Perseverance in prayer can ignite grace for the proliferation of faith
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[Part II of a three-part series on intercessory prayer, a key to conversion.]
In Part I of this series, we saw how Jewish musical prodigy Hermann Cohen transformed from a vain, self-indulgent, games-addicted man of misery into a pious, passionate Catholic whose heart burned with love for Christ in the Eucharist, and for his spiritual matron, the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose intercession, he maintained, secured special graces needed for his repentance and conversion.
In Part II, we'll retrace some of the fruits of Cohen's turn toward God, underscoring how intercessory prayer ignites a certain divine fire that, properly nourished, can spread far and wide to engulf others. Along the way, we'll see how Cohen's perseverance in prayer fueled Eucharistic devotion and the resurrection of the Carmelites – the religious order of renowned mystics and Doctors of the Church, St. Teresa of Ávila and St. John of the Cross – in France and beyond.
ADVANCING ADORATION
Cohen's entry into the Church in August 1847 came just before Europe suffered a series of convulsive political – and certainly, spiritual – earthquakes.
On Feb. 21, 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published their seminal work, A Communist Manifesto. This set in motion a long march toward catastrophe for Western civilization – a revolution that would gather steam over the course of the 19th century, kill more than 100 million people during the 20th, and threaten to bring down America and the other nations of the West in the 21st.
Coinciding with the unleashing of Communism, anarchy rocked Europe. As 1848 unfolded, a series of violent revolts against the conservative establishment ignited in countries across the continent. Uprisings erupted in key centers of power, including Berlin, Budapest, Krakow, Milan, Prague, Venice and Vienna. Oddly, London – the base of operations for Marx and Engels – was the only major capital spared upheaval.
Paris was hit especially badly. Clashes broke out in the French capital in February, and continued to flare up for much of the remainder of the year. These resulted in the ouster of Louis-Philippe, the Citizen King, and the establishment of the Second Republic. As Fr. Timothy Tierney observes in A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to St. John of the Cross:
"Turmoil on this scale had not been seen since the French Revolution and there was much anarchy and bloodshed on the streets of Paris with thousands being killed."
Cohen, however, once so civic-minded, responded to the strife almost with a shrug, as his thoughts had turned from the political to the theological.
His immediate focus following his conversion was propagation of Eucharistic adoration, specifically, nocturnal adoration – keeping vigil with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament throughout the night.
The practice of nocturnal adoration was itself a budding outgrowth of the Forty Hours' Devotion, which was first established in 1843 at the Church of St. Valère – the very sanctuary where Cohen's conversion had begun in earnest.
Inspired by a group of Carmelite nuns who had taken up nocturnal adoration, Cohen sought to establish a similar movement for men. On Nov. 22, 1848, he launched the Association of Nocturnal Adorers after recruiting nearly two dozen men to participate. Their first session was held on Dec. 6 at the Basilica of Our Lady of Victories.
The nocturnal adoration movement was an immediate success, later earning Cohen the nickname, "Angel of the Tabernacle." Within months, the Association had outgrown its home at Our Lady of Victories, and so Cohen met with Fr. Peter Julian Eymard (now St. Peter Julian Eymard) to ask permission if the nocturnal adorers could begin convening at his Marist community. Father Eymard agreed, and once planted in its new soil, the Association's blossoming accelerated.
'ADIEU' TO THE WORLD
Since the early days of his conversion, Cohen had nurtured a desire to dedicate his life entirely to God, but before he could do so, he had to conquer the mountain of debts accrued through his gambling addiction and profligate spending. He began working feverishly to pay off his debts, even as he continued to advance the nocturnal adoration movement. During this time, he also began helping raise funds for the poor by giving concerts benefiting the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, as well as composing music for a collection of popular hymns titled "Praise of Mary."
After two years of relentless work, he achieved his goal – his debts were cleared. After his final concert, Cohen was exuberant: "I have finished with the world forever; with what joy, after my final note, I took my bow and bade it adieu."
In April 1849, Cohen decided he would enter the Carmelite Order, which was then just beginning to be reestablished in France following near-total devastation during the Revolution more than half a century earlier.
"It appears from letters Cohen wrote to his friends that he wished to become a priest precisely to support" the nocturnal adoration movement, Tierney observes. "From the beginning, he had the needs of the adoration group very much at heart and wanted to ensure its success."
To his joy, on Oