Father Charles de Foucauld, who called himself as ‘Brother Charles,’ will be beatified on Sunday, 13 November, at St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. The ceremony was to have taken place on 15 May, Pentecost Sunday, but was postponed because of the death of Pope John Paul.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, described Brother Charles as ‘A particular figure of the contemplative and the missionary, the “Little Brother of Jesus” who took the humility, poverty and charity of Christ among the Tuaregs of the Sahara, wanting to be the “universal brother” of Christians, Jews and Muslims.’

The life and writings of Brother Charles, born in Strasbourg, France, 15 September 1858, and killed in the Sahara Desert on 1 December 1916, have led to the founding of a number of religious congregations such as the Little Brothers of Jesus and the Little Sisters of Jesus, both of which are in the Philippines. The Jesus Caritas Fraternity of Priests, a movement basically of diocesan priests, and the Charles de Foucauld Lay Fraternities, adapt his spirituality to their way of life.

A good source of information about the new beatus, who in his young days was an army officer and a notorious playboy, and those he has inspiredis: http://www.jesuscaritas.info