ST ANDRÉ-HUBERT FOURNET, PRIEST AND FOUNDER - 13 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 13th of May

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST ANDRÉ-HUBERT FOURNET, PRIEST AND FOUNDER 

Saint André-Hubert Fournet was [...] distinguished by his great charity. He first studied law, but afterwards became a priest. 

The French Revolution offered him an occasion of proving his strong faith. Refusing the oath of the Constitution he was obliged to flee into Spain. 

HE COURAGEOUSLY ATTENDED TO HIS PRIESTLY DUTIES

Later he returned secretly to his parish of Maille near Montmorillon and, although a price had been put upon his head, courageously attended to his priestly duties. 

THE SISTERS OF THE CROSS OF ST ANDREW

Assisted by the Venerable Elizabeth Bichier des Ages, he founded in 1806 a society of women, the Sisters of the Cross of Saint Andrew, for the care of the sick and the instruction of children. God’s blessing rested visibly upon the foundation, which numbered nearly twenty-five hundred Sisters in 1880. 

HIS HOLY DEATH

The founder died on May 13, 1834, while vicar-general of Poitiers. The process of his beatification was begun in 1877.

(Fr Constantine Kempf, "The Holiness of the Church in the Nineteenth Century". The title "Venerable" in the original text has been changed to "Saint".)