CHARLES DE FOUCAULD

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17182, 27 October 1923, Page 3 (Supplement)

CHARLES DE FOUCAULD

A MODERN HERMIT. STORY OF A REMARKABLE MAN. In hl» “ Charles de Foucauld, Hermit and Explorer,” M. Rene Bazin tells the story of a very remarkable man (writes S.D. in “ John o’ London's Weekly Charles de Foucauld was a French a soldier and an adventurous explorer, who spent the last years of his life as a hermit priest on the edge of the Sahara. Jt is true that he was au unusual as well as au heroic figure. But his life is a reminder of the continuance not only of faith but of what may seem to some the mediaeval yearning for silence and tbo horror of luxury in this noisy broadcasting, jazz-ridden world of ours. De Foucauld first went to Africa as a lieutenant. in the Chasseurs d’Afrique. He was a popular officer, always ready to make sacrifices for his men, and an exquisite who gave up smoking from the day that he could no longer buy his favourite brand of cigars. When he was twenty-four he resigned his commission and started on a long journey into the heart of unknown Morocco. He was fascinated by Africa. The desert called to him. “ The Land of Africa was his mind’s possession.” For his journey he disguised himself as a Jew, and he had to learn Hebrew as wcj.l as Arabic. The expedition was hazardous and uncomfortable. In his book, “ Le Reconnaissance Au Maroo.” Charles de Foucauld says;— “ The position of an Israelite did not lack unpleasantness : to walk barefooted in th© towns, and sometimes in the gardens, to receive insults and stones was nothing; but to live con-, stantly with Moroccan Jews—people. I apart from rare exceptions, despicable I ami repugnant among all others—was utterly intolerable. They spoke openly to me as a brother, boasting of their crimes, disclosing their base feelings. How often T regretted my hypocrisy! All this annoyance and disgust were recompensed by the facility for work which my disguise gave me. As a Musulman it would have been necessary to live the common life unceasingly m broad daylight, unceasingly in company ; never a moment of solitude ; with eyes constantly fixed upon one , difficult to obtain any information; more difficult to write; impossible to make use of my instruments. As a Jew these things did not become easy, but were generally possiola. T)e Foucauld’s hook is geographical, military, and political, a remarkable achievement for so young a man. It -was praised by English geographers, and the author received the gold medal of the French Geographical Society. It is interesting to learn from Do Foucauld that parts of Morocco are a land flowing with milk and honey. De Foucauld belonged to a pious family. In Africa be was saddened by the fact- that while Moslem and Jew regularly said their prayers, the nominal Christian had no religion. Back i.’i France he sought and found the light. , He was essentially a man of silence, who, above all things, loathed to talk about himself. He went off quietly to the Holy Land, and on his return he became a Trappist monk, first in France and afterwards in Syria. The life was hard, hut he gloried in the hardness It is peasants’ work, a toil infinitely salutary for the soul : while employing the body, it leaves the soul free to pray and meditate. Then this work, harder than you think if you have never done it, gives you such comparison for the poor, such charity towards workmen and labourers ! You understand the cost of a piece of bread so well, when you see for yourself how much trouble it takes to produce it. You feel so much pity for all who work, when you share in that work ! . . . As a Trappist lie was obedient and comparatively happy. “I obey.” be wrote. • with simplicity, with extreme gratitude, and with confidence.” But the communal life was not for him. He Longed for complete solitude. He obtained release from the monastery and wont to the Holy Land again, to become the “odd job” man at a convent »n Nazareth. In 1901 De Foucauld was back in France preparing for the priesthood. Fie hated the idea of any personal distinction, but he was persuaded that Holy Orders would give him a greatei j so fulness. Despite, the rigour of his life, De Foucauld kept his humanity. Fie Was capable of righteous and effective anger. He had a deep love for his i:amity and particularly for his only sis ter. who made a long journey to hear him say his first Mass. He wrote to ter: “ Best and dearest, thanks for joining, your arrival touches me to the bottom of my heart. . . . Welcome, my iear. arid thanks for corning. I embrace you as T lore you.” After his ordination P© Foucauld settled as a missionary priest- at Beni-Abbes. iu the south of Algeria, on the very border of the desert. He built a church and a but for himself. He .said Mass, he booked after the rick, he lived on a starvation diet. V piece of barley broad soaked'in a decoction of a Saharan plant which hears the innocent name of “ desert tea ” was his lunch. He dined on “ a bowl of the same tea. to which he added a little condensed milk.*’ On rare occasions he left his hut to dine with the officers of j the French military outpost. De Foucauld asked for a companion. 1 but the authorities were alraid to send one. His self-sacrifie was so complete and his life was so austere that his superiors judged him “ more admirable chan imitable.” They feared to try any other priest so hardly. in 190-3 De Foucauld left Algeria to live in Morocco, alone among the Tuaregs, an ignorant and savage people. His gospel v as very simple: Love God above all things, with your whole heart, your whole strength, and your whole mind. Love all men as yourself, for the love of God. Do unto all men what you wish they would do unto you. Do to none what, you would not wish them to do unto you. Abase yourself inwardly : God alone is great; all men are little, the man who is puffed up is mad, for he knows not whether he is going to heaven or hell. Dr Foucauld stayed in Morocco lur years, among other things compiling a Tuareg dictionary. He was, eventually, assassinated in 1917, it is said, at- the instigation of a German agent. A modern hermit, who abandoned ease and luxury for discomfort and loneliness. is a- figure of dramatic interest. But Charles De Foucauld ha* a second l

interest. Saint as he was, he re mained a fervent French patriot. He I wrote : ! Be French have two essential duties to fulfil in Africa : The first thing is the administration end civilisation of our North-west African Empire. AI. geria. Morocco, Tunis, the Sahara, and the Sudan form an immense and magnificent empire in one lump, having this unity for the first time. . . . Howare we to attach this empire to us? By civil using it, by working to raise its inhabitants morally and intellectually as much as possible. . . . Thu second thing is the evangelisation of our colonics. It ig, perhaps, not- without significance that to this sincerely pious Frenchman evangelisation was “ the second thing.’’ In another letter, written in 1916. he said:— France, in spite of appearances, is still the France of Charlemagne, St Louis, and Jeanne d’Arc; the old soul of the nation lives on in our generation : the saints nf France are always praying for her; the gifts of God are without repentance, and tho people of Saint-Re mi and Clovis are still the people of Christ. In thinking of France as a. colonising power, we should never forget, that the French have no colour prejudice. Recent events in Paris have been a reminder of this fact. De Foucauld advised: “ Try hard to get your people to.'learn French, to become naturalised French, not to become our subjects but