim%ly a necessary means for
having the Ducharist# Ce now saw the dignity of this s%ecial character as a better way of
living humility as Jesus lived it6
1+t seems to me that, all other things being e&ual, to %ractice the ab*ection
and %overty of 9ur Lord as a religious or %riest, is a more beneficial way of living
these same virtues than as a lay%erson#4
21
=o now his 1monastic dream4 was becoming a unified whole out of an
amalgamation of these two 1necessary4 elements E>riesthood and the 7ount of the
2H
Charles de Foucauld, Crier l3D#angile, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!2, %%#1:1'1B#
21
9%# cit#, %#1:B#
?B
,eatitudesF# +n the letter from "%ril 26
th
to Fr# Cuvelin he referred to the rule that he had
written for the ?ermits of the Sacred ?eart# Ce had begun work on it twenty months
before, finished writing it a year before, made two hand'written co%ies of it and not
s%oken about it to his s%iritual director since that time# Iow he said that he would be
sending him a r.sum. of this rule# Then it would be u% to Fr# Cuvelin to tell him how to
%ut it into %ractice#
Q%on receiving this letter Fr# Cuvelin did not hesitate to give ,rother Charles a
definitive and categorical 1no4 in a letter dated 7ay B
th
6 1=tay in Ia/areth O2P (ith Aod
as my witness + can not tell you anything else#4 Ce might not have been against the idea
of working in a hos%ital or of ordination# To the contrary, he had ho%ed that ,rother
Charles would be a %riest# ,ut the boiling, e$uberant and im%atient tone of the letter
convinced him that these %ro*ects were not of the =%irit# Fr# Cuvelin was so ill that he
was unable to hold a %en and he was very worried about ,rother Charles# Ce would
worry even more when he received the ne$t two letters as matters were s%eeding out of
control# Ce received three letters the same day and could only observe, 1+t0s as though a
cannonball has been shot# (ho can sto% it)4
+t seems that in his naSve /eal the hermit of Ia/areth had been taken in by a
financial scam# +t was not the first time, but this time it was with other %eo%les0 money#
Ce decided that it was im%ossible to back off from it and, in his usual way of wanting to
finish what he had started, he wanted to see the business through even at the risk of losing
his way# Ce refused to see the risk and found himself unable to get out of something, all
of his own making, in which he found himself embroiled# +t would be a costly affair for
his family and, indirectly, com%letely changed his life# +t was a 1decisive moment4 that
set him on a new course# 7any have written and tried to *ustify ,rother Charles0
behavior at this time# ,ut there was no e$cuse e$ce%t for the thing that was %ushing him,
making him both blind and deaf to all else#
Iot receiving an answer from Fr# Cuvelin, he decided that it must have been
because of a &uarantine that had been im%osed on the shi%s# ,ut Fr# Cuvelin had not
written, feeling that he had already said all that he had to say# Cis letter from 7ay B
th

arrived on the 1@
th
and his e$%licit 1no4 did not im%ress ,rother Charles in the least# Ce
answered the same day6
1Nou should have received my others letters since you wrote on 7ay B
th
2
They may have changed your mind about this O2P Nour 1no4 arrived too late, not
because of my actions but because of unforeseen events24
Ce then added6
1Ia/areth has not ceased to be a delight and a %lace close to my heart#
,ut as + told you, + think that tem%orarily, for a little while, Jesus calls me to serve
him on the 7ount of the ,eatitudes#4
Ce was totally unable to see that the whole business had been an e$tortion
scheme# -aymond de ,lic had finally given in to his brother'in law, the hermit0s,
re%eated re&uests for money# Ce was never reimbursed and it took years to clear u% a
very com%licated matter#
??
+n a letter dated 7ay 2H
th
, Fr# Cuvelin no longer bothered with the financial
&uestion but maintained his refusal for the rest6
1+ find your %ro*ects frightening O2P + would rather see you %urchase the
7ount of the ,eatitudes if you absolutely cannot do otherwise and that you then
give it to the Franciscans and then let go of it O2P + do not think that this idea of
being a %riest'hermit comes from Aod O2P#4
+n the meantime, ,rother Charles continued making his own %lans, hesitating
whether he should be ordained in >aris or in Jerusalem#
"s we have already seen, Fr# Cuvelin0s o%inion was clear des%ite the fact that we
can also read a sort of reluctant acce%tance# Ce wrote6
1+f, however, you feel an irresistible urge, take your -ule and throw
yourself at the feet of the >atriarch of Jerusalem and ask him for light# +, my
child, + don0t have any with regards to this matter# + can only see ob*ections and +
fear there is a willfulness on your %art, hidden under your devotion and your
%iety2 The more + think about it, the more + see it that way O2P Nour cousin is
also &uite worried, as am +#4
"s ,rother Charles felt the urge to be irresistible, on June 22 he went to see
,isho% >iavi, the Latin -ite >atriarch of Jerusalem, and %resented his rule for the
?ermits of the Sacred ?eart# (e know that he was &uickly %ut out# Ce must have
mentioned it to Fr# Cuvelin in a letter that has been lost# 9n July 2?
th
Fr# Cuvelin
answered the missing letter, delighted at the failure6
1+t is e$actly what + ho%ed would ha%%en O2P + saw Jesus0 hand in the
whole thing O2P + no longer knew what to tell you# Nour thoughts and ideas had
become so confused#4
Ce was glad to think that ,rother Charles was back in Ia/areth# Qnfortunately,
,rother Charles did not receive that letter as he had already left Ia/areth# Ce wrote to
Fr# Cuvelin from Jaffa announcing that he was on his way to >aris# Ce e$cused himself
in the same letter for not doing as Fr# Cuvelin had asked him#
,rother Charles did not take his failure with the >atriarch as a sign that he should
renounce his idea of ordination, seemingly so contrary to his vocation# "lthough he was
invited to try to see the >atriarch again he did not# -ather he saw in the refusal a sign that
he should make the re&uest in France to the ,isho% of 7ontmartre# Finally, he was very
ha%%y that the >atriarch had refused him as he had been thinking for some time that he
should go to France to 1console4 his sister and brother'in'law# +t was a 1new obligation4
all the more that, in order to obtain the money, he had %ractically %romised them that he
would become a %riest and it would be an occasion to come to visit them at that time#
(hen would it be %ossible) Ce didn0t know# (e don0t know why he arrived in
Jerusalem at the end of July and sailed for France on "ugust !
th
# (e do know that the
>oor Clares of Jerusalem had entrusted him with an errand in -ome#
?6
=omething that Fr# Cuvelin said in a letter dated July 2?
th
can conclude this
cha%ter on the Tem%tations6
1+ knew that the 7aster would lead everything# +t was not a &uestion of
reali/ing an idea but of seeking the (ill of Aod, allowing it to unfold gently and
%eacefully in ab*ection and littleness, that of Jesus, beginning in ,ethlehem and
throughout the long incubation %eriod of Ia/areth#4
9n July 21
st
,rother Charles wrote to his sister# Ce used a %hrase that was even
more significant and he %robably didn0t reali/e how much it a%%lied to all that he had *ust
lived# 15o not attach much im%ortance to the events of this life, nor to material thingsG
these are merely dreams dreamed during a night at an inn#4
22
(hat remained of these
successive dreams) Just one desire# Ce e$%ressed it clearly to his sister in a letter dated
July 1H
th
# 17y desire to receive Coly 9rders is a strong as ever, but all the rest is in
doubt#4
2:
5id he really have to %ass by such a lengthy and difficult detour in order to
come to desire and ask for that which he had so obstinately refused for so many years)
"s soon as he arrived in >aris on "ugust 1@
th
he went to see Fr# Cuvelin# Fr#
Cuvelin described the visit to 7arie de ,ondy6
1Ce had dinner, s%ent the night, took breakfast with me and then left for
Iotre 5ame des Ieiges and on to -ome# Ce was oddly dressed, seemed very
tired and %re'occu%ied# + think he is ill# ,ut he was very loving# Ce is very holy#
Ce wants to be a %riest# + told him how to go about it# Ce had very little money,
too little, so + gave him some# Ce knew very well what + thought as + had sent
him a telegram, but something even stronger is %ushing him# Cas a director ever
really directed anyone) ,ut + have no need to guide him# + can only admire and
love him#4
They also s%oke about where he would go after ordination# (hy not "lgeria) Fr#
Cuvelin %referred the Coly Land, Ia/areth or elsewhere, as a %riest living near a
monastery, but not on the 7ount of the ,eatitudes# From -ome he wrote to 7arie de
,ondy on =e%tember :
rd
6
1Following Fr# Cuvelin0s advice + am here in -ome for a little while
before going to Iotre 5ame des Ieiges to com%lete the %re%arations for
ordination that + am beginning here2 Father thinks that + should receive the
sacrament of Coly 9rders and offer the 5ivine =acrifice des%ite my
unworthiness2 To be ordained in my current situation was, humanly s%eaking,
difficult to arrange# The Aood Lord has %aved the way for me through the
intermediary of the "bbot of Iotre 5ame des Ieiges6 he has offered me
hos%itality until my ordination, will see to %re%aring me for it himself, and
arranged everything with the ,isho%2 + cannot say how grateful + am to him
O2P
22
-en. ,a/in, Charles de Foucauld Explorateur au Maroc, Ermite au Sahara, >aris, >lon, 121, %# 1@!#
2:
5p%cit#, %%#1@!'1@#
?@
There is no longer any &uestion about me living on the 7ount of the
,eatitudes# + think + already wrote to you about that# Father thinks that after
ordination + should return to Ia/areth and continue living as a %riest in the
shadow of the 7onastery of =t# Clare that had so well received me before#4
2B
Cis de%arture from Ia/areth and return to France cannot be seen as acts of
obedience# "nd Fr# Cuvelin was not fooled by it# 1Ce knew very well what + thought as +
had sent him a telegram4# +t doesn0t matter# Fr# Cuvelin tried to look beyond the %resent
situation and enter into a logic that he did not understand# +n that same ine$%licable logic
,rother Charles wrote a year later6 1+ returned to France on the advice of my confessor so
as to receive Coly 9rders#4
2?
Ce really believed what he was writing in saying this since
Fr# Cuvelin a%%roved of it later# Chronology doesn0t matter so much in autobiogra%hical
accounts of vocation3 1The (ill of Aod will be accom%lished6 whether through men or
des%ite them, Aod will do for us what is best,4 he had written to his sister on July 1H
th
#
"nd so the 1dreams dreamed during a night at an inn4 came to an end# " new ste% was
beginning in his life# Ce did not analy/e what had ha%%ened# (as he even aware of that
truth that Fr# Cuvelin recogni/ed in him, 1=omething even stronger is %ushing him# + can
only admire and love him#4
+s it %ossible to deci%her what this 1something4 was that had %ushed him in order
to understand such a com%licated itinerary over the %revious three years) +t is not easy to
do# ,ut within these different tem%tations there are some elements that might shed some
light on his *ourney#
The Tra%%ists, Jerusalem, the Cos%ital and the 7ount of the ,eatitudes all
re%resent an elsewhere as o%%osed to the stability and rootedness of Ia/areth, the burying
of the grain of wheat in the ground#
To do, to create, to work towards something, to serve, to be useful and to be more
efficacious are all good and legitimate desires# ,ut they were all contrary to the
sovereign efficaciousness of Ia/areth in a%%arent uselessness# This efficaciousness is
continually reaffirmed in both the letters of Fr# Cuvelin and those of ,rother Charles#
,eggar, Tra%%ist su%erior, hos%ital worker, %riest at a =hrine and founder of an
9rder are not bad things in themselves# ,ut for the hermit of Ia/areth they were all
dreams that ke%t him from fully living the %resent situation in which he found himself,
and that %resent situation could alone reveal the values of the life of Ia/areth# Constant
new beginnings are not reconcilable with the continuity that Ia/areth demands#
Jerusalem, >riesthood and the 7ount of the ,eatitudes would have %laced ,rother
Charles in a situation of visibility that would have been contrary to the hidden life that
defined the life of Ia/areth#

) Chan&e o +irection
2B
"chives de la >ostulation, ,"CF, no# 1B2, a%ril 2HH1, %#1H#
2?
LCC, 1B#H!#1H1#
?!
(e find Charles de Foucauld in -ome where he s%ent the month of =e%tember
1HH# Fr# Cuvelin, worried about where his 1errand for the >oor Clares4 might lead,
wrote to him on =e%tember 1:
th
6
1Aet yourself out of this business and these negotiations as &uickly as
%ossible# 5o not get yourself involved in these money matters M + forbid it, my
dear friend# 5o not even mention anything to your cousin about borrowing
money# Ao to ,arbary and give your sister the *oy of seeing you# +t would be so
much better than having her go to Iotre 5ame des Ieiges to visit you32 "nd
now concerning the %riesthood3 8ee% focused on it# 8ee% your eyes fi$ed on that
M as soon as you will have finished with your errand for the "bbess of Jerusalem4
(hen he finished his errand for the >oor Clares he left -ome for ,ourgogne
where he s%ent several days with his sister, meeting his ne%hews and nieces# Ce arrived
at Iotre 5ames des Ieiges on =e%tember 2
th
#
Ce continued his life as a hermit in a little room that they gave him in the
northwest corner of the monastery and went back to using his Tra%%ist name of brother
7arie "lb.ric during his stay with them# Ce was ordained sub'deacon on 5ecember 22
nd

at Tiviers# "t the end of his retreat %rior to this ordination
1
he wrote out his discernment
%rocess, as was his habit, in which he confirmed the direction of his life as he had seen it
with Fr# Cuvelin#
Ce wrote that he was a %oor workman dedicated to the imitation of the hidden life
of Jesus# Ce likened his duties of being a sub'deacon ' the edification of souls and
service at the holy "ltar M to that of the wife who must love and obey her husband, care
for the children and the home# ,ut the &uestion arose for him as to where he should carry
out these duties6
1For the time being in Tiviers# "fterwards, wherever my director *udges
to be the right %lace O2P (herever the =%ouse calls me2 (herever he will be
glorified by my %resence2 (herever + can do the most good for souls2
(herever + can establish the hermits of the =acred Ceart, first of all in the Coly
Land because it is Jesus0 own country and because it is from there that we have
received 1every grace#4
2
"s we have already seen, this foundation, which had %reoccu%ied him since 1!:,
began to take sha%e at the end of 1!!# Ce had written the rule during 1! and made
two co%ies of it#
(here could he live out this -ule) (ith others maybe) "t the end of 1HH he
was again thinking about it# =ince Fr# Cuvelin had e$cluded the 7ount of the ,eatitudes
as a %ossibility, what about Ia/areth) ,ut another idea %resented itself in the form of
,ethany, that cherished %lace, 1one of the holiest and most abandoned %laces#4
:
(hy
,ethany) Ce had written in his meditations6
1
Charles de Foucauld, Seul a#ec &ieu, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@?G cf% retreats made at Iotre 5ame des
Ieiges before ordinations, %%# 21'!:#
2
5p% cit%, %%21'22#
:
5p% cit%, %22#
?
1,lessed are you among all other %laces on earth, 9h ,ethany of my heart#
Nou alone gave to the =avior of mankind what every other %lace refused#4
Ce had imagined it as 1the only little corner where the Creator was well received6
,ethany, the %lace of friendshi%, where %eo%le knew how to kee% Jesus com%any#4
Cowever, it was no longer only these sentimental thoughts that held his
imagination# " new thought took hold6 ,ethany was 1the most abandoned of the holy
sites#4 ,ut how could he think in terms of abandoned %laces without thinking of other
%laces that were far more abandoned than any %lace in the Coly Land) (e see the first
mention of this idea in the %ublication l3fri6ue Saharienne# 9n "ugust 22, 1H? he
wrote to Fr# Caron in these terms6
1+n my youth + traveled throughout "lgeria and 7orocco6 7orocco M as
large as France with 1H million inhabitants and no %riest in the interior of the
country, and the "lgerian =ahara M seven or eight times larger than France and
much more %o%ulated than they used to think with only a do/en or so
missionaries# Io other %eo%le seemed more abandoned than these#4
B
Ce was seeing this land as a %lace where there was no one to love Jesus with the
greatest love and where the ?ermits of the Sacred ?eart could do so much good#
+t was only a dream for another day but it reveals that a new thought was taking
sha%e in the mind of the former e$%lorer# Ce had gone to "kbLs in 1!H in order to 1go
far away from all that he loved in a non'Christian land#4 Ce still wanted to find a %lace
where he could have 1cloister, silence, distance from all worldly affairs, a com%letely
contem%lative life#4 ,ut he wanted to live in a 17ission Country#4 5id the countryside
of "rdLche remind him of the =ahara) 5id his chance meeting with a missionary ,isho%
in the streets of -ome reawaken his love for "frica) "s the year drew to a close was he
reminded of that Christmas of 1!!: s%ent in the /aouSa of Tisint in southern 7orocco
where he e$%erienced the first stirrings of religious sentiment) 7aybe his recent meeting
with ,rother "ugustine, a former /ouave, at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges rekindled some old
memories from the =ahara# +n fact, they reali/ed that they had been in some of the same
%laces in southern "lgeria in 1!!1# "nd couldn0t this novice become the first member of
the hermits of the =acred Ceart)
,r# "ugustine was also something of a character# Ce had wanted to enter the
7onastery on January 1, 1HH believing it to be the first day of the new century# ,ut he
got lost in a snow storm and only arrived on the 2
nd
# (hen ,rother Charles went to Iotre
5ames de Ieiges in "ugust to ask the "bbot about staying there to %re%are for ordination
they met in the hallway# ,r# "ugustine wanted to s%eak with him and congratulate him
on his book, Reconnaissance au Maroc which he had either read or heard about# ,rother
Charles res%onded humbly, 1"h yes, that will do me a lot of good on the day of
*udgment#4 +t was a s%ontaneous reaction that we will come back to later#
4
Letter to Fr Caron @@@A Lettres indites du !"re de Foucauld au chanoine CaronF, >aris, ,onne >resse,
1B@, %%#1:'1B#
6H
) new idea
5uring the months of "%ril and 7ay 1H1, a new idea %resented itself to ,rother
Charles and he wrote to Fr# Cuvelin about it, although the letters have been lost# (e do,
however, have Fr# Cuvelin0s answers to these letters and these give us some insight into
what Charles must have written# Ce must have written at least twice in "%ril# Fr#
Cuvelin0s letter of 7ay @
th
was a res%onse and reminds us of letters written to Ia/areth6
1=tay at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges, my child, under the wing of the Father
"bbot# + stress this %oint in res%onse to what you wrote in your last letter# This
year of formation s%ent in the shadows of this blessed convent does not seem to
be a lost year, far from it2 you will be working for Ia/areth there, filling the
vessel where souls can come to drink M you will be strengthening the hands that
others can lean on# +t is not a renouncement of your mission to the Coly Land# +t
is a way of %re%aring yourself for it# (ait a year but don0t give u% your idea of
going to the 7iddle Dast# +t seems that the Aood Lord is kee%ing this vision
before your eyes M that of this 7ission, of a family gathered around the 5ivine
7aster# +n order to do this, my child, it takes maturity and %re%aration# This year
will give you that# (hatever you do there you will be doing for the Coly Land
that attracts you, that fi$es your mind0s eye and directs your heart#4
This is a very im%ortant letter since it is the first time that Fr# Cuvelin recogni/ed
,rother Charles as having a double 7ission6 on the one hand to live in the Coly Land,
and on the other hand to gather a family around Jesus in Ia/areth# (e cannot say, as
they have always written about him, that Fr# Cuvelin was always against this idea# (e
can see that Fr# Cuvelin0s thinking also evolved#
From a letter dated 7ay 2
th
we can see that ,rother Charles must have made a
still further %ro%osition#
1-ecollect yourself for the 7ission that you seem to have received# 5o
not follow any other idea, not the one that you s%eak of, unless an almost
invincible urge %ushes you2 !riori, my dear child, + do not see indications for
it# Nou will see after your ordination3 There is a kind of active %re%aration there
that + would not frown u%on unless the urge that you feel is invincible M but a
priori M + %refer to see you in the recollection of the cloister#4
This 1other idea4 could only have been the =ahara, were he could go in order to
actively %re%are himself for this double mission instead of remaining for a year at Iotre
5ame des Ieiges# "ccording to Fr# Cuvelin, this is not an idea to follow unless 1the urge
that you feel is invincible#4
,y the beginning of June it seems that this 1invincible urge4 had taken root#
7ore than ever he felt sent, and sent for a s%ecial 7ission# (e have seen how many
times he felt called to a mission while he was in Ia/areth and each time he came u%
short# (as this another one of his illusions) 9r was it a serious call)
This new idea came in "%ril and brought with it a new way of reading the
=cri%tures# Cis reading was not limited to the Aos%els# Ce also read the "cts of the
61
"%ostles, the D%istles of =t# >aul and the "%ocaly%se# +f we read through his numerous
writings from this time and the notes and %hrases that he co%ied from the Aos%els, we
already see the significance of the choice he made# Furthermore, from this selection he
then made an even further selection# =ome of the most characteristic %hrases are6
1 U+ have come to bring fire on the earth0 M UTo save that which was lost0 M
UTo bring light to those in darkness and the shadow of death0 M U+t is not the
healthy who need a doctor but the sick0 M UAo throughout the world and %reach the
Aos%el to every creature0 M U"s my Father has sent me, so + send you0 M U+ send
you as shee% in the midst of wolves0#4
?
The hermits become brothers
This 1new idea4 also led ,rother Charles to reread the -ule that he had written in
1!! for the Cermits of the =acred Ceart# +n doing so he re%laced the word 1hermits4 by
1little brothers#4 This modification meant that he had to correct, in both co%ies of the
-ule, all of the %assages that no longer corres%onded to this new way of thinking# Cis
erasures, and insertion of 1little brothers4 for 1hermits,4 are clearly visible on the original
manuscri%t# This work must have ke%t him busy for some time since he was also writing
a French te$t of the Constitutions as well as translating these into Latin# (e end u% with
the BH %aragra%hs of the Constitutions in %arallel with the BH cha%ters of the -ule# Ce
began each cha%ter of the -ule with a series of &uotes from the Aos%el# "nd he used the
17odLle Qni&ue4 that he had written in Ia/areth as an introduction to the entire work#
The changes were much more than mere changes of titles# Ce necessarily had to
make other corrections and sometimes glued little %ieces of %a%er over certain sentences
or half'%ages# 9ther words now surfaced and took im%ortance, in %articular the word
1universal#4 =o we end u% with 1universal love4 and 1universal brother and friend#4
These same e$%ressions a%%eared in letters that he wrote in the following months to
s%eak of his new %lans# (e should note that the e$%ression 1universal brotherhood4 was
%ractically limited to this %eriod at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges in 1H1 and the first few
months at ,eni "bbLs Ethe beginning of 1H2F# The most striking change of 1H1 was
that from 1hermits4 to 1little brothers#4 Aone is the language of hermit and of being
alone# From this %oint on he used the word 1brothers4 to s%eak of his future com%anions
and 1fraternity4 to s%eak of their house# +n the first -ule their house was to be called a
1Ia/areth4 and in the Rule for the ?ermits of the Sacred ?eart it was a hermitage# Could
he have better e$%ressed his new sense of mission) The former Tra%%ist wanted to
remain a monk but the former hermit now wants to be a brother, brother of Jesus and
brother to others# +t is as though concern for others had become a concrete %art of his
%ro*ect and would from this %oint on, be a motivating factor in his choices# +n order to
1be with Jesus,4 it was no longer enough to be 1alone with him,4 to go 1far from4
everything in order to be with him alone# Ce had to do what was most %leasing to him#
"nd what Jesus wanted most was the salvation of all humankind#
6
?
Charles de Foucauld, Seul a#ec &ieu, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@?, %%# @@'@!#
6
The last &uote, X@B, from 1edifying %assages taken from %ious authors4 that he co%ied at Iotre 5ame des
Ieiges is from =t# John Chrysostome6 1The best way to be with Christ is to do his will# "nd above all else,
Christ wants you to %rocure the salvation of your brothers#4 Comily on =t# 7atthew# Ce wrote this &uote
at the beginning of the Iotebook that he began when he arrived in ,eni "bbLs#
62
+s this new) Io# (e can find it in what he wrote to Cenri 5uveyrier on "%ril 2B,
1!H, three months after he entered the Tra%%ists6
1Dach %erson is a child of the Aod who loves each one infinitely# +t is
therefore im%ossible to love, to desire to love Aod, without loving %eo%le O2P
The last commandment of 9ur Lord Jesus Christ *ust hours before his death was,
U7y little children, love one anotherG by this they will know that you are my
disci%les, if you love one another#4
@
The difference was that he wrote that from the cloister, thinking of those who
were outside# "nd he thought mostly of distancing himself from them, forgetting them,
thinking of them as if only a dream, as he wrote to Fr# Jerome from Ia/areth on 7ay 1,
1!!6
1Cis will for you is that you should concern yourself only with Cim# + do
not mean in not loving others, but loving them ardently for his sake# ,ut for the
moment, for the ne$t several years forget them com%letely, see them as though
they were merely a dream and, + cannot re%eat it often enough, live as though you
were alone with Aod alone in all the universe# O2P Look u%on %eo%le, all %eo%le,
as not even e$isting#4
!
Cis way of loving them and working for their salvation had been to give u% seeing
them, to not allow himself to write to them and to offer this sacrifice for their salvation#
From this %oint on, 1others4 were no longer an abstract conce%t but %eo%le
towards whom he must go# Therefore, he had to leave where he was in order to be
1close4 to them, to enter into 1contact4 with them and develo% close relationshi%s with
them# +t was the a%%earance of a new vocabulary, to become their brother and friend# +t
was no longer enough to love from a distance, to isolate himself in order to better love
Jesus, in order to save souls more effectively# +t was a com%lete and total change but he
did not yet clearly gras%ed it# "lthough ,rother Charles acce%ted this new direction for
his life, he could not imagine all of the conse&uences that it would entail# +t took him the
rest of his life to understand and see where it would lead him# Let us not forget that he
still carried with him his -ule for the hermits and not be sur%rised that after a %eriod of
time they no longer worked#
*here to &o,
Ce was ordained a %riest in Tiviers on June , 1H1# =hortly afterwards, in his
written reflections about where he should go to establish the little brothers of the =acred
Ceart he wrote6
1Iot where there are, humanly s%eaking, the best chances for having
novices and canonical authori/ations, money, land or su%%ort# Io, but to the
%lace that is most %erfect in itself, most %erfect according to the words of Jesus,
@
-en. >ottier, Un prince saharien mconnu ?enri &u#e$rier, >aris, >lon, 1:!, %#226#
!
Charles de Foucauld, =Cette ch"re derni"re place4 Lettres ' mes fr"res de la )rappe, >aris, Cerf, 11, %#
1!:#
6:
most %erfect according to the Aos%el, most %erfect according to the Coly =%irit#
There, where Jesus would go6 to the 1shee% that is the most lost#4 To Jesus0
1brother4 who is 1the most ill,4 to the most forgotten, to those who have the
fewest she%herds, to those who Usit in the dee%est darkness#4

+t is full of &uotation marks as the &uotes came to his mind one after the other and
led him to the conclusion that he must go first to 7orocco#
+t is the first time that he mentioned 7orocco by name but is surely what he had
in mind when he alluded to the =ahara the first time# Ce knew that there was no &uestion
about being able to enter 7orocco but he thought of going as close as %ossible in the
bordering region# =everal days later he wondered about where he really had to go first#
1(ould it not be better to go first to the Coly Land)4 Aoing there first would hel% him to
%re%are himself# The answer was 1no#4 +t was clear and definitive# 1+t is necessary to go
to the land that is not the holiest but to the souls who are in the greatest need#4 Ce
com%ared %eo%le on the one hand to land on the other and e$%ressed himself in terms of
1lack4 and 1e$treme drought4 as com%ared to 1great abundance#4 Ce then confirmed his
thinking with a last &uote as %roof for him of the will of Aod6
1(hen you give a lunch or dinner, do not invite your friends, nor your
brothers, nor your family, nor your rich neighbors2 when you give a feast invite,
rather, the %oor, the cri%%led, the lame, the blind#4
1H
9n "%ril !, 1H? he em%loyed the same words to e$%lain to Fr# Caron why he had
changed directions6
17y last retreats before deaconate and %riesthood showed me that my vocation to
the life of Ia/areth should not be lived in the beloved Coly Land, but among
those souls which are the most sick, the shee% who are the most abandoned# This
divine ban&uet of which + am the minister must not be %resented to brothers,
family and wealthy neighbors but to the lame, the blind and to the souls who lack
%riests the most#4
The change of destination was really a change of orientation *ust as when, in his
youth, he decided to go to 7orocco rather than to the 7iddle Dast#
9ver the %revious months Charles de Foucauld thought of this country that he was
the first to have e$%lored in different terms# (hen he had been 2B years old he had had
the audacity to %lan an e$%edition and the courage see it to its end, risking his life to do
so# =hould he not have the same audacity now out of love for Jesus rather than for the
sake of his own %leasure) (as this not a duty) -eali/ing that he had a tendency to want
to do things that no one else had ever done, he asked himself if it was not willfulness or
%ride on his %art# Ce answered his &uestion by &uoting =t# Theresa of "vila6

Charles de Foucauld, Seul a#ec &ieu, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@?, %%@'!H#
1H
5p% cit%, %#!:#
6B
1Io, because the effect, in this life, will not be honor or consolation but
many crosses and humiliations6 UDither you will be looked down u%on or + will be
glorified# Dither way you win#4
11
The only &uestion left is 6uando# Ce contents himself by &uoting Luke 16:6
1 U7ary rose and went in haste#0 (hen one is full of Jesus, one is full of
love2 Therefore, when + am reasonably ready and when, by the ins%iration of
the Coly =%irit, my director tells me6 Ugo04
12
"s early as June 22, 1H1 Charles de Foucauld wrote, with the "bbot, to ,isho%
Livinhac, su%erior general of the (hite Fathers, asking where he might go and to whom
he should address himself#
1:
(here should he settle) This started a corres%ondence with Cenri de Castries in
which he addressed himself as to a dear friend, eight years older than himself# +n fact, he
did not know him very well#
1B
June 2:, 1H1 he wrote6
1(here should + attem%t this little foundation) O2P some%lace where one
can enter into relationshi% with the 7oroccans O2P some lonely oasis between
"Sn =efra and Touat O2P Io one knows this region better than you6 "nd so + am
writing to you and asking that you, who have always been so good to me, would
%lease have the kindness to indicate where, in the far southern region, would seem
best for a first little settlement#4
(e have already mentioned the about'face of Fr# Cuvelin who wrote on June 26
th
,
1+ have reconciled myself to your idea about "frica which is so neglected#4 Cowever, he
still %referred to see him stay longer at Iotre 5ames des Ieiges in order to more
thoroughly %re%are himself# 9n July 1?
th
he wrote again6
1Let yourself be led by this urge that kee%s %ushing you, my dear child# +t
is not what + would have dreamed of for you but + believe that it is what Aod is
telling you, since you are no longer able to stay at the 7onastery# Ao wherever
the 7aster calls M + bless your intentions and the %ro*ects which will only bring
you closer to him while accom%lishing his work on earth# + will do whatever +
can to hel% you#4
The same day, 5om 7artin sent an official re&uest on behalf of the newly
ordained %riest to ,isho% Livinhac6 1+n my whole life + have never seen a man who lives
11
5p% cit%, %#!:#
12
5p%cit% %# !1#
1:
Charles de Foucauld, =Cette ch"re derni"re place4 Lettres ' mes fr"res de la )rappe, >aris, Cerf, 11,
%#2B2#
1B
5rawing from documents from the "rchives EIational, Cistorical =ervice of the "rmed Forces, Fonds
>riv.sF 7ichel de =urimain %aralleled the movements of Cenri de Castries and Charles de Foucauld and
concluded that the two men only met after 1!!B# ,"CF, X 1:1, July 1!, %#@#
6?
in such a state of holiness#4
1?
Charles de Foucauld clearly e$%lained his intentions and
%lans in this letter# ,ut in other letters we discover his dee%er motivations#
+t was not the nostalgia of the desert nor love for the land that was at the origin of
this 1invincible movement4 that continued to %ush him to the %oint that he could not even
%ray without thinking of 7orocco# Ce wrote to Cenri de Castries on June 2:
rd
6
1There are several among us who cannot recite the >ater without being
%ainfully aware of the vast country of 7orocco where so many souls live without
1sanctifying Aod, being %art of his kingdom, accom%lishing his will nor knowing
the divine bread of the Coly Ducharist#4
5id he not have a duty born of gratefulness towards those who had allowed him
to 1see something greater and truer than worldly %reoccu%ations)4
16
Ce wrote to Fr#
Jerome on July 1@
th
6
1+t is not %ossible for me to %ractice the %rece%t of brotherly love without
consecrating my life to doing as much good as %ossible for these brothers of Jesus
who lack everything since they lack Jesus# +f + were in the %lace of these %oor
%eo%le O2P who know nothing of the source of our *oy in this world nor of our
ho%e in the ne$t, and if + were to become aware of my sad state, oh how + would
wish that they would do everything in their %ower to %ull me from it3 (hat +
would want for myself + must do for others6 15o unto others as you would have
them do unto you#4
=everal monks, ha%%y to %artici%ate in the mission of someone they considered to
be a saint, were mobili/ed to see to the material %re%arations6 a %ortable altar, a
tabernacle, wooden candlesticks, crates for shi%%ing books, vestments, kitchen utensils#
7arie de ,ondy had been busy since =e%tember 1HH making a chasuble and other
liturgical accessories# Catherine de Flavigny gave the chalice, ciborium, monstrance and
many books#
1@
,y "ugust 22
nd
Charles had not received a res%onse# Ce learned that ,isho%
,a/in had been named to head the a%ostolic vicariat and wrote to him# Ce wrote
insistently, adding a further argument that he felt ade&uate to convince him of the urgency
of his re&uest6
1The memory of my com%anions who died without a %riest during the
e$%editions against ,ou "mama of which + was a %art twenty years ago, strongly
urges me to leave for the =ahara as soon as you will have accorded me the
necessary faculties, and not a day later#4
1!
Q%on receiving Charles de Foucauld0s letters ,isho% Au.rin
1
, who had *ust been
named a%ostolic %refect of the =ahara, wrote to ask for further information# "s he had to
1?
Charles de Foucauld, 1Cette chLre derniLre %lace4Lettres J mes frLres de la Tra%%e, >aris, Cerf, 11,
%#2B:
16
LCC, H!#H@#1H1
1@
Charles de Foucauld, Carnet de 9eni bb"s, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1:, %#66#
1!
Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances sahariennes, >aris, Cerf, 1!, %#2@#
66
leave "lgiers to take u% his new %ost in AhardaSa in the =outh, he sent a telegram to
Iotre 5ame des Ieiges asking ,rother Charles to come &uickly so that they could s%eak#
Contrary to what -en. ,a/in
2H
wrote, he left without baggage and so was ready to leave
on the ne$t boat# The baggage was left at Iotre 5ames des Ieiges to be sent on later if
he remained in "lgiers# Caving written &uite a few letters vaguely informing %eo%le of
his de%arture, he took the train from the ,astide =t# Laurent for 7arseilles on Friday,
=e%tember 6
th
# Ce stayed with the ,lessed =acrament Fathers there and made a day
%ilgrimage to the =aint ,aume on the !
th
, and left at noon on the
th
for "lgiers#
Fr# Cuvelin wrote to ,isho% Au.rin on "ugust 2?
th
as %ersuasively as %ossible6
1Nou will find in him heroic devotion, unlimited endurance, a vocation for
the 7uslim world, %atient, humble and obedient /eal, enthusiasm and a s%irit of
%enance without any severity or blame towards others#4
21
Ce wrote again a week later, on =e%tember 1
st
, in res%onse to another &uestion
from ,isho% Au.rin6 1Cow many times the same ob*ections have come to my mind3 +
always come back to my e$%erience with him and the test of time#4 Ce had written
%reviously6
1Cis vocation has always drawn him towards the 7uslim world# Cis time
in "lgeria, tri% through the 7oroccan interior and his years s%ent in >alestine
have %re%ared him, toughened him for this mission# + saw this vocation come# +
have seen how it has &uieted him, made him more humble, more sim%le, more
obedient O###P +n my soul and in my conscience + believe that it comes from Aod
O###P There is nothing bi/arre nor e$traordinary# Just an irresistible force that
%ushes him, a hardened instrument for difficult work O###P Firmness of s%irit, a
desire to love and give himself to the very end, whatever the conse&uences M
never any discouragement, never M a bit rash in his younger days but that has
softened so much3 Let him come and you will see34
22
Fr# Cenri who had become the >rior of Iotre 5ame de =taou.li wrote to ,isho%
Au.rin on =e%tember ?
th
, sending along a letter he had received from ,rother Charles in
July6
1Ce is the most beautiful soul that + knowG incredibly generous, he has
taken giant ste%s in the way of sacrifice and has an insatiable desire to devote
himself to working for the redem%tion of the infidels# Ce is ca%able of anything,
e$ce%t maybe of following overly rigid directives O2P all that + can add is that,
after having lived in close contact with him for si$ months, + was always dee%ly
edified by his heroic virtue# Ce has within him the stuff of several saints# Cis
1
The "%ostolic Ticariat of the =ahara and the =udan had *ust been divided into two, creating the "%ostolic
>refecture of AhardaSa# Charles de Foucauld later learned that a young (hite Father, Fr# Charles Au.rin,
*ust 2 years old, had *ust been named to head that "%ostolic >refecture# Ce would answer the two letters
that Charles de Foucauld wrote introducing himself#
2H
-en. ,a/in, Charles de Foucauld, explorateur au Maroc, ermite au Sahara, >aris, >lon, 121, %#1@#
21
5p% cit#, %#11#
22
5p% cit%, %#1B
6@
very %resence is an elo&uent sermon, and des%ite the uni&ueness of the mission to
which he feels called, you can rest assured about welcoming him into your
a%ostolic %refecture#4
2:
,isho% ,onnet of Tiviers also wrote on the same day6
1Fr# de Foucauld is a former brilliant military officer who gave u% his
career in order to give himself more com%letely to Aod in the %riesthood# +
ordained himG he is my sub*ect and + consider it a great gift for my diocese to have
had for a time a %riest of his merit and character O2P Ce has ac&uired here a
re%utation as a saint and our clergy take as a great grace, the *oy of s%ending a few
moments with him#4
2B
>receded by these recommendations and a re%utation of holiness at which he
would have been aghast if he had known of it, our ,rother Charles set off, trusting in
>rovidence to smooth the way ahead#
From distance to nearness
(e re*oin Charles de Foucauld on the boat from 7arseilles to "lgiers on
=e%tember , 1H1# Ce had again taken to using the name Charles of Jesus, and was
dressed in a white tunic with the heart and cross embla/oned across his chest# Let us take
note of a few %oints of his life0s *ourney# +t had been fifteen years since he rediscovered
faith and he would live another fifteen years# This 7editerranean =ea that he was
crossing was the geogra%hic center of his life# +n order to understand the meaning of this
tri% we can com%are it to a similar tri% that took him from 7arseilles to "kbLs in 1!H#
The first tri% took him as far away from everything as %ossible# The fifteen years
that we have *ust e$amined all move in this direction6 to distance himself as much as
%ossible, to forget his %ast, his name, his work, his friendshi%s, leaving behind family,
house, belongings and his country# "ll of that was in order to follow his Lord, to be alone
with him, to seek him where he could be found, that is, in the last %lace, and to offer him
the greatest sacrifice %ossible# ,y renouncing the %resence of the one who had given him
everything, who had led him to Aod, he had offered the greatest %ossible sacrifice to his
,eloved Lord# Io other austerity could ever come close to the sacrifice that this
se%aration re%resented# The *oy of living with Jesus and for Jesus alone, the devotion to
his %resence and the seeking after intimacy with Jesus would never remove the suffering
of this se%aration# +t remained like an o%en wound for nearly twenty years#
Ce had the kind of %ersonality that always went beyond the %ossible, seeking
%erfection in everything, em%loying all the strength of his will to reach the unattainable
and infinite# Ce s%ent fifteen years of his life steadily moving in this direction6 always to
the lowest %lace, the furthest %oint, in order to be as close as %ossible, as intimately
*oined as %ossible to Jesus0 heart# (e have already mentioned his tendency to be
2:
Charles de Foucauld, =Cette ch"re derni"re place4 Lettres ' mes fr"res de la )rappe, >aris, Cerf, 11,
%#2B6
2B
5p%cit%, % 2B?#
6!
e$cessive in what he undertook# Fr# Cuvelin had warned him of the danger of seeking his
own %ersonal %erfection6
1Nou need to be warned against this constant inner movement towards that
which has no end# +t brings restlessness and kee%s you from ever remaining in
one %lace M this ty%e of movement is only %ossible for those who are not given to
e$cess#4
1
Cis tendency to e$cess had &uickly led him to value as absolute some somewhat
negative elements6 renouncement, se%aration, contem%t for the created order and a
negation of the self to the %oint of self'destruction and self'hatred# This is what the tri%
to "kbLs re%resented# +t took him far away from everything in order to renounce
everything#
"s he made the tri% to "lgiers the movement is totally different, even o%%osite# +n
the early years of his faith'life his desire to 1be with Jesus4 was characteri/ed by %hrases
likeG to go far away, to distance himself from everything that had been a %art of his life, to
se%arate himself, to leave himself behind in order to be alone with Jesus# +n 1H1 he
reali/ed that 1to be with Jesus4 meant 1to do what Jesus wanted him to do#4 From that
moment he wanted to move towards others in order to be close to them#
(e can com%are the 1far away4 of the first tri% to this 1towards4 of the second6
towards a country, towards someone# Ce was no longer %reoccu%ied with leaving
someone or something but of going 1towards4 someone# The 1distancing4 of the first
was the o%%osite of the 1closeness4 of the second# From this %oint forward, he felt sent
by Jesus to move towards others and to no longer distance himself from them# =ince he
wanted to draw close to those who are 1far away4 %eo%le have often confused this going
1far away4 with the distancing of his earlier years# +t seems to me that the movement in
these two directions, that of distancing and that of drawing near, divide the last thirty
years of his life into two %arts#
"s a conse&uence, we see that he began using new e$%ressions# +t was no longer
a &uestion of sim%ly being 1alone with Jesus4 but 1to be with others,4 and therefore to
draw %rogressively closer to them, to enter into relationshi% with them, to have contacts
with them and to create bonds with them# +f we take an overview of the last fifteen years
of his life, we see how this %ro$imity grew and was e$%ressed in the %laces that he chose
to live as well as the ty%e of houses that he built# +t re%resents a new ty%e of burying
himself# +t was no longer what he had imagined at Ia/areth but meant burying himself
among a %eo%le#
+t meant that he wanted to be 1small and accessible4 to others# +t meant a
relationshi% of brother and not as father to those with whom he drew near# +t meant
studying a language, allowing bonds of friendshi% and affection to tie him to a %eo%le#
The keyword in all of this is 1relationshi%#4 Ce sought to develo% and nurture
relationshi%s with growing numbers of %eo%le, *ust as he had done and never ceased
doing with Jesus#
(e can see it as soon as his boat landed in "lgiers# Fr# Cenri, his Tra%%ist friend,
was there as well as Fr# Au.rin, the young (hite Father who was assuming the role of
,isho% and su%erior, and who would later become a friend# The %roof of this can be
1
L?, H2#H!#1!6
6
found in the letters %ublished in Correspondances sahariennes#
2
Ce also met comrade
from =t Cyr, Commandant Lacroi$ of the "rab ,ureau of "ffaires who was his best
resource in deciding on where to settle as well as in hel%ing him to obtain the necessary
authori/ations# "s this comrade was there with his wife and daughter, ,rother Charles
was obliged to take a little %lunge into the everyday life in the world# 7adame Lacroi$
fi$ed s%ecial dishes for the one whom they su%%osed would have nothing else to eat once
he left for the =ahara#
9n the way to ,eni "bbLs he sto%%ed at "Sn =efra to thank the generals who had
given him %ermission to settle there# Ce stayed with them# They gave him one of their
mules to make the last %art of the *ourney# Ce who had wanted to arrive in ,eni "bbLs
on foot as a %oor %ilgrim traveled instead with an escort, and the "rab soldiers who
welcomed him, kissed his burnous Ehis outer cloakF# =o many situations that the -ule
had not made %rovisions for3
=ome of the soldiers, as well as several of the officers from ,eni "bbLs, would
become his friends# La%errine, who would later visit him and convince him to move
further south, as well as some of the officers stationed in the Coggar and some of the
Tuareg, also became his friends# These relationshi%s %layed an im%ortant role in his life
not only because of the influence that he had in others0 lives, but also because of the
influence that they had on his life# +n one way or another all of these %eo%le contributed
to humani/ing this man who had such a tendency to try to be su%erhuman through
e$cessive asceticism#
:
This %rocess of humani/ation is %art of the meaning of the
+ncarnation of Aod who became closer and closer to us through the humanity of Jesus#
2
Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances sahariennes, >aris# Cerf, 1!#
:
Letter of 5om 7artin to ,isho% Au.rin in =Cette ch"re derni"re place4 Lettres ' mes fr"res de la )rappe,
>aris, Cerf, 11, %#2!16 1The intensity that he im%oses u%on himself O2P seems so su%erhuman that + am
afraid that he will drive his disci%le cra/y by the sheer tension of it before he kills him through e$cessive
austerity#4
@H
T9',D'(+TC'JD=Q=
To go far from 1? years 1? years to move close to
distancing drawing near
separation proximit$
This diagram outlines what we have *ust said about the life of ,rother Charles# +t
can also hel% us to understand his devotion to the Ducharist# Ce essentially saw the
Ducharist as the sacrament of >resence, in line with the teaching of the Council of Trent#
This was the basis of a way of 1being with#4 From the moment of his conversion at =t
"ugustine0s Church, from the moment of his conversion he entered into the %resence of
Aod, into relationshi% with Aod# The cult of >resence was not so much that of the
%resence of Aod in one0s soul, although this goes without saying, but it was es%ecially the
>resence of Jesus in the sacrament# Jesus was there in a kind of local %resence# (e can
understand the language that he uses in this light because the goal was 1to be with Jesus,4
to kee% Jesus com%any, to be as close to him as %ossible#
"ll of the negative as%ects of distancing, se%aration and sacrifice, reflected the
understanding of Ducharist as a memorial of the sacrifice of Jesus, continually lived out
in our lives# Cis continual reference to January 1?, 1!H throughout this %eriod stresses
this as%ect of Ducharist6 as sacrifice offered in union with the sufferings of Jesus# +t was
a way of wanting 1to be with him4 in his sorrow and suffering#
This movement of closeness to others, of 1going towards others,4 brings us to a
third as%ect of Ducharist as that of sharing, as a meal taken together, as the ban&uet
brought to others# From the moment that he reali/ed that he was the servant of the
Ducharist, he had to bring it to those who did not know of such a gift# Cis desire to carry
and %lant the %resence of Jesus was inter%reted in a very %hysical sense# +t was a &uestion
of erecting tabernacles in %laces that were further and further away# +t should be said that
this s%atial notion would evolve and that he would eventually let go of it# (hen he was
left with an em%ty tabernacle he stayed anyway, having only his own life to offer as
eucharistic %resence, a life offered and e$%osed#
This tri% on =e%tember , 1H1 marked a turning %oint, the beginning of a new
orientation# Ce no longer dreamed of 1solitude, alone with Jesus4 in a hermitage
some%lace# -ather, while he desired to have com%anions in his mission, he acce%ted to
live alone among these %eo%le# 5oing something for them meant doing something for
Jesus#
Ce arrived at a %oint of not worrying anymore about high ideals and an
im%ossible life of %erfection, but of letting himself be fashioned by the =%irit through the
events and %eo%le in his life# This led him to forget about himself# 9ne of the first
resolutions that he wrote in his Iotebook u%on arriving in Tamanrasset in 1H? was6 15o
everything in my %ower for the salvation of the %eo%les O2P of these regions, com%letely
forgetting about myself#4
B
-ather than meditating u%on forgetfulness of self, he did what
Aod wanted him to do in the %resent moment, even if that seemed contrary to what he
always called 1his vocation#4 Fr# Cuvelin never sto%%ed encouraging him in this sense#
9n 7ay 1!, 1H2 he wrote6
17y dear friend, my dear child, be gentle with yourself# -emain humble
and %atient with yourself# ,e less %reoccu%ied about overcoming a need for slee%
and with your need to worry about it# Nour constant worrying about the best way
to do things torments you# -emain %eaceful so that you can receive the graces of
Aod# +f you have and hold onto a kind of self'hatred, let it be a hatred that is as
&uiet as dee% water#
B
Charles de Foucauld, Carnets de )amanrasset, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!6, %#6:#
@1
+t is easier than one might think to hate oneself, wrote ,ernanos in his
&iar$ of a Countr$ !riest# Arace is to forget oneself# +f we were to become dead
to all %ride, the grace of graces would be to love oneself as humbly as we love any
other suffering member of Jesus Christ#4
(e can wonder if Charles de Foucauld would get to the %oint of loving himself as
Aod loved him# "t least he would reach the %oint of no longer seeking to destroy himself
and of becoming nothing# +f he still alluded to it, it was in the terms that =t# John of the
Cross used to s%eak of letting oneself be ground by the events and %roblems of life,
through hard work and numerous cares#
(hen he entered the Tra%%ists, he had broken off contact with his family and
friends# ,ut already at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges circumstances obliged him to renew
contact with them# From that time forward he no longer worried about whether or not it
was good to maintain relationshi%s full of friendshi% and human warmth with everyone
he met# (e can be full of admiration when we read the thousands of letters that he wrote#
Io matter whom he was writing to, we find a man who was very human and who had a
lot of warmth#
Ce had renounced ever seeing his cousin again on this earth# They met again in
1H after nineteen years of se%aration, never having lost that closeness between them#
(e must never forget that throughout that long and %ainful %eriod of se%aration that she
was a real su%%ort for him# (ould he have really been able to deal with such solitude
without his corres%ondance with her and with others)
Ce had sto%%ed writing to most of his friends out of love for Aod# Ce began
again 1in order that we might hel% one another to live out the few years that are given to
us in holiness and to hel% one another to live and die in the Ceart of Jesus#4
?
(hen he arrived in ,eni "bbLs at first he tried to hide, but very &uickly he did all
he could to let it be known what he was doing# +f he was eager for the military officers to
take an interest in going to 7orocco so that one day he might also go, then he had to
s%eak about what he had seen there during his e$%lorations# Ce got to the %oint of no
longer trying to hide his name nor his %ast# This shows u% in the way his signature
changed over the years# "fter 111 he signed 1,r# Charles de Foucauld4 and after 11:
he signed sim%ly 1Charles de Foucauld4 or 1Charles4 or even 1Ch4 for his closest
friends#
9n "ugust 1, 1HH when ,rother "ugustine had congratulated him for his
e$%loration of 7orocco, he had answered, 1Nes, that will do me a lot of good on the day
of *udgement#4 ,ut *ust a few years later he wrote the following, somewhat in the style
of what Fr# Cuvelin had written to him, to 7assignon to encourage him to finish his work
and write his book6
1+f + have been able to do any good and to settle in the =ahara it is,
according to Jesus, because + had been an military officer and had traveled
through 7orocco# Aod %re%ares things from afar and uses the good, the bad and
the acts that are done without the least thought of him for the salvation of souls#4
6
?
Letter of 7arch 2, 1H2 to 5r# ,althasar
6
Jean'Fran<ois =i$, L3a#enture de l3amour de &ieu, >aris, =euil, 1:, letter to Louis 7assignon,
5ecember :, 111, >#11?#
@2
+f this ke%t him from running after the always dreamed'for last %lace that he
would have fashioned to his liking, it forced him to acce%t the %lace that Aod had given
him# (hat is admirable is that he remained a humble servant des%ite this %lace,
something that did not go unnoticed by his contem%oraries#
3eni )bb?s and the time or raternity
"t this %oint ,rother Charles felt that his -ule was in its definitve form and he left
it with ,isho% Au.rin when he left for ,eni "bbLs# Ce wanted him to read it, meditate
u%on it and a%%rove it# =everal months later he received authori/aton to welcome others
to live with him under this -ule of Life# ,isho% Au.rin0s admiration for ,rother Charles
might e$%lain why he had not looked carefully at the details of the -ule# Ce might even
have thought of following ,rother Charles himself# ,ut if he had looked more closely at
the -ule, he would have seen that it was im%ossible to live#
,rother Charles arrived in ,eni "bbLs at the end of 1H1# Cis stay there was
%ractically limited to the years 1H2 and 1H:, since 1HB was entirely given to traveling
in the south# The first years are ty%ically the %eriod in which a newly arrived a%%rentice
missionary, full of %lans and generosity, will make every %ossible mistake# For ,rother
Charles, everything became a %ro*ect to create# There were a do/en such %ro*ects at ,eni
"bbLs which he listed for his ,isho%# "mong these was one of ransoming slaves#
5uring the first year, the more %ious soldiers came every evening to listen to him
and to assist at benediction# Ce read and commented on %assages from the Aos%el#
"lthough it only lasted a few months during 1H2, he felt moved to create four or five
brotherhoods of which the membershi% lists are still in e$istence# Ce considered himself
among the >riests of the =acred Ceart of 7ontmartre, several of the brotherhoods being
dedicated to the =acred Ceart# Ce was the only member of one of these grou%s and
another had *ust one member, a 7ister "bd Jesus, three years old# There are &uite a few
other such e$am%les which give us some insight into his %ersonality#
"mong his many %ro*ects, that of ransoming slaves is the best known# Cis letters
on the sub*ect to ,isho% Au.rin and 5om 7artin, "bbot of Iotre 5ames de Ieiges at the
time, are strongly worded and can not be read in *ust any conte$t# They are the fruit of
the e$cessive /eal that was his custom# 9n =e%t 1@, 1H2 ,isho% Au.rin wrote to him,
much as Fr# Cuvelin would have6
1Concerning the &uestion of slavery, my dear father, what can + say)
7ore than on any other %oint + feel that + must tell you6 watch out for your /eal,
be very %rudent, bring your sadnesses to the feet of Jesus, O2P but watch out
about letting yourself be carried away by your /eal, and acting on it# =lavery is
certainly a social evil that we cannot de%lore enough M and we will never be filled
enough with the love of Jesus M +n order to combat slavery one must take into
account the circumstances and the %eo%le involved and the %lace where one lives#
9ne must be careful not to destroy the means of accom%lishing a little bit of good
by making a lot of noise that brings no results# That is ,isho% Livinhac0s thought
on it# 7aking a lot of noise about what is %resently ha%%ening in the =outh can
@:
only attract the kind of attention that will thwart what we are actually trying to
do#4
9fficially slavery had been banned throughout the French territories, including the
colonies# ,ut in %ractice, some of the miltary officers turned a blind eye and let the
situation continue so as not to change local customs# +n fact, this went on for decades,
until inde%endence and even beyond# +n 1H2, the (hite Fathers were feeling threatened
with dissolution by recent laws that had been %assed in France# ,ecause of this they
reacted with %rudence to ,rother Charles0 over'reaching /eal# Ce wrote back on
=e%tember :H
th
6
1+ will immediately obey the line of conduct that you have laid out before
me2 + must tell you one last time, so that the soul of the child has no secret from
the father and is totally o%en, without any reticence2 ' The e$%lanations that you
have had the goodness to give me with such affection, and which have such
weight coming from you and ,isho% Livinhac, O2P do not leave me without
regretting that the re%resentatives of JD=Q= content themselves with defending
behind closed doors Eand not from the roofto%sF a cause that is one of *ustice and
charity#4
+n his hasty /eal for a good cause he seemed to have forgotten that he had defined
his mission as an announcement of the Aood Iews not with words but in silence, by
shouting it from the roofto%s by his life, and not with s%eeches#
,ut we are not going to sto% longer on this &uestion of slavery which has been
dealt with at length in most of the biogra%hies of ,rother Charles# -ather we are going to
try to understand the meaning and im%lications of the words that he used at the
beginning of his stay in ,eni "bbLs in s%eaking of universal brotherhood#
1Nou asked me for a descri%tion of the cha%el2 The cha%el M dedicated to the =acred
Ceart of Jesus M is called 1the cha%el of the fraternity of the =acred Ceart of Jesus4, my
little home is called 1the fraternity of the =acred Ceart of Jesus42 + want all of the
inhabitants, Christian, 7uslim and Jews and idolators, to see me as their brother, the
universal brother# They begin to call this %lace the Ufraternity0 Ela 8haoua in "rabicF and
that is sweet to me### The inside of the cha%el is %lastered with dark gray very natural
colored mortar Every dark %earl gray Y %earl blackFG it is B meters highG the ceiling, or
rather the roof, is flat made of large %alm trunks, loosely covered with mats of %alm
branches## it is rustic, very %oor2 4 1etter to :arie de 3ondy, January 7, 45@A
The uni!ersality o the raternity
From the beginning of his time in ,eni "bbLs we find many &uotes dealing with
1universal brotherhood#4 +n %articular there is the letter he wrote to 7arie de ,ondy on
January @, 1H26
@B
1Nou asked me to describe the cha%el2 The cha%el M dedicated to the
=acred Ceart of Jesus M is called Uthe cha%el of the fraternity of the =acred Ceart
of Jesus#0 7y little home is called Uthe fraternity of the =acred Ceart of Jesus02 +
want all of those who live here, whether Christian, 7uslims, Jews or %agans, to
become accustomed to seeing me as their brother M the universal brother2 They
begin to call the house Uthe fraternity,0 Ethe khaoua in "rabicF, and this is sweet to
my ears24
Ce e$%lained to his friend, Lacroi$6 1+ chose that name because it says that + am
their brother and the brother of every human being without e$ce%tion or distinction#4
1

(e also saw that this word a%%eared in his -ule in s%eaking of his house# +t is the
%rimary meaning of the word and it is something new#
Ce wanted %eo%le to call him 1brother Charles4 because 1khouia Carlo is the
universal brother#4 Ce translated the words 1brother4 and 1fraternity4 into "rabic but,
regardless of what he said, no one ever used those terms# +n ,eni "bbLs as well as in
Tamanrasset they only ever s%oke about 1the marabout#4 This is a French word with
"rabic roots which is used to s%eak of 7uslims who had received religious training and
were considered men of Aod# (hen this same word was again used in "rabic, it was
used only to s%eak of %riests and consecrated religious men and women# The word come
from a root meaning, 1to tie together,4 to be bound to a %erson or a %lace, much as the
word 1religious4 in French# ,rother Charles was also satisfied with this name and used it
himself# The word did not yet have the %e*orative meaning that it later took on in "frica
involving sorcery and witchcraft#
(hat did universal mean) Ce %laced the accent on the word 1all46
1all %eo%le, good or bad, friend or enemy, benefactor or torturer, Christian
or infidel O2P they will become Uall things to all %eo%le in order to save all0 O2P
they will be universal friends in order to be universal saviors#4
2
The theme of universality was develo%ed in cha%ter :H of the -ule6 1Charity
towards those outside the community#4
:
The Constitutions read6
1They will have no U%references among %eo%le0# O2P 7ay their universal
and brotherly love shine like a beaconG for miles around may no one, not even
sinners or infidels, be unaware that they are universal friends, universal brothers,
who s%end their lives %raying for all %eo%le without e$ce%tion and doing good#
7ay their fraternity be a safe haven, a %lace of refuge where each one, es%ecially
the %oor and unfortunate, are welcome at any time, invited, desired and receivedG
may it be as its name says, the house of the =acred Ceart of Jesus, from which
divine love radiates throughout the earth, the burning Charity of the =avior of
men#4
B
1
Aeorges Aor.e, Les mitis sahariennes du !"re de Foucauld, >aris, "rthaud, 1B6, tome ++, %#26#
2
Charles de Foucauld, R"glement et &rectoire, 7ontrouge, Iouvelle Cit., 1?, %#22!#
:
5p%cit%, %#2:? and following#
B
5p% cit#, %#!@
@?
These te$ts were written while he was at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges %re%aring for
ordination# (hile there, he made the corrections to his -ule, making the changes from
hermits to little brothers# "s early as Iovember 2, 1H1 in a letter to Cenri de Castries
he called himself 1the universal brother4 in his desire that all %eo%le would find a brother
in him# 1"ll4 meant first of all the %oor, but it also meant all of the others without
e$ce%tion or distinction# "nd he added, 1>ray that + might really become the brother of
all the souls in that country#4
+t is necessary to make a remark here# Iearly all of the numerous &uotes
concerning universal brotherhood date from 1H1 and the beginning of 1H2# "fter
several months this vocabulary then disa%%eared from his retreat *ournals of 1H2 and the
following years# "lready in 1H2 these words and e$%ressions were missing as he
worked on the feminine version of the -ule for the =isters who are no longer universal in
their friendshi%#
=o we need to see what the vocabulary of universal brotherhood meant for the
marabout of ,eni "bbLs and Tamanrasset# Later, in 1H!, as he worked on the &irector$,
he left out those e$%ressions from the Constitutions of 1H1 that we have taken as so
characteristic of him6 1universal friend,4 1universal brother,4 1universal savior#4
3ecomin& a brother
(e forget too easily that Charles de Foucauld0s life, like that of each %erson, was
a long %rocess of becoming, an evolution# +t sounded beautiful to call himself 1the
universal brother4 as he arrived in ,eni "bbLs# Cis e$cuse for such %retense was to ask
for %rayer6 1>ray that + might really be the brother of all the souls in this country#4
?
+f
these words do not a%%ear in his later writings maybe it is because he became more
realistic# (hen one starts out as a universal friend, any %articular love becomes a
restriction to universal love# +n order to become the brother of all, one must begin by
becoming the brother to this one and that one, and one cannot love each one in the same
way# Ce knew &uite well that he did not love his cousin Catherine the same way that he
loved his cousin 7arie# +f La%errine became his incom%arable friend, that did not kee%
him from becoming real friends with -egnault and Iieger, and he had still different
friendshi%s with warrant officer Joyeu$ and 2
nd
class =ureau# +t is obvious, but we do not
always think of it# "nd when we see him count his friendshi%s among the Tuareg we
reali/e that he was not under the illusion of universality for too long# (e can see it
clearly in the following %assages#
1" few sincere friendshi%s with very diverse %eo%le, a few souls who
really trust me, and friendly but not intimate relationshi%s with many# +t is &uite
something given how enormously distant this %eo%le has been from us#4
6
1+ s%ent all of 112 here in this hamlet of Tamanrasset# + find much
consolation in the com%any of the Tuareg# + can0t tell you how good they have
been to me, what u%right souls + find among them# 9ne or two are my true
friends, something so rare and %recious anywhere#4
@
?
L?C, Iovember 11,1H1
6
rchi#es de la !ostulation, letter to Fr# Laurain, Iovember, 2@, 11H#
@
L?C, January 1, 1H!
@6
1+ have at least four friends here on whom + can count totally# Cow did
they become attached to me) +n the same way that anyone does# + didn0t give
them any gifts but they understood that they had found a friend in me, that + was
devoted to them, that they could trust me# "nd they in turn gave the same to me#
Those who are good and true friends to me are6 9uksem ag 9ughar, the chief of
the 5ag Ahali, his son "bahag, Chikkat ag 7ohammed E5ag'AhaliF, a 66 year old
man who can hardly get around anymore, and his son, 9uksem ag Chikkat Ewhom
+ call my sonF# There are others whom + love and res%ect and on whom + can
count for many things# ,ut + can ask advice, hel% or information from these four
for anything# + know that they will always do their best to hel% me#4
!
This is far from the crowds that invaded his house in ,eni "bbLs when he
distributed grain# To see si$ty children and one hundred adults in one day was not
necessarily being each one0s brother# Cow can one have a dee% relationshi% with so
many %eo%le) 9ver time and through e$%erience he learned what it meant 1to be a
brother4 and 1a brother to each one#4
)ll without e"ception
To be a universal brother means not to e$clude anyone# "s he wrote his -ule in
Ia/areth his ideas about 1the %oor, the rich, sinners and infidels4 was very abstract# They
were to give hos%itality to all without ever refusing anyone, without ever giving more to
one than to another, without ever making any differences among %eo%le# +n ,eni "bbLs
he was faced with flesh and blood %eo%le who daily came to his door and the idea of 1not
making any e$ce%tions4 daily took on a new and different meaning# The only universal
love is that which is %articular, the love of the %erson who is there before us# +t is not the
thought of loving someone who is far away and whom one has never seen#
+f it is difficult to become a real brother, it is even more difficult to become the
brother of everyone, without e$clusion# +t would be to maintain the same kinds of errors
that we find in some of the Ulives of the saints0 to believe that this was not without
struggle and %rogress# The slave is his brother, but it is not so easy to, at the same time,
be the brother of the master who wants to claim that child as his %ro%erty# The Jews are
his brothers, but ,rother Charles also loved to read the book >esus adolescent written by
Fr Caron whose anti'=emitism comes through &uite clearly# There are (hites and ,lacks
and the marabout0s reactions are not the same in ,eni "bbLs and Tamanrasset# (e are
sur%rised to read that some of the officers, %robably %ro*ecting some of their own
%re*udices on him, said that ,rother Charles didn0t like certain grou%s of %eo%le# +s it
true) "t any rate, it makes us that much more attentive as we see how he learned to know
and love these same %eo%le whom he may not have been naturally drawn to love, and was
touched by their trust and affection for him#
"mong the officers there were those who were outright enemies of one another# +t
is not so easy in these situations to let it be known that one is a friend to both# Ce met
those who mocked him and those who ignored his o%inions# =ome %ut obstacles in his
%ath# Ce did not have a very high o%inion of those who were crooked or who did not do
!
rchi#es de la !ostulation, letter to Aarnier, February 2:, 11:#
@@
their duty# =ome found him hard and intransigent# For the good of some he struggled
against others#

To be a universal brother was not an e$cuse for belonging to no one under the
%rete$t of loving everyone#
1all %eo%le, good or bad, friend or enemy, benefactor or torturer, Christian
or infidel they will see as a soul to save6 they will become Uall things to all %eo%le
in order to save all0# They will hate the evil, but that hatred will not kee% them
from loving the %erson, carrying them all in their heart, even the most wicked, as
in the Ceart of JesusG they will be universal friends in order to be universal
saviors#4
1H
7aybe it is no accident that this %assage from the -ule has the title, 1Courage in
dealing with others4 ne$t to 1Charity, %eace, humility#4 +t was easy to write such a
%assage in the solitude of a monastery# +t was not easy to live it out among all sorts of
conflicts in ,eni "bbLs and es%ecially in the Coggar, and even in the midst of traveling
through the vast desert# (e can &uestion some of his %ositions only if we are humble#
(ho can say that they could have done better) (e have to recogni/e the courage that he
showed in his o%tions6 he was not fooled by that other illusion about universality that can
allow one to maintain a cloistered e$istence, whether moral or solidly built, that isolates
one from the %eo%le and the conflicts that affect their lives#
Those closest or those urthest away,
+f charity moves from closest to furthest, beginning with 1family, friends,
neighbors and ac&uaintances4 as he mentioned in his last version of the =tatutes for the
"ssociation, how is it that he felt called to go so far away for the rest of his life) The life
of Ia/areth could be lived anywhere even in one0s own country and among one0s own
family# There is nothing in his definition of Ia/areth that said where it must be lived#
,ut he turned it into a ty%e of religious life and there is no doubt that he intended to live
this life, with others, far away, some%lace else, voluntarily leaving his homeland,
acce%ting the cultural shift that this im%lied, and es%ecially to live it among non'
Christians# This is very characteristic of his vocation and to ignore it would be to
diminish and disfigure his message#
+n the beginning his motivations were %ersonal# Ce wanted to go far away,
leaving behind his roots and all that he held dear# +t was a need born of his love for Jesus,
the need to cut off every tie to anything in this world in order to offer to Jesus the greatest
sacrifice %ossible6 that of going far away and leaving behind everything that he loved# +n
writing his -ule he su%%osed that those who followed him would share his motivations#
9nly in 1H1 did his motivations become more ob*ective# 1This divine ban&uet of
which + am the minister had to be carried to the %oorest2to the most abandoned24
11

Cis desire to see that no one was e$cluded became a call to go to those who were the

"lready in 1H2 he noted6 1Con&uer the natural hardness that + feel towards sinners, that distaste that +
have for them, and re%lace it with com%assion, interest, /eal and eager care for their souls#4 Cf# Charles de
Foucauld, Seul a#ec &ieu, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@?, %1HH#
1H
Charles de Foucauld, R"glements et &irectoire, 7ontrouge, Iouvelle Cit., 1?, %#22!#
@!
furthest away, a %reference for those who were most in need# ,ut there, too,
circumstances guided his choices# Ce felt it a duty to be grateful towards those he had
met during his e$%loration of 7orocco and felt it was his duty to think of them# They had
become his closest neighbors because he had drawn close to them# +n the same line of
thinking, when he reali/ed that he could not go to 7orocco he felt it his duty to go to the
Tuareg because they were far from everything and he found himself to be the only %riest
able to go to be close to them, these 1distant brothers#4
12
+n the same logic, when he urged his com%atriots to ste% outside of their own little
world in order to care for the %eo%le of "frica, it was because the colonial con&uest had
created a situation of urgent res%onsibility# Those who had been coloni/ed had become
their neighbors and the French had the immediate duty to do for them what %arents would
do for their children#
3rother or Bni!ersal
"fter his death, the words 1universal brother,4 taken out of conte$t, took on a
much wider meaning than he had given it# +t even became something of a %osthumous
title conferred on him from outside, rather than being his own words# (e can see this in
the encyclical !opulorum !rogressio Eart#12F6
1+t suffices to recall the e$am%le of Father de Foucauld who, because of
his charity, was *udged worthy to be called the 1universal ,rother4 and who
com%iled a %recious dictionary of the Tuareg language#4
+t is like an official consecration of his worthiness as universal brother, making
him )?E uni#ersal brother, the %erfect model of universal love as one who would never
have loved e$ce%t in a universal way# +t became an abstract idea of which he was the
concrete incarnation# 9ver time even 1brother4 became se%arated from 1universal4 to the
%oint that they began to s%eak of universality6 1in the s%irit of ,rother Charles, the great
grace of the fraternity is its universality#4
Furthermore, this notion of universality is most often associated with an
international %ers%ective which has nothing to do with Charles de Foucauld0s way of
seeing, nor that of most of his contem%oraries# +t is not easy to turn him into 1a brother
without borders#4 -ather it is more useful for us to try to understand his nationalistic
mentality and his fervent %atriotism, not forgetting his military formation or his "lsatian
background# +n doing so we will be less sur%rised as we read the letters that he wrote
during the war#
=im%ly because, on one occasion, he used the ad*ective 1international4 we cannot
make universality the center %oint of his message, or because, one day, he said that he
would be ready to go to the ends of the earth or because he once %rayed for the %eo%le of
Ja%an# Io, the grace and charism of Charles de Foucauld is not universality# +t is first of
all fraternity, which is friendshi%, 1friend and universal brother#4 To be the universal
brother means to first of all be a brother before thinking about universality#
11
@@A Lettres indites du !"re de Foucauld Eau chanoine CaronF, >aris, ,onne >resse, 1B@, "%ril, !,
1H?, ># 1:#
12
Aeorges Aor.e, Les mitis sahariennes du !"re de Foucauld, >aris, "rthaud, 1B6, Lettre J Lacroi$,
5ecember 1?, 1HB, vol ++, %#:#
@
To be a brother
+n ,eni "bbLs it was no longer a &uestion of being a hermit of the =acred Ceart,
the brother of Jesus or even of those who might live with him in the house he called the
fraternity# +t was necessary to be the brother of those who were outside# (hen he used
the word brother, he thought es%ecially of those outside the community rather than the
members of the fraternity# +t is true that he lived alone and did not have to deal with
1community life4 or worry about 1see how they love one another#4 The light shed by the
fraternities was first and foremost 1see how they love#4
To be a brother meant relationshi%s of e&uality, e$cluding any attitude of master
or boss, as well as that of father and benefactor# This must not have come naturally for a
man who had been trained to command and organi/e# Ce did not always esca%e that
tem%tation# +t is not enough to 1show that we are brothers, re%eat that we are all brothers
in Aod O2P to enter into the work of fraterni/ation4 as he wrote to Cenri de Castries on
June 2@, 1HB# Ce was more lucid when he wrote to his cousin on July :
rd
6
1(e go from s%ring to s%ring in those areas most used by the nomads to
%asture their flocks# (e make cam% right ne$t to them, s%ending several days at a
time in an effort that they come to know us and feel comfortable with us, in
friendshi%# "lthough they receive us well it is not very sincere# They do it out of
sim%le necessity# Cow long will it take before they really feel the way they
%retend to feel) 7aybe never# O2P "nd will they know how to tell the difference
between soldiers and %riests) To be able to see us as servants of Aod, ministers of
%eace and of charity, universal brothers) + don0t know# +f + do what + should,
Jesus will %our out abundant graces and they will understand#4
1:
+n order that they might understand he had to become 1little and accessible4, and
to distance himself from the soldiers# This was the grace of his illness in early 1H!# Ce
became com%letely %owerless, inca%able of moving, without defenses or strength, totally
de%endent u%on the hos%itality of those who could finally treat him as a brother# Ce had
that irre%laceable e$%erience of solidarity which meant not *ust giving to others but
having to receive what others had to share with him# To be a brother is also to acce%t to
be loved#
1B
3rother and Friend
,ecause of this event he began to live brotherhood through his friendshi%s# Ce
had so well described in theory how others should live as 1universal brothers and
friends#4 Through this e$%erience of friendshi% he was later able to e$%lain what
brotherhood meant#
1?
Cis %ersonal e$%erience of friendshi% went all the way back to his
childhood# +t would take another whole book to s%eak about these friendshi%s which are
1:
-en. ,a/in, Charles de Foucauld, explorateur au Maroc, ermite au Sahara, >aris, >lon, 121, %#2!#
1B
"ntoine Chatelard, Z Tamanrasset, une conversion de Charles de Foucauld#4 Cf# >esus Caritas, X22B, B
th

trimestre, 1!6, %%B@'?#
1?
Charles de Foucauld, R"glements et &irectoire, Iouvelle Cit., 1?, %#6B!, @#
!H
so meaningful in understanding his life# Ce constantly referred to it, e$%licitly or
unconsciously, and when he s%oke of his friendshi%s with the Tuareg he had no other
%oint of reference than the manner in which any friendshi% binds %eo%le together#
3rother in all the little details
To be a universal brother did not mean only being a brother to souls, as he seemed
to think at the beginning, falling %rey to his own language# +t was also not a &uestion of a
global or generali/ed love# 1+f + love everyone, it is to tell you, very dear, dearly beloved
friend, how much + love you, you my old friend, my chosen friend, the friend of my
heart4
16
he wrote to 5r# ,altha/ar on 7arch 2, 1H2#
+t is good to recall here something he wrote in Ia/areth# Ce must have %racticed
it in ,eni "bbLs and Tamanrasset, much as he did at the >oor Clares6
1,e infinitely delicate in our charity6 do not limit ourselves to doing the
big things but have that tender and delicate way of taking care of the details, that
way that %ours ointment on the hearts of others through the little nothings that we
do M 1Aive her something to eat,4 Jesus said M +n the same way with those who
are close to us, address the smallest details of health, consolation, %rayer and
need, console them and ease their trouble through the smallest little attentions#
For those whom Aod %laces on our %ath, have the same tender, delicate
attentiveness that brothers have for one another or that a mother has for her
children, in order to console as much as %ossible all those around usG in order to
be for them a consolation and a balm as 9ur Lord was for all those who
a%%roached him, whether it was for 9ur Lady and =aint Jose%h, the "%ostles,
=aint 7agdeleine or any of the others2 Ce was such a consolation and
sweetness for those who drew near to himG as much as we have it in us to do the
same, we must try to resemble him in this as in every other way, so that as we
%ass through this world we might sanctify, console and relieve others as much as
we are able to#4
1@
(e would have to tell stories from his life in Tamanrasset to illustrate this
meditation on the Aos%el# Cis letters also reveal the delicate attentiveness that was a
trademark of his#
<rayer and uni!ersal sal!ation
+f being a universal brother meant being a brother 1for the entire universe4 it must
be said that only in his %rayer did he reach so far6 17y Aod, may all men go to heaven34
This very universal %rayer was not only evident while he was at ,eni "bbLs, where he
wrote that %hase at the to% of every %age of the catechism that was working on at the
time# (e find it from the very beginning of his religious life# +n 1!6 he made it %art of
the first -ule that he wrote6
16
"chives of the >ostulation
1@
Charles de Foucauld, La 9ont de &ieu, 7ontrouge, Iouvelle Cit., 16, %%# 12B'12?#
!1
1Dach morning and evening they will s%end a half hour in %rayer, asking
Aod0s salvation for all men# +t is what 9ur Lord so ardently %rayed for
throughout his entire life#4
1!
(e find it again in his commentary on the 9ur Father6
1+ make no re&uest for myself alone6 all that + ask for in the 9ur Father, +
ask for the sake of Aod or for all humankind O2P Forgiveness as well as grace is
not asked for oneself alone but for all men#4
1
+n the -ule of 1H1, the brothers were 1universal friends, universal brothers, who
s%end their lives %raying for all men without e$ce%tion#4
2H
+t was also the meaning
behind urging all of his friends, %riests and religious, to %ray to the Coly =%irit three
times a day, 1%raying for all men without e$ce%tion#4 =hortly before his death he
mentioned it again6
1,rotherly love for all men O2P =ee a child of our heavenly Father in
every %erson6 be charitable, %eaceful, humble and courageous with each one6
%ray for everyone, for every human being, offer one0s sufferings for all#4
21
This %rayer for every human being is an e$%ression of his anguish for the
salvation of all %eo%le# Cis behavior, as well as his %rayer, tells us that he was aware that
all %eo%le could be saved and that he would meet all those whom he loved in the
8ingdom of Aod# ,ut his theology did not %ermit him to formulate his intuitions about
this and this e$%lains the discre%ancies that we find between his writings and his actions#
9nly one man was ever worthy to be called the universal brother# Ce is the same
one who is the universal =avior, the only one who is ca%able of loving every %erson and
each %erson as uni&ue# Ce is the one whom ,rother Charles once called, 1Jesus, this
older, universal brother#4
"s for ,rother Charles, it was through living with a small grou% of %eo%le, in a
very limited %art of the desert for *ust a few years that he learned something about
brotherly love and friendshi% by trying not to e$clude anyone# +t is in this way that his
life has taken on a universal dimension#
1!
Charles de Foucauld, R"glements et &irectoire, 7ontrouge, Iouvelle Cit., 1?, %%# 2!'2#
1
Charles de Foucauld, L3Esprit de >sus, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@!, %%# :2'::
2H
Charles de Foucauld, R"glements et &irectoire, 7ontrouge, Iouvelle Cit., 1?, %# !@#
21
Charles de Foucauld, &irectoire, >aris, =euil, 161, %#12?#
!2
The irst call to the Ho&&ar
+n choosing to settle in ,eni "bbLs ,rother Charles chose to go as far away as
%ossible in order to be as close to 7orocco as %ossible# "fter a while it became clear that
the door to 7orocco was firmly closed and that there was no real ho%e of ever going
there# "t the beginning of 1H: La%errine made a detour to ,eni "bbLs on his way back
from leave even though ,eni "bbLs was not %art of his territory# Ce had heard that
Charles de Foucauld was there and he wanted to see him again# 8nowing the man that
,rother Charles was, La%errine thought he knew how to s%ark his interest in his own
ideas, all while res%ecting his vocation# Ce talked to him about his %lans in the Coggar
region but did not convince him#
,ack in his %ost in "drar, La%errine sent Ca%tain Iieger on a mission that he
e$%lained later6
1+n "%ril of 1H: + met Fr# de Foucauld for the first time# "fter a first tour
of duty in the =ahara that lasted nine months, my su%erior officer ELa%errineF left
me entirely free to do as + wanted# "t the same time he gave me strict
instructions6 U>ass by ,eni "bbLs and go to see Foucauld who is acting the
mason# Ce is building himself a hermitage that he never leaves# Ce doesn0t eat#
Ce lives from alms and still finds ways to ransom slaves that come from
7orocco# Ce only thinks of 7orocco, tormented by the memories of his youth#
Ce is very hard'headed and nothing will hel% him on that score# Ce needs to be
convinced to come and *oin us# Ce could be the %astor of the Tuareg and would
do so much for us0#4
1
5uring the month of 7ay ,isho% Au.rin visited ,rother Charles, making a long
detour by way of +n =alah# "t the end of this visit ,rother Charles mentioned that he did
not want to be %ushed in the direction that his ,isho% would have him go#
9n June 1H
th
he wrote about his difference of o%inion to Fr# Cuvelin# This letter is
very im%ortant because of the details that it gives us6
1The visit of this good and venerable %riest has not changed my life# Ce
kee%s %ushing me towards 7orocco2 + retain three things from his visit6 first his
admirable goodness, his holiness, humility and devotion2 then, that he kee%s
%ushing me towards 7orocco# + would do my best to go but for the moment + *ust
don0t see a door that is o%en2 then, he has a slight and subtle tendency to %ush
me out of my life as a silent and hidden monk, my life of Ia/areth, to that of a
missionary# + will not follow this last one# To do so would be a lack of
faithfulness to Aod who gave me this vocation of a hidden and silent life and not
that of a man of words# 7onks and missionaries are both a%ostles but in different
ways# + won0t change this# + will kee% to this same way that + have been trying to
follow more or less as well as + can, which is generally not so well, for the last 1B
years6 the hidden life of Jesus, with others if Jesus sends them, alone if he leaves
me alone#4
1
Iieger, 1La%errine et le >Lre de Foucauld,4 dans Construira, 12:, C#W+++, %# 1!6#
!:
"t the beginning of the month of June 1H:, La%errine was going through his
archives in "drar# -ereading the account of the Flatters massacre he discovered an
anecdote that he thought might change the heart of the monk who seemed so riveted to
,eni "bbLs6
1"t the time of the Flatters massacre, a Tuareg woman from a noble
family took a marvelous stand against those who would finish off the wounded#
=he gathered them u% and took them to her home where she cared for them# =he
also refused to allow "ttisi, who had returned wounded from battle in "mguid
against the 5ianous,
2
and who wanted to kill them himself, to enter her home#
(hen they were well enough to travel she sent them back to Tri%oli# =he is now
between BH and B: years of age, has great influence and is known for her
charity#4
:
La%errine co%ied this te$t and sent it to Charles de Foucauld# The effect was
immediate as we can see from what he wrote about it in his Iotebook and letters# 9n
June 1!
th
he wrote to ,isho% Au.rin, reco%ying the te$t from La%errine and adding6
1Commandant La%errine is trying to get her a medal from the (omen0s
Qnion of France# +f he is able to gain her trust through this he will later %ut her in
contact with you and the (hite =isters#
The Coly Father is the universal father *ust as JD=Q= is the universal king#
The Coly Father, as JD=Q=, is king and father to the Tuareg# Could we not ask
him to give a little fatherly encouragement to this woman, his daughter and
sub*ect) +f you feel that this is a%%ro%riate, write to Fr# ,urtin
B
, Commandant
La%errine and to anyone else you feel should be told#
"t any rate, it would be good to develo% closer relationshi%s with the
Tuareg, taking advantage of every o%%ortunity2 and it would be desirable that
the Coly Father0s gesture be the first#4
9n June 21
st
he reco%ied in his Iotebook
?
the re%ort that La%errine had sent him,
adding6
1+sn0t this soul ready for the Aos%el) (ould it not be a%%ro%riate to
sim%ly write to her, telling her that the charity that she continually %ractices and
with which she sheltered, cared for, defended and re%atriated the wounded of the
French mission some 22 years ago, is known to us and fills us with *oy and
thanksgiving to Aod#4
+n this same vein he wrote a draft of the letter that he wanted the >o%e to send6
2
The 5ianous were the men under the leadershi% of Lieutenant 5ianous who had esca%ed the massacre at
the Flatters 7ission#
:
Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances sahariennes, >aris, Le Cerf, 1!, %#11#
B
>rocurator Aeneral for the (hite Fathers in -ome#
?
Charles de Foucauld, Carnet de 9eni bb"s, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1:, %%#@H'@1#
!B
1+ am sending a co%y of the draft of this letter to ,isho% Au.rin, asking
him if he wants to send it himself or if he wants me to send it M offering at the
same time M if the relationshi% should develo% M if + remain alone M if it seems to
be the (ill of Aod M to go on foot to visit this woman#4
There are many 1ifs4 but the idea is beginning to s%rout# The same day he
continues in his Iotebook6
1+t seems to us that it is the right time to edit a short version of the Aos%el
that can be translated into "rabic and es%ecially into Tuareg2 O2P (e will begin
this today#4
"nd on June 22
nd
he wrote6 1+f there were a way to found little houses elsewhere,
instead of fraternitiesG for myself alone, or for one or two or three brothers only, + think
that this would be the way to go4 and he went on to lay out three %lans6 ",,,C#
"nd so, in the few days between June 1!
th
and 22
nd
we see that he became
%rogressively involved in this %ro*ect6 first to write a draft, then to write himself, then to
make a casual visit, then to edit a translatable version of the Aos%el, then to %lan for some
houses in case he would have to settle elsewhere# Ce was tormented by these thoughts#
9n June 2B
th
he decided to write to ,isho% Au.rin about it in order to %ut his soul at
%eace6
1+ am writing to you after much hesitation2 Two things made me decide
to write6 the first is that in leaving the decision to you and to Fr# Cuvelin, + am
only giving and offering myself all the more to Aod# Ce will decide6 1Ce who
listens to you listens to me#42 The second is that if both you and Fr# Cuvelin say
1yes4 it is urgent to act as &uickly as %ossible since the doors that are o%en to me
today, thanks to the %resence of a good friend in the 9asis, might be closed
tomorrow#
=ince you have told me that you cannot make any foundation in the 9asis
for the moment, and are not able to send any solitary >riests, since on the other
hand you would like to see me visit Taghit once or twice a year, since + am still
alone and no door seems to be o%ening towards the (est6
(ould it not be better for the sake of souls and %leasing to the CD"-T of
JD=Q=, that + ask my friend from the 9asis for %ermission to settle in "oulef, or
further =outh if %ossible, as close to the Tuareg as %ossible, in a %lace where, all
alone, + would be safe, and able to learn the Targuie language and be able to
%re%are a Targuie translation of several books) E+ would like to translate the Coly
Aos%el into Targuie language and writingF2 +f he said yes, + would go and settle
into a little cell, two meters by two meters with an oratory of two meters by five,
and lead a solitary life there, but without enclosure, trying to6 1F develo% closer
and closer relationshi%s with the Tuareg Evisiting them as often as %ossibleF, 2F
Translate the Coly Aos%el into their language Eusing 7# (eber0s work for a
starting %ointF, :F Tisit at least once a year the >osts in "drar, +n =alah,
Timimoun, ,eni "bbLs, Taghit and others where there are Duro%eans in order to
administer the sacraments, choosing to go there at the time of the big feast days
!?
that stir even the most indifferent hearts, BF 7aking fre&uent sto%s along the way,
having time to s%eak with the locals and to do a little of what you had suggested
that + do#
+f you say yes, if Fr# Cuvelin to whom + have sent a co%y of this letter says
yes, + will write to my friend and leave as soon as he also says yes#4
Fr# Cuvelin received this letter at almost the same time as the letter of June 1H
th

where ,rother Charles wrote about not wanting to be %ushed into a missionary life by the
,isho%# Fr# Cuvelin was &uite ill by this time# Cis encouraging res%onse shows how
much he understood that it was im%ossible to kee% Charles de Foucauld from following
his ins%iration# Ce also knew that, from such a distance, he did not have the light to
make a *udgment in such a situation# Ce wrote on July ?
th
6 1Follow your inner
conviction, go where the =%irit leads#4
,ut ,rother Charles did not wait for the answers as there was a rush and on June
2
th
wrote to La%errine about his %lan, asking for his %ermission# The Commandant was
only waiting for this# The ne$t day ,rother Charles wrote again to ,isho% Au.rin
e$%laining his haste and the reasons for which he wrote to La%errine before receiving the
,isho%0s answer6
1+n my last letter + believe + told you that + only wrote to you after much
hesitation# Nes, every change and movement frightens me, makes me di//y and
%anickyG + am afraid of making a mistakeG and + am afraid of not being able to
accom%lish the thingG "t the same time + am afraid of being under some illusion
and of my own natural la/inessG together they make me %anic before any
im%ortant action2
Qsually the fear subsides as soon as + %lace myself in the hands of my
director in a s%irit of abandonment2 From that moment a %rofound %eace reigns
and all hesitation ceases#
That is what is ha%%ening to me now# ,efore writing to you and Fr#
Cuvelin, + was fearful and hesitant# =ince + sent those two letters, the very same
day, + am %eaceful, *oyful, filled with a &uiet confidence and a lively, yet &uiet,
desire#
+ sim%ly and clearly desire M while waiting for 7orocco to o%en, if it
o%ens M to go to the Tuareg %eo%le, in some %lace where + would have sufficient
safety2 Cere there are enough %eo%le, 7uslims, who have heard the Christian
doctrineG Those of good will have all been able to come, all have been able to
learnG Those who want to see it have seen that our religion is all %eace and love,
that it is %rofoundly different from theirs6 Theirs %rescribes killing, ours loving2
+ have no com%anions# 7orocco is not o%ening# + can do no better for the
salvation of souls which is our life here below, as it was the life of JD=Q=
1=avior,4 than to go to bring to as many souls as %ossible, the seed of divine
doctrine# + would not do it through %reaching but through sim%le conversation M
and es%ecially by going to %re%are and begin the evangeli/ation of the Tuareg by
settling among them, learning their language, translating the Coly Aos%el,
entering into friendly relationshi%s, as much as %ossible, with them2
!6
+f JD=Q= wants me to have little brothers of his divine CD"-T, he can
send them to me there# For however long this might last, + can travel north once a
year, go to confession, sto%%ing in all of the military %osts along the way and
s%eaking with the local %eo%le while we travel#
Fearing that he might have to travel and the conse&uent delay, + am writing
to my friend from the 9asis by this same occasion to ask his %ermission to settle
Uas dee%ly in the heart of the Tuareg region as safety %ermits, a safety due to his
recommendation and %rotection, in order to learn the Tuareg language and to
translate several works into that language02 + do not have the right to commit
suicide and it is not the way to make JD=Q= known to souls# +t is necessary to
*oin courage with %rudenceG not be im%rudent nor fearful#
+f you say no to this desire of mine, which + more and more believe to be
Aod0s will, nothing would be easier than to tell my friend that + will not go for the
time being#
+f you say yes, all + have to do is leave, taking advantage of his %resence
and friendshi%2 =everal things seem to tell me that he will not be there for long,
which is why + have hurried2 +t is Aod who has given this o%%ortunity, as it is
also he who + believe has %laced this desire in my heart#
+ have said absolutely nothing to anyone else than you, Fr# Cuvelin and my
friend from the 9asis about my desire to go to the Tuareg2 + ask you to also
remain silent about it#
+f + do go, the Fraternity, where + will s%end a few days each year, will be closed
in my absence and the garden rented out6 nothing could be more sim%le#4
(e can see that his %lans were becoming clearer and slightly modified# Ce no
longer mentioned "oulef and answered the ob*ections that ,isho% Au.rin would surely
raise before he even had a chance to ask# Ce also addressed the suggestions that the
,isho% had made to him and that he had resisted until this %oint#
9n July 1?
th
, having received Fr# Cuvelin0s res%onse, he wrote a third letter to
,isho% Au.rin6
1+ have *ust received an answer from Fr# Cuvelin# +t is yes6 UFollow your
inner conviction, go where the =%irit leads# Nou will always find the solitary life
wherever JD=Q= recollects you in him in order to give you to souls# Nes, +
a%%rove of your letter to ,isho% Au.rin6 he will decide what is best30
+ have not yet received your answer or the one from the 9asis# +f both are
1yes4 + will leave as soon as %ossible so as not to lose this o%%ortunity#
7y idea would be to s%end the ma*or %art of the year among the Tuareg,
leaving only as necessary once a year to visit the garrisons where you are not able
to send a %riest, and to go to confession myself24
9n July 22
nd
he received La%errine0s answer# ,rother Charles wrote a fourth letter
to ,isho% Au.rin, writing with a sur%rising insistence that betrayed his im%atience# Ce
did not %ray to =t# 7agdeleine that the will of Aod be manifest# Ce %rayed that she
would ins%ire ,isho% Au.rin to say yes6
!@
1The answer from the =outh came today# +t is also yes, very %robably at
least6 U+ will take care of you# +t might work, but in two stages# Nou can make a
first visit to "&abli where there is no garrison and where you will have a front row
seat for learning Tuareg# Then, once you are able to s%eak enough and will have
become known to the caravan drivers, we will let you go2 + will write to 7# as +
do not want to send you to his territory without his %ermission2 (ith %rudence +
think that your %rogram can work without fearing any danger#0
6
+ will answer that this two'ste% a%%roach suits me %erfectly2 +t is &uite
wise2 "&abli is a good first ste%# + had said that + wanted a %lace where there
was no garrison#
+t is =t# 7agdeleine who brings me this yes for her feast day# 7ay this
desert mother also ins%ire you to say [yes[# +t seems that it is now u% to you
whether the divine tabernacle would be established in the e$treme =outh and that
each year all of the %osts and garrisons that you are not able to serve, including
Taghit, would have the benefit of holy 7ass and the sacraments# O2P
+ am dee%ly grateful for these two yeses that came so &uickly and + await
yours, beloved and venerated Father2 +f + receive it, + am thinking that + would
not leave immediately# ,esides the fact that, as you see, + am awaiting another
decisive letter from the =outh, + would like to finish reading =t# John Chrysostome
and to s%end two or three days in Taghit2 ,ut + will let myself be guided by
circumstances, according to what + hear from the =outh2 wanting only to do, as
much as %ossible, the work of the heavenly Father, true daily bread and all that is
necessary,4
Ce finally received the ,isho%0s letter, dated July
th
, on July 2?
th
# ,isho% Au.rin,
who had not received the last two letters, e$%ressed his sur%rise and a certain mistrust of
his %ro*ects# Ce did not want to give a firm and definitive no and asked for time to
reflect6
1(hat can + tell you, dear Father# + consider you more 7oroccan than
Tuareg and + hesitate to see you distance yourself from 7orocco#
+f the situation would change, shouldn0t you turn towards the (est or
towards Figuig) " little more %atience6 + am truly confident that >rovidence will
show the way#4
,rother Charles wrote immediately, on the 2?
th
, his fifth letter to the ,isho%# Ce
argued6
1Concerning 7orocco and the (est, in my o%inion, for me, going to the
Tuareg does not mean renouncing 7orocco but rather %re%aring myself and
doing, for the time being, what is most useful#
Figuig, no, that is not my %lace2 "nd, to tell the truth, Figuig is not
7oroccan but "lgerian O2P >o%ulation centers and su%%ly centers for the nomads
6
La%errine did not want to send Foucauld to this the territory of this officer, who was known for his fanatic
anticlericalism, without an introduction# La%errine did not know that 7.tois had %assed through ,eni
"bbLs, visited ,rother Charles and %ro%osed that he come and settle in his sector#
!!
would be good %laces to o%en schools and dis%ensaries6 +t is your vocation, your
way of doing things, not mine24
Ce felt that he had to leave for the =outh# Ce seems to us ready to acce%t
anything as long as they tell him to go# Learning Tuareg could only be useful in terms of
7orocco# +n the =outh there may even be more chances of meeting 7oroccans than in
,eni "bbLs3 Ce forgot about the life of Ia/areth and went as far as to say6 1Then the
relationshi%s with the indigenous %eo%le will be a good formation and will give me
e$%erience and self'assurance in terms of mission and evangeli/ation,4 which ,isho%
Au.rin must have liked hearing#
Ce continued his argument, more and more insistently6
1(ell, + find that it is good to take advantage of o%%ortunities, of the
actual good willG and on the other hand, not to leave this big country abandoned
while waiting for doors to o%en elsewhere2 Let us go now where we are able to
go# (hen doors will o%en elsewhere, we will go there# Dach day has trials of its
own6 let us do today whatever is best3 +n every moment, one after the other, that
make u% life, take advantage of the grace of the moment and of the means that
Aod gives usG nothing %re%ares us so well to receive future graces than to use well
the grace of today24
+t is e$actly the s%irituality of the %resent moment that he had discovered in
reading Fr# de Caussade#
@
Taken out of conte$t, this %hrase has a whole different
meaning# +t is not something to be used only when one wants to do something that the
su%erior does not want#
(hile ,rother Charles was %raying to =t 7agdeleine to ins%ire his ,isho% to say
yes, on the same day the ,isho% wrote to him after having taken time to %ray6
1+ thought very much about you and %rayed very much for you on this day
that + know is a %articularly dear feast day#
(ith my whole heart + asked Jesus, through the intercession of his holy
servant, to give you the grace and light that you desire in order to know the way
ahead#4
,isho% Au.rin did not want to give a definite answer without consulting ,isho%
Livinhac again# Ce later told him how %er%le$ed he was by the unusual vocation of
Charles de Foucauld6 1"n admirable obedience that is hardly easy to direct#4
!
5om Louis de Aon/aga had had the same difficulty# Ce wrote, 1+t must be said,
at the least, that the sub*ect is %retty tenacious when it comes to his desires and will#4

"nd 5om 7artin had good insight when he wrote to ,rother Charles, 1+t seems that you
@
,rother Charles wrote to a (hite =ister about the book of Fr de Caussade on 5ecember 2B, 1HB6 1+t is
one of the books that hel%s me live the most# Qnder the title of bandonment to &i#ine !ro#idence it
contains many other thingsG +t is life giving#4 Cf% Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances Sahariennes,
>aris, Cerf, 1!, %# ?@#
!
Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances Sahariennes, >aris, Cerf, 1!, %#1H12#

Charles de Foucauld, =Cette ch"re derni"re place4 Lettres ' mes fr"res de la )rappe, >aris, Cerf, 11, %#
1?B#
!
too easily turn your %ersonal ideas into orders from heaven when the goal is a good
one#4
1H
7aybe heaven had no other ways of communicating its orders to earth# +t0s a bit
what ,isho% Au.rin seemed to think as his letter continues6
1"h, my dear friend, you ask for counsel and you ask for orders3 +f it is
easy to obey it is not easy for me to discern the ways of Aod and to give you an
order in the name of divine (isdom#
"nd yet, very dear Father, in all humility + will allow myself to tell you what +
feel about your business# " %ro*ect such as yours would need to be considered for a long
time6 your immediate de%arture at this moment seems a bit %reci%itous and little in
kee%ing with the habitual way that >rovidence works#
"nd furthermore, + cannot believe that such a de%arture is the will of >rovidence
at this time of year# Nou would need to wait at least until 9ctober or Iovember#4
Cis negative res%onse then went into all of the details# 5ifficulties on the level of
material things such as su%%lies as well as for liturgy, the im%ossibility of such a solitary
life, or of living connected to a nomadic military %atrol6
1+s it really your %lace to drag behind what would essentially be a nomadic
military column, you who always dreamed of the monastic life) + don0t know#
Nou see, dear friend, + do not want to make any conclusions about the
%rinci%le of the thing in itself# + want to take counsel and wait for some clearer
manifestation of the (ill of Aod# ,ut + am much clearer about the %ros%ect of an
immediate de%arture O2P + would not be &uite so categorical if it were *ust a
&uestion of taking advantage of an occasion to go to Timmi to visit your devoted,
old friend#4
Then ,isho% Au.rin raised the &uestion of the im%ossibility for ,rother Charles to
celebrate mass alone, without a server, since the authori/ation re&uested from -ome
concerning this had not come# Ce continued6
1+ have no trouble understanding how much these %ro*ects must stir your
ardent nature# ,ut with my whole soul + %ray that Aod will hel% you not to fall
victim to an easy illusion#
Nour %resence in ,eni "bbLs has not been useless for the glory of Aod to
this %oint6 ,oth the French and the indigenous %eo%le have gained from it and by
remaining longer, your influence will undoubtedly become even more efficacious#
Nou would like to take advantage of the %resence of C# La%errine whom
you think may soon disa%%ear from the scene M this is surely a consideration M but
+ don0t know how easy it would be for you to %enetrate the territories of Tidikelt
and the Coggar with Ca%tain 7# there#4
+n fact, everyone knew that Ca%tain 7.tois would never tolerate the %resence of a
%riest in his territory# ,isho% Au.rin and a com%anion had been very %oorly received at
1H
5p%cit#, %#2!:#
H
+n =alah when they %assed through# ,ut, unknown to everyone, Charles de Foucauld
already had a very friendly relationshi% with this officer#
,rother Charles received this negative and disa%%ointing res%onse on "ugust 1
st
#
5id he not yet consider it an answer) 9n the 12
th
he wrote to his cousin, 1+ offered to go
2 + am still waiting for an answer from ,isho% Au.rin#4 9n "ugust ?
th
he had written
his ?
th
letter to the ,isho%, a short letter as he had little new to add#
1The letters with which + have burdened you recently fully e$%lain my
desires#
(hat + am asking you is sim%ly %ermission to find a way to %enetrate the
Tuareg region# Through my letters + have told you that my thinking is not to
abandon 7orocco but to do the best + can in the =outh M if the door is o%en to me
M while waiting that you are able to send other workers, or until a door to the (est
o%ens# The door to the (est is closed for now#
Nou have seen that my idea is to take advantage of this time in the =outh
in order to offer the sacraments once or twice a year in the various garrisons
throughout the 9ases#4
"nd to ,isho% Au.rin0s ma*or ob*ection that it is the wrong time of year for such
a tri%, he makes allusion to recent combat6
1Ca%tain -egnault left ,eni "bbLs on July 1?
th
and returned the :H
th
#
5uring that time he marched day and night, faced bloody combat, had the stra% of
his rifle %ierced by a bullet right in his hands and saw five men around him either
wounded or killed# Nou see that the soldiers of the earth, men, do not fear the
season#
11
Let us, soldiers of Aod, take our e$am%le from them and not make our
7aster have to tell us, UThe sons of this world are more astute than the children of
light#02 + have always asked JD=Q= that + would not do less in his service than +
did before for the sake of creatures2
+ am not saying that + want to obstinately leave immediately2 Iot at all#
,ut there is only one thing that needs consideration6 what is the best time to leave
to accom%lish the Uwork of our Father02 and leave at that moment whether
sooner or later2 The &uestion of tem%erature is less for us than for -egnault2
9nly one thing matters6 the work of Aod24
=o when on "ugust 26
th
he received an answer from La%errine, he decided to
leave, 1without hesitation4 and without awaiting any further answer from his ,isho%# Ce
had the choice between =e%tember ?
th
and 9ctober 1?
th
# Ce decided to take the first
occasion and told ,isho% Au.rin of his decision in a letter the same day# +t is very
revealing of his %ractical and real conce%tion of obedience6
1+ received an answer this morning from my friend from the =outh who
tells me that everything is arranged with Ca%tain 7#
12
and that all + have to do is
come2 that there is so much good to be done by allowing these souls to come to
11

!
Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances Sahariennes, >aris, Cerf, 1!, %# 21:, note 16 1Father de
Foucauld underlined the word 1season4 three times#
12
7.tois
1
know us, in making contact with them2 and that he is waiting for me and asks
me to travel either with the convoy of =e%tember 6
th
or 9ctober 1?
th
Eleaving ,eni
"bbLs at these datesF#
+ have not received any answer from you2 =ince it is %ossible to travel
on =e%tember 6
th
thanks to Commandant L#, Ca%tain -egnault and the %resence of
a military convoy, + will leave on the 6
th
#
+f later + receive an order not to stay in the =outh, + will not stay#
+ am not leaving so &uickly out of a lack of obedience towards you,
beloved and venerable Father, but because the most %erfect obedience, and this is
%art of its %erfection, sometimes means taking initiative#
+f + leave without hesitation, it is because + am ready to return without
hesitationG as easily as + leave + will return#
+ leave hurriedly because who knows if what is %ossible on the 6
th
will still
be %ossible a month later#
O2P The convoys are e$tremely uncertain right now# Nou know that
Taghit has recently been under siege for B days by four thousand ,eraber#
1B
+ think that + am doing for the best# +f you want me to return here, write to
me# + will return with the ha%%iness of obeying JD=Q=6 Uhe who hears you hears
me02 and + must admit also, a dee% ha%%iness to regain the tabernacle of which +
will be de%rived for a certain time#4
Ce added a %ost'scri%t6
1(hether with the military or others, + will follow your recommendation
scru%ulously and will not in any way %resent myself as being sent by you, but
acting rather by my own initiative#
8ee% this tri% secret# + vaguely told my family that + would be gone for a
while to another oasis, and, without any other details, that they should continue to
write to me in ,eni "bbLs#
9nly you and Fr# Cuvelin know about this#4
Cbedience and Initiati!e
UThe most %erfect obedience2 means taking initiative#4 (here did he learn this
definition of the %erfection of obedience) (e can search through moral theology books
that he may have used in his studies but it is more enlightening to recall what some of his
friends thought about the sub*ect, notably La%errine who had *ust written to Ca%tain
-egnault6
17y dear friend, + have authori/ed de Foucauld to come to Tidikelt#
1
+ don0t have
the authority to do so but + ho%e to esca%e with the backing of the su%erior
officers and with *ust a few threatening and insulting letters from the subdivision#
+t0s funny how we can become accustomed to swift kicks in the2 +t hardly even
1B
Taghit was a garrison about 1HH kms# from ,eni "bbLs#
1
+n the region of +n =alah, north of the Coggar#
2
fa/es me anymore# + have a s%ecial folder for them and that0s about it2 (ould
you be so kind as to let me know if you have anything s%ecial to tell de Foucauld
so that + be the only one to suffer the insults#4
2
Ce thought that Ca%tain -egnault had certainly received instructions about
kee%ing tabs on de Foucauld, or at least some kind of orders concerning him# +n fact,
documents were found in other garrisons noting that de Foucauld had sto%%ed there and
who had received him, %roof that he had been under some surveillance#
Lyautey, who would soon take over command of the subdivision, wrote in a
similar vein in "ugust of 1H16
1"h, initiative3 9f all of the active virtues it is the one + a%%reciate the
most# (hat a *oy it is to meet %eo%le who do not make established %ractice into
dogma, %eo%le who know how to tram%le bureaucratic rules for the sake of
common sense and %rogress#4
:
(e cannot attribute such a s%irit of initiative to Charles de Foucauld0s military
formation# Ce himself later re%roached many officers for not taking initiative# "nd we
cannot limit the definition of initiative to sim%ly antici%ating the decision of a su%erior in
a given situation# This 1active virtue4 may bring us useful insight for understanding
something about his life# +t is a distinctive %ersonality trait of both La%errine and
Lyautey# +t ty%ifies a %erson of actionG someone always ready to take u%on oneself that
which seems to be a duty, often an urgent duty, a duty which necessitates acting %rior to
knowing the o%inions or decisions of a su%erior#
(e could reread Charles de Foucauld0s entire life in the light of such a willing
tem%erament, one geared towards action# (e could bring out all of those instances where
he felt it was his duty to want to do something, es%ecially when it was a &uestion of doing
something that no one else had ever done, whether because no one had ever been able to
do it or had sim%ly never thought of doing it# +t was such a %art of his %ersonality that it
was never altered by unbelief, faith or any vow of obedience# Ce lived the different
situations of his life with who he was#
+n this sense Charles0 obedience was essentially a 1submission of his *udgment4
with tremendous trust in the one who was given res%onsibility for guiding him# Ce often
s%oke of having a director of conscience and he recommended it to those who sought to
live according to the Aos%el# Ce was a %erson who needed to have someone to control
him a little, to act as a brake# Cis s%iritual director %ractically never had to make
suggestions, %ush him or stimulate him# -ather, he always had to slow him down#
The times that he did not take the initiative are rare but significant# There was his
conversion6 the unforced initiative of taking the first ste%s on a %ath that should have
been a slow %rocess of coming to terms with faith# +t led to a totally unforeseen and
un%lanned lea% of faith instigated by Fr# Cuvelin in =t# "ugustine0s Church# Ce also
needed to be %ushed to make the %ilgrimage to the Coly Land two years later# "lthough
he took no initiative for it, this tri% began a whole new and very %ersonal way of
discovery along the roads of Ia/areth# +t would lead him to commit himself to Jesus of
2
Aeorges Aor.e, Les mitis sahariennes du !"re de Foucauld, >aris, "rthaud, 1B6, tome ++, %# 6H#
:
Cubert Lyautey, !aroles d3action, >aris, "rmand Colin, cite dans CCF X1, %#12!#
:
Ia/areth in a way that no one had ever dreamed of before# Ce had to invent and e$%lore
it as he went#
(e can understand that someone who was so inventive and always ready to
imagine, organi/e and %lan things would live obedience in a %articular way# +t was a
&uestion of obeying Aod, of doing what Aod wanted of him and the &uestion was always,
1(hat must + do)4 +t was the &uestion he asked his entire life# There were two %arts to
it6 the 1must4 and the 1do#4 The 1must4 was a desire that became a duty and im%osed
itself u%on him as an inner need# +t was an inner necessity that came from the core of his
being, an inner need that he could not esca%e without denying something of who he was#
+t did not come from any outer constraint but was a dee%, inner urge, one that led to
wanting to do something, %rovoking initiative#
9n the one hand, obedience was a way of assuring himself that the desire, the
thing that he felt he 1must4 do, was really Aod0s will for him# Ce did this through the
mediation of another %erson to whom he confided himself, saying, 1Tell me what is
Jesus0 will#4 Ce a%%lied the words of Jesus, 1(hoever listens to you, listens to me#4
Two %eo%le %layed this role in Charles de Foucauld0s life# The first was Fr# Cuvelin who
was a remarkable director# "fter his death, it was Father Toillard, general assistant of the
(hite Fathers# ,ut he had to follow orders and directions from many other %eo%le
throughout his life6 from su%eriors and confessors at the Tra%%ists, as well as in Ia/areth
at the >oor Clares# The details of monastic life and this 1submission of *udgment,4 as he
called it, were always struggles for him whether it was a &uestion of how to cut and stack
the wood, doing studies, tri%s that he had to make or little *obs he was asked to do# The
will of Aod was not in these things in themselves but through them he sought to submit
his own will#
9bedience is also to be found in the thing that he had 1to do#4 (e can e&uate
desiring, willing and doing# For Charles de Foucauld 1doing4 sometimes went no further
than writing his ideals on %a%er# +n another as%ect of his %ersonality, more often than not,
there was a kind of fearfulness associated with the %ros%ects of changes that were to take
%lace in his life# (e can understand this when he said, 1Fear is a sign of duty4
B
and 1+t is
one of the things that we absolutely owe 9ur Lord6 to never be afraid of anything#4
?
5om Louis de Aon/ague had a monastic idea of obedience when he wrote to his
brother, 5om 7artin, on February 11, 1!@ in reference to the former brother 7arie
"lb.ric, 1Ce could become a saint and + ho%e he does# ,ut it will be his way and not
because of obedience#4 +t is clear that he neither had the same mind nor the same way of
obedience# ,ut there are many rooms in the Father0s house and each one must find their
%ath of obedience through the events and circumstances of life#
This brings u% another as%ect of his %ersonality that needs mentioning before
moving on# Ce had a remarkable ability for dealing with new situations# +sn0t this yet
another ty%e of obedience) The following year, ,isho% Au.rin recogni/ed this when he
said that Charles de Foucauld, 1as with all those whom the =%irit of Aod directs, has a
marvelous a%%reciation of circumstances#4
B
This %hrase can be found in the first writings of the Fraternity and in the first -ules that were written# The
first reference to it can be found in an article by Jean Lefranc in January 11@ in Le )emps and
L38llustration% 5uring a conversation ,rother Charles had asked the *ournalist if he were married# Ce
answered, no, saying that marriage frightened him# ,rother Charles would have answered, 1Fear is a sign
of duty#4
?
-en. ,a/in, Charles de Fouauld, explorateur au Maroc, ermite au Sahara, >aris, >lon, 121, %# 12@#
B
1>rovidence s%eaks clearly4
9n "ugust 2
th
,rother Charles received an answer from ,isho% Au.rin dated
"ugust 1
th
and 21
st
# "fter consulting with ,isho% Livinhac, the a%ostolic %refect finally
gave in, with regret, and not without e$%ressing some serious reservations# Ce needed
not less than nine %ages to e$%lain that, while he left ,rother Charles free to leave, he felt
that the tri% was not advisable# Ce felt that both the direction and timing were %oorly
chosen6
1For nothing in this world do + wish to change your mind if, after having
seriously reflected on the remarks that + have shared with you in all sim%licity,
you still feel that Aod is calling you to leave now and that you have the necessary
authori/ation#
+ also think that it is necessary, both in terms of the military and the local
administration, that it be known that it is your choice to leave, that you do it at
your own risk and that, in no way, are you sent by me#4
,rother Charles was only able to see in this the freedom that he had been given to
follow u% on this %ro*ect# Ce wrote to his cousin on "ugust :1
st
6
1The authori/ation from ,isho% Au.rin came in the mail on "ugust 2
th
2
There is an e$cellent o%%ortunity to leave6 a military convoy is leaving E%robablyF
from here on =e%tember 12
th
for that region2 O2P +f + didn0t believe with my
whole heart that the words 1sweet, %ainful, *oy, sacrifice,4 etc#, should be
su%%ressed from our vocabulary, + would say that + am a bit sad to leave ,eni
"bbLs6 sad to leave the divine Tabernacle for a time, sad that + will be less alone
at the feet of the ,eloved, worried over my sinfulness and shortcomings,
burdened by my la/iness and inade&uacy#4
"t the beginning of =e%tember 1H: circumstances brought hesitation to his %lans
far better than all of the letters of ,isho% Au.rin# There had been combat in mid'"ugust
near Taghit and ,rother Charles understood that his first duty called him there# Ce was
ready to leave for Taghit and understood that this could delay any travel to the =outh6 1+t
is %ossible that the attack on Taghit, by itself or through its conse&uences, O2P could kee%
me here or take me (est#4
6
,ut nothing came of it and he remained convinced that he
should leave for the =outh#
Then on =e%tember 2
nd
there was new conflict at Dl 7oungar, thirty kilometers
from Taghit# "s soon as he learned of it, ,rother Charles *um%ed on a horse and left for
Taghit# Ce arrived on =e%tember 6
th
and remained there for a month caring for the
wounded#
The urgency that he felt about traveling =outh began to wane and he wrote to
,isho% Au.rin on =e%tember 1H
th
6
6
LM9, "ugust 22, 1H:#
?
17y tri% to Tidikelt has become %roblematic# + will let events lead me#
There would have to be an unho%ed for %eace for me to leave# + cannot leave in
the midst of such a troubled %eriod#4
=e%tember 1?
th
, in a letter to his cousin, he %ondered the very %rinci%le of leaving6
1(ill + later be able to carry through with the travel %lans for the =outh) + don0t know2
O2P + live day by day#4 Cowever, on =e%tember 2?
th
he told her, 1They say Eit is not
sureF that the 7oroccans made a small raid in the far =outh, where + was ho%ing to go#
This would be the kind of thing to convince me to leave#4
,ut on =e%tember 2
th
he definitively decided against leaving as he wrote to
,isho% Au.rin6
1+ think + will leave for ,eni "bbLs in two or three days# + have decided
against going to the 9asis as our regions are too troubled for me to be gone for the
moment2 and everything towards the (est is such a hotbed that + think it is
better for me to stay at the Fraternity, leading, in silence and %rayer, the life of a
little brother 1at the foot of the tabernacle#4
The same day, he wrote the same thing to his cousin, concluding, 1+ will lead my
hermit life in silence and cloister#4
+t is e$actly what ,isho% Au.rin advised him in a letter dated =e%tember 2?
th
that
he received u%on his return to ,eni "bbLs6
1+ can only a%%rove of your decision to stay in Taghit or ,eni "bbLs for
the time being# Nour %riesthood is more useful there than anywhere else and,
undoubtedly, for a long time to come# >rovidence s%eaks clearly right nowG
remain in the hands of >rovidence# (hen it is time to make another decision you
can be sure that it will also make itself known#
Nou have surely heard the rumors of an e$%edition to 7orocco grow more
realistic by the day# + have no idea what will come of itG but it is im%ortant that
you be attentive to the events#4
Those summer months had been full of heated struggles to obtain a%%roval for his
%lans to travel to the =outh# They were full of the dee% desire to go among the Tuareg
that seemed to be the sign of the (ill of Aod# (asn0t all of this but an interlude in his
life as hermit, a tem%tation or an e$cess of /eal)
The /econd call o the Ho&&ar
and the irst steps outside o the cloister
"fter the summer of 1H: that was so full of travel %lans, and after s%ending the
month of =e%tember in Taghit caring for the wounded, ,rother Charles decided not to
leave ,eni "bbLs# +n 9ctober he went back to his life as a monk 1leading, in silence and
%rayer, the life of a Ulittle brother0 at the foot of the tabernacle4
?
and cultivating his
?
Letter to ,isho% Au.rin, =e%tember 2, 1H:, in Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances Sahariennes,
>aris, Cerf, 1!, %#2:H#
6
garden# Ce thought that he would lead this life until he died, whether alone or with
others# Cow long did that last) For only a few weeks# Ce was no longer able to tend his
garden because of other things6 linguistic work, %lanning tri%s, getting involved in the
social and economic organi/ation of others0 lives#
9n 9ctober :H
th
he shared the de%ths of his soul with Fr# Cuvelin6
1Nes, + will try to %ut u% with myself2 in fact, + feel a great lassitude,
some kind of dee% fatigue2 + read when + am unable to %ray, + do more manual
work which is good and humble and seems to workG + try to com%ensate by
working on becoming more charitable towards the %oor, by becoming %oorer, by
trying to %ray more fervently and allowing my heart to become warmer#4
(as he feeling a kind of let down after all of the tension of the %receding months)
Ce continued6
1=eeing myself aging and beginning the downward slide is %erfect *oy6 +t
is the beginning of that final dissolution which is good# O2P + am ha%%y and at
%eace O2P + have definitively decided against traveling and settling in the =outh#
"fter having %rayed and thought about it as best + could, + think that + am more
useful to the Aos%el by staying in ,eni "bbLs which is such a central %oint
between 7orocco, "lgeria and the =ahara#4
+t is also what ,isho% Au.rin had told him in a letter from 9ctober 2H
th
6
1Nou can guess that + com%letely a%%rove of your %lan to remain in ,eni
"bbLs or Taghit# +t is really where you need to be for the time being3 >rovidence
really takes care of showing where one0s duty of the moment lies34
Ce answered on Iovember 2
nd
6
1+ have decided against s%ending any length of time in "&abli# + think it is
best to stay here# +t is a central %oint and close to 7orocco2 ,ut if you are not
able to send a %riest to the 9asis + will try, when things calm down a bit, to take
advantage of a convoy to go to Dl Aolea via Timimoun so that + can go to
confession# ,y the same token + can offer the sacraments in the %rinci%al
garrisons throughout the 9asis2 =ince you yourself went that way in June there
is no hurry so, unless there is an e$traordinarily favorable o%%ortunity to go, + will
wait until summer2 Communication with the Iorth is more difficult than ever#4
9n the 2B
th
he is more insistent6
15o you think that you will be able to send a %riest this year, that is 1HB,
to make the tour of the 9ases of Touat'Tidikelt etc# for the sake of those who want
to go to confession) + really ho%e so# 7any of the officers and soldiers who come
through here tell me that they wish that they did not have to be without a %riest
and the sacraments for such a long time2 +n case you are not able to send
@
anyone, would you find the idea of me making such a tour sometime in 1HB in
order to offer the sacraments, %oor, very good or out of the &uestion) E+ have
%ermanent military authori/ationF2 + will only go if forced by duty# 7y vocation
is the cloister6 + should only leave it for the sake of an urgent need O2P
+ will let things fall as they might and Aod will show me what should be
done#
The only thing that + want to know is if you think that + should make such
a *ourney through the 9ases# +f so, + would need to make arrangements ahead of
time with my friends from the 9asis2 + would %refer if you were able to send
someone else2 +f you knew how much + am like a fish out of water when + am
out of the cloister3 + am not made to leave it#4
5uring the month of Iovember ,rother Charles read and co%ied some %assages
from a little book called Excelsior by Fr# Cro/ier# 9n the 2!
th
he wrote to his cousin6
1+ am going to start my annual retreat for 1HB tomorrow, about 2 months earlier
than usualG things are &uiet now and + might as well take advantage of that as one
never knows the future# + might be called away again to care for the wounded or
otherwise im%eded by who knows what#4
+n fact, on the first day of that retreat he was called to the bedside of two seriously
ill soldiers in Taghit# Ce left in the middle of the night and didn0t return until the
morning of 5ecember 6
th
# Ce resumed his retreat the same day# Ce e$%ressed his
thoughts to Father Cuvelin in a letter dated 5ecember 1:
th
, the last day of his retreat#
There are two %arts to this letter# +n the first %art, he shared his usual e$amination
of conscience, noting his general im%ressions and %ersonal faults# There was only one
&uestion which %ointed to a %ositive insight# +t concerned the manner of sharing alms
with the %oor# Ce reali/ed that he couldn0t continue as he had been doing# Cis way of
handling this issue would slowly evolve as he got to know the %eo%le and what they were
living#
The second %art of the letter is less of a re&uest for counsel than an e$%ression of
the hermit0s very com%le$ feelings and his desires# 5uring his retreat he had received a
second letter from La%errine inviting him to travel south with them# +t is the second call
to the Coggar# Forgetful of all of the resolutions and decisions that he had made ,rother
Charles found himself in the same situation as the %revious "ugust# Ce tried to sort it
out6
1+ have a big &uestion6 +t is about the tri% that + had %lanned to make to
the =outh, to the oases of Touat and Tidikelt, where a %riest never goes, where our
soldiers never have 7ass, where the 7uslims never see a minister of JD=Q=2
Nou will remember that after having received the threefold %ermissions from you,
from ,isho% Au.rin and from the military authorities, + was su%%osed to have left
last =e%tember but was called to Taghit to be with the wounded there2 Iow that
it seems &uiet, should + carry on with that %lan) This is a big &uestion mark for
me# + know in advance that ,isho% Au.rin leaves me free to do as + see fit6 +f
!
,isho% Au.rin was able and willing to send another %riest + would certainly not
go6 7y duty would clearly be to stay in ,eni "bbLs#
,ut + don0t think that he wants to send anyoneG + even think that can0t send
anyone# 9n the other hand, because of some %ersonal friendshi%s + am able to go
and + am %robably the only %riest who can go at this time, is able to go in the
foreseeable future or until so many sad things change#
+n such conditions must + not go, establish a small %lace there that can
serve as a base for a %resence in the far southern region, a %lace that would allow
me to s%end 2, : or B months each year, taking advantage of the tri% to administer
the sacraments at the military out%osts, and to let the 7uslims see the Cross and
the =acred CD"-T and to s%eak to them *ust a little bit about our holy -eligion)
2
=hould + not do this)
"t the moment this has never been easier for me to accom%lish# + have
been invited and they await me#
7y nature is e$tremely re%ulsed by the idea# + am ashamed to say that +
tremble at the thought of leaving ,eni "bbLs, the %eace and &uiet at the foot of
the altar, and to throw myself into travels, the very thought of which now fills me
with such horror#
-eason also %oints out many inconveniences6 leaving the tabernacle
em%ty in ,eni "bbLsG distancing myself from here where there might Eit is
however not very likelyF be combatG allowing myself to be distracted through
these travels which are not good for the soulG do + not glorify Aod more by
adoring him in solitude) "re not solitude and the life of Ia/areth my vocation)
"nd after listening to all that reason dictates, + see these vast regions
without a %riest, + see that + am the only %riest who is able to go and + feel
e$tremely and more and more %ushed to go6 at least to go one time and then,
according to the results, according to what e$%erience will %oint to, to then decide
whether or not to return#
5es%ite all of the ob*ections of reason, and of my own nature which has a
real horror of this absence from ,eni "bbLs, + feel e$tremely and more and more
of an inner urge to make this tri%#
" convoy will be leaving for the =outh on January 1H
th
# =hould + take it)
"t the moment it is easy for me and they are waiting for me# =hould + wait for
another convoy) There might not be another for several months, and + fear that it
might not be as easy to leave later as it is now#
=hould + not go at all)
7y feeling, my clear o%inion, is that + should go on January 1H
th
#
+ beg you to write to me about this sub*ect# + will obey you#
+f + have not heard from you before January 1H
th
+ will %robably leave#
+f + hear from you, + will do as you say, whatever that may be# (rite or
send a telegram E,eni "bbLs, by way of ,eni 9unif, =outh 9ranaisF, and + will
obey your word as the word of Jesus# 1(hoever hears you, hears me#4
This letter brings out a tri%le distinction and throws light on the life of this man
who seems to be torn and at constant odds with himself# Ce com%ares 1nature4 which

reacts and 1reason4 which s%eaks, but in the last analysis he is carried away by an inner
urge, the 1intense desire,4 the thing that he feels he must do#
Father Cuvelin does not hesitate to recogni/e the action of the Coly =%irit in that
which he calls an 1instinct4 which dictates ,rother Charles0 actions# 1Ao where the =%irit
%ushes you,4 he had written on July ?
th
# Ce is used to these ty%es of discussions and has
no illusions about the value of giving an order or a counsel# Ce never answered this
letter#
The ne$t day, 5ecember 1B
th
, in a letter to his cousin one sim%le sentence
confirms the change that has taken %lace6 1+t is not im%ossible that + leave around January
1H
th
to make the tri% that + had %lanned back in =e%tember2 +t is not sure yet#4 Ce
s%oke to no one else about it e$ce%t to ,isho% Au.rin in a letter dated 5ecember 16
th
#
Com%are this letter to the one that he wrote to Father Cuvelin *ust three days before# The
tone is com%letely different# There is neither hesitation nor &uestion# There is no
&uestion of 1nature4 e$%ressing itself, and if 1reason4 s%oke, it was only to su%%ort what
he felt in his heart that he must do#
1+ received a letter from the =outh saying that they are waiting for me2
"ll of the wounded and ill are healed2 +t seems that the =aoura and \ousfana
are at %eace for the moment2 The sad events that are taking %lace in France lead
me to believe that it will be im%ossible for you to send a %riest to the =outh this
year#
+t seems to me very desirable that each year the sacraments be made
available to our soldiers in the 9asesG very desirable also that, at least from time
to time, the 7uslims of those areas see a minister of 9ur Lord# Therefore +
believe that + must sei/e this o%%ortunity which is being offered to me to go now,
while + have the necessary authori/ation, while it is so easy for me to go#
+n kee%ing with what you and Father Cuvelin wrote to me last =e%tember,
+ will %robably leave with the ne$t convoy Earound January 1H
th
or soonerF with
the intention of going to "&abli# They have written to me that there is a small
survey e$%edition there and, with the hel% of Aod, + can set u% a little %lace,
something very small but which would make it %ossible for me to s%end a few
months there each year# That way + could divide my time between ,eni "bbLs
and "&abli, alone and cloistered in each location Efor e$am%le, s%ending the
summer in ,eni "bbLs and the winter in "&abliF and taking advantage of
traveling between the two in order to visit the garrisons and to see the indigenous
%eo%le#
+ am saying that + will %robably leave, since obstacles can always arise2
Furthermore, as + have *ust written to Father Cuvelin about the matter and asked
for an answer, he could always sto% me by a letter or telegram# Nou also, my
dearly beloved Father, you can also %ut a sto% to this, if not by a letter which
might not arrive not time, by a telegram#
7y idea is to rent a camel to carry my baggage and me### + have a %ortable
cha%el which is in good sha%e2 " very im%ortant thing which contributed to my
willingness to leave is that + will have a catechumen to serve 7ass for me2 a
young slave who was freed =e%tember !, 1H2, who s%ent seven months at the
fraternity, receiving religious instruction as well as hos%itality2 Ce left in "%ril
1HH
of 1H: but then returned *ust after your visit here2 =ince July he has resumed
his %lace in the fraternity, conducts himself well, and of his own initiative asked to
continue his religious instruction# 7y idea is to bring him along to serve 7ass
and to hel% me for material things#4
,ut ,rother Charles had also to answer a letter that ,isho% Au.rin had written on
5ecember 1!
th
# Ce waited until the last minute, January 1H
th
, the day before leaving with
the convoy to write6
1+ waited until today to thank you for your fatherly letter of 5ecember 1!
th
to tell you whether or not + was leaving for the =outh2 Nes, + am going# Ieither
you nor Father Cuvelin sent me contrary advice# + didn0t receive anything from
either of you6 Therefore + am leaving because it is very easy to go at the moment
and later on maybe neither you nor + would be able to go#
+ am leaving the 11
th
or 12
th
with a large convoy and an officer from the
regiment of the Chasseurs d0"fri&ue from Touat, 7r# Nvart# Aod willing we will
be in "drar by the 2?
th
# + am thinking to stay there for a short time only and to
leave as &uickly as %ossible for "&abli# + will %ay a short visit to +n =alah
whenever my old comrade tells me to go# 7y decisions will be heavily guided by
his advice# + will s%end some time in "&abli in order to make some contacts and +
will wait for your letters there# Then + will allow events to guide my decisions
and, above all, whatever you write to me#4
9n January B
th
,isho% Au.rin answered ,rother Charles0 letter of 5ecember 16
th
,
but it would take weeks for the letter to arrive# =eeing that he cannot sto% this tri%,
,isho% Au.rin gave his %ermission, vaguely alluding to his ho%e that it would be decided
otherwise# "t the same time he abandoned his own %lan to travel to the =outh that he had
%ro%osed 2 weeks before#
1Nou must be on the verge of leaving for the =outh3 + *ust received your
letter and am answering right away#
Leave, dear friend, if Aod %ushes you to do soG + can only re%eat what +
told you several months ago# (ithout %ushing you to go, + don0t in any way want
to %lace an obstacle in your %ath, if, having considered everything and in the
%resent circumstances, you believe that it is a call from Aod# + even re*oice with
all my heart for all the graces that the 5ivine 7aster deigns to %our u%on these
regions through your ministry, u%on the indigenous %eo%le and u%on the isolated
Christians in all these garrisons3 O2P
+f you have already left, this letter will ho%efully follow you# +t will
%robably reach you in "drar# O2P
,ut maybe, to the contrary, you will have remained in ,eni "bbLs# 7ay
the Coly =%irit always find you faithfully following his guidance3 That is my
final wish for you, a wish that + am always %leased to re%eat#4
(hile ,rother Charles is busy making last arrangements for his tri% we might
make a few %oints# (e might notice that, since 9ctober, there was never a &uestion about
1H1
the Coggar or the Tuareg# +n Iovember his only goal seemed to be to visit the military
out%osts# ,y 5ecember there0s a change# Ce began talking about going to "&abli to set
u% a small house and then return to ,eni "bbLs# +t was no longer sim%ly a visit but a tri%
to make a real foundation# Ce would divide his time between ,eni "bbLs and "&abli#
,y January he was %re%aring a year0s worth of %rovisions for the tri%, ho%ing to
go as far as +n =alah before going to "&abli where he would try to understand where
things were leading# This remains a mystery to us# The ne$t ste%s would be influenced
by the advice of his old friend and by the orders of ,isho% Au.rin# "t this %oint it is still
not clear if this tri% is a res%onse to what we call 1the second call to the Coggar#4
"t the same time, ,rother Charles %robably had a good idea about what would
ha%%en during this tri%# (e are missing a letter from La%errine which would give us
clearer insight# ,ut we know that La%errine was %re%aring a very long *ourney even
though he did not have all of the necessary authori/ations# Ce es%ecially did not want the
authorities to get wind of his %lans# "nd so ,rother Charles was also sworn to secrecy
and absolute silence in his corres%ondence, since it might be read by the wrong %ersons#
This also e$%lains to some e$tent his silence with ,isho% Au.rin with whom he could not
share certain information# ,esides all of this, he knew &uite well that he was the only one
able to take on such a mission and that none of the (hite Fathers would be authori/ed to
do it#
That is also the reason that he did not s%eak about the Coggar or the Tuareg in his
letters# Ce only mentioned "&abli which he considered the relay %oint for going farther#
+f we reread his letter of July 22
nd
to ,isho% Au.rin we see clearly that he is envisioning
this same %ro*ect#
Through the 1first call to the Coggar4 we learn something about ,rother Charles0
understanding and %ractice of obedience# The 1second call to the Coggar4 gives us a
further insight into this while, at the same time, o%ening a new %age into the mystery of
his vocation# "nd this is the most difficult &uestion# (as his vocation one of solitude
and cloister as he had written and believed) (as his vocation one of silence, solitude and
inactivity which always led to intros%ection and languor)
9r was his call that of following his dee%est desires) (as it to answer those
things that called to him with the %ower of a direct order from Aod) 5id he seek a refuge
in the cloister) (as it an evasion of this desire to go elsewhere) Cow does one
distinguish one0s duty at a %articular moment from %rete$t) ,rother Charles seems to be
fully embroiled in all of these &uestions# Ce must choose but what criteria should he use
to make his decision#
,rother Charles left ,eni "bbLs on the morning of January 1:, 1HB# Ce noted in
his Journal6
1+ have not received any answer from Father Cuvelin nor ,isho% Au.rin about
my tri% to Touat, Tidikelt, etc# " convoy is leaving this morning in that direction#
+ have the %ossibility of *oining it# Io other %riest would be able to go for a long
time, maybe several years# Therefore + think that it is my duty to go# This
morning + have removed the ,lessed =acrament from the holy Tabernacle# + leave
on foot around ! a#m# >aul, the catechumen is going with me to serve 7ass# (e
have a mule to carry what + need for the celebration for about a year#4
1H2
+n a letter to ,isho% Au.rin dated January 1H
th
he described it further6
1+ am leaving with the 1! year old Ebecause + say that + am 1Hyrs oldF Iegro
2

whom + mentioned to you who will serve 7ass for me6 + have a she'ass to carry
the cha%el and %rovisionsG a young donkey that carries nothingG a %air of new
sandalsG two %air of canvas shoes2 The convoy is com%osed of about fifty
infantry soldiers# + will try to kee% u% with themG if + am not able, + will do as a
bad soldier and asked to be allowed to ride one of the camels from time to time#4
,rother Charles considered it very im%ortant to be able to make the *ourney on
foot# +n a letter to ,isho% Au.rin on June :, 1HB, he wrote6
1Nesterday we had a long visit with two men from Tafilalet, two marabouts# They
have heard about you and asked if you had visited Tafilalet# MIo, he will go
sometime, though# 'O2P 5oes he travel on foot) 'Io, by camel2 This &uestion
from these marabouts made me think2 They travel on foot leading their
donkeys2 (e are disci%les of JD=Q= and we want JD=Q= to live in us, 1The
Christian is another Christ#4 (e never sto% talking about %overtyG They are
disci%les of 7ohammed6 Their &uestion really made me think#4
+t was a regret or a secret re%roach concerning these good %riests who traveled by
camel# For the moment, in the name of holy %overty, he insisted on walking, as it was
certainly a more %erfect way# +t would not be long before he would come around to a
more realistic and less %erfectionistic way of thinking# ,ut for the moment the *ourney
was not difficult and the stages were short6 D$ce%tionally they would do 1? to :2 kms# a
day, as on this first day#
Q%on leaving the beehive of activity that his house in ,eni "bbLs re%resented and
entering the immense desert, was he entering into the realm of =ilence and the "bsolute
where he would meet Aod) (e would have trouble finding those ty%es of reflections in
his Iotebooks or in his letters# (e find this in >sichari and others but we should be
careful about trans%osing them onto Charles de Foucauld, as is so often the case# Ce
loves solitude but knows that he will not find it in a caravan# For him, the long *ourneys
through the desert would always be a time of 1ministry,4 a life to which he did not feel
called# Ce no longer en*oyed traveling but dreamed of a life like 7ary 7agdeleine0s at
the =aint ,aume# +t was an ideal that he dared call 1his vocation#4 (ithout knowing it or
thinking about it, by doing what he considered to be the will of Aod for him, he was
e$%erimenting a life of union with Aod while sharing the life of others#
+n a letter to his cousin on January 21
st
he naively described his first e$%eriences6
17y tri% is going well2 =o far + have been able to celebrate Coly 7ass every
day2 + have visited many of the indigenous villages and been well received2
'+ don0t think of alms and medicine as being so much tem%oral good as much as
they are s%iritual goods6 They are a means to good and friendly relationshi%s with
the indigenous %eo%le, a way of breaking the ice, a way of learning to trust and
become friends with me# (hen we come to a village + ask who are the four or
2
>aul Dmbarek
1H:
five %oorest ones and + give them some alms# + also let it be known that + am at
the service of those who are sick, giving what treatments as + am able2 =o far it
seems to work well# +n a week0s time + have given out more medicine than in the
two years + was in ,eni "bbLs where + gave several %eo%le some medicine each
day24
Thanks to his Iotebook, which has been %ublished in %art in Carnets de 9eni
bb"s, we are able to follow ,rother Charles during this year of travel# Ce noted the
distances traveled, the areas and villages visited, where they sle%t, the &uality of watering
holes and %astures, %eo%le that they met# Cis daily notes often turned to reflections on
historic events, geogra%hy and fre&uently to s%iritual meditations#
9n February 1
st
he met u% with Commandant La%errine in "drar and s%ent a week
there# Ce received ,isho% Au.rin0s letter from January B
th
and answered it on the
th
6
1,eloved Father, + am very ha%%y that + have come here# +t seems to me that this
little *ourney has been good for some of the Christians, and + ho%e for the
indigenous %eo%le, in the =aoura and in the 9ases2 Far from regretting having
undertaken this tri%, + am more and more convinced that it was what the good
Lord wanted and + am grateful that he let me know his (ill# + %ray that he will
kee% me faithful to it#4
Then he went on to write about his future %lans# The same day he wrote similarly to
7arie de ,ondy6
1+ am very ha%%y with this tri%# From what + have seem so far + reali/e that + had
to make itG + thank Aod and ask him to make me faithful and to do whatever he
wants me to do2 O2P Tell Father Cuvelin that + am ha%%y, that + thank Aod, that
there is more work here that + had thought, much more6 "sk him to %ray Jesus
that + be a good worker#4
These im%ressions are su%%orted by what La%errine wrote to Ca%tain -egnault on
February 1
th
6
15e Foucauld seems well, he is working hard at learning Tuareg2 Ce
should be in +n'=alah by now and + %lan to meet him in "&abli where he will
move into the house that was confiscated from "g Auerrad*
:
Eamghar of the
TaSto& TuaregF in order to immerse himself in the study of Tuareg, far from
Duro%eans#
+ %romised that + would take him along on our travels and if + see that he
gets along with the Tuareg, + will leave him on his ownG +0m sorry that he did not
arrive 2 weeks sooner as he would have met 7ousa agg "mastan in +n'=alah and
could have left with his grou%#
+ dream of making him the %astor of the Coggar, cha%lain to 7ousa,
maybe even chief of the village of Tad*mout which is com%rised of ca%tives
%laced under the %rotection of the Tuareg and, conse&uently, our %rotection#
:
"lso known as =idi agg "kara*i
1HB
Cis head works well and he understands %erfectly that any such dream
must be %receded by knowledge of the languageG The "rabs are their hereditary
enemies# (e are a nuisance and unknown, but they hate us less than they hate the
Chaamba#
+f we live long enough we0ll see# +n any case + was very ha%%y to s%end a
few days with him again# >ut into the conte$t of adventure, the old Foucauld of
7orocco resurfaces and he is sorry not to have his se$tant, and ma%s, etc2 + am
sure that besides his alms, distributions of medicines and his %rayers that he will
find the time to make a very interesting study of the country and the %eo%le Ethe
Tuareg and their %risonerF#
+f for some reason + am not able to leave him in Tuareg country, + will
leave him in "&abli or at the cam% of Tidikelt# ,ut + %refer that he have some
distance from us so that the %eo%le get used to seeing him without bayonets
around him#4
B
From the outset La%errine e$%lained the situation to his friend6 the submission of
three of the si$ big factions that make u% the Tuareg %eo%le# ,rother Charles wrote in his
Iotebook on February 1, 1HB6
1This news is very serious# +t shows that the entire Tuareg region which until now
had been closed to Christians, is o%en# Commandant La%errine is ready to do
whatever he can to facilitate my entrance into the region, my travel and
installation# Ce has offered to take me along on his ne$t tour of the region to visit
his new sub*ects in "hnet, "drar and the Coggar O2P (ith this ne$t tour, which
should start in five or si$ weeks, he may even %ush as far as Timbuktu O2P
"ccording to Commandant La%errine and until any further information would
become available, the best way to enter into relationshi% with them is through the
distribution of medicine, vegetable seeds, and, when called for, almsG but the most
im%ortant is to learn their language# "&abli is the best %lace for learning Tuareg
E1tamaha&4F as all of the %eo%le there s%eak it and Tuareg caravans are constantly
%assing through# =o it has been decided that + will go there and study Tuareg
intensively until Commandant La%errine comes to get me in several weeks to
begin his ne$t tour#4
,rother Charles left "drar on the 1H
th
# Ce arrived at +n =alah on the 16
th
and left
on the 1!
th
, arriving in "&abli on the 2H
th
# "s %lanned, he settled in the house that had
been confiscated from agg "kara*i# (hat did it mean for him to be 1settled4 some%lace)
(as it to %lace the ,lessed =acrament in the Tabernacle as he did the ne$t day) (as it
the %leasure of being stable in no matter what %lace he could call his own after BH days of
nomadic life) Io, it was something else for him and he shared about it in a letter to his
cousin on 7arch ?
th
6
1+ am still ha%%y2 among other sweet %leasures, there is one that + had been
asking of Jesus since a long time6 it is to be able, out of love for him, to live in
B
L.on Lehurau$, u Sahara a#e le !% de Foucauld, >aris, =t# >aul, 1B6, %# ?:#
1H?
conditions similar to what + e$%erienced in 7orocco for my own %leasure2
Cere, the conditions are about the same24
,ut what about the shed where he lived in the >oor Clare0s garden in Ia/areth or
the hermitage in Jerusalem or his cell at Iotre 5ame des Ieiges) This is an im%ortant
revelation which relativises his asceticisms of the %revious years# "t the Tra%%ists he had
com%lained that, 1(e are %oor for the rich O2P, but not %oor like + was in 7orocco#4
?
"t the same time, it was not 1La =ainte ,aume4 that he had sometimes dreamed
of# ,ut he was no longer %reoccu%ied with that idea# +n three different letters to his
cousin we learn more# 9n February
th,
1+t0s a center which can serve as my base for
reaching out#4 9n February 21
st
, 1There is a lot that + can do here so + will stay here for a
while#4 9n February 2@
th
, 1There are often caravans from the south# That is why + am
staying on here# +n this crossroads there is much that + can do for the those coming and
going#4
+n the language of the day this translates to reveal his a%ostolic %reoccu%ation#
"nd yet he did not go there to busy himself with all these %eo%le# Ce was sent there, a
%lace where there were no Duro%eans, in order to learn tamaha&, the language of the
Tuareg# Ce wrote in his Iotebook on February 21
st
6
1+ started taking tamaha& lessons today with the hel% of 7ohammed "bd el
;ader# Ce is from =ettaf and has s%ent a lot of time among the Tuareg
6
and also
lived in Timbuktu#4
=o he began what would become one of the %rimary tasks of his life# Ce might
have hesitated if he had known what it would lead to# ,ut he was far from imagining it#
La%errine, as we have seen, had a clearer idea# ,ut he did not discuss it with ,rother
Charles# Ce was content to a%%reciate this monk whose realistic tem%erament would
translate itself into a sense of efficiency and a ca%acity for work that does not cease to
ama/e us#
(riting to his cousin on 7arch :
rd
he used a different vocabulary6
The %o%ulations of this region, like those of 7orocco, s%eak ,erber much more
than "rabic# ,erber is the ancient language of Iorth "frica and >alestine, s%oken
by the Carthagenians, by =aint 7onica whose ,erber, not Areek, name means
1&ueen#4 +t is the language 1loved4 by =t# "ugustine as we read in his
Confessions, since it was the language of his mother# + had learned it a long time
ago and forgotten it# + am trying to refresh my memory of it so that + can chat
with everyone#4
Cis work in "&abli ended on 7arch 1B
th
according to his Iotebook6
1Left "&abli to travel with Commandant La%errine# Ce %lans to visit the
%o%ulations that have recently submitted themselves and to %ush on as far as
Timbuktu2 9ur itinerary most %robably is as follows6 +n \i/, "hnet, "drar,
?
L?, 9ct :H, 1!H#
6
Ce wrote Tuareg without an 1s4 as it is the %lural for of the "rabic word, Targui# ,ut he &uickly
abandoned this %ractice for the more customary s%ellings6 a Tuareg, some Tuaregs, Tuareg language#
1H6
Timissao, "ttalia, TimbuktuG return through "drar and the Coggar2 +f it seems
like a good idea, we are thinking that on the way back they would leave me with
the Coggar where + would settle down#4
,ut on 7ay 16
th
, in order to avoid %roblems in Timiaouin with a French column
coming from Timbuktu, La%errine decided to turn back towards the Coggar# ,rother
Charles %ondered the %ossibilities of settling in =ilet, "balessa or Tit# ,ut on 7ay 2!
th
he
wrote in his Iotebook, 1Less from fear of the Tuareg than from fear of certain French
military %ersonnel, La%errine will not authori/e me to stay in Tit for the moment, nor
elsewhere in the Coggar# (e0ll see later on#4
9n June 1B
th
, rather than return north with La%errine, ,rother Charles chose to
travel on with Lieutenant -oussel who was going to s%end several months in the northern
Coggar region# +t was during this time, in June and July, that he worked on translating
the Aos%els into Tamaha&#
Lt# -oussel0s detachment returned to +n =alah on =e%tember 2H
th
# Two days later,
,rother Charles left with a soldier as guide for "drar, Timimoun and Dl Aolea# Ce
arrived in AhardaSa on Iovember 11
th
, with ,isho% Au.rin having met him along the way
in 7etlili# For the ne$t si$ weeks ,rother Charles stayed there, sharing the daily life,
%raying, en*oying the silence and making a nine'day retreat#
@
+n s%eaking with ,isho%
Au.rin he concluded that he was not cut out for traveling but for stability in one %lace
and would, therefore, return to ,eni "bbLs# Ce arrived there on January 2B
th
after one
year and 12 days of travel# Ce was worn out from the long marches
!
and the work#

Ce
decided once and for all to stay in his cloister in order to be faithful to his vocation# "nd
yet *ust a few months later he would be back in the Coggar# (hy this about face) +n
order to understand we must look closely at what ha%%ened ne$t#
@
Charles de Foucauld, Seul a#ec &ieu, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@?, %%# 1?:'1!#
!
?,B kms# 9n foot or by camel in :@@days3

+ntensive study of Tamaha&, medical treatment of %eo%le that he met along the way as well as of the
soldiers, outlines of their *ourneys, maintenance of his notebook full of detailed observations,
corres%ondence, including 1? letters to ,isho% Au.rin and 2H letters or notes to his cousin#
1H@
:editations rom February D
th
and 8
th
, 45@8 at 3eni )bb?s
February B
17y Lord + adore Nou during this flight to Dgy%t# Coly Tirgin, =t# Jose%h, my mother,
my father, unite me to Nou, make me share your love, your adoration, your feelings, your
faithfulness, your %erfectionG like you, make me, without cease, be what %leases JD=Q=
most, like you, make me console and glorify his CD"-T as much as %ossible2 "s you
carried JD=Q=, now by day, now by night, over desert %aths, in this cold season, thirsty,
lacking enough food and clothing, in %laces infested with thieves and wild animals, are
you sad, oh my Coly >arents) (hat are your thoughts) M (e are flooded with *oy, with
grateful thoughts of adoration and love# Flooded with *oy because JD=Q= is with us, is
ours, is before our eyes and in our arms, and in our arms there is neither cold, fatigue,
hunger nor suffering, grateful for that which is oursG that we see, touch, carry, know
JD=Q=# +n continual adoration of this beloved JD=Q=# "nd with all the love of our
hearts#
=acred CD"-T of JD=Q=, thank Nou for giving us this lesson, such a clear
e$am%le of what Nou want for us# Following Nour e$am%le, that of Nour Coly >arents,
Nour servant, Nour little brother, wishing to be another sign of Nou M arising in the night,
as =t# Jose%h M fleeing wherever they were able to flee, in e$ile, he must flee in hunger,
thirst, fatigue, cold, bad weather, difficulties along the way, danger, hardshi%, all the
difficulties, all the sufferings, as the Coly Family M he must, des%ite all these difficulties,
sufferings, be always like the Coly Family, and for the same reasons be flooded with *oy,
having only thoughts of thanksgiving, adoration ad love#
Lord JD=Q=, come into me# + adore Nou in Nour flight to Dgy%t# Coly Tirgin, =t#
Jose%h, bring me to his feet# 7y Aod, + love Nou, + adore you, + belong to Nou, + give
myself to Nou# 7ay it not be + who live, but Nou who live in me# "t every instant may +
be and do whatever is most %leasing to NouG may it be the same with all Nour children#
"men#
February ?
th
7y Lord, + adore Nou in the arms of the Coly Tirgin as she flees to Dgy%t with you2
Coly Tirgin, =t# Jose%h, unite me to your thoughts, your hearts, your love, your feelings#
+ give you my heart, my Coly >arentsG unite it to yours, make of it that which is most
%leasing to JD=Q=2 (ith what must it be full, at this moment, to be one with yours,
with Cis, to be what Ce wants it to be, what Ce most desires it to be) ' +t must be full of
love for the beloved brother JD=Q=G that love contains everything, he alone suffices,
because from him comes all %erfection6 from this love will flow6 thanksgiving to this
JD=Q= who embraces flight, %ersecution, danger, hardshi%, for youG thanksgiving to
JD=Q= who, by embracing them, forever transforms them for you into sweetnessG
unwavering resolution to always do, as &uickly as %ossible, that which %leases JD=Q= the
most, no matter the fatigue, danger, suffering, difficulties that re%resentsG desire, all
other things being e&ual, if it is the will of JD=Q=, to have a life full of fatigue, danger,
%ersecution, suffering, allow all the trials to serve to be more united with JD=Q= through
this resemblanceG *oyful in Aod, in JD=Q=, because JD=Q= is blissful, because Ce
doesn0t suffer, because Ce is eternally and infinitely ha%%yG *oy for you and for
humankind, your brothers, because you %ossess JD=Q= in the Coly Ducharist and in your
1H!
soul, that you %ossess him eternally if you so desire, because everything that ha%%ens to
you will be willed by him for you, because at every instant of your e$istence in this life
and in the other, you will do the will of this ,eloved and Ce will be intimately and
lovingly united in heart and will if you so desire, and that all human beings have the same
ha%%inessG adoration, continual contem%lation of this ,eloved brother JD=Q= who is at
this moment, for you, in our arms2 9h my Coly >arents, fill me with these sentiments#
+ %lace my heart into your hands# 7ake of it what JD=Q= desires most#
=acred CD"-T of JD=Q=, thank you for embracing so many crosses right from
your crib, from the moment of your birth6 flight, fatigue, long voyages, %ersecution,
e$ile, cold, %ain, thirst, danger, hardshi%, abandonment, all of the %ain which your tender
CD"-T suffers for your Coly >arents, shares with them, and inflicts u%on them for us 2
thank you for later changing those thorns into roses, for hearts that love you6 in sharing
these sorrows with you they will become %leasures6 to suffer with Nou, to resemble Nou,
to share Nour trials is the *oy of *oys for the heart of the one who loves Nou# To resemble,
to imitate, is a violent need of love6 it is %ro%er to this union towards which love
naturally and necessarily tends# -esemblance is the measure of love#
Lord JD=Q=, come into me# + adore Nou during Nour flight into Dgy%t# Coly
Tirgin, =t# Joes%h, bring me to the feet of JD=Q=# 7y Aod, + love Nou, + adore Nou, +
belong to Nou, + give myself to Nou# 7ay it not be + who live, but Nou who live in me#
"t every instant, may + be that which %lease Nou the most# "men#
1H
The Third Call to the Ho&&ar
January AD to :ay E, 45@8
(e will follow ,rother Charles day by day during the 1HH days that he stayed in
,eni "bbLs in order to try to understand what was ha%%ening in him and to analy/e the
circumstances which led to the change of direction# (hile this was one %eriod in his life
we can divide it into two %arts6 the first two months during which he was he was
recu%erating from the fatigue of his travels, and the last BH days when he was feeling
much better#
Three days after he arrived in ,eni "bbLs he heard that Lyautey had also *ust
arrived# +t was an un%lanned visit and he only stayed about :6 hours# ,ut during these
few hours he encountered ,rother Charles several times# (hile they had never
%ersonally met before, Lyautey was old friends with ,rother Charles0 brother'in'law,
-aymond de ,lic and his cousin, Louis de Foucauld#
Lyautey had arrived on 9ctober 1, 1H: as the Aeneral Commandant of the
subdivision based at "Sn'=efra# +t was &uite understandable that he would have been
concerned about Charles de Foucauld0s %resence in what was %art of the territory under
his command# Ce had heard about this %riest whose re%utation for holiness was already
&uite well known# Contrary to what ,rother Charles imagined
1
, Lyautey was not very
keen about having missionaries who liked to make E98F names for themselves# (e
know about his general mistrust through a comment that he re%ortedly made6 1+ wish they
would send this little %riest back to France# Ce is in the %rocess of undoing the
foundation of my %olicies with the indigenous %eo%le#4 Lyautey had clearly defined his
a%%roach in an article that he %ublished in 1HH entitled, 1The role of the army in the
colonies#4
Lyautey considered himself a 1free s%irit in &uestions of religion,4 meaning that
he had a great res%ect for the faith of others# Ce a%%arently felt as much a sense of the
EThis is goodF su%ernatural at the tomb of =idi Cheikh, founder of the brotherhood, who
is buried in the kouba at Dl'"biodh'=idi'Cheikh as he did in the cha%el at ,eni "bbLs#
Ce feared that ,rother Charles0 missionary /eal would run counter to this sense of
o%enness# Ce needed to find out for himself# ,ut ,rother Charles had been gone on the
e$%edition with La%errine at that time, an e$%edition which %osed a %roblem in itself in
Lyautey0s thinking# =o he had %ut off going to ,eni "bbLs# Ce also did not know his
subordinate officer, La%errine, very well e$ce%t to know that he was, like himself, an
inde%endent ty%e2 "nother reason to worry about the role that Charles de Foucauld
might %lay on the e$%editions#
=o Lyautey0s visit to ,eni "bbLs was %robably not *ust ha%%enstance EyesF# Cis
conversations with the humble ,rother Charles must have reassured him and, in fact, they
develo%ed a dee% esteem for and trust in one another, mutually res%ectful of their
different missions# Lyautey later described assisting at 7ass on that January 2
th
with all
the officers6
1
1Ce must have met some missionaries while he was stationed in 7adagascar# Nou will %robably get a lot
of su%%ort from him#4 Letter to ,isho% Au.rin, Iov# 2B, 1H:, &uoted in Charles de Foucauld,
Correspondances sahariennes, >aris, Cerf, 1!, %# 2:6#
11H
1Cis hermitage was a real hovel3 Cis cha%el no more that a miserable hallway of
columns, covered with thatch3 Cis altar was *ust a board3 Ce had an image of
Christ %ainted on cloth hanging over the altar, metal candlesticks3 9ur feet were
in the sand# (ell, + have never seen anyone say 7ass like Father de Foucauld2# +
thought + was in the Thebaide E+ have no idea what the Thebiade is and it0s not in
the Larousse# Therefore it makes no sense to readers 5o you know)2F # +t was
one of the most im%ressive e$%eriences of my life#4
2
9bviously, Lyautey was im%ressed by the monk and by the man# Ce came to like
him, as did most of those who met him# They only began corres%onding in 1H! but,
unfortunately, Lyautey0s letters, always &uite interesting, have all been lost since ,rother
Charles did not kee% the letters he received once he had answered# "nd we only have
seven out of the twenty'one letters that ,rother Charles wrote to Lyautey#
(e also need to s%eak about La%errine# 5uring the months of traveling together
in the desert a close friendshi% develo%ed between them# Foucauld res%ected La%errine
in his agnosticism and La%errine res%ected the monk0s devotions# Ce understood his
vocation to live as a universal brother, but he also knew how to use his various
com%etences# Ce recogni/ed that his friend0s humility and desire to be a brother to all
was an im%ortant %resence in the %rocess of %acification in the region# Foucauld
discovered in La%errine a dee% sense of the common good and an overall interest in the
%eo%le# These formed the basis of their common vision for achieving %rogress in the
country# " total and reci%rocal trust sealed a uni&ue relationshi% that became one of his
closest friendshi%s# +t was e$%ressed through regular corres%ondence Emore than 2:H
letters over 1B yearsFG in the later years a letter each time the mail would go out which
was about every two weeks# That was as much as he wrote to his cousin, 7arie de
,ondy#
For the moment, he noted for himself and co%ied to ,isho% Au.rin and =ister
"ugustine, su%erior of the (hite =isters in AhardaSa, what he remembered of
conversations with La%errine concerning %ossible foundations of the Fathers and =isters
in the =outh# Cis naivet. was stunning# Ce imagined that his dreams could become
reality and believed that those who really desired it could achieve the im%ossible# Ce
wrote as if the (hite Fathers and =isters had a whole retinue of %ersonnel available for
foundations throughout the south which should be made while La%errine was still in
charge# +n his letter to ,isho% Au.rin he omitted the criticisms that the military made
about the (hite Fathers# They com%lained that the (hite Fathers were a constant bother
for the authorities, that they made big blunders and that they involved themselves in
matters that were not their concern# The =isters, on the other hand, were always warmly
welcomed#
(hile he was in ,eni "bbLs at this time, ,rother Charles also received a visit
from Ca%tain Iieger, La%errine0s assistant, who was on his way to France because of his
father0s death# Ce had also become a 1truly dear friend4 during the long marches of the
%receding year# 1Ce is young, E*ust :: years oldF, but + like him and have a lot of esteem
for him#4
:
Ce even asked him to visit 7arie de ,ondy on his behalf, something he only
asked of very close friends# Qnfortunately, of the one hundred or so letters that he
2
Aeorges Aorr.e, Sur les traces de Charles de Foucauld, Lyon, Dditions de la >lus Arande France, 1:6,
%#1!@#
:
LM9, 7arch 21, 1H?, &uoted in Aeorges Aorr.e, mitis saharienes, >aris, "rthaud, 1B6, vol 1, %#2!?#
111
received from ,rother Charles, Iieger only ke%t three, including one which ,rother
Charles wrote the day before his death#
There were also all of the other officers with whom he became close and who had
been transferred# There was Ca%tain -egnault, 1the dearest friend of them all,4 1" friend
and irre%laceable brother#4 There is also a whole series of letters that he wrote to various
officers whom he had met over the course of the year# "mong these is a Lieutenant
,ricogne to whom he would be 1forever grateful4 for the gift a tent in which to celebrate
7ass during his travels# This officer would die on the front lines in 116, hit by a shell#
,rother Charles wrote to his wife several days before his own death, the last among many
beautiful sym%athy letters written by a man with a big heart, who was faithful to his
friendshi%s#
B
There is another friendshi% that is less well known, that with =ister "ugustine#
They had only met three months before during his stay in AhardaSa# Caving read
bandonment to &i#ine !ro#idence by de Caussade and another book, Excelsior, by Fr#
Cro/ier that ,rother Charles had given to her, =r# "ugustine began writing to ,rother
Charles# =he shared about her difficulties and her desires for a life more totally given to
Aod than what she felt she was able to live because of her %resent res%onsibilities# +t is a
series of very intimate letters which amount to s%iritual direction, besides the discussions
of foundations in the =outh# This very s%ecial collection of letters was unknown until its
recent %ublication in Correspondances sahariennes#
?
(e could be led to believe that the bulk of his time was taken u% with
corres%ondence and seeing %eo%le# ,ut that was *ust a very small %art of his day# (hat
was he doing that ke%t him from cultivating his garden, even when he would have had the
strength to do so)
First and foremost was intellectual work# ,rother Charles was able to do it
des%ite fatigue and %oor health because it was mainly a &uestion of reco%ying his notes#
1+ s%end my days following a monastic rhythm and in solitudeG + re%lace manual work
with co%ying my notes about the Tuareg language and other notes that + made during the
year of traveling24
6
"s he finished a section, he would send it to ,isho% Au.rin, the
first being a summary of his tri% which he entitled, 1"mong the Tuaregs ETaSto&, +foras,
CoggarF 7ay'=e%tember, 1HB#4 Ce also wanted to make two or three co%ies right away
of his translation of Coly =cri%ture in tamaha& in order to hel% the (hite =isters %re%are
themselves for mission among the Tuaregs# "nd he wanted to reco%y his notes about
how to travel in the =ahara
@
but other duties and his lingering fatigue %revented him from
doing so during the first two months#
(e also need to mention how concerned he was with missionary work# Ce had
traveled for a whole year and he wanted what he had learned to be useful to others# Ce
learned a lot and established some guide%osts# Ce saw the urgency of this work but since
he himself had renounced missionary activity, he felt that it was u% to the (hite Fathers
to carry on# Ce wrote %ages and %ages for all concerned, describing %ro*ects,
organi/ations, and what he felt would be necessary for the accom%lishment of these
B
There is a letter from ,eni "bbLs on January 2!, 1H? written to ,isho% Au.rin whose mother had *ust
died# Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances Sahariennes, >aris, Cerf, 1!, %#:11#
?
9%# cit#, starting on %age ?B#
6
LM9, Feb# 1!, 1H?#
@
Charles de Foucauld, Carnet de 9eni bb"s, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1:# This took u% 2: %ages of his
notebook, %%# 11?'1:!#
112
%ro*ects# This tendency to not only %ro%ose such foundations but to organi/e their setu%
was characteristic of his creative genius and his tem%erament#
7eanwhile, ,rother Charles tried to live according to his -ule of Life which
called for %eriods of meditation on the Aos%el, either silent or written# Throughout his
life in the =ahara, however, he wrote very few of his meditations in contrast to his
%ractice in Ia/areth and when he was a Tra%%ist# 9nly during this one hundred day
%eriod did he write his meditations, regularly and nearly daily#
Ce wrote these meditations
!
beginning on February 2
nd
until Daster# D$ce%t for
the first entry which is about Jesus offering himself as a victim, the rest of the meditations
from February have to do with the flight into Dgy%t# "s we read them, we reali/e that we
are reading ,rother Charles0 own e$%erience of the last year of being on the move,
including the fatigue that was a ma*or conse&uence for him# Ce is both afraid of having
to start all over again while being ready to leave again des%ite the fatigue# Ce did his
writing in the evenings, imagining the scene and reflecting on what he imagined# Ce
seems to have followed a method6 1F >lacing himself in the midst of the scene that he
imagined# 2F (hat do you have to say to me) :F 7y res%onse to you) "ll of his
mediations end in the same way, with a r.sum. of his thoughts in other words6
17y Aod, + love you, + adore you, + belong to you, + give myself to you# Let it not
be + who live, but you who live in me# Let me be and do what %leases you the
most at every momentG and may it be so for all your children# "men#4
The im%ortant thing in his meditations was to unite himself with the will of Jesus
in order to do, in this life, what %leased him# (as it in looking at Jesus that he would
discover what he must do to %lease him) Io# Concretely the %rocess seems to have
worked in the o%%osite sense# First of all he saw what he should do, either through
intuition or because he sim%ly knew in his heart what needed to be done# This may
sim%ly have been ,rother Charles being ,rother Charles# From there he thought that in
doing what he felt called to do, he would be doing what was %leasing to Jesus# From
there he looked at the words and deeds of Jesus for confirmation of what he felt he should
do# (e should not confuse this %rocess with the vocabulary of +mitation which he used to
e$%ress his will to live in union with Jesus and to let Jesus live in him#
" forty'day %eriod from 7arch 2B
th
to the beginning of 7ay can be considered as
a whole# +t is the most significant time'frame of this %eriod, a time when he would make
the decision which would change the direction of his life# +t also coincided with
s%ringtime and the restoration of his health and energy# 9n 7arch 2
th
he wrote to 7arie
de ,ondy, 1+ have only gotten better and better since my last letter# + have no com%laints#
+ have gone back to my regular activities#4 "nd on "%ril 11
th
he wrote to her again6
1+ am feeling sur%risingly well# + have that great sense of well'being that one has
after overcoming a long'standing fatigue, that one feels once it is all behind one2
5on0t think that the climate of ,eni "bbLs is bad# -ather it is e$ce%tionally
healthy#4
!
Charles de Foucauld, L3Esprit de >sus, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@!, %%# 16?'2!6#
11:
Iow we can look at the chronology of events in order to understand this new
direction that he was about to take#
9n "%ril 1
st
he received a letter from La%errine who invited him to make another
tri% to the Coggar with Ca%tain 5inau$ who was %lanning on leaving +n =alah at the
beginning of 7ay# 9n "%ril !
th
a second letter re%eated the invitation# "%%arently there
is no reaction and there is no mention of it in his meditations# ,rother Charles only
answered La%errine that he was not free to leave the region of =aoura before "utumn#
9nly then would he decide among three %ossibilities6 a life of travel, the cloister of ,eni
"bbLs, or a cloistered life in =ilet#
,ut in a letter to his cousin on "%ril 11
th
he wrote6
1+t is not im%ossible that + would be obliged to make a tri% to the south2 + don0t
think it is likely but + am ready if need be2 + sent a telegram to ,isho% Au.rin,
asking him to consult with Father Cuvelin and to wire me back O2P#4
9n "%ril 1?
th
he wrote in his Iotebook6
1+ am %er%le$ed6 on the one hand my vocation is the life of Ia/areth O2P 9n the
other hand the 9ases and the Tuareg have no %riest and no %riest is able to go
there6 not only am + allowed to go, + am invited#4
9n "%ril 1!
th
he wrote to Father Cuvelin about his dilemma# Ce reco%ied this
letter in his Iotebook, as well as the resolution that he had made during his retreat at
AhardaSa at Christmas time# (e find his 1dilemma4 e$%ressed therefore in his Iotebook,
to Father Cuvelin, to ,isho% Au.rin and also in a letter to 7arie de ,ondy on "%ril 1
th
6
1This was my dilemma6 +t is always so hard to see such a large country without a
%riest# +t is hard on %eo%le, es%ecially those whose faith is weak# "nd so it is that
much harder to know that a %riest has been invited and has refused2 To make
matters worse, those who e$tend the invitation are offended# Then when we later
ask to go, they say that they had offered but we had refused and that the matter is
closed# Ionetheless, + feel that it is the will of the Aood Lord that + remain here
and so + remain#4
Just the day before ,rother Charles had written to =ister "ugustine6
1+ am in ,eni "bbLs and have no intention of leaving6 Iow that + am back within
my cloister + do not see anything else on the hori/on but to live out the hidden life
of Ia/areth at the foot of the tabernacle#4
5uring this time ,isho% Au.rin was in France and had met with Father Cuvelin#
Ce e$%lained to him what was behind the resolutions that ,rother Charles had made at
AhardaSa and the decision that he had made# Father Cuvelin brought u% the usefulness of
such a tri% for the sake of the mission, es%ecially in light of the immediate invitation to
go# Ce concluded6
11B
1=o let him go3 (ith the grace of Aod2 at least let us leave him the freedom to
*udge the situation for himself on the s%ot# (e are so far away and have so little
information# ,ut let him know that we are not against this new e$%edition, that
we are even willingly inclined to acce%t the idea#4

9n "%ril 1
th
,isho% Au.rin sent a telegram to ,rother Charles which he received
in the 21
st
# Ce was sur%rised to read6 1(e are inclined to acce%t invitation, leave you free
to assess circumstances and o%%ortunity#4 Caving decided not to go, he received this
telegram as an order6
1=acred Ceart of Jesus, you are so good to give me this very day, through the
voice of those of whom you said, UCe who hears you, hears me0 an une$%ected
order# +t sur%rises my dee%est self, throwing me into difficulties, trials and
fatigue### Cow good you are, =acred Ceart of Jesus, to reveal your will to your
unworthy servant, to let him know it infallibly through the voice of those of
whom you said, 1Ce who hears you, hears me#4
1H
Ce wrote immediately to La%errine, asking if there was still time for him to *oin
the caravan# The ne$t day, Coly =aturday, he wrote in his meditation6
1Nou are a useless servant6 Nou must use all your strength, your care, and your
ardor to do, not only all that he commands you to do, but everything that he even
suggestsG all that he is ever so slightly inclined to see you doG out of love, in
obedience, by imitation# O2P ,ut as certainly as you must obey and work with all
your strength O2P you are *ust as certainly a useless servant6 Aod could have
others do whatever you do, or do it without anyone0s hel%, or at least without you6
you are a useless servant#4
11
The meditations of this year end with the theme of the useless servant#
(hile waiting for La%errine0s answer ,rother Charles made hasty %re%arations to
leave# Ce wanted to finish co%ying the Aos%els but he first had to send ,isho% Au.rin
his notes on how to travel in the =ahara# 9n the 2
th
he learned that everything was
%rovidentially arranged for a 7ay :
rd
de%arture# "fter sending bits and %ieces of the
Aos%el in Tamaha& in two se%arate mailings the day before leaving, he took advantage of
a good o%%ortunity to leave for "drar with >aul Dmbarek#

Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances sahariennes, >aris, Cerf, 1!, %# ::@#

1H
Charles de Foucauld, L3Esprit de >sus, >aris, Iuvelle Cit., 1@!, %# 2!B#
11
5p% cit%, %%# 2!?'2!6#
11?
Cn the *ay to the Ho&&ar
:ay E
rd
- )u&ust 44, 45@8
,rother Charles left ,eni "bbLs on 7ay :
rd
at the end of the one hundred days
during which time he remained within the few s&uare meters of his cloister# Ce had to
hurry in order to rende/vous with Ca%tain 5inau$ who was leaving +n =alah at the same
time# Ce met the detachment on June !
th
# "mong the members of the e$%edition were6
>rofessors D#F Aautier, e$%lorer and geogra%her, and -# Chudeau, geologistG 7# Dtienot,
from the telegra%h com%anyG an inter%reter and officer, 7# ,enha/eraG a *ournalist, >#
7illeG several non'commissioned officers and brigadiers, some Tuaregs with =idi agg
"kara*i, chief of the TaSto&#
The e$%edition halted for three days and set out again on June 12
th
# The ma*or
event of the tri% was the meeting with 7ousa agg "mastan on the 2?
th
# Ca%tain 5inau$
was a bit concerned about how the amenokal would react to this man who was traveling
with the military# Ce wore a bi/arre costume which included a red heart and cross sewn
across his chest# ,ut having already ac&uired a certain ease with Tamaha&, ,rother
Charles was able to serve as inter%reter and s%eak directly with 7ousa agg "mastan who
remained with the grou% for about three weeks#
+t seems that the two men had a reci%rocally seductive effect on each other# The
first information that we have of this is through a letter that ,rother Charles wrote to
,isho% Au.rin on July 1:
th
after 7ousa had left the grou%6
17ousa, their chief, is a remarkable man# Ce is intelligent, with a broad vision of
things, Aod'fearing, very %ious# Ce is an honest man who truly desires %eace and
the common good as he understands it2# Ce is thirty'five years old, has lived a
*ust life until now, and is very much loved throughout the country2# +f he
continues in this way we can e$%ect much from him, through him, and for him
O2P Ce has a great desire to go to "lgiers and even to >aris#4
This re&uest had an immediate effect on ,rother Charles# Ce took it very
seriously# (hile he recogni/ed the inconveniences of such a tri%, he saw it more so as an
o%%ortunity# Ce wrote to ,isho% Au.rin about it, including a detailed itinerary for
"lgiers and >aris, a%%arently to be %aid for by the (hite Fathers# This monk who vowed
himself to the life of Ia/areth was incorrigibly and %er%etually creative when it came to
ideas for others# +n 9ctober he brought the idea u% again Ean idea that he never let go ofF,
even %ro%osing that he could accom%any 7ousa, although he said that it really wasn0t his
%lace to do so#
+n his July 1:
th
letter to ,isho% Au.rin he tried to kee% to the %resent6 1+ am
%re%aring a small Tuareg glossary and book of grammar for my com%anions and for those
who might need one#4 +n his %ostscri%t he mentioned a short'term %ro*ect6
1+ will try to %re%are the beginnings of a mission in the Coggar6 but *ust a very
small thing of no im%ortance# Iothing big, like at ,eni "bbLs6 Just a small hut
and a cou%le of goats near a watering hole O2P + have not decided where yet6
116
"balessa) +n "mgel) Tit) =ome %lace between Tit and Tamanrasset) +0ll see
when + get there#4
Ce alluded to his ho%e, of which he was %ractically certain, that he would soon
have a com%anion, a Fr# -ichard from Dl Aol.a# The year before he had hesitated to have
him come, on the %remise that their vocations were too different, Fr# -ichard being a very
active and a%ostolically oriented (hite Father# Iow he was ready to go all the way to
"lgiers to meet u% with him# ,ut this com%anion was never offered to him#
,rother Charles wrote to his cousin6
+t seems indis%ensable that + try to settle in the Coggar and to s%end at least
several months there each year2 +t seems to follow from Father Cuvelin0s
decision to have me make this tri%2 + will do what + think best#4
1
The same day he wrote to Father Cuvelin, interru%ted only by nightfall# Ce asked
some im%ortant &uestions6
1+ do not forget that your feast day is the day after tomorrow6 =t# Cenry#
7y %oor %rayer will be with you even more than usual2 O2P The tri% is going
well, very well# + have met many indigenous %eo%le2 + lack *ust one thing,
myself2 + am ha%%y with everything e$ce%t myself#
,esides my countless faults, one thing %ains me6 2 + would like to be
able, at least to some e$tent, to recite the 9ffice, have the hours for %rayer and
meditation, the time to read =acred =cri%ture, as when + am more settled 2 ,ut if
+ try to do all that + have no time left to kee% u% with Tuareg, to study the
language, to %re%are as much as %ossible the way for those workers who will
come after me2 =ince + am not able to reconcile these two things + am dro%%ing
the first and s%end my time on the second which seems to me to be what Aod
wishes me to do the most2 ,ut although + think that + am doing the right thing,
it %ains me to lead a life with little time dedicated e$clusively to %rayer,
neglecting the s%iritual e$ercises which are good and nourishing# + often ask
myself if my inability to reconcile these two things is real or if it is the result of
my own te%idness# O2P
,ut since leaving ,eni "bbLs + have almost always re%laced the ,reviary
by the -osary M and sometimes having %ut if off until evening, it goes
unfinished2 5uring the marches + think of Jesus as much as + am able, but alas,
so miserably3 ' The time which is not occu%ied by the marches or rest, is s%ent
%re%aring the ways, trying to build friendshi% with the Tuareg and working on the
le$icon# These translations are indis%ensable for those who will come to bring
JD=Q=2
+f + am wrong about this if + should sto% doing things this way and find
another, tell me and + will obey2 5es%ite my regrets over this, unless + hear
otherwise from you, + think that this is a good way to manage2
For the future + need your advice2 + am acce%ted but + don0t think that
they will acce%t others2 "s long as other %riests are not welcome among the
1
LM9, July 1:, 1H?, %# 1:!#
11@
Tuareg should + stay and try to settle for a good %ortion of the year) The more +
think about it, the more it seems like a good idea# +t is necessary to kee% this door
o%en until others are able to comeG to make friends and develo% trustG to make
good im%ressionsG to %re%are the ground until the workers are able to come into
the fieldG =ince JD=Q= sent me here through the words of your mouth, it seems
that + should continue to try to do Cis work until others are able to re%lace me
O2P
For the moment + am trying to %re%are a little %lace among the Tuareg6 not the
beginnings of a %lace like the fraternity of the =acred Ceart at ,eni "bbLsG a
sim%le hut without any land or garden where + can live my life of %rayer and make
wooden bowls and ro%e for a good %art of the year, having as little land as
%ossible#
Iight has fallen# " 5ieu, beloved Father#4
Charles de Foucauld is unable to write three sentences without outlining some
%ro*ect that he has dreamed u%# >oint in fact6 he never made any ro%es or wooden bowls3
9n July 2H
th
the e$%edition turned north, %rogressing by ste%s of 2?, B?, ?H or
even 6H kilometers at a time# 7ousa aag "mastan had set the rende/vous for a village
called Tamanrasset#
2
The Iotebook that he began in ,eni "bbLs was com%letely filled by July 21
st
#
,ut he noted under the July B
th
entry everything that ha%%ened until the 21
st
, including his
decision, agreed u%on with 7ousa, to settle in the Coggar# Ce began using another
notebook in which he had begun co%ying the Aos%el of 7atthew in "rabic, meaning that
he had begun from the back# Ce continued writing his *ournal from the front of this
notebook, but also writing other notes in the back, such as names of %oor %eo%le that he
met and his e$%enses# =o as we look at this notebook the two sections gradually
converge in the middle# +t is understandable that the editing of his Carnets de
)amanrasset
G
was no easy task#
The change which was taking %lace in Charles de Foucauld0s life was not only
symboli/ed by starting a new Iotebook# Cis first entry in the new book, on the feast of
=t 7ary 7agdeleine on July 22, is one of the most telling te$ts that we have of the
evolution of his thinking about the meaning of Ia/areth# (e read6
12no habit M like Jesus at Ia/areth, no cloister, like Jesus at Ia/areth, not
living far from where others live but close to a village M like Jesus at Ia/areth,
not less than ! hours of work Omanual or other but manual as much as %ossibleP M
like Jesus at Ia/areth# O2P no large %ieces of land, nor large house, nor big
e$%enses, nor even large alms, but e$treme %overty in all things M like Jesus at
Ia/areth2 +n a word in everything, like Jesus at Ia/areth# Qse the -ule of the
Little ,rothers as you would a %ious book to hel% you live this life# Clearly
distance yourself from anything that does not serve the %erfect imitation of this
life# O2P
5o not try to organi/e or %re%are for the foundation of the Little ,rothers of
the =acred Ceart of Jesus6 "lone, live as if you would always be alone# +f you are
2
"t this time Charles de Foucauld was writing Tamenghaset# Later he would re%lace the gh by an r# For
our %ur%oses we have chosen to use the usual s%elling, Tamanrasset throughout#
:
Charles de Foucauld, Carnets de )amanrasset, >aris Iouvelle Cit., 1!6#
11!
two or three or several, live as if you would never be more numerous# >ray as
Jesus %rayed, as much as he %rayed, always giving a very great %lace to %rayer2
Like Jesus, always give a great %lace also to manual work6 it is not time taken
from %rayer but given to %rayerG the time that you give to manual work is a time
of %rayerG faithfully %ray the ,reviary and the rosary each dayG Love Jesus with
your whole heart 1dile$it multum,4 and your neighbor as yourself for love of
him2 Nour life of Ia/areth can be lived anywhere6 live it where it will be most
useful for your neighbor#
9n the morning of "ugust 6
th
after having seen "balessa again and the village of
Dnnedid, he decided to settle in Tamanrasset, sight unseen# Ce wrote to ,isho% Au.rin6
1+ will %robably settle in the village of Tamanrasset in the heart of the Coggar
region# + will sell my camels, build a small hut, %lace the ,lessed =acrament in
the tabernacle and settle with the intention of staying at least through the autumn
and winter2 "fter a lot of thought, + %refer Tamanrasset which is &uite central
and at the same time not likely to be near any future military installations or near
a telegra%h line2 "nd + will stay instead of heading back north as + had originally
%lanned# + am able to stay now, but if + leave + may not be able to come back#
This o%%ortunity seems to be a gift from Aod which should be taken advantage
of2 + will build a very small house, two rooms, two meters by two meters, one a
cha%el and the other my cell#4
=o that day he decided not to return Iorth with the military detachment but to
settle in Tamanrasset, reserving the final decision for when he would see the %lace# This
is the first time that he e$%licitly mentioned Tamanrasset# (e are led to conclude that
that this had been a to%ic of conversation with 7ousa agg "mastan, who also had some
ideas about this hamlet near to where he often made cam%#
They stayed in the village of Tit, about BH kms from Tamanrasset, from the 6
th
to
the 1H
th
of "ugust# Ce wrote five letters there# The %revious year, on 7ay 26
th
1HB, he
had ho%ed to settle there and noted his thoughts on the sub*ect6 either among the cliffs
along the right side of the wadi where there was enough arable land to eventually
establish a fraternity or on the to% of the mountain6
The first %lace has the advantage of being immediately inhabitable# +t would only
take a little time and work to fi$ it u% and it would be easily accessible# +t could
easily become a fraternity if one were to be established thereG 2 the second %lace
has the advantage of being far from %eo%le and noise and would therefore %rovide
solitude with A95#4
"fter discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each, he continued6
7ay the =%ouse tell me in which of the two %laces he desires me to settle today#
Today and in the future, Uif you can, establish yourself in the first %lace, in the
grotto which so resembles ,ethlehem and Ia/areth# Nou will have both the
11
%erfection of imitating me and that of charity# Concerning recollection, it is love
that must recollect you in me and not distance from my children# =ee me in them
and as + did at Ia/areth, live close to them, lost in Aod# +n these cliffs where +
myself have led you in s%ite of yourself, you will imitate where + lived in
,ethlehem and Ia/areth, the imitation of my whole life in Ia/areth, in charity
towards those who live there and towards travelers because you will be accessible
to them# +t will be a charity towards your com%anion by lessening his fatigue#
There will be recollection by avoiding the distractions of a lengthy construction
on the mountain# There will be %overty by avoiding construction costs# There
will be humility in having, as + did, a humble, %oor and hidden dwelling, instead
of one that will be seen from afar# Caving more contact with others, there is the
ho%e of doing more good# There is the ho%e of having brothers come and live
there, increasing and becoming a true fraternity# "nd finally, and this is
enormous, you will &uickly have the %resence of the 7ost ,lessed =acrament in
the tabernacle as you will &uickly be able to set u% a cha%el4
+f we %ut this together with what he wrote on July 22, 1H? on the feast of =t
7ary 7agdeleine, we see that he had clearly taken a new ste% in understanding Ia/areth,
and the im%lications for his vocation# ,rother Charles reali/ed that the -ule that he had
written in 1!, even though he had corrected it several times, was not ca%able of guiding
a life whose dynamic would henceforth be dictated by the 1%rovisional#4 This
1%rovisional &uality4 of his life is reflected in what are unusual words for him that we
find in a letter that he wrote to 7arie de ,ondy on "ugust 6
th
6
1+ think that + will settle for several months, maybe longer, in the village of
Tamanrasset in this area2 + had tried to find a s%ot last year, without successG
this year it looks like it will work O2P#
=o + will most likely settle there at least through the summer, fall, winter and
maybe much longer6 + will settle without making any %lans6 on the one hand, + am
not the one to make any decision about it# That0s u% to Father Cuvelin and ,isho%
Au.rinG on the other hand, so many things ha%%en and we can hardly see what the
future will bring3 O2P (ill + go back to ,eni "bbLs) (hen) 2+ really don0t
know2+ will try to do for the best at each moment, without making any %lans#4
/ettled in Tamanrasset
Ce arrived in Tamanrasset on "ugust 11, 1H?, having cam%ed for the night *ust
2H kms away# Ce wrote in his Iotebook6
1+ have chosen Tamanrasset, a village of 2H cam%fires in the heart of the Coggar
mountains and of the 5ag'Ahali, the ma*or tribe of the area, far from any si/eable
village# + don0t think that there will ever be a military %ost here, nor telegra%h,
nor Duro%eans, nor mission in the foreseeable future# + have chosen to settle in
this forsaken little corner, asking Jesus to bless this %lace where + ho%e to have as
12H
my only e$am%le his life at Ia/areth# 7ay he deign, in his love, to convert me,
to make me into what he wants me to be, to hel% me to love him with my whole
heartG To love Cim, obey Cim, imitate Cim as much as %ossible in every instant of
my life3 C9- +D=Q =acratissimum2adveniat regnum tuum3 9ur Lady of
>er%etual Cel%, carry me in your arms# =aint 7ary 7agdeleine, =aint Jose%h, +
%lace my soul into your hands#4
Taken by the %lace and the climate, he wrote to ,isho% Au.rin on "ugust 1:
th
6
1Tamanrasset is in the middle of mountains at about 12HH to 1?HH meters altitude#
+t is in the heart of the Coggar region and will never become a big center, have a
military garrison nor telegra%h office, etc# +t is isolated and does not have much
water# There are about fifteen %oor haratin families# +t is in the middle of the
%astureland where some of the 5ag Ahali, the largest and most im%ortant tribe of
the Coggar, are always cam%ed# The climate is %erfect, like summers in Touraine
or "n*ou#4
9n the same day, 7ousa re*oined the e$%edition, cam%ed in the =ersouf (adi
which runs %er%endicular to the (adi of Tamanrasset# The amenokal was ha%%y to learn
that the marabout had decided to settle in this village rather than elsewhere and this
confirms the fact that it was his idea in the first %lace# ,rother Charles wrote to 7arie de
,ondy the same day6
1Tomorrow + will begin to build my hut6 + don0t know how long + will be here2
The Aood Lord has made everything ha%%en so easily that + see that it is really his
will2 7ay it be blessed2 +t is no small grace that Jesus has given me in letting
me settle here6 For centuries it has been such a closed region32 + must be faithful
to such a grace and do the good that is e$%ected of me2+ will be the only
Duro%ean here# The authorities are convinced that there is no danger and that the
country is com%letely submissive and %eaceful#4
9n 7onday, the 1B
th
, he began %re%aring the foundation for his house# Ce chose a
%lace a little a%art from the other huts and gardens on the north side of the village# From
what he wrote we might be led to believe that all the %roblems had been resolved# ,ut it
is *ust at this moment that some difficulties became a%%arent# 7ousa had called for a
meeting of the 5ag Ahali# 7any came and they hardly shared the enthusiasm of the
amenokal who had thought that it would be a sim%le matter for them to acce%t the
%resence of the marabout# 7ousa obviously managed to convince them of the usefulness
of his %resence among them, but the 5ag Ahali were not willing to share the water from
their foggaras with this stranger# Ca%tain 5inau$0s notes give us some insight into the
com%le$ity of the issue6 a vegetable garden and fruit trees are not watered like a field of
wheat or sorghum# (e can only imagine the discussions on the economic im%act that
could have led to the failure of both 7ousa0s and Charles de Foucauld0s %ro*ects#
9n "ugust 1?
th
, a day when he did not work, ,rother Charles wrote a beautiful
%rayer of abandon to the 7other of the Coly Family6
121
17ost Coly Tirgin, + give myself to youG 7other of the Coly Family, hel% me to
live the life of the divine Family of Ia/areth# Let me be worthy to be your child,
to be the child of =t# Jose%h, the true little brother of 9ur Lord Jesus# +nto your
hands + commend my soul, + give you all that + am so that you can make of me
that which is most %leasing to Jesus# +f + should make some s%ecial resolution,
hel% me to make it# Carry me# + only desire one thing6 to be and do what %leases
Jesus the most at every instant# + give and confide to your care, ,eloved 7other,
my life and my death#4
Finally, 7ousa gave in to the 5ag Ahali, and %ro%osed to the marabout that he
abandon the idea of settling in Tamanrasset# +nstead he suggested that he settle in
Dnnedid where they could dig a common foggaras E+ can0t find a word for this in
LarousseF# ,ut it was no small thing to change the marabout0s mind# Ce had chosen
Tamanrasset and wanted to stay# The reasons that led him there blocked him from seeing
any other solution# +n the end a com%romise was reached# They would move him to the
other side of the wadi which was not 5ag Ahali land# There he could dig a well and have
a garden without bothering anyone# Ce would furthermore be safer on that side since
grou%s often cam%ed towards the southern edge of the village# >aul Dmbarek, who had
hel%ed build the foundations on the north side, only remembered the security &uestion to
e$%lain the move#
9n the 1@
th
, they chose a site with 7ousa and began the foundations on the 1!
th
#
9n the 1
th
,rother Charles set the first foundation stone to his house which would be si$
meters long and 1#@? meters wide# +t was built with a combination of earth and stone#
"fterwards he built a /eriba, a hut of reeds, E(e have no idea of U/eriba0 in Dnglish2
donc le %etite %hrase en %lusF which was used as %arlor, dining room, kitchen, bedroom
for >aul, and for hos%itality#
" new life was beginning, a new way of living Ia/areth without a monastic
enclosure# Ce was far from imagining that only eleven years later his short life would
end in this village where he had come for some undetermined amount of time#
1ie in Tamanrasset
122
Charles de Foucauld0s life in Tamanrasset alternated between travel and times of
settled life# 5ividing the eleven years into five %eriods can give us a better overview of
his life in the Coggar# -emember that a long tri% south and through the Coggar in 1HB,
and a shorter one in 1H?, %receded his time in Tamanrasset#
4
st
<eriod( )u&ust 45@8 to July 45@7 AE months
A
nd
<eriod( July 45@7 to :ay 45@5 AE months
E
rd
<eriod( June 45@5 to :ay 4544 AE months
D
th
<eriod( :ay 4544 to =o!ember 454E E4 months
8
th
<eriod( +ecember 454E to +ecember 4546 E6 months
5uring the first %eriod, a tri% north took him as far as ,eni "bbLs and then to
"lgiers# Ce started back with a com%anion brother whom he left at +n =alah# Ce stayed
there for a while before making another tour of the =outh which lasted until July 1H@#
12:
T"7"I-"==DT
1: months
Tri% to "lgiers
@ months
Tri% =outh
: months
T"7"I-"==DT
1! months
1
st
Tri% to France
? months
T"7"I-"==DT
1! months
2
nd
Tri% to France
? months
T"7
: months
"=D8-D7
? months
:
rd
Tri% to France
@ months
T"7"I-"==DT
16 months
T"7"I-"==DT
:6 months
The second and third %eriods have a strange resemblance6 both consisted of
eighteen months of settled life in Tamanrasset and five months of travel in France#
The fourth %eriod can be divided into 2: months of settled life, five of which were
in the "sekrem, and a tri% to France that lasted seven months#
Dach of these segments lasted about two years# 9nly the fifth %eriod would last
for three years without travel because of the war#
(e can only summari/e these eleven years which would need to be treated in a
s%ecial way due to the diversity of activity and the relationshi%s which develo%ed#
4
st
<eriod
Caving settled in Tamanrasset since the month of "ugust, ,rother Charles &uickly
reali/ed that he was not going to meet a lot of %eo%le# Ce had desired this 1very secluded
life4 in terms of all of the %eo%le he had left and of the contacts with the military which
had brought him there, but were now gone# +n fact, it was a whole new e$%erience for
him and he felt the %angs of isolation that de%rived him of mail# Then, another form of
solitude im%osed itself# Ce had dismissed >aul Dmbarek whom he had considered as a
catechumen# (ithout him, he was not able to celebrate 7ass, but he %referred to go
without the Ducharist rather than kee% >aul with him# +n fact, >aul, a teenager, was
com%letely lost in a %lace so different from where he had grown u%# Cis behavior left
something to be desired in his em%loyer0s o%inion#
,ut at least ,rother Charles found himself in the midst of a nomadic %o%ulation
with whom he ho%ed to develo% a close relationshi%# +t is what he must have wished for
when he had met 7ousa agg "mastan and felt that they had hit it off# ,ut, in fact, he saw
almost no one6 only a few of the %oor nomads or gardeners from the village who came to
his door# +n a letter to 7arie de ,ondy on 7arch 1!, 1H6 he wrote6
1The time since my letter of January has %assed as a single day6 + see no
Christians and very few of the indigenous %eo%le6 in winter the Tuareg, who are
very sensitive to the cold and are %oorly dressed, don0t travel muchG neither are
they in any hurry to visit me6 the ice has not been broken6 it will take time2 +
have gone no further than a hundred meters from the cha%el#4
5id he miss the 1beehive of activity4 of ,eni "bbLs) +f he did, he had no
intention of re%eating that e$%erience# Ce even made resolutions to limit the amounts of
alms that he distributed since it only attracted large numbers of %eo%le# ,esides, he had
very little to give# Ce %ondered his two e$%eriences of traveling with the military# The
cam%s were numerous, the villages welcoming and it seemed easy to connect with
%eo%le# ,ut did he meet so many %eo%le sim%ly because they covered such a vast
territory) (as the welcome he received not sim%ly the obligatory rece%tion reserved for
the military) Cad he already forgotten that in several %laces the village elders had
refused to allow him to settle down among them, living his life as a monk)
1
1
Charles de Foucauld, Carnet de 9eni bb"s, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1:, %%# 1?H'1?1 EJuly 2th and
"ugust B, 1HBF
12B
=o it was that he &uickly reali/ed that it would be u% to him to 1make a few visits
in the villages and cam%s of the region to reach out to those who don0t come to see me#4
,ut this was not %ossible# Ce was %rohibited from traveling alone because of the
insecurity of the region#
That e$%lains why he had invited his friend, 7otylinski, a s%ecialist in the study
of "rab and ,erber %eo%les, to come for a visit, and why he was so im%atient for his
arrival# 7otylinski would bring several months worth of mail and ,rother Charles would
be able to celebrate 7ass again# Together they could travel throughout the region and see
%eo%le since 7otylinski traveled with a military escort consisting of si$ m.haristes Ea
unit that traveled by camelF#
"s soon as he arrived at the beginning of June 1H6, the two friends began
studying# " hartani from Tamanrasset was their teacher during June and July#
7otylinski went to "balessa from "ugust 2
nd
to the
th
, most %robably
accom%anied by ,rother Charles# 9n the 11
th
, back in Tamanrasset, he was bitten by a
vi%er and treated by one of the m.haristes# Ce wrote to his cousin on the 16
th
6 1+ was able
to be treated right away and so + don0t think there is any danger2 O2P ,ut my foot is
very %ainful and it may still develo% a nasty abscess#4
Ce was therefore forced to give u% the idea of traveling with 7otylinski who was
about to cross the "takor region from (est to Dast# The little e$%edition surely came
across many cam%s as there had been good rains and the %astures were e$ce%tionally
green# 7otylinski was im%ressed by the large numbers of %eo%le that he saw in those
mountains and his re%orts to ,rother Charles overestimated the numbers of %eo%le living
there# ,ecause of this, ,rother Charles always ke%t the im%ression of large
concentrations of nomads there# +t gave birth to his desire to move to that region even
though each time he visited it he saw no one# Ce thought that his e$%erience was the
e$ce%tion#
"s a result of his work with 7otylinski, he found a new manner of studying the
language# Qntil that %oint, he would translate from French into Tamaha&# 7otylinski
taught him to listen to the %eo%le, to analy/e their way of e$%ressing themselves, to write
down their stories and to observe the way that they lived# Together they began collecting
a large number of te$ts which eventually became )extes touaregs en prose #
2
+n ,rother
Charles eyes this would be the basis for any study of the language and a starting %oint for
com%iling dictionaries#
Dven though his foot was not com%letely healed, he took advantage of being able
to travel with his friend in order to go north where he felt that duty called# 9n =e%tember
12
th
, 1H6 they headed for +n =alah, arriving on the :H
th
# 9n 9ct 1
st
he wrote to 7arie de
,ondy 17y foot is nicely healed# Iot only was + able to travel, but + walked a good third
of the way#4 From here they went their se%arate ways, 7otylinski to Constantine and
,rother Charles to ,eni "bbLs# From ,eni "bbLs he continued on to "lgiers to see
,isho% Au.rin# Ce started back with a com%anion, brother 7ichel# They traveled by
way of ,eni "bbLs and then set off for the Coggar# "t the beginning of February 1H@,
they arrived at +n =alah where he bought a house# There he finished his first French'
Tuareg dictionary#
2
Charles de Foucauld and "# de Calassanti'7otylinski, )extes )ouaregsen !rose *dialecte de l3haggar2#
"lger, Carbonnel, 122, Eedited by -en. ,assetF# Critical edition and translation by =alem Chaker, C.lLne
Claudot, 7arceau Aast, Ddisud, "i$'en'>rovence, 1!B#
12?
9n 7arch @
th
he decided to send his com%anion back as he didn0t think he would
be able to go any farther# 9n the 16
th
he received news that 7otylinski had died on
7arch 2
nd
# The following year he %ublished his first dictionary, which he had *ust
com%leted, under his deceased friend0s name even though 7otylinski never knew
anything about it# 9n the 1!
th
he left +n =alah for the Coggar and %oints further south#
This third *ourney in the =outh took them close to the border with 7ali# =%ending
time from "%ril to July 1H@ in the Tuareg cam%s, he collected 6HHH verses of Tuareg
%oetry# Ce s%ent the ne$t nine years working on these te$ts, translating them and
situating them within their historical conte$ts#
9n "%ril 2!
th
he wrote to 7arie de ,ondy6 1+ am very ha%%y with this tri%G we are
going to see many indigenous %eo%le during the month that we remain %ractically
stationary in this region# +t is what + had ho%ed for#4 "nd on 7ay 2!
th
he wrote again6
1+ take advantage of the %resence of many Tuareg in order to get to know them
and to document their language# + bless Aod for this tri% and for these contacts# +
have never had such close contacts before#4
This gave birth to the idea of settling 6HH kms south of Tamanrasset in a region
called Tin \awaten, in addition to the idea that he came u% with the %revious year of
settling in the mountains#
A
nd
<eriod
July 6, 1H@ ,rother Charles arrived back to his hermitage in Tamanrasset# 1+t is
sweet to be back hereG + am well received by the %o%ulation, much more affectionately
than + would have ho%edG little by little they seem to trust me more#4
:
"nd yet, shortly
after his arrival he already wanted to go to +n =alah because of his linguistic work# Cis
thinking was to finish this work as &uickly as %ossible since he felt that it troubled his
life# "t +n =alah he could work with his teacher# ,ut finally he found a better one in
Tamanrasset, a man by the name of ,a Cammou, of whom he wouldn0t want to be
se%arated#
Dven though he made %lans to travel, he s%ent the ne$t eighteen months stable in
Tamanrasset# This was surely one of the most im%ortant %eriods of his life in the =ahara
because of his illness in 1H!# (e will come back to that later#
"t the beginning of 1H he returned to France for the first time since 1H1#
(hile in >aris he went to visit Father Cuvelin and shared his %lans to settle in the
mountains to the =outh of Tamanrasset# Father Cuvelin, who had taken to leaving his
directee free to follow the 1instincts4 which urged him from within, a%%roved of and
encouraged his %lans# Ce was gone from the Coggar for only five months, including
ra%ids sto%overs in ,eni "bbLs on the way to and fro#
E
rd
<eriod
:
LM9, July @, 1H@#
126
,rother Charles returned to Tamanrasset on June 11, 1H and remained there for
eighteen months# 1+ have %icked u% where + left off, as if there had been no interru%tion,
e$ce%t for more visits the first day#4 ELM9, June 1B
th
F Ce had entered into the life of the
%eo%le of the Coggar and this eighteen'month %eriod would be &uite different than
before# The mail had taken on some degree of regularity# There were more fre&uent
visits from the military as well as nearly daily visits from the nomads#
17y life has not changed in any way, cloistered life in Tamanrasset,4 he wrote to
-egnault on "%ril 11, 11H# ,ut he wrote this at 2HH kms distance from his 1cloister,4
during the second of the tri%s that he took during this %eriod# The first took %lace at the
end of "ugust 1H# Ce wrote to 7arie de ,ondy about it on =e%tember 2
nd
6
1+ am not writing to you from Tamanrasset but from a neighboring village2
La%errine is s%ending two weeks visiting the villages and cam%s in radius of 12H
kmsG + am traveling with him since it is an occasion to meet many %eo%le, which
is very im%ortant#4
The goal was always the same but only served to fuel his desire to live among
those whom he didn0t see in Tamanrasset# 9n June 1B, 1H he wrote to Father Cuvelin6
1The %ro*ects for the other two hermitages among the Tuareg, which you advised
me to found, are in good sha%e# The goal is to create more relationshi%s with the
tribes# + can only thank Aod for it#4
+n reality nothing had ha%%ened# Ce visited the "sekrem during the first two
weeks of =e%tember 1H# 9n 9ctober 1:
th
he wrote to 7arie de ,ondy about both
%ro*ects6 the first located ?HH kms south and the second 1HH kms east of Tamanrasset#
,ut on 9ctober :1
st
he wrote to her again from Fort 7otylinski, asking for money
to build two hermitages seemingly in different %laces6 1one in the mountains about 6H
kms from Tamanrasset and the other 6HH kms southwest#4 +n fact, they were the same
%laces but he had corrected his calculations# The first one must have been the "sekrem#
+t was built in 7ay'June 11H, without him even being there#
11H was a year marked by de%artures# Cis friend La%errine returned to France
and three other friends died6 ,isho% Au.rin in AhardaSa, Lacroi$ in "lgiers, and Father
Cuvelin in >aris#
,rother Charles left Tamanrasset for his second tri% to France at the beginning of
January 111# Ce had three goals6 to meet his new ,isho% in "lgiers, to start a
confraternity that he had been %lanning for two years and to do whatever he could to find
a com%anion# Ce was gone for five months#
D
th
<eriod
Ce wrote to 7arie de ,ondy on 7ay 2
nd
during the *ourney back to Tamanrasset,
sharing his %ro*ects for the future6 1+ should be in Tamanrasset by tomorrow# +0ll s%end
about ten days there before leaving for the "sekrem where + will move into your country
house#4 +n fact, he only made it there on July 6
th
, accom%anied by ,a Cammou# ,esides
12@
the necessary books and manuscri%ts, they took with them enough su%%lies to last two
%eo%le for si$teen months#
Cis table became %iled high with thousands of sheets of notes, constantly reread
and corrected# (hen the first blast of cold weather arrived he was sur%rised that he had
trouble dealing with it and attributed his fatigue and fever on the lack of eggs and
vegetables# Dventually he came to reali/e that the e$cessive amount of work was the
cause# ,a Cammou did not wait until that %oint to com%lain# Dver since they had arrived,
he groaned about it, and now he threatened to leave# "t the beginning of 5ecember,
,rother Charles finally decided to return to Tamanrasset and to sto% working# Ce was
e$hausted#
They reached Tamanrasset on 5ecember 1?
th
and he did not go back to work until
January 112# Cis time was totally taken now with %rayer and with receiving visits from
his neighbors who were now becoming old friends# That is what he told 7arie de ,ondy
in a letter written 5ecember 2?
th
# Ce had written to her to ask for financial hel% to ease
the misery of those around him6 1+ found Tamanrasset and the %eo%le of the area in a
frightening state of misery# + thought it my duty to give much more alms than + had
antici%ated#4
"fter going back to work he wrote6 1This dictionary is so long3 The more + learn
the more + see that + don0t know# +t is the story of each day#4 7arch :1
st
he wrote to
7arie de ,ondy, 1the dictionary is taking much more time than + had imaginedG if my
calculations are correct it will take me another five or si$ months#4 ,ut there was more
to it than sim%ly a dictionary and on 7ay 16
th
he acknowledged, 1+ will not have really
finished before three or four years#4 Ce worked less intensely as he was often interru%ted
by visits and he also was able to visit more easily in the village#
9n "%ril 2!, 11: he left Tamanrasset for his third tri% to France# Ce took with
him a young "ragous by the name of 9uksem, the second son of his friend, Chikat#
9n =e%tember 2!, 11: they sailed from 7arseilles# They were back in
Tamanrasset on Iovember 22
nd
, having %assed by way of "lgiers, AhardaSa, Dl Aolea, +n
=alah and Timimoun, both coming and going#
8
th
<eriod
"fter his tri% to France he s%ent three very stable years in Tamanrasset both in his
desire to finish his linguistic work and because of events that were taking %lace# +t was
&uite different from the %receding %eriods in that it was totally linked to life in the
Coggar# Iothing seemed strange to him anymore# 5es%ite himself, he was something of
an attraction both to the Tuareg as well as to the Duro%eans who %assed through the
region# Ce often re%eated how sweet he found friendshi%s# ,ut he was e&ually firm,
even rigid, when it came to &uestions of the common good# That is what others said and
what we see reflected in his letters# Ce also was attuned to what was going on around
him, in %articular the needs of "frica and the duties of Duro%e# Ce felt called to a
universal mission and did not sto% working for the foundation of the 1Qnion4 that he
wished to found# Ce had managed to enroll B %eo%le during his last tri% to France#
9n =e%tember :
rd
the mail brought word that Aermany had declared war on
France on "ugust :
rd
# ,rother Charles ke%t working ten hours and forty'five minutes a
12!
day# Ce made steady %rogress on a clean co%y of his Com%lete French'Tuareg
5ictionary# January 1, 11? he was on %age 1,1HH# Ce finished on June 2B
th
6 a total of
2,H2! %ages# (e will not discuss this work
B
in detail here, but it occu%ied the ma*ority of
his time# "nd although he re%eated that it was his duty to remain in Tamanrasset, he
began asking himself if he should not *oin in the war effort and *oin the soldiers#
"t the beginning of 11? he was again sick with scurvy, but recovered fairly
&uickly# Ce became %reoccu%ied with the insecurity caused by raiding %arties# Ce more
and more felt the need for some kind of fortified warehouse or fort where the %eo%le from
the village could take refuge# They began making dried bricks on June
th
ne$t to the
%lace where the chief of the 5ag Ahali had chosen for its construction# The building
began on "ugust 1@
th
# >aul Dmbarek, who had been working for him again since 11B,
hel%ed as well as the %eo%le from the village# They did it all themselves without any hel%
or financing from the military# Cis neighbors asked him to move into it, and he did so on
June 2:
rd
, 116# Cis %ermanent %resence there would make it easier for them to use in
case of need and he would also 1be closer to them#4 Ce continued co%ying the Tuareg
>oetry which he finished on Iovember 2!
th
, three days before his death#
,ut new threats were being felt from the =enoussi ,rotherhood who were waging
a holy war from Tri%olitania Enorthwestern LibyaF# "rmed insurgent grou%s were on the
move# +t was one of these grou%s, o%erating around Tamanrasset on 5ecember 1
st
116,
that would be res%onsible for Charles de Foucauld0s death#
?
/tren&th in *eakness
+ want to s%end some time on a very s%ecial moment in Charles de Foucauld0s life
in the =ahara# +t re%resented a new e$%erience for him# +t was a conse&uence of a
voluntary choice that he had made to imitate Christ in his %overty and to live close to
B
"ntoine Chatelard wrote on this sub*ect, 1Charles de Foucauld, linguist or e$%ert des%ite himself#4 >aris,
+I"LC9, Rtudes et 5ocuments berbLres, X1:, 1?, %%#1B?'1@@# There0s a list of the linguistic works of
Charles de Foucauld in the annotated bibliogra%hy at the end#
?
This last %eriod of his life as well as the circumstances surrounding his death were develo%ed in a recent
book by "ntoine Chatelard, =La Mort de Charles de Foucauld,4 >aris, 8arthala, 2HHH#
12
men and women who were %oor# +t was an unantici%ated situation of inesca%able and dire
%overty that led the hermit of Tamanrasset to take a further ste% towards communion with
others#
/ickness
7onday January 2H, 1H!6 Ce was living in his house to which he had recently
added a room# +t was now eight meters long by 1#@? meters wide# Ce had a cha%el, his
bed, his desk, his library and his %a%ers# "nd now he was unable to move from his bed#
The slightest activity left him unable to breathe# Ce felt that the end was near# Ce wrote
in his Iotebook, 1=ick# 7ust interru%t my work# Jesus, 7ary and Jose%h, + give you my
soul, my s%irit and my life#4
Ce was fifty years old, at the halfway %oint of his life in the =ahara E1H1'116F#
Ce would live another eight years# =ince the beginning of the year he had been very
tired, sle%t %oorly and had lost his a%%etite# Ce did not know what was wrong with him
and blamed the cold, the heavy workload and lack of slee%# Ce had scurvy, a form of
malnutrition that %roduces anemia# +t is not sur%rising since his diet contained no meat,
no fresh foods and not much in the way of vegetables# Ce had had a large enough stock
of wheat and dates, but when he returned from his tri% in July, seeing how hungry the
%eo%le were, he gave away his %rovisions without kee%ing enough for himself#
1This has been a hard year for the country# There has been no rain these %ast 1@
months# +t means total famine in a country that de%ends on milk, where the %oor
%ractically only have milk# The goats are as dry as the earth and the %eo%le as dry
as the goats#4
1
(e are reminded of a meditation that he had written in Ia/areth6
1=hare, share, share everything with them Ethe %oorF and give them the best of
what we have# +f there is not enough for two, give them everything# (e are
giving to Jesus# O2P "nd if, without dying, we become ill because of what we
gave to Jesus through his members, what a blessed and ha%%y illness it would be3
(e should feel ha%%y, favored, %rivileged, graced by AodG what bliss to be ill for
such a reason#4
Ce had thought about *ust such a circumstance long before# 5id he remember)
"ccording to his ascetical theories, the less one ate the more %erfect one was# 15o not
worry about one0s health or life more than a tree worries over a leaf that falls,4 he wrote
while in his hermitage at Ia/areth# Iow he was beginning to see things differently# 9n
January @
th
he wrote to La%errine asking for %rovisions, including concentrated milk and
wine# (hen La%errine received his letter two weeks later at +n =alah he understood that
the situation was serious# Ce wrote to ,isho% Au.rin on February :
rd
, 1+0m going to yell
at him and + give myself %ermission on your behalf to tell him that %ennance which leads
1
LM9, July 1@, 1H@
1:H
to suicide is not acce%table#4
2
Ce wrote again later, 1+ sent him a re%rimand as + strongly
believe that his e$aggerated %enances have %layed a big %art in this fatigue, and too much
work on the dictionary did the rest#4
:

The e$cessive amount of work that he was doing was a factor# 9ver the %revious
three months he e$hausted himself trying to finish translating the %rose te$ts that he
inherited after 7otylinski0s death# Ce actually reworked the entire collection with ,a
Cammou, 1a very intelligent and talkative Tuareg,4 working from morning until night,
about eleven hours a day# The student sim%ly became e$hausted by such a rhythm#
Conse&uently, during the month of January they were only able to work a few hours a
day# (ould all this work, the thousands of %ages arranged on his table, remain unfinished
and be lost)
1oneliness( solitude o the heart
There may also have been %sychological reasons that contributed to his illness#
Charles de Foucauld had only seen two Duro%eans over the last si$ months6 7# 5ubois,
an ethnologist, visited in 9ctober, and a Lieutenant Cal%hen, in 5ecember# These were
the only two outside visitors that he received in the course of eleven months# That meant
that the mail was only rarely %icked u%, that those carrying the mail were not always very
reliable, and that incoming mail was even less fre&uent# 9n January @
th
he received the
first and only letter from his cousin during this %eriod, although she had been writing to
him faithfully every two weeks# 5e%rived of the %recious su%%ort of her affection, he
renewed the offering that he had made many years before when they se%arated# Ce
recalled that event in a letter that he wrote back to her6
1+ am writing to you early on this January 1?
th
, the anniversary of the last time
that, side by side, we received the eternal ,eloved# 7ay we, dear mother, be
reunited at Cis feet in heaven3 Nou must feel how close + am to you today# +
don0t know if it would be true to say that + am closer to you than on any other
dayG + am very close to you every dayG but today, it is with dee%er emotion that +
recall the last hours of that day eighteen years ago, and with the ho%e that, des%ite
my sins and failings, the ,eloved will not eternally %ush me away, because on that
day + really did give him my all2 7ay Jesus bless you, my dear mother, may he
give back to you the blessing that you gave to me that day, and may he be your
eternal %ortion in the heavenly homeland34
The wound of se%aration remained as o%en as on the first day# Ce knew that he
would never see her again and that the sacrifice would continue until the very end# Cad
that end arrived) (hat gave him ho%e and %eace was the knowledge that he had given to
Aod, with com%lete detachment, the most %recious thing that he could offer# Ce never
sought to mitigate his sacrifice and he knew that Aod would not re*ect him#
Ce had never felt so keenly the isolation that se%aration from his loved ones
im%osed# To understand the measure of such an absence we need to know how im%ortant
corres%ondence was to him# +t was the only way he had for e$%ressing himself, of
2
-en. ,a/in, Charles de Foucauld,explorateurau Maroc, ermite au Sahara, >aris, >lon, 121, %# :??#
:
5p% cit%, %# :??#
1:1
sharing and communicating# Iothing from Father Cuvelin, not one letter for the last two
years# =olitude is very heavy when it is not desired# (e should not too easily refer
ourselves to what he wrote to his cousin two years before in order to reassure her about
his lonely conditions# Ce knew, as he had known in 1H?, that one is never alone when
in the %resence of Jesus in the ,lessed =acrament, the best friend with whom one can
s%eak day or night# ,ut at this moment he needed to hear someone s%eak to him, to hear
the friendly voice of a brother or sister# Ce felt as alone as he had when he was in
7orocco, when he felt death *ust as close as he did this day# 1Iever another Christian
with whom to s%eak,4 he com%lained back then# There was no comfort in telling himself
that now it was for the glory of Aod and not for his own glory#
Isolation
Ce was even more disa%%ointed that none of his neighbors had come to see him
during the last months# The village %eo%le, about forty of them who lived there and had
their gardens, had &uickly e$hausted his %ossibilities of giving alms# They had no more
reason to go to his %lace# The nomads who were scattered throughout the area because of
the drought showed no urgency to visit him either, and it wasn0t because of the cold
weather, as he would have liked to believe# 9ut of discretion and es%ecially because it
was a %rinci%le for him, he did not venture beyond his own three little huts which
symbolically re%resented his 1cloister#4
"nd yet he had come to these mountains to be with a %eo%le to whom he believed
he had been sent# 5uring the travels of the %receding years he had met numerous men
and women where the %astures brought them together# Ce had %ondered moving to what
he felt might be a more central location6 6HH kms further south near Tin \awaten, or
higher in the mountains where the nomads were drawn by the coolness and the rain# "ll
his efforts to draw closer to the %eo%le had been in vain and there were so few %eo%le
nearby#
Dven worse, his very %resence seemed to have %rovoked an +slamic reaction#
7ousa agg "mastan, the amenokal of the "haggar, had also settled near the village# Ce
was thinking of making Tamanrasset his 1ca%ital#4 (ith remarkable religious /eal he
wanted to transform the village into a true +slamic center# Ce called for the Tolbas from
Touat to come and teach the 8oran and "rabic# +n the eyes of the marabout, they s%read
ill'will towards everything French and Christian# Furthermore, 7ousa began collecting
money in order to build a mos&ue and a /aouSa#
)n&uish o!er the sal!ation o others
+n such a state of %hysical and emotional e$haustion, his worry over the salvation
of others became a veritable anguish# Ce saw the %owers of Dvil at work against him and
his mission# Ce wanted to work toward the salvation of these men and women who were
so close to him, and yet so far2 and he felt unable to do anything more# Ce thought of an
idea that came to mind during his last retreat in =e%tember6 since %riests and religious had
not res%onded to his a%%eals or %rayer, should he not reach out to the laity) Could he not
get %eo%le thinking about their Christian duty towards the %eo%les that had been
1:2
coloni/ed) Ce even thought of having a book written about this# Iow he began thinking
of creating an association of laity and clergy who would hel% each other in the
accom%lishment of this duty# ,ut would he not die before even being able to write his
ideas down)
) Bseless 1ie
-educed to a state of utter %owerlessness, he could only attest that his life and
work had been a failure because of his own lack of conversion# =houldn0t he have chosen
a more useful life, or a more favorable %lace for his mission) (hat did he come to do
there) (hat had he done with his life for the last twenty years since his conversion) Ce
had fled to the deserts of the 7iddle Dast to %ut as much safe distance as %ossible
between himself and the world# +n order to save his own life he had sought the %rotection
of a cloister, then the obscurity and solitude of a hermit0s life, far from others and from
the world, in order to live for Aod alone# Aod had brought him out of his sweet solitude
to once again live among others# Ce believed that he had been given a mission to go to
those who were far away, to go where others could not go# 5id he think that he was
better than others, able to do what others were unable to accom%lish)
*ithout the $ucharist
Following his ordination he left for "lgeria in order to carry to others the ,an&uet
of which he had become the servant# (ho was even interested in what he had to share)
(hy did he come back to this country where he could not even celebrate the Ducharist)
+n the last si$ months he had only been able to celebrate five times, taking advantage of
the two Christians who sto%%ed to visit and were willing to assist at his 7ass# =hould he
not have stayed in ,eni "bbLs were he could have celebrated every day) (asn0t that the
most useful thing that he could have done for the salvation of others) Dven on
Christmas, for the first time since his conversion, he was alone and without 7ass#
5es%ite all of that, he had chosen to return and remain among %eo%le who were
seemingly indifferent to his %resence# (hy) (as it his final error) (ho had %ushed him
to make that decision and to *ustify his choice)
=houldn0t he have removed the ,lessed =acrament from the tabernacle before
taking to his bed) (hat would ha%%en if he died) ,ut did he have the courage to
de%rive himself of that one %resence that he considered at the very source of his life) Ce
firmly believed that the sacramental %resence had a %hysical effect on the world around#
The tabernacle was *ust a few meters from his bed and that closeness was very
meaningful to him# Ce never believed that he had %ermission to receive communion
alone# Ce did ask himself the &uestion# Ce ho%ed to obtain %ermission to celebrate the
Ducharist alone, even though no one had ever received such %ermission before# Jesus is
the 7aster of the +m%ossible# This de%rivation was at such odds with everything he
formerly believed that he didn0t even dare s%eak of it to his family and friends#
Fortunately for him, he was unaware of the future6 *ust a few weeks later he learned that
he did not even have %ermission to reserve the ,lessed =acrament in the tabernacle as
1::
long as he was alone# Ce removed the ,lessed =acrament, like a death in his soul# 9ver
the ne$t si$ years the tabernacle remained em%ty# Ce must have reconsidered his
convictions and %rinci%les since he decided to stay on alone in the end#
I abandon mysel to you
Charles de Foucauld did not have the 1%rayer of abandon4 that his disci%les later
gleaned from his writings# ,ut, under different forms, it was, at this hour, his only %rayer#
Ce had so intensely desired the moment when he would meet his ,eloved brother
and Lord face to face, and yet now he was des%erately clinging to the shred of life that he
still had# Cis desire to live only grew stronger# Ce had never had as many reasons to
want to live# Ce couldn0t die like that with no one to continue his work# There was so
much to do for these men and women#
The Tuareg were aware of their res%onsibility towards their guest and, with their
limited means, did all that they could to save his life# =omething ha%%ened that day,
something difficult to measure but that had a real im%act u%on Charles de Foucauld as
well as u%on the %eo%le# 1They searched among all the goats in a radius of four kms to
find a little bit of milk in the midst of this terrible drought#4
B
1They were very good to
me#4
?
Ce was touched by their goodness but did not yet reali/e the im%ortant change that
was taking %lace in his relationshi% with the %eo%le, and of the real conversion that was
ha%%ening within his own heart#
Too rich
+ fact he had wanted to be %oor in kee%ing with a monastic ideal and es%ecially
because of his own desire to imitate Jesus who, rich as he was, became %oor# That was
his reference %oint# +n some ways he was living more %oorly than some of his neighbors#
,ut no one ever would have considered him %oorG he ate %oorly, dressed %oorly, but that
had nothing to do with %overty# Cis house was full of things to give away# Ce was there
to giveG it was his role as a Christian marabout# Ce was different from the local
marabouts who collected gifts from %eo%le in e$change for their blessing or their
knowledge# Ce might not have been making large distributions as he had done in ,eni
"bbLsG his almsgiving was %ersonali/ed# Ce could kee% accounts of what he gave away,
whether in money or goods, and we can find in his Iotebook the lists that he made of the
various %oor %eo%le# ,ut he remained the benefactor, ready to hel% and give to each one
according to their need#
Ce gave away what was his own, his %ossession, asking his family to send it for
the %oor# Ce considered himself the Father who, according to =t# >aul, must give and not
receive Ehe wrote about this in 1H: while in ,eni "bbLs concerning the "rab "ffairs
9fficeF# +n 1HB, in his account of how one should travel in the =ahara, he had written
si$ %ages giving detailed advice about what alms to give Emoney, fabric, foodF according
to the situations Eduring the marches or while staying some%laceF# Ce concluded, as a
B
Letter to ,isho% Au.rin, January 2B, 1H!, in Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances sahariennes, >aris,
Cerf, 1!, %# ?1#
?
LM9, 7arch !, 1H!#
1:B
good missionary, 15on0t acce%t anything, or if you absolutely have to acce%t something
from them, acce%t only small things of little value#4
6
Ce was afraid to feel obligated to
anyone or to be bought# ,ut how can one give without being ready to receive)
Too powerul, too knowled&eable
Ce wanted to be small and a%%roachable# Ce could only see the distance that
se%arated him from those with whom he wished to be close# Ce had come with a military
escort, wondering if the day would come when the %eo%le would see the difference
between %riests and soldiers# 5es%ite his religious garb and his almsgiving, he was still,
even though he had no wea%ons, the re%resentative of a feared foreign administration of
which everyone was sus%icious# +n the eyes of the %eo%le, he re%resented %ower#
5idn0t he come as a con&ueror) Dven if he refused to be called a missionary, this
monk could only think about the con&uest of souls# Ce borrowed the French military
vocabulary of 1a%%rivoisement,4 which means to grow accustomed to, to tame# Ce came
to bring civili/ation and faith, sure of his knowledge and e$%erience# Ce only wanted to
serve and to %romote the common good of the tribes# Ce had a clear %lan for economic
develo%ment and education# Cad he ever thought that he would first have to discover
who the %eo%le of this different civili/ation were, with a faith and culture different from
his own) "s he &uestioned ,a Cammou, he began to enter into a real dialogue but he
was still %reoccu%ied with the idea of sharing his knowledge and beliefs# Cis work set
him on a %ath of attentive listening, the first condition of any true sharing# Cow could he
ask others to listen to him if he was not willing to listen to them)
The situation is re!ersed
9n that day, he had nothing left and was able to do nothing# "nd it was %recisely
at the moment when he was reduced to total %owerlessness, with nothing left to say,
entirely de%endent u%on his neighbors and totally vulnerable to their %ower, that they felt
res%onsible for him and entered into his life# +t took illness to reduce him to such a state
of weakness in order for his hosts to a%%roach him and offer him something on an e&ual
footing# They shared their wealth with him6 a bit of milk to save his life# They offered
their knowledge and what they knew would be the best for him# They did what they were
able to do within their limited means# They didn0t think about it, didn0t calculate the
effect that it might have# They sim%ly did what was normal to his save his life#
January ended on a note of resurrection, with Charles de Foucauld regaining some
of his strength# 9n the :1
st
he received a message from La%errine, announcing that he
had received %ermission to celebrate the Ducharist alone# 1Christmas, Christmas, 5eo
Aratias,4 he wrote in his Iotebook# 9n February 1
st
he said his first 7ass alone# Ce
tried to go back to work but had to give u%# 9nly by mid'February was he able to begin
working on it in the afternoons with ,a Cammou# "t the beginning of 7arch two camels
loaded with su%%lies arrived, four times more than he had re&uested#
6
Charles de Foucauld, Carnet de 9eni bb"s, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1:, %%#116'11@#
1:?
Ce only began kee%ing track of visitors in his Iotebook in 11: but in his letters
we see that beginning with this winter 1H!, more %eo%le began to come to see him# Ce
wrote to his brother'in'law on 7arch 26, 1H!6
1+ am about three or four hundred meters from the huts of the village# + don0t
have any close neighbors and am &uite alone# Cowever, + see &uite a few %eo%le#
They come to see me# + don0t go to see them#4
"t the end of June La%errine wrote the following to ,isho% Au.rin6
1Ce seems &uite well, a %icture of health and liveliness2 9n June 2
th
he
gallo%ed into my cam% like a 2
nd
Lieutenant at the head of a grou% of Tuareg
horsemen# Ce is more %o%ular than ever with them and he a%%reciates them more
and more#4
@
Cis state of weakness and illness allowed him to develo% a new relationshi% with
these %eo%le who would become his friends# +t was a real moment of conversion, a
tremendous ste% forward in sharing# 7aybe he had thought that he could make it without
the reci%rocity that defines real friendshi%, that %recious %earl, 1thing so rare in this
world,4 which would hel% him to live from then on# Ce thought that he had given u%
everything, and he acce%ted to receive the hundred fold# The situation asked him to
em%ty himself, to give u% seeking religious %erfection through his own will%ower, to give
u% his calculated %lans# Ce had to acce%t himself, sto% wanting to be su%erhuman,
become more human beginning by slee%ing and eating enough# Ce no doubt grew in that
humility that im%ressed those who met him#
Ce also began to acce%t others as they were# Ce shared bread and milk with these
men and women but also all of the other things that are a %art of life6 good news and bad
news, %lans, wishes and dis%utes# Ce became the go'between among them# Ce was no
longer satisfied to write down his advice for 7ousa# Ce noted the advice that he received
from 9uksem and others and the information that he learned from ,a Cammou# Ce let
himself be affected by them, he became attached to them, allowing the bonds of
friendshi% to grow# Ce was the one who was being 1a%%rivois.,4 tamed# Ce shared the
ideas of his day concerning +slam# Ce did not think that it could stand u% historically or
%hiloso%hically, as he wrote to a %riest of Tersailles on June
th
# ,ut he also said, 1The
more + see, the less + think that we should e$%ect to make conversions for the moment#4
That same year a >rotestant 5octor by the name of 5autheville re%orted hearing him say6
1+ am not here in order to convert the Tuareg %eo%le but to try to understand them
O###P Nou are >rotestant, TeissLre has no religious faith at all, the Tuareg are
7uslim# + am convinced that Aod will welcome all of us if we deserve it#4
!
) parable o the rei&n o %od
@
-en. ,a/in, Charles de Foucauld, explorateur au Maroc, ermite au Sahara, >aris, >lon, 121, %# :6H#
!
L.on Lehurau$, u Sahara a#ec le !% Charles de Foucauld, >aris, =t# >aul, 1B6, %# 11?#
1:6
Charles de Foucauld did not measure the im%ortance of this event nor its
significance# Can we do so for him, and at the same time discover a %arable of the -eign
of Aod, a light for his life and ours) They did not s%eak about 1reading the signs of the
times4 back then, nor of discerning the signs of the 8ingdom of Aod in order to
recogni/e the =%irit at work in the heart of each %erson# "nd yet it seems that this man
e$celled in doing *ust that, even if he e$%ressed it in a language that is not familiar to us#
Ce was not %reoccu%ied with it nor was it within his theology to make those observations#
,isho% Au.rin, however, wrote to ,isho% Livinhac in Iovember 1HB about Charles de
Foucauld saying, 1like all those who allow themselves to be led by the =%irit, he has a
marvelous a%%reciation of circumstances#4 (as it not the charity of a Tuareg woman that
led him to want to go to the Coggar in the first %lace)
+f he did not recogni/e the im%ortance of what he was in the %rocess of living,
maybe it was because these realities of the -eign of Aod are not easily gras%ed# They are
hidden, like the grain of wheat in the earth and the yeast in the dough# +t is hard to say
that it is here or there, when it is among us and within us# The littleness of these signs,
their a%%arent insignificance, is characteristic6 a little milk, a %iece of bread# +t makes us
think of the %oor widow who gave all that she had to live on# +t wasn0t much3 (e think
of the child who gave a few loaves of bread to feed a hungry crowd# +t was the
insignificant gesture that made the miracle %ossible#
These signs are hard to gras% because they are so ordinary6 a visit, a word, a
gesture, a smile, tears# +s it not of their very nature to be done unconsciously) 17ay
your left hand not know what the right hand is doing34 1(hen did we feed you)4 +t is
like the lightning that flashes across the sky, as &uick as a glance# ,ut we have seen those
glances that ha%%en between %eo%le, leaving one thunder struck# They are real
encounters with the other, like the way that Jesus glanced at %eo%le and changed their
heart, making it burn within them#
Charles de Foucauld worried about 1giving a good e$am%le#4 +t does not seem
that his calculated efforts had much effect# ,ut everyone s%oke about the effect that he
had on them and to which he gave little thought6 his e$treme goodness, the ha%%iness
that shone from him, his humble gentleness# (e don0t always see this in his writings#
,ut he did remember Father Cuvelin saying that it was not what one did or said that was
im%ortant, but who one was# (hat is the good of worrying when we think we see the
hand of =atan interfering with the work of Aod) (e risk %ulling u% the good %lants along
with the weeds# (hether we slee% or are awake, whether we think about it or not, the
-eign of Aod grows# +t is only on the day of harvest that we will se%arate one from the
other# 7ousa0s %lans were not all bad# +t didn0t take long for him to see that his %lans
were failing because of the dishonesty of those to whom he had confided the collections#
Concerning this event in ,rother Charles0 life, we can see that the sim%le gesture
of hos%itality had an unforeseen im%act# (hen he became the %oor one, the sick one, the
marabout was inviting those who came to his aide to hear one day, 1Come and enter into
the 8ingdomG for + was hungry and you gave me to eat, sick and you visited me#4 +t was
no longer *ust a %arable, it was the reality of the -eign of Aod# +f he had thought of that,
he might have found the comfort that he needed# Ce had anguished so much over how to
bring salvation to them#
+f he was not able to gras% the real significance of what he was living, he did
understand what was most im%ortant# +n his first letter to his cousin following this
1:@
illness, on 7arch !, 1H!, he s%oke about the a%%arent uselessness of so many lives and
of that which was also the life of Jesus at Ia/areth and on Calvary6
1Jesus could have done so much good if he had evangeli/ed %eo%le during the
years of obscurity in Ia/areth# ,ut he thought that he was doing a greater good
by remaining in his silence2 "nd our father OFather CuvelinP, his illness and
crosses kee% him from doing so much good3 Aod must consider that he does
more good by being on the Cross with Jesus2 Two lines from =t# John of the
Cross shed light on this fact#4
Ce went on to &uote =t# John of the Cross, *ust as he would do in a letter that he wrote on
the day he died6
1+t is when we are reduced to nothing that we have the most %owerful means of
uniting ourselves to Jesus and of doing good for soulsG +t is what =aint John of the
Cross re%eats at nearly every line# (hen we are able to suffer and love, we are
doing a great deal, the most that someone can do in this world#4

(e find the same message in something that he wrote in 1!6 while with the
Tra%%ists# +t was a difficult time for him, a time when he totally gave himself over in
obedience# " month later he left the Tra%%ists6
1+t was at the moment when Jacob found himself on the road, %oor and alone,
slee%ing on the bare ground in the desert to get some rest after a long *ourney on
footG it was at the moment when he found himself in that %ainful situation of an
isolated traveler, in the midst of a long *ourney in a wild and foreign land with
nowhere to lay his headG it was at the moment when he found himself in that sorry
condition, that Aod filled him with incom%arable favors#4
1H
(e don0t have any lack of difficult situations which lead us through a kind of
death6 when we lack the vital s%ace that we need to live, when the situation seems
without ho%e, when our com%etence, devotion or /eal become the very obstacles that
block our way# +n such situations it would be hel%ful and a source of ho%e to remember
an counsel from Charles de Foucauld, one which he lived out himself# The %ro%hets tell
us that when a %erson is reduced to the %oint of not being able to do anything more, Aod
intervenes# =t# >aul re%eats that he takes %ride in his weakness because he has learned
from the Lord that, 17y %ower is at work in weakness4 Eor illnessF# (e hear Charles de
Foucauld echo this sentiment when he said, 1The weakness of human means is a source
of strength#4 Ce reaffirmed ho%e in the midst of our fragility and distress#

LM9, 5ecember 1, 116#

1H
Charles de Foucauld, :ui peut rsister ' &ieu B, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1!H, 7#"#T# AenLse 2!, %# @6#
1:!
) new kind o monk with a special mission
+f we refer ourselves to the root of Charles de Foucauld0s vocation, a moment
which, he says, was the same as the moment of his conversion, there is no doubt that he
desired to live a com%letely contem%lative life# Ce wanted to imitate those who, in the
%ast, had gone to live in caves or in the desert in order to live for Aod alone# Ce had no
notion of wanting to live out this life in the midst of the world# +t was *ust the contrary#
+n a desire to 1breathe himself out, to com%letely lose himself,4 this man of action who
had sought to be so effective and %roductive, chose to live for Aod alone without any
other goal# Aiven his tem%erament, there could be no half measure with him# For him, a
life given to Aod had to be lived far from the world, from his world, in the most total
se%aration, distancing himself forever, in silence and cloister# +n order to not draw
attention to himself he had no other choice, therefore, than to enter the monastic life as it
was being lived in the Church of his day# (e can understand that, with Father Cuvelin0s
guidance, he eliminated from his decision'making any form of religious life that
undertook a%ostolic activity or works#
Leaving behind all that was source of his ha%%iness, he se%arated himself from
everyone and chose to de%rive himself of every relationshi% of love, friendshi% or
affection# Ce did so in order to begin a life that was geared to an e$clusive relationshi%
with Aod# +t is im%ortant to underline the e$clusivity of that relationshi%# Ce saw his
%lace in the mission of the Church of the day, a Church that considered Contem%lative
9rders as having a very s%ecial role and invited them to make foundations in mission
countries# (ith this in mind, he e$%ressed his desire to go to live in a non'Christian
country# Ce felt that in living out the absolutes of se%aration and distance from others he
could accom%lish both the commandment to love Aod and to love one0s neighbor# Ce
would work for the salvation of others by no longer being distracted by them and in
seeking only the glory of Aod# (hen he entered the Tra%%ists he was trying to %ut into
%ractice the call that he had heard, the ideal of which he had caught a glim%se in the
streets of Ia/areth during his %ilgrimage of 1!!# Aod had lived in this village of
Ia/areth for thirty years without being recogni/ed# (hat a hidden life3 =uch obscurity3
=uch a humbling3 The Tra%%ist way of life seemed the most in kee%ing with his ideal
because of the manual work# The Tra%%ist monastery at "kbLs fulfilled his desires for
%overty, for going far away from everyone and for life in a 7uslim country#
Caving discovered the life of Jesus, he discovered what he thought his life should
be6 a life totally o%%osed to what it had been u% until that day# Cis life had been one of
wealth, of being notorious and then a celebrity, of self'glorification, and of success that
brought with it being known and recogni/ed wherever he went# Cis life had been filled
with creative and useful %ro*ects# Ce undertook activities that he saw through to the very
end, accom%lishing them with %erfection, %recision and scientific rigor# +f he wanted to
change, he would have to do so by ado%ting %ositions at the other e$treme of the
s%ectrum# =o, having given himself the image of Jesus of Ia/areth as the model for his
life, he could only imagine that it must be a total o%%osite to the life that he had lived
until then#
That insight was totally new for him and would be like the leaven in the dough
that would take over his life# Like salt that gives flavor to food, it would give a s%ecial
flavor to his daily bread# +t would be the force that %ushed him from within in the midst
1:
of the most varied situations and %laces# That same inner urge %ushed him to leave the
Tra%%ists who 1wanted him to move u%4 and where he wasn0t %oor enough# Ce s%ent
seven years faithfully living in a cloister that se%arated him from the world# +t was a
world where %er%etual silence se%arated him from the other monks# +t was a world where
reading, meditation and %rayer alone and in common made him live in another world# +t
was a world where manual work was both a %ious endeavor as well as a means to earning
their living# These years sha%ed a mentality that he was never able to undo# The Tra%%ist
life would always be for him the model and ideal of %erfection and the elements that
made u% the monastic life would always serve as %oints of reference for him# Ce was
never able to s%eak about his own life in other terms# Ce always used the vocabulary of
monasticism to e$%ress what he was living, des%ite the fact that he was a man living
alone, des%ite the fact that he lived out his solitary life in the world and engaged with the
world# =o when he described his life in Tamanrasset he wrote as a monk who fulfilled
the multi%le roles of >rior, sacristan, guest master and %harmacist, etc# +n ,eni "bbLs he
actually built a monastery# Ce even described the house of Jesus, 7ary and Jose%h as if
it were a monastery#
This life of Ia/areth that he 1uselessly sought among the Tra%%ists4 remained the
ideal that guided him over the ne$t years when he lived in the >oor Clare0s garden in
Ia/areth itself# 9nce again he trans%osed, ideali/ed and invented a model for himself
according to what he was living and es%ecially in terms of what he wanted to live with
others# That makes it difficult to find in his writings from that %eriod the seeds of
newness and the originality of his emerging notion of Ia/areth# The -ule that he began
writing in Ia/areth, in which he thought he was laying aside all of the customs and
%ractices of the Tra%%ists, in fact would be an even more detailed series of regulations
than those of the Tra%%ists# +n ,eni "bbLs he called himself a monk and believed that he
was a monk because he had a cloister# (hen he was %re%aring to leave ,eni "bbLs he
wrote6
17y vocation is for the cloister6 + should only leave it for a serious reason# O2P
+f you knew how much + feel like a fish out of water when + am outside of the
cloister32 + am not made to be outside of it#4
1
The following year he also wrote, 1(hen it comes to moving from one %lace to
another or of going outside of the cloister for reasons of health, it is something that good
monks never did and never will do#4
2
,ut all of that did not kee% him from undertaking
one %ro*ect after another, establishing %ious associations, %reaching, distributing alms or
liberating slaves in classic missionary style#
+n moving to Tamanrasset and a totally different situation, ,rother Charles
discovered something new about the life of Jesus of Ia/areth and, therefore, in his own
way of trying to imitate it# Ce could no longer dream about living like a monk in a
cloister# Ce saw Jesus living without a religious habit, without a cloister, working eight
hours a day, not having a lot to give away as alms, and always giving an im%ortant %lace
to %rayer#
1
Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances Sahariennes, >aris, Cerf, 1!# Letter to ,isho% Au.rin
Iovember 2B, 1H:, %# 2:@#
2
LM9, "%ril 11, 1H?#
1BH
=o would his life now be that of a missionary) Io# Ce clearly refused that
notion6 neither a hermit nor a missionary# +n 1H6 he wrote to Father Caron, 1+ am not a
missionary6 the Aood Lord did not give me what it takes to be one# + am seeking to live
the life of Ia/areth here#4 The following year he wrote to ,isho% Au.rin, 1+ am a monk,
not a missionary, made for silence and not for %reaching#4
:
+n refusing the label of
missionary he continued to define himself as a monk, a monk without com%anions, a
monk in mission territory, but 1not a missionary#4 The missionaries of the =ahara were
the (hite Fathers# ,ut he was different from them, and in order to highlight that
difference and defend his identity he always %resented himself as a 1monk#4 (e saw this
in 1H: after the visit of ,isho% Au.rin# Ce said that he would not follow the ,isho%0s
subtle tendency to %ush him into an a%ostolic life6
1Ce has a slight and subtle tendency to %ush me out of my life as a silent and
hidden monk, my life of Ia/areth, to that of a missionary# + will not follow this#
To do so would be a lack of faithfulness to Aod who gave me this vocation of a
hidden and silent life and not that of a man of words# 7onks and missionaries are
both a%ostles but in different ways# + won0t change this# + will kee% to this same
way that + have been faithfully trying to follow4
B
9n the way to Tamanrasset, in the midst of the Tuareg cam%s where he is
com%letely overwhelmed by meeting so many %eo%le and with the work that he wanted to
do, he e$%ressed his concern to Father Cuvelin writing, 1+f + am wrong to be doing this, if
+ should sto% and do something else, tell me and + will obey#4
?
(hen we see how he
lived among the wounded and sick soldiers in Taghit for a month, we see the conflict that
%resented itself between the ideal he had of his vocation and the reality of that which he
was called to live because of the situations# (hen we hear him talking about his horror
of traveling, we are reminded of that 2:'year'old man who rediscovered a meaning to life
thanks to his travels and sense of adventure# (as he not denying his identity when he
said that adventure threw him into anguish and that he had an 1e$treme horror4 of
traveling) (hy) 1,ecause they are not good for the soul and they cause one to be
scattered#4 For him, solitude and the life of Ia/areth are diametrically o%%osed to these
travels through the desert that he considered a form of ministry of which he wanted no
%art#
(hen we read what he says it seems clear and yet it is difficult to be more
com%licated# =o we have to sort through his different motivations# "s we have already
seen, there are those that are %art of one0s nature, those that come from the heart and
those that come from reason# Ce doesn0t seem to have the tools to be able to reread his
life nor to write out his feelings in order to understand them# 7aybe that is why he felt so
torn and why there seems to be such contradictions# +n reality, his choices were much
sim%ler because the duty that seemed at hand was not contrary to his own dee%est desires
and instincts# (asn0t it a sort of ideology that he called his vocation that came between
his duty and his desire)
:
Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances Sahariennes, >aris, Cerf, 1!# Letter to ,A Iovember 2B,
1H:,%# ?2!#
B
L?, June 1H, 1H:#
?
L?, July 1:, 1H?#
1B1
(hen he tried to e$%lain his vocation, he was not able to dissociate his vocation
to the life of Ia/areth from the vocabulary of the monastic ideal in which he had
wra%%ed it u%# This monastic reference %oint only got in the way and com%licated
everything# ,ut it did not kee% him from living and doing what he felt called to do# +t is
what he often said in his letters, 17y feelings, my clear o%inion is that + must24 do this
or that# Conse&uently, his fifteen years in the =ahara is hard to distinguish from the life
of any other missionary# Com%aring their lives to his, the (hite Fathers of his day could
have easily concluded that he did the same things that they did e$ce%t for building
schools and hos%itals# ,ut there is a difference on another level#
+t is clear that he contrasted himself with the (hite Fathers by not wanting to
%reach# ,ut they found themselves in the same situation as Charles de Foucauld# Dven if
they had different methods and goals, they could not %reach there# +t was always clear for
him that %reaching was not his vocation, no matter where he found himself# Ce
distinguished his vocation from the Franciscans and =t# Francis whom he loved so much,
in this way# 15o not %reach with words, like =t# Francis, but in silence#4
=o, there was an essential as%ect to his %ersonal vocation and charism that clearly
se%arated him from other vocations# +t was his vocation to the 1hidden life#4 Ce
e$%ressed it by the word 1obscurity4 which we find over and over again in his writings
and that of Father Cuvelin# +f he chose to enter the Tra%%ists it was in order to remain in
the shadows, unknown, forgetting about his %ast life that seemed to be a &uest for
%ersonal glorification# 9ne of the reasons that he left Ia/areth was because %eo%le knew
who he was# (e see that one of the tem%tations during his time in Jerusalem had to do
with visibility# Dven if he didn0t use that word, that was the essence of it# 1,ack in the
obscurity of Ia/areth4 he thanked his s%iritual director for having saved him6 1Nou are
the one who defended me from these tem%tations O2P to which + would have succumbed
without you#4
6
9f course he fell into the same tra% the following year in the affair with
the 7ount of the ,eatitudes#4 ,ut some good came from it and he discovered the
certitude that, even as a %riest, Aod called him to a hidden life, one in the shadows and
obscurity# Dverything else in him would have %ulled him towards a life that sought
%roductivity, effectiveness, immediate usefulness and visibility#
Today his life would seem to us to be an e$traordinary adventure, whether
s%eaking of his youth, his conversion, his asceticism at Ia/areth or his unusual life in
Tamanrasset# The storybook side of his life might make %eo%le enthusiastic but it can
hide the reality of his daily life and kee% one from seeing the message that was really
central to his life# Cis categorical refusal to acce%t that his name be used in the
%ublication of his linguistic works is e$%lained by his desire to remain in the shadows#
,ut there were valid arguments against doing so from La%errine, as well as from the
scientific community in the %erson of -en. ,asset, and also from Church authorities# +t
is not su%erfluous to %ause on this significant as%ect of his thinking# +t hel%s to e$%lain
the label of 1monk4 which he used to define his %ath#
9n 7ay :1, 1H@ he wrote to ,isho% Au.rin6
1+ asked La%errine to %ublish the Tuareg grammar and French'Tuareg dictionary
which are finished under whatever name he wants, his own, or the name of the
military Commander of the 9ases# The same for the Tuareg'French dictionary
6
L?, February !, 1HH#
1B2
that + am working on and the %oems that + collected# The only condition that +
im%osed was that my name not be used and that + remain com%letely unknown
and unidentified#4
"fter reading that, ,isho% Au.rin reacted by consulting Father Toillard# Ce
brought u% the sub*ect in a letter from =e%tember 1
st
that took eight months to reach
Tamanrasset# Ce wrote a second and then a third which arrived at the beginning of
January, before the first two# +t was during the %eriod of great solitude that began in July
1H@, the %eriod when he received no mail, which led u% to his e$haustion and illness at
the beginning of 1H!#
" few letters arrived in Tamanrasset on January 1?
th
# ,rother Charles received the
letter from ,isho% Au.rin dated 9ctober 1!
th
in which he had written6
1>ermit me to tell you how sorry + am to know that your work on Tamaha& that
you have already sent to -en. ,asset and those still to come would be %ublished
under someone else0s name# "s + was telling you, at the %resent time when
religion is attacked so fre&uently, her children must not, through false modesty,
hide what they have done in her honor#4
Ce added6
1+t would still be %ossible and easy for you to write to the colonel who, as
ourselves, regrets your decision, and to sim%ly sign your dictionaries and
grammar studies6 de Foucauld would not become vain, and the monk would offer
to his mother, the Church, a loving and res%ectful homage#4
9n January 1?
th
, that most im%ortant anniversary, he renewed the offering of his
sacrifice# Cis written res%onse takes on even greater significance when we consider his
state of e$haustion# +t is a long letter but in the middle he wrote6
17y beloved Father, my very dear Father, never, never, never will + %ermit that
anything be %ublished under my name in my lifetime and + will formally forbid
that it be done after my death2 These are not the means that JD=Q= has given us
for continuing the work of salvation in the world2 The means that he used in the
manger, in Ia/areth and on the Cross are these6 %overty, ab*ection, humiliation,
abandonment, %ersecution, suffering, the cross# These are our wea%ons, those of
our divine =%ouse who asks that we allow him to continue his life in us, he the
only Lover O2P the only Truth2 (e will not find a better one and he has not
grown old2 Let us follow this 9nly 7odel and we will be sure to accom%lish
much good since it will not be we who live, but he who lives in usG our actions are
no longer our actions, human and wretched, but his, divinely effective#4
"nd in the %ost'scri%t he came back to it again6
1+t goes without saying, beloved Father, that + am absolute and firm in saying that
they ignore whatever %art + may have had with the little dictionaries, etc, that are
1B:
to be %ublished under 7otylinski0s name# + will take a very dim view of it if,
even after %ublishing it in his name alone, any mention is made of my work on it#
O2P Forgive me, dear, venerated and beloved Father, for coming back to this
sub*ect6 monk, dead to the world, + insist on remaining so com%letely#4
This is what is behind the word 1monk4 for him# +t was not *ust the cloister, even
if he s%eaks like that#
@
The original goal of the cloister for him, besides distance from
others, was to %ut him into that state of obscurity, of being incognito, of not being visible
in any way# ,eing incognito, the absolute desire to remain com%letely unrecogni/ed, was
the new cloister for the learned monk#
The letter that he answered on January 1?
th
was in answer to the last letter written
by ,isho% Au.rin# The two %reviously written letters only arrived a month and a half
later on February 2
th
with the rest of the mail that took si$ to eight months to arrive# +n
,isho% Au.rin0s letter from =e%tember 1
st
he read6
1Coming back to the sub*ect of your linguistic work, Father Toillard also sends
his res%ectful re%roach, or at least his regrets# Ce regrets M and even dares to
re%roach you M he regrets to see you allow your work to be %ublished while you
com%letely efface yourself# +t seems to him that at the %resent moment M given all
of the attacks under which the Church has come M that your humility should give
way before love of and honor for the Church# Ce feels that you should not be
afraid to sign your work as a %riest and a religious# + see that you are %ushing
aside these considerations as being too human# + wonder, however, if it would not
be the wisest and most a%%ro%riate way to give honor to Aod# Think about it and
fight this way of thinking within yourself# (rite to Colonel La%errine and 7r#
,asset and lift the %rohibition that you im%osed about using your name# >ersuade
yourself that you are not the only one involved in this decision# +t is also a
&uestion of the honor of Aod and of the Church, which you love, which needs to
be %rotected and s%read#
Ce received another letter from ,isho% Au.rin dated =e%tember 21
st
in the same
delivery6
1From every %oint of view, your work on the Tamaha& language is very
im%ortant# + can only encourage you to continue working on everything involved
in it# "t the same time, let me again tell you once again that it seems to me that
you should muffle your humility in order to allow the documents which you have
sent to "lgiers to be %ublished under your name, Father de FoucauldG Iot *ust de
Foucauld but Father de Foucauld, unless you think it would be better to use your
religious name, 1,rother Charles of Jesus#4 The %ublication of this work under
this name would be an occasion to %rocure an honor for the Coly Church that
should not be missed# + say these things with even more assurance because + am
transmitting to you the feelings of those who have more authority in these things
than +#4
@
Letter to his brother'in'law, 7arch 26, 1H!6 1They come to see meG + don0t go to see anyone# + remain in
my cloister#4
1BB
These two letters called for a new res%onse to the arguments set forth by ,isho%
Au.rin and Father Toillard# Ce wrote on 7arch 6
th
6
1-egarding the &uestion of signing my name to the linguistic work + have done6
des%ite the authority of Father Toillard, for whom + have res%ectful confidence,
and des%ite your own, + am not changing my mind2 (hat you say would
%robably be true for one of the (hite Fathers# ,ut it is not so for me, vowed to
the hidden life of JD=Q= at Ia/areth, to his obscurity and silence#4
(e see some slight difference between this letter and the %revious one, written
January 1?
th
# Ce did not make generali/ations any more# +n the first he wrote, 1These are
not our ways, these are not our wea%ons#4 +t was for everyone# +n the second letter he
refuted the arguments by sim%ly highlighting that his situation was different6 1(hat you
say would %robably be true for one of the (hite Fathers# ,ut it is not so for me#4 =o he
saw it as a characteristic of his charism# (e also notice that he is as self'assured as the
,isho%# There was not the least hesitation in what he thought was essential# Ce no
longer generali/ed, but sim%ly %ointed to the differences# Ce knew what he needed to do#
,y so energetically resisting the advice of the authorities in this matter, he showed that he
was aware of his %articular %lace in the mission of the Church#
+s this not the uni&ueness of his %ersonal vocation) (hat did he hide under the
label of monk) Ce was not a missionary like the others# Cis means of working for the
honor of Aod were not the same# (hat was valid for others was not so for him because
he was called to a life that was hidden and obscure, like Jesus at Ia/areth# Cis res%onse
to that call was the reason why he had closed himself u% in a monastery and tried to live
in Ia/areth# Iow, he still wanted to res%ond to that call, even through the activities that
resembled those of missionaries, in the elaboration of his scientific work, and in the many
relationshi%s that develo%ed with neighbors and friends# (hat better way to only seek to
glorify Aod than by refusing to satisfy anything that would lead to %ersonal glory# Dven
for the honor of the Church# (e can say that he e$aggerated, but he was always
something of an e$tremist, whether in one direction or the other# +t was %art of his
tem%erament to not be satisfied with the middle ground# Ce had to aim for that which
was the most %erfect# Ce could not do less than what he had done as a young man for his
own %leasure and glory# =o he could not let himself be du%ed by the %ride of authorshi%
that he had en*oyed in his youth, a %ride that his friend, >rofessor Aautier, considered as
1the most venomous of all#4
+f he acce%ted to com%lete this work as %erfectly as %ossible, it was because he
was assured that it would be %ublished under another0s name# "s remarkable as his work
was, it could not give meaning to his life# Ce did not refuse to do the work# Ce only
refused to be noticed in any way, even if it would bring honor to the Church# +n his eyes,
using his name was not the means for honoring Aod# Ce ta%%ed into something that is
central to the Aos%el message6 17ay your left hand not know what your right hand is
doing#4 This was at the heart of his %ersonal vocation# Ce fulfilled his mission in the
church by being faithful to that call# Ce brought to the Church something new, a message
contained in what he called 1the hidden life of Jesus at Ia/areth#4 The Church is like a
1B?
city built on a hill# +t can only be seen# ,ut the tem%tation of doing things to draw the
attention of others, of becoming a s%ectacle, remains &uite real#
!
There is that as%ect of mystery, secrecy, non'visibility and re*ection of the
s%ectacular in Jesus0 life that cannot be ignored# Throughout his entire life, even until his
death, he remained Jesus of Ia/areth# ,rother Charles brought out that as%ect of Jesus0
life, insisting on the obscurity, the incognito of the (ord made flesh, who for thirty years
seemed in the eyes of those around him to be *ust like everyone else# The hidden element
in his life was his uni&ue relationshi% with the Father, his divinity, in other words, his
essence# 5es%ite the a%%earances, Charles de Foucauld remained faithful to his initial
intuition until his death, no matter where he lived, what he did, his %ro$imity or distance
from others#
(ouldn0t it be like %utting the lam% that had been entrusted to him under a basket
if he went along with the o%inions of others, even these %eo%le who had a certain
authority) Ce did not have the right to %ut his light, his %articular mission, his vocation,
under a basket# This thinking hel%ed him to resist the %ressures to give in# Ce did not
s%end a lot of time thinking about the im%lications of his categorical refusal# Ce sim%ly
acted from dee% within himself, guided by his instincts, by an inner urge that flowed from
a source that could not be contained#
9ne could ob*ect that, later on and in a different situation, he did not refuse to
refer to himself as a missionary# ,ut this cannot be understood without taking into
account all that we have *ust said# 5id he come u% with a new label in calling himself a
1monk'missionary)4
(e find it in a letter addressed to Fr# "ntonin Juillet

on 7ay1:, 111# This te$t

has often been cited and it differs considerably from the -ule written in 1!# Ce wrote
it after returning from his second tri% to France# (hile in France he had tried to launch
an organi/ation that would be grafted onto a religious order, 1a sort of third order,4 he
called it# ,ut that religious order was ine$istent and the founder, who by this time had
begun signing his name Ubr# Ch# 5e Foucauld0 instead of br# Charles of Jesus, was
beginning to reali/e that it only e$isted in the writings born from his dreams and his
creative imagination#
The im%ortance given to this te$t is legitimated by the fact that it was written to
be read by others besides Fr# "ntonin who was a Tra%%ist monk of 9ur Lady of the
=nows# Ce was one of a number of monks who desired to live a life somewhat more
a%ostolic than life at the Tra%%ist monastery# Charles de Foucauld0s letter was written to
attract com%anions# Ce tried to show them that the life in Tamanrasset was e$actly what
they were looking for# Ce was not describing what he was living at Tamanrasset but what
could be lived, ideally, if they were two or three together#
+n 1H?, he wrote to invite Fr# Teyras, a secular %riest from IVmes# Ce %ut no
conditions on it6
1+ am not looking for a swarm of souls to enter into a rigid life'style or to lead a
life where everything is regimented2 Io# (hat + am looking for at the moment
is a good'hearted soul, who would agree to share my life, in %overty and
!
Cf#, 7t# 661'?#

(e also find it in a letter that we have already referred to, written to his brother'in'law on 7arch 2!, 1H!
concerning cloister and visits6 1+ remain a monk, a monk in mission territory, monk'missionary, but not a
missionary#4
1B6
obscurity, without any fi$ed rule of life, following his inclinations as + follow
mine#4
1H
Iow, writing to monks, and indirectly to secular %riests, he %ro%osed a monastic
life# ,ut as they wished to be missionaries, they would be monk'missionaries# (hat
does that mean) Concretely, instead of manual work they would give themselves to
a%ostolic work %art'time, or even full'time if they wanted to# (hat became the most
im%ortant was to do all one could for the conversion of the infidels# +t was close to an
idea that he had thought about in 9ctober 1!! of little grou%s Ethree or four or even one
or two which would allow them to s%read out and be more effectiveF# 7onastic life
would take a back seat# ,ut in 1! he o%ted for the idea of monasteries with larger
numbers that would allow for %er%etual adoration of the ,lessed =acrament# +n order to
attract candidates he was %ro%osing a rule that was different from the Tra%%ist model,
something more fle$ible and less fastidious than their customs and %ractices# +t would be
a sim%le family life where everything would be done 1at the %ro%er hour and in strict
obedience#4 +t was a -ule that was even more detailed than that of the Tra%%ist life# Ce
was unable to free himself from a %erfectionist tem%erament# Ce did not even struggle
against it, as he was not aware of it# From day to day he ad*usted to the events and the
%eo%le around him with the freedom of the =%irit# ,ut as soon as he tried to %ut his ideas
on %a%er, he fell back into %erfectionism# (hen he wrote to others, he sounded like a
teacher# Iothing could be left to chance or doubt#
Let us also note that he wanted 1only %riests, e$cellent %riests of mature age#4
This limitation corres%onded to his immediate needs# Cis restrictions to 1e$ce%tionally
virtuous sub*ects4 if they were not %riests, or 1e$em%lary4 %eo%le if they were, did little
to encourage candidates# (ho could imagine themselves as he described the %rofile)
+t would be wrong to think that this letter accurately described the life of Charles
de Foucauld at Tamanrasset# 9ne has to take into consideration a literary style# +t
suffices to com%are this letter with what he wrote about his schedule that same year# The
monastic rhythm of : $ ! that he outlined to future members did not corres%ond at all
with what he was living, and where the work, which was not manual, occu%ied ten hours
and forty'five minutes of his day# (e also know that he no longer shared his time among
his 1four establishments,4 as one might think from his writings# Dven if he %assed by
,eni "bbLs on his way back from France, he only s%ent three days there and never
returned# (e only find the e$%ression 1monk'missionary4 in one other letter dated at the
same time to Father Cro/ier#
Can we really find the last stage of Charles de Foucauld0s thinking about his ideal
in an isolated letter that was aimed at a very %articular audience) Father >eyriguLre
thought so and used this te$t as a correction to what we call the -ule of 1!# Father
Aorr.e was the first to %ublish it, %resenting himself as the first member of the 1monk'
missionaries of Father de Foucauld
11
,4 after leaving the little brothers of Jesus in 1:B
and then distancing himself from Father >eyriguLre the following year# Ce thought that
the notion of 1monk'missionary4 e$%ressed very well the 1double function that he
ECharles de FoucauldF wished to confide to them#4 (ould Charles de Foucauld have
waited until 111 to conceive of a life as a man of %rayer and as an a%ostle 1entering into
1H
Letter to Fr# Teyras, 5ecember :, 1H?#
11
Aeorges Aorr.e, Sur les traces de Charles de Foucauld, La %lus grand France, >aris, Lyon, 1:6, %%#:21'
:2!#
1B@
direct contact with the indigenous %eo%le through the ministry of charity#4
12
9n the other
hand, we can wonder if the formulation of his thinking would have sto%%ed at that date
when, until his death, he never ceased formulating and reformulating the te$ts that he
considered the basis for his foundation#
(e can also ask another &uestion# (ould he have acce%ted to sign his linguistic
work had he lived longer) " few days before his death he wrote about it again# Ce had
*ust finished co%ying the !osies touar"gues for the %rinter# Ce dated the introduction,
written last and therefore in 116, as if written in 1H6, so that %eo%le would think
7otylinski, who died in 1H@, had done it# +s this %roof that his decision to remain
anonymous had not changed) This %ro*ect had consumed all of his time and he did it
with %erfection# Ce did not want this monumental work make %eo%le forget that the only
true work of his life remained hidden from their eyes# Ce summari/ed his life0s work in
notes written June 1!
th
and 1
th
1166 1Love our neighbor, that is all %eo%le, as
ourselves#4 Ce also wrote, 1The only thing we have to do here below, our only
occu%ation O2P the glory of Aod O2P the salvation of souls#4
1:
The attracti!eness o an e"ceptional personality
+t is interesting to look at this new ty%e of monk through the eyes of one of his
contem%oraries who was both clear'sighted and humorous#
>rofessor Aautier E1!6B'1BHF, who referred to himself as an infidel, was one of
those who seemed to have best understood Charles de Foucauld0s %ersonality# The
%rofessor taught at the Qniversity of "lgiers, was a geogra%her who made numerous
e$%editions through the =ahara and %ublished ten books about Iorth "frica# Ce had met
Charles de Foucauld in ,eni "bbLs but really got to know him when they traveled
12
5p% cit% %#11#
1:
Charles de Foucauld, Ao$ageur dans la nuit, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@, %%#2H@'2H!#
1B!
together from June ! to =e%tember B, 1H?# Ce wrote, 1+ ate with him twice a day for
two monthsG almost all of my recollections come from those encounters#4 Ce would have
been among those who would hel% the marabout build his house in Tamanrasset# Charles
de Foucauld described him as, 1a good heart and charming s%irit whom + really like#4
1

