A Gentle Giant Gone
Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, has gone to his eternal reward, at the venerable age of 90. The son of soldier, veteran and former Governor-General George Vanier and his wife Pauline – both of them up for beatification for their holiness of life – Jean founded L’Arche on August 4, 1964 when he took two disabled men out of their institutionalized life – Raphael Simi and Philippe Seux, who may be considered co-founders – into his own home in Trosly-Breuil, France. Jean Vanier dedicated his life in celibacy to his work, and, his witness of life, along with his numerous books, essays and articles, have become a source of hope and inspiration to untold numbers of people.
L’Arche offers those with disabilities a more domestic, community-oriented and overall personal and human life, and grew quickly. There are now 147 L’Arche communities in 37 countries around the world, with waiting lists in all of them. A beautiful and much-needed apostolate of joy and hope. I wonder if there is one in Iceland, boasting of its ‘elimination’ of Down’s syndrome, but am loathe to check. If not, I would urge someone to start one.
I had the honour of meeting Jean Vanier once, after a talk he gave. A gentle giant of a man, even seated he made an imposing presence, radiating a goodness that comes from a life of patience and self-gift.
As I write that, I am reminded of an anecdote I read in a recent article by Peter Hitchens, on another giant Frenchman, Charles de Gaulle, who had a daughter disabled by Down’s syndrome, upon whom he doted. In Hitchens’ own words:
De Gaulle possessed that great chivalrous virtue of being ready to walk unbowed and defiant in front of the powerful, while being gentle and even submissive to the defenseless and weak. He once became so angry with Churchill that he smashed a chair in his presence to emphasize his rage. Likewise, he defied Franklin Roosevelt over and over again. But he would go home after these battles to sing tender love songs to his daughter Anne, who suffered from Down syndrome. The tiny glimpses we have of this part of his life, obtained from the accidental observations of others, tear at the heart. His concern for Anne was entirely private and not at all feigned. After any long absence from home his first act was to rush up to her room. She died, aged twenty, in his arms. At her funeral, he comforted his wife Yvonne with the words, “Maintenant, elle est comme les autres” (“Now she is like the others”), which must be one of the most moving things said in the whole twentieth century.
Jean Vanier, as far as we know, never flew into such rages, nor did he seem to cavort much with the rich and powerful, but rather spent his entire life with such persons as ‘Anne’, praying, talking, reading, eating, laughing and just ‘being’ with them. And all the ‘core members’ of L’Arche – some unable to ‘do’ much at all in the world’s eyes – will all be ‘comme les autres’ in heaven. May they welcome Jean Vanier home with open arms, saying with Christ, ‘well done, good and faithful servant… truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me’.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’… ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→