FOUCAULD CHARLES DE: (1858-1916) Foucauld was a former cavalry Officer in the French army, he ...

FOUCAULD CHARLES DE: (1858-1916) Foucauld was a former cavalry Officer in the French army, he would later become an Explorer, and finally a Catholic Priest. Foucauld lived as a hermit, among the Tuareg in the Algerian Sahara. In 1916 Foucauld was assassinated and is considered by the Catholic Church a martyr. He was beatified in 2005 by Benedict XVI. The Little Brothers of Jesus were found after him. An excellent and rare A.L.S., ` Fr[ere] Ch. de Jésus´, four pages, grid paper, small 8vo, Insalah (Oasis Sahariennes), 9th February 1908, to abbott Max Caron, superior of the Versailles seminar, in French. To the upper left corner, Foucauld annotates "IESUS CARITAS´, adding a sketch of a cross above a heart. In the same way, Foucauld adds the same sketch to the heading of each page. To a cleanly written letter, Foucauld states in part ` Vos prières me sont trop précieuses pour que je ne vienne pas vous les demander pour moi et les pauvres infidèles qui m´entourent. Cette partie du Royaume de JESUS reste douloureusement abandonnée, délaissée. Le vénéré et Saint Préfet apostolique du Sahara ne dispose que de quelques prêtres pour des populations dispersées sur d´immenses espaces...´ (Translation: " Your prayers are too precious to me for me not to come and ask them for myself and the poor infidels around me. This part of the Kingdom of JESUS ​​remains painfully abandoned, neglected. The venerated and Holy Apostolic Prefect of the Sahara has only a few priests for populations scattered over immense spaces...") Further, Foucauld expresses his thoughts about his future and destiny, stating ` A la fin de l´été je retournerai à Beni Abbès, sur la frontière du Maroc, et là la misère spirituelle est plus grande encore. Priez pour tant d´âmes qui après 1900 ans n´ont pas reçu la Bonne Nouvelle ou en ont perdu la connaissance et le souvenir depuis bien des siècles... Mes yeux verront-ils ici-bas cette Basilique? Tout semble me retenir à jamais au Sahara et près du Maroc, mais les desseins de Dieu sont si cachés à nos yeux qu´on ne sait jamais ce que réserve l´avenir...´ (Translation: " At the end of the summer I will return to Beni Abbès, on the border of Morocco, and there the spiritual misery is even greater. Pray for so many souls who after 1900 years have not received the Good News or have lost the knowledge and memory of it for many centuries... Will my eyes see this Basilica down here? Everything seems to keep me forever in the Sahara and near Morocco, but God's designs are so hidden from our eyes that we never know what the future will be...") An interesting spiritual content letter. VG