Ce are a few e$tracts from a book
2
that Aautier wrote in 12H6
19ne recogni/es an officer who is out of uniform# ,ut Charles de Foucauld had
lost every trace of the former soldierG it was com%letely gone# Ce was a monk
from head to foot, all humility and self'effacement#4
"nd further on6
1There was a time when the author of this book E-econnaissance au 7arocF did
not even want to remember that he had written it# + met Fr# de Foucauld in ,eni
"bbLs in 1H:# +t had the discomfort of a first meeting and the ceremonial
overtones of being %resented to one another# (hat else could + have s%oken about
but his book that + had read and consulted, a book that is a tool for %eo%le in my
%rofession) ,ut instead of meeting the e$%lorer, + met the monk who %ushed the
sub*ect aside in such a way as to cut off any %ossibility of discussing it# Ce said
something like, U(hen one is com%letely taken by the idea of the absolute, that
which is relative no longer counts#0 Ce ke%t that o%tic for many years but not at
the very end of his life, far from it#4
Ce continued6
+n 1H6, 7r# 7otylinski, %rofessor of "rabic and ,erber languages, undertook an
e$%edition to the Coggar O2P + saw some of his notes and they seemed totally
useless to me# ,ut Fr# de Foucauld didn0t think so# Ce undertook to %ublish the
results of 7otylinski0s tri%# +n fact, the dean of the Qniversity of "lgiers officially
oversaw 7otylinski0s %osthumous %ublication in every detail# Ce also wrote a
%reface in which he thanked this one and that, as is the custom# Ce thanked 7r#
W2and 7r# N2 7r# =o and so who2 "nd 7r# (hatever his name was2 The
list is long# "nd then there was a mysterious sentence, U+ also thank 7isters W2,
N2, \2, among those who + am %ermitted to name#0
:
This im%lies that there
was someone that he was not %ermitted to name# Dveryone who has lived in the
=ahara knows that this %erson was Fr# de Foucauld
B
and they also know that he
1
Letter to Louis 7assignon, 7ay ?, 11?, Jean Fran<ois =i$, L3a#enture de l3amour de &ieu, >aris, =euil,
1:, %# 1!B#
2
D#'F# Aautier, L3lgrie et la mtropole, >aris, >ayot, 12H#
:
This was -en. ,asset who wrote the %reface for this first book Egrammaire et lexi6ue franHais/touaregF
dated 5ecember 1?, 1H@# Ce attributed the work to 7otylinski according to the directions that he had
received, even though 7otylinski had nothing to do with this work# Ce mentioned many other names
adding, 1among those + am %ermitted to name#4 ,esides ,en 7essis he named ,a Cammou O2P who did
nothing more than to %rovide the al%habet for transcribing the work into "rabic# 7otylinski never saw
either one of them, but what difference did it make since the whole story was fiction#
B
>rofessor Aautier wrote this after Fr# de Foucauld0s death# ,ut immediately after its %ublication there
were also reactions# Let me *ust mention that of Cid 8aoui, author of the first French'Tuareg dictionary#
Cid 8aoui knew who the real author was and said with irony, 1this master%iece that is %resented to us as a
1B
was the real author of the %ublications that a%%eared %osthumously under the
name of 7otylinski# +t was a little dece%tion that the deceased could not %rotest
and of which his friends and colleagues were com%licit since it was the condition
sine 6ua non im%osed by Fr# de Foucauld#4
Ce went on to list the books %ublished by 7otylinski and added the clarification,
even though he grossly underestimated the numbers, that 1it deals with a ,erber dialect
s%oken by a few hundred individuals#4 Ce then added6
1There was a man who lived in the Coggar for ten years, who made it his nearly
e$clusive occu%ation to listen to this language, to note the vocabulary and its
various forms, and to write down the folklore stories that were told to him# +t can
only be a very im%ortant work# Legally it is all the work of 7otylinski# +t0s &uite
curious though# +t0s a huge work which su%%oses that the author, + mean the real
author, burned with that sacred fire without which nothing is accom%lished, that
sacred fire of the intellectual layman, the %assion to understand# (hat were these
feelings doing in a monk) +t is true that when one got close to this monk one saw
that he was very refined, cultured and curious# 9ne could very well see that the
intellectual in him was not at all dead and so it was natural that it finally came out#
The a%%earance of these old instincts certainly frightened the Christian# Fear of
the snares of the Dvil one, if you wishG fear of that %ride that can come with
authorshi% and which is notoriously one of the most venomous# Ce surely also
felt the trivialityG the nothingness of the things of this world was dee%ly imbedded
in himG Ce had a smile, and the satisfaction that a nice little conversation, as well
as these mundane feelings, could take a religious turn# + imagine that he was
dee%ly grateful to this deceased %rofessor under whose name he could do his
thinking without risk of sin, or at least grateful to Aod who had %ut him on his
%ath at a %articular time#
(ill this %seudonym endure) +t was well thought out and could remain
untouchable#
?
+t is certainly what de Foucauld wanted# "nd besides, it really doesn0t
matter# (hether or not these books have his name on them, or whether they
continue to a%%ear under the name of 7otylinski, they are his and they make a
beautiful se&uel to the work he did in his youth# +t is very solid work# +t will have
the kind of immortality conferred by technical bibliogra%hies# +t will not be
%ossible to look at Iorth "frica scientifically without reading de Foucauld# That
is what will be said, or what will be written on his tomb, and to which the lay
world is most sensitive# Ce himself certainly gave no im%ortance to his %ublished
work# "nd + must admit that, des%ite my %rofessional bent, + was much less
im%ressed by the e$%lorer and %hilologist, than by the monk#
+t goes without saying that + have a great deal of res%ect for e$%lorers and
%hilologists# + have met a great many# Cad he only been that, one would not have
new work, by a new author2 the overly modest %erson whom 7r# ,asset says he Uis not %ermitted to
name0 and whom + will not mention by name either#4 Ce referred to him as 7r# W2 and made several
humorous comments about words in the dictionary where the influence of biblical translations was felt6
1(hat is the word Ua%ostle0 doing in this dictionary)4
?
7any still think that 7otylinski was the real author of this book#
1?H
felt the attraction of an e$ce%tional %ersonality when in his %resence# Cis dee%est
instincts were that of a monk, or rather, a hermit# Ce was born that way# +t *ust
took him a little time to find his way# The dee%est instincts of the monk are
already visible in the e$%lorer# 5e Foucauld traveled, unknown, throughout
7orocco disguised as a Jew, and we know the ab*ection endured by the 7oroccan
Jews who were confined to ghettos# 5e Foucauld %laced himself under the
%rotection of %ublic scorn# +t was ingenious and %roduced remarkable results#
This disguise never tem%ted anyone else# 5e Foucauld was the only one who
ever ado%ted it in 7orocco and maybe throughout the 7uslim world# +n order to
have chosen it he already had to have, from the time he emerged from
adolescence, a taste for humility, some inner feelings that foreshadowed the
monk6 a resignation to live in filth, an ability to live in solitude, hidden behind a
mask# Ce s%ent long months living as a Jew or 7uslim, in intimate contact with
these 9riental religions which involve the whole %erson, which remained very
%otent in their ability to infect others# 5e Foucauld came out of this e$%erience
thoroughly filled with +slamic sentiments# They say that he had gone so far as to
consider converting to +slam for a time# This would not have been an isolated
case O2P (hen one lives in the 7uslim world one is &uite aware of the attraction
of +slam# O2P +n our fearful and hy%er'civili/ed lives, when we glance at the
infinite tran&uility of +slam, + imagine that we all feel a bit of nostalgia#
These feelings nearly brought the young e$%lorer to ado%t the turban# "t
least that it what + have been told, and + believe it# They mention the name of the
%riest who ke%t de Foucauld in the Christian fold# Ce was not unknown, even if a
bit forgotten now# Let us recall Littr., whose religious funeral was considered a
scandal# The body of this free thinker was carried into the church with Father
Cuvelin0s %ersonal a%%roval# This %riest had graduated from the %ublic school
system in 1!?!, something of a history buff# Ce intervened in the case of Littr.,
not as a confessor in the strict sense of the word, but as an old and %ersonal friend
for whom the idea that Littr. was damned was both intolerable and as well as
absurd# +t was this Father Cuvelin who turned de Foucauld around, from 7uslim
catechumen to monk Uin five seconds#0 The friend who told me this story
obviously considered Father Cuvelin to be an im%ressive %ersonG he very well
might have had a strong %ersonality# From his hermitage, Fr# de Foucauld
considered him a very dear friend# + went to visit Father Cuvelin on his behalf at
the rue Iollet in ,atignolles# + do not have the confirmation of the %recise
hesitations of the catechumen between these two religions from either one# ,ut
the fact that there were hesitations was confirmed from a reliable source and is
&uite %robable# O2P =eeing him, it was not all that clear that he was a monk rather
than a marabout# Cis cotton robe could have %assed for a gandouraG he wore
something like a fe/ on his head# Dven the indigenous %eo%le were mistaken at
times# They say that 7ou<a'"g'"mastane, the chief of the Tuareg in the Coggar,
told him, UCow is that, marabout) Nou are a Christian) ,ut your austerities will
serve for nothing in the other world30 5e Foucauld never tried to clear u% the
&uestion# +n the fifteen years that he s%ent in the =ahara he never made one
conversion#
1?1
"fter all, we, his infidel com%anions, also e$%erienced Fr# de Foucauld0s
discretion# Throughout the long weeks of traveling together with our little
military detachment, Fr# de Foucauld surely said 7ass every day, alone with no
other witness than >aul O2P Throughout all those weeks of eating together, the
conversation never became churchy nor did he ever make the least effort to
convert us# That is all very much in kee%ing with the %ersonality of a hermit#
9ne doesn0t retreat to the desert in order to %reach#4
Aautier summari/ed Charles de Foucauld0s life including details that he could
only have gleaned from %ersonal conversations in %rivate# Ce did not fail to %oint out the
irregularity, from the %oint of view of his status in the church, of this new ty%e of monk#
1For several months he remained a lay brother in this monastery E"kbLsF,
com%letely anonymous, never o%ening his mouthG he cut wood and carried water#
U+t was delicious,0 he said, remembering it many years later# +t is not a &uestion of
whether we are scandali/ed or amused by this# (hat strikes me is that, behind
this lay brother who cut wood, we find the e$%lorer who disguised himself as a
Jew and the hermit of the =ahara# +t was evidently de Foucauld0s dee%est
instincts, which he tried to satisfy throughout his whole life#4

1Ce called himself a monk and he wore the costume but it was a bit of a
usur%ation# Ce was sim%ly a %riest6 he was ordained by the ,isho% of Tiviers
&uite late in lifeG Ce never had any normal ecclesial status other than as a %riest of
the diocese of Tiviers# +t0s absurd and has no relationshi% with the =ahara, but
that is how it is# O2P ,ut he wasn0t a Tra%%ist# +f it has to be said that he was a
monk, it would have to be of an order that he would have founded, a kind of
&uasi'Tra%%ist order of his own invention# This is no *oke# Ce wore a red
emblem that he invented on the front of his robe# +t e$%ressed his desire to belong
to a new and distinct order# The only thing was that this order that he e$%anded to
four monasteries
6
, only ever had one monk6 Fr# de Foucauld# +f we were to
imagine an interdiction of that order it would have been an ine$tricable *uridical
affair34
6
Aautier s%oke about the %laces that ke%t souvenirs of Charles de Foucauld# 1F the house of ,eni "bbLs
that he called the fraternity# 2F There is no trace of his ever having been at +n =alah, the house that he
bought in 1H@ in 8sar el "rab has com%letely been covered with sand# :F The little house that he built in
Tamanrasset in 1H?, enlarged in 1H@ and 11H, which they called the Frigate, is the most moving of the
%laces where Charles de Foucauld lived# Io other %lace in the world is rivaled for the %rivilege of
sheltering this man for as long as he lived there6 eleven years# The 9ordI, the fort that he built for the %eo%le
of the village who were threatened by raiding %arties and where he moved for the last five months of his
life# +t is now in the center of the town and is maintained as an historic monument# BF The "sekrem has
become the most famous of the %laces where he lived Eeven though he only s%ent five months thereF
because of its incredible site and magnificent view %erched ato% a volcanic %lateau#
1?2
1+ remember the first conversation that + had the honor to have with him# (e
were marching at night# + was do/ing off and on, sitting on my camel# Fr# de
Foucauld walked nearby along side of his camel, out of mortification + think# +
was awakened by his voice, saying, 1Cow beautiful34 That was it# (e were
crossing the old volcano of +n'\i/a under a brilliant moon and it a%%eared
absurdly *agged#4
+t is interesting to note, in %assing, his comment of admiration# +t shows that he
had a sense of the beauty of nature because a%art from the "sekrem and, e$ce%tionally at
,eni "bbLs, he never s%oke much about it# Aautier arrived at a stunning conclusion
about the life of Charles de Foucauld, following u%on these e$%eriences6
1Ce was very ha%%y living this way# +t was no small thing and was clear to all#
Ce had %ushed himself to his limit, he was com%letely fulfilledG he was an
absurdly com%lete human being# 7aybe that was the secret of his ha%%iness# Cis
eyes shone with calm and silent *oy#4
1+ imagine that they will build a tomb to him in the local style# " 8oubba# The
tomb will %er%etuate what that man did# The miracles will begin# 5o they know
what will crystalli/e around that 8oubba) The saints are %articularly dangerous
after their death# There is no dynamometer to measure the moral im%act of a
%erson# +n his lifetime there was not only res%ect for de Foucauld# +t ha%%ened
sometimes that they would say, UCe0s cra/y#0 " young and very intelligent colonel
said it once# O2P "nd yet this young colonel had run the same risks, went to the
same trouble, made gestures, assumed attitudes, and made a whole slew of intense
efforts very com%arable to de Foucauld# The only difference was that he had a
different goal, one easier to e$%lain in a single sentence# Ce absolutely insisted
on wearing a white feather in his hat that he found to be &uite reasonable# "nd yet
he was convinced that de Foucauld was not# 7aybe he was correct# +t is %ossible,
after all# The only thing is that since "ugust 2, 11B, we have e$%erienced things
that have lessened our faith in %ure rationalism# "nd we have learned how
heavily blind abnegation and absurd self'sacrifice can weigh u%on the life of
%eo%les# (e have learned to salute them as we %ass by# Dven when we don0t
understand very well#4
+n conclusion and to res%ond to the &uestions of Aautier we can &uote Charles de
Foucauld himself# The fire that burns within the heart of the monk is not of this world# +t
came into being the day that his eyes o%ened u%on a new light, 1other than the light of the
senses#4 Ce wrote about it from Ia/areth on Iovember , 1!@ at a %eriod when his life
seemed even cra/ier6
1The one who lives by faith has the soul full of new thoughts, new tastes, new
*udgmentsG new hori/ons o%en before him, O2P he necessarily begins a new life,
o%%osed to the ways of the world, which may seem like folly O2P the bright %ath
1?:
u%on which he walks is not visible to others# To others he seems to be walking in
an abyss, like some one who has lost their mind#4
@
=omething else that he wrote might hel% to e$%lain how, at a certain stage of inner
%urification, someone who wished to be a 1monk4 could allow himself to be guided by
his dee%est instincts# 9n the %a%er where he had written his daily schedule after 111
were the words, 1To bring fire to the earth#4 9n the back side of the %a%er he wrote,
1Dach thing lives according to the &uality of its being4 and then the following comment
from =t# John of the Cross6
1The %erson who has managed to transform his animal nature into a s%iritual
nature, with every affection, tendency, and action ins%ired by the same =%irit, is
carried without resistance towards Aod# For that %erson, each things takes on a
s%ecial &uality of sweetness, of strength, of %urity, of chastity, of *oy and of love#4
Ce can follow his 1instincts4 and also follow that 1inner movement4 as Father
Cuvelin wrote to him
!
, adding, 1Ao where the =%irit %ushes you#4 (e understand that
this was the fire that burned within his heart, the thing that %ushed him, becoming
irresistible, because of which he wrote so many %ages

, and which im%osed itself u%on

him with such invincible %ower# +t does not kee% him from discerning that which is
sim%ly tem%tation# ,isho% Au.rin recogni/ed that it was the work of the =%irit, writing
of him in 1HB, 19ur dear ,rother Charles, like all those who allow themselves to be led
by the =%irit of Aod, has a marvelous a%%reciation of circumstances#4
1H
Ce is like a bullet
that has been shot and which nothing and no one can sto%# These are all the words of
Father Cuvelin and, with him, we must recogni/e that the faith of his disci%le
transformed religion into an act of love# 9nly such a %assionate love can account for all
of these moments of his life and bring together his dee%est instincts#
) messa&e or e!eryone
There have been multi%le inter%retations of the life and writings of Charles de
Foucauld# 9ften his message has been %erceived as a call to silence, a s%irituality of the
desert or a form of hermit life# 9thers have seen him as the convert who went from a life
of %leasure to a life of heroic asceticism# Ce has even been used to defend traditional
values and nationalistic ideologies or to maintain a nostalgia for an ideali/ed %ast# 9thers
have taken the o%%osite stance6 seen in him someone who &uestioned institutions and
who lived on the fringes, as an innovator who was ahead of his time, as something of a
genius who understood it all before anyone else, or as someone who was very avant'
garde concerning the Church# Cis %artici%ation in the colonial %rocess has been seen by
some with admiration and, by others, with re%roach# Ce has been used as a model for
mission based on an idea of 1burying4 oneself silently among a %eo%le, or by others, as
@
Charles de Foucauld, La derni"re place, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@B, %# 12H#
!
L?, =e%tember 2, 1H2 and July ?, 1H:#

Cf% letter of Father Cuvelin from 5ecember 2!, 1HB6 1+ can not tell you how much your letter seems
written under the ins%iration of the Coly =%irit#4
1H
Letter to Fr# Toillard, Charles de Foucauld, Correspondances sahariennes, >aris, Cerf, 1!, %# 1H1?#
1?B
having taken the side for an urgent need for %reaching# =urely, each of these
contradictory %ositions can be backed u% by things that are found in his writings# -are
are those who have known how to situate him within the conte$t of his own time without
recu%erating or inter%reting his message in function of more recent historical situations#
There is still much to discover about the details of Charles de Foucauld0s life
through his letters# +t is im%ortant to do so in order to %lace him s&uarely in the concrete
reality of his relationshi%s with the men and women with whom he wanted to become
close# The same can be said for his relationshi% with Aod# 7ost of the time %eo%le read
his life, content with clich.s or images that s%eak about %overty, friendshi%, a%ostolate or
contem%lation, without any analysis of his actions and the concrete circumstances of his
life among the Tuareg %eo%le#
(hat stays with us about this man who wanted to imitate Jesus of Ia/areth until
the end of his life) +f there is one word that can e$%ress his message that word is
Ia/areth with all that im%lies of historical reality, theology and mystical ideals# +t is a
call to live with %assionate love for Jesus in the most ordinary situations that %eo%le live,
as in the e$traordinary ones, following the e$am%le of Jesus# Jesus did not esca%e the
constraints im%osed by relationshi%s with others# Ce became a servant in order to live
out his uni&uely intimate relationshi% with his Father, as %art of a human family, with a
*ob, in a village or on the roads of >alestine# Charles de Foucauld also lived out the
realism of the +ncarnation in an e$ce%tional manner through very %ersonal relationshi%s
with the men and women around him# "fter having believed that he was called to live at
a distance from others, in the silence of a monastery and later in the solitude of a
hermitage, he learned that he was called to live in ever'closer relationshi% with others#
(as it not his mission to show that 1this s%irituality of Ia/areth4 could be lived in
any situation6 as a celibate or married %erson, in religious life or in family life, as a %riest
or a lay%erson, alone or in community) +t e$%resses itself in a language of %resence to
Aod and %resence to others, sharing life, friendshi% and in solidarity# +t is neither a
s%irituality of the desert nor that of a hermit# +t is a s%irituality of relationshi%,
relationshi% with both the divine and the human# +t is a relationshi% of love with Aod
who became one with us in Jesus M and whose %resence is sought in a s%ecial way in the
Ducharistic %resence M and a relationshi% of love with men and women whose lives we
are called to share# +t is a call to live with them following the e$am%le of the 1servant,4
to love as Jesus loved, without e$clusion, and in solidarity with the %oor# +t is an
imitation of the life of Jesus of Ia/areth, Jesus at Ia/areth living a uni&ue relationshi%
with his Father through the most ordinary human relationshi%s#
There are two te$ts from Jac&ues 7aritain which e$%lain something about this
new form of contem%lative life which has ins%ired so many who live an ordinary life in
the midst of this world0s affairs# The first te$t was written in 12!6
1+n all truthfulness, + do not think it is %ossible to live a com%letely contem%lative
life in the world# + do think it is %ossible to live, in the world, a life whose
essence is contem%lative# +t would not even have to occu%y itself with direct
forms of a%ostolate, like the 5ominicans or Carmelites# Cowever, it can only
*ustify itself by a desire to serve others and, in one way or another, to give itself
over to others# For their sake, it courageously %uts u% with all of the troubles,
sorrows and useless comings and goings that are inse%arable from the business of
1??
daily life# The only aim of such a life is, through its very closeness with others, to
give witness to the contem%lation of Aod and to the love of Aod e$%ressed in the
Ducharist# +f you must remain a %art of the world, + believe that it must be with
the desire to allow yourself to be devoured by others, %reserving only that solitude
that is necessary so that Aod make of you something which is usefully
devourable# (hat else is there) That im%ression, that idea, that ho%e, that the
Coly =%irit %re%ares something in the world6 a work of love and of contem%lation
that calls for %eo%le who are entirely given over and immolated in the very midst
of the world#4
The second te$t is from notes for a class that 7aritain gave in 1?H on the Aos%el
of John 16B,@'!6
1Love of neighbor is the same love as love for Aod# Conse&uently, love for
others unites us to Aod and makes us more like Aod# (hen we try to love others
as Jesus loved them, looking at them with Jesus0 eyes, that love becomes, better
than any other way, a %ath for uniting ourselves with Aod# +t is both obscure and
e$%eriential, in all the fullness, without limit, of that love# +t su%%oses an
evangelical a%%roach to others, an attitude of gratuitousness that e$%ects nothing
in return# (e listen to them, are ready to be of service, become attentive to all
that they are, to their infinite value as %eo%le loved by Aod# That is what a
contem%lative attitude toward others is# +t calls for a dis%ossession of the self, a
true detachment, in which we no longer belong to ourselves# Love for others is as
demanding and unmerciful as is the love of Aod# +t demands that we live with
others, that we e$ist with them# +t is truly contem%lation but of a %articular kind#
+t is contem%lation on the roads by which Jesus leads us, following him, going
with him towards the little ones, in order to make us discover with them the
loving face of Aod#4
(ho can %retend to follow in the footste%s of Charles de Foucauld who lived at a
different time and in a different %lace) 7any will be content to sim%ly admire him and
love him as did Father Cuvelin# 9thers, who do not take into account the distance and
difference of the situations, will continue to *udge and even to condemn him# Iow that
he has been named 1venerable4 many will believe that he is a model to imitate# (ill the
%receding %ages make them change their minds)
+t remains true that we can recogni/e the >ower that %ushed him and led him to
the desert, not to run away from the world but to become close to those whom the desert
isolated from the world# +t was the road that he had to walk without knowing where it
would lead# ,y s%ending some time looking at some of the turns u%on which his *ourney
led him, we have followed him on the %ath that led him all the way to Tamanrasset
des%ite the tem%tations and hesitations#
7ay reading his story hel% us to follow our own %ath, different from his, by
allowing ourselves to be lead by that >ower which urges each one on, until we find that
%lace of fulfillment in the deserts of our world#
1?6
)bout the letter written to Henri +u!eyrier
9n February 21, 1!2 Charles de Foucauld wrote his last letter to Cenri
5uveyrier# +t was not ke%t in the "rchives of the Aeogra%hical =ociety as those who
gathered that material considered it to be too intimate# +t was an answer to a letter that
5uveyrier, unbeliever that he was, had written to ,r# 7arie "lb.ric e$%ressing his total
incom%rehension over the vows that he has *ust %rofessed#
+t is interesting in several ways# First of all, it e$%oses this scholar who was his
friend, to the Credo of the Catholic Church# Ce then res%onds to 5uveyrier0s comment,
1+ receive your friendly re%roach that you don0t know very much about my %ast life2,4
by sharing his story#
1?@
This is the first time he shared about his conversion# 5uring a retreat
1
in Ia/areth
in 1!@ he wrote for himself, before Aod, the *ourney that led him to this %oint# (e were
already aware of that te$t# There is a third retelling
2
that is dated "ugust 1B, 1H1# This
one is also in answer to a letter from a friend, Cenry de Castries who, while remaining
Catholic, had &uestions concerning +slam after having written a book about +slam several
years earlier# =o, we have three accounts of his conversion which com%lete one another
very usefully#
1etter to Henri +u!eyrier, Feb. A4, 4>5A
&ear and excellent friend,
Since $ou ;rite to me as a brother, allo; me to omit the =sir4 from our
correspondence so that the intimac$ of heart expresses itself exteriorl$, as ;ellJ ?o; 8
than< $ou, ho; touched 8 am b$ $our excellent letter of &ecember K,L Mou do not
appro#e of, $ou 6uestion, the religious #o;s and $ou express to me $our concern ;ith the
most tender affectionN this affection is #er$ s;eet, it mo#es me and fills me ;ith
than<sgi#ing, the disappro#al does not surprise meN six $ears ago 8 ;as about as far
a;a$ from the Catholic religion as is possible, 8 had no t$pe of faith at all, if 8 had had a
friend ;ould ;anted to become a )rappist 8 could not ha#e better expressed m$
attachment to him than b$ ;riting as $ou ha#e done to meJ so 8 am in no ;a$ shoc<ed
in an$ a$ b$ $our obIectionsL 8 onl$ see in it $our affection and m$ onl$ feeling is that of
gratitude and the emotion to see ho; good $ou areLJ ?o;e#er, 8 cannot tell $ou that
$our letter has in an$ ;a$ modified m$ resolutionN )his life to ;hich 8 am so attached, 8
ha#e desired for the last . $ears, been resol#ed to embrace for the last G $ears, and ha#e
been li#ing for the last t;o $earsN ?as there e#er been a decision that has been thought
about longer or more seriousl$ put to the testB Oh$ did 8 choose a ;a$ ;hich is so
painful, so cruel, for me and for those ;ho lo#e meB Far from me to ha#e done so out of
self/centered desire to li#e in peaceL 8 spea< to $ou about that peace because, ;ithout
see<ing it, 8 found it% 9ut it ;as far from being m$ goal% )he thing that made me lea#e
behind e#er$thing that is dear to me, that is, this #er$ small number of close relati#es and
friends, ;ho, Iust to see them and spend time ;ith them ;as s;eetness itself and an
infinite goodness, and ;ho remain more and more present and dear to m$ heart, / as $ou
<no;, 8 umber $ou among these /, it doesn3t seem possible to me that $ou completel$
understand that reason being as $ou are far from the catholic faith, 8 ;ould not ha#e
understood that reason six $ears ago, ho;e#er 8 am going to tell $ou, $our brotherl$
affection calls for such a brotherl$ outpouring and $ou ;ill understand the intimate
nature of it% Oe catholics belie#e in a (od ;ho is one and ;ho is spirit, and ;hose unit$
encompasses three persons *an incomprehensible m$ster$P ;e belie#e that one of these
1
Charles de Foucauld, La derni"re place, >aris, Iouvelle Cit., 1@B, %%# 2'1H#
2
Charles de Foucauld, Lettres ' ?enr$ de Castries, >aris, Arasset, 1:!# Letter from "ugust 1B, 1H1, %%#
2'1H1#
1?!
three persons, ;ithout ceasing to be eternall$ united ;ith the t;o other persons, too< on
a human bod$ and soul in time, formed b$ (od ;ithout human inter#ention, that he li#ed
upon this earth, ;or<ing, teaching the truth and the m$steries of (od, pro#ing his ;ords
through miracles, gi#ing rules and the example of #irtue% )his (od, perfectl$ united ;ith
man, is >esus Christ, / )hat 8 o;e him li#e and obedience is e#ident% ?is ;ill for man is
that he ;or< to become perfect and to ma<e others perfectN these are inner #irtues and,
as $ou said, ;e can e#en practice them upon a throne as St% Louis ;itnessed% 9ut the
lo#e of our Lord >esus Christ calls those ;ho are able, upon ;hom famil$ or societal
situation does not impose a serious dut$, to lead a life that resembles as much as possible
that life that (od led upon the earth Q there is no lo#e that does not desire to imitateJ
and, as $ou <no; this imitation becomes a need ;hen the one ;hom ;e lo#e is poor,
miserable, suffering or loo<ed do;n uponJ ;ho ;ould dare sa$ that the$ lo#e ;hen the$
consent to li#e Io$full$ and comfortabl$ ;hile the one the$ lo#e suffers in soul and
bod$B/ $et the life of >esus Christ in this ;orld ;as that of a poor ;or<man, a lo;l$,
poor and toilsome lifeP )he last three $ears of his life pla$ed themsel#es out in an
apostolate that earned him mostl$ insults, than<lessness and persecutionP finall$ he ;as
put to death and left this life in unheard of tourmentJ / 8 too, along ;ith man$ others,
un;orth$ that 8 am, ;anted to lo#e (od ;ith all m$ heart and to imitate him to the feeble
extent that m$ laEiness allo;s, to please (od more and moreL >esus ;as obedient upon
his earth and 8 entered a religious order in order to be obedient as he ;asN 8 chose to
li#e poor, lo;l$, ;or<ing to share the po#ert$, abIection and labor of >esus% Since the life
of >esus ;as all sacrifice and pain, 8 ;anted to sacrifice ;ith him and for him all that
made m$ life happ$, the presence of those ;hom 8 lo#ed% Mou see, it is the sacrifice that 8
;ent so far to find, not out of an$ impulse of its o;n but because of a common #ocation
shared b$ the best of soulsJ/ )hat is the stor$ of m$ #ocationP as $ou ;ished, 8 ha#e not
defended m$self from $our feelings and 8 ha#e opened m$ heart to $ouJ 8 repeat once
more that it seems to me a difficult thing that $ou understand, more difficult than $ou
admit ;hat 8 ha#e shared ;ith $ou% Six $ears ago 8 ;ould ha#e treated all of that as
nothing but illusions, dreams, and 8 ;ould ha#e deemed the one ;ho had ;ritten the
preceding page, ;hat is te ;ord, as a little craE$ if not #er$ craE$J ?o; is it that 8 ha#e
changed so muchB Mou reproach me in a friendl$ ;a$, that $ou don3t <no; much about
m$ past lifeN it is simple and in a fe; ;ords here it is% t the age of 1 and a half, in
+,7., 8 lost both m$ father and m$ mother% 8 ;as then raised b$ m$ maternal grandfather
and m$ grandmother, m$ mother ;as an onl$ daughterP 8 ha#e a sister ;ho ;as raised
;ith me b$ these excellent grandparents% M$ grandfather, Mr% &e Morlet, ;as a retired
militar$ officer and had retired in lsace ;here ;e sta$ed until the ;arN after +,-F ;e
came to li#e in Nanc$P 8 finished m$ studies there and ;as accepted at St% C$r% Ohile 8
;as there 8 had the tremendous sadness of losing m$ grandfather ;hose 6uic< mind 8
admired so much, his infinite tenderness en#eloped m$ childhood and $outh ;ith such an
atmosphere of lo#e that 8 am still mo#ed to Iust to remember the ;armthP it ;as a great
source of sadness to me and after +. $ears *Feb% G, +,-,2 it is still ra;P se#eral $ears
earlier m$ dear grandmother had become 6uite ill and had to go to a nursing home
;here she passed a;a$ 6uietl$% Ohen m$ grandfather died m$ sister ;ent to li#e ;ith m$
aunt, Mrs% Moitessier, m$ father3s sister ;ho li#es in !arisP from that time, their home
became our home and the$ ;ere infinitel$ good to us% Mou see, ;hen 8 loo< bac< 8 see
that 8 onl$ recei#ed goodness and 8 can onl$ be grateful% 8 did not ta<e ad#antage of the
1?
goodness of famil$ life in m$ aunt3s homeN from St% C$r 8 ;ent to Saumur, then attached
to a regiment of ?ussards and then ;ith the Chasseurs of fricaN in one $ear 8 ;ent from
the garrisons of 9Rne, Stif and Mascara and an expedition sSouth of 5ranN in +,,+/,K
8 spent se#en or eight months li#ing in a tent in the Sahara south of 5ran% 8t ga#e me a
real taste for the tra#eling that had al;a$s attracted me% 8 handed in m$ resignation in
+,,K in order to gi#e free reign to m$ desire for ad#enture% 8 spent a $ear and a half in
lgiers preparing m$self for a trip through Morocco, 8 then made the trip, and then 8
spent another half $ear in lgeria ;riting up the report about it% t the beginning of +,,7
8 returned to !aris to publish the report about m$ trip ;ith the thought of preparing for
another trip% 8 had been raised Christian but b$ the age of +1 or +7 8 had lost all faith,
m$ a#id reading had accomplished thatP 8 didn3t adhere to an$ particular philosophical
doctrine as 8 didn3t find an$ of them to be based solidl$ enough, 8 remained in complete
doubt, especiall$ distant from the catholic faith as 8 found se#eral of its dogmas deepl$
shoc<ing to all reasonJ at the same age 8 began to s6uander m$ life and it remained so
for a long time, although it ne#er interfered ;ith m$ li#el$ penchant for stud$P m$
beha#ior ;ith the regiment ;as #er$ unrul$, 8 ;as far from m$ famil$, 8 hardl$ e#en sa;
m$ famil$ bet;een +,-, and +,,7 and the little that the$ <ne; about m$ life, especiall$
during the arl$ part of this period, could onl$ bring them painJ 8 returned to !aris in
+,,7 in this state of mind% M$ sister ;as no longer in !aris, ha#ing married and mo#ed
to 9ourgogne% 9ut 8 ;as ;elcomed at m$ aunt3s home as if 8 had ne#er left or caused so
much ;orr$ to those ;ho lo#ed me% Oithin these ;alls that became m$ home, although 8
;as actuall$ li#ing in another house, 8 found people ;ho modeled e#er$ #irtue, combined
;ith great intelligence and deep religious con#iction% 8 became infatuated b$ such #irtue
and chose m$ reading material in function of it, reading the ancient moralists, $et ;as far
from an$ religion, it ;as onl$ ancient #irtue that attracted meJ but 8 found less
nourishment and insight than 8 expected from these ancient philosophersJ nd then,
6uite b$ accident, 8 came across a fe; pages of 9ossuet and 8 found in them so much
more depth than 8 had in an$ of the ancientsJ 8 continued to read this boo< and, little b$
little, 8 began to realiEe that the faith of such a <een mind Q the same faith that 8 sa; each
da$ in the bright minds of m$ o;n famil$ Q ;as perhaps not as incompatible ;ith
common sense as 8 had thought% 8t ;as the end of +,,7% 8 felt an o#er;helming desire
for silence and recollection% t the core of m$ being 8 ;ondered if truth ;ere reall$
<no;n to menJ 8 made that strange pra$er to a (od in ;hom 8 did not e#en $et belie#e,
to re#eal himself to me if he existedJ 8t seemed to me that, in the state of doubt and
confusion in ;hich 8 found m$self, the ;isest course of action for me ;ould be to stud$
the catholic faith of ;hich 8 <ne; so little% 8 ;ent to see a learned priest, Fr% ?u#elin,
;hom 8 had met at m$ aunt3s house% ?e ;as <ind enough to ans;er all of m$ 6uestions
and patient enough to recei#e me as often as 8 ;ished% 8 became con#inced of the truth of
the Catholic faithP since then Fr% ?u#elin became for me li<e a real father and 8 ha#e led
a Christian life%
Se#eral months after this turnabout 8 thought about entering a religious order but
Fr% ?u#elin, as ;ell as m$ famil$, encouraged me to marr$J 8 let some time passJit
brought me here and 8 am grateful to (odJ Li<e so man$ others 8 came here ;ith a
desire for sacrifice, and, in the midst of #er$ real sacrifice, 8 found a peace of soul *not
Iust of mind2 that 8 had not sought% No;, all of m$ relati#es ha#e sided ;ith m$ being
here because the$ belie#e that it is (od3s calling for meN stand ;ith them, dear friend to
16H
;hom 8 ;rite such a brotherl$ letter Q for m$ part, ;hat has helped me in the face of such
a cruel sacrifice is the con#iction that the good ;or< ;hich is part and parcel of this
sacrifice ;ill gain an increase of di#ines graces for all those ;hom 8 lo#e and that,
because of this, the$ ;ill recei#e far more through m$ absence than the$ ;ould recei#e
through a presence in their lo#ing affection%
)here, 8 ha#e laid it all out before $ou% See in this letter ;here, alas, 8 ha#e not
had the time to as< about $ou, to express m$ regret that $ou are ;orn out b$ rheumatism,
e#en though 8 ha#e onl$ spo<en about m$self, see in this letter the best sign of m$
attachment to $ou, of m$ gratefulness for $our affection, of m$ desire to pa$ it al bac< as
a brother% 8 send m$ than<s also to Miss Rose for her remembranceP 8 am #er$ touched,
poor mon< that 8 am and, as her brother in (od ;ill pra$ for her, ma$ she pra$ a bit for
me% Q 8 am trul$ $ours, $ou <no; it and $ou see it, and 8 do not hesitate in closing, as 8
am sure $ou ;ill permit, to embrace $ou as a brother%
9r% Marie/lbric
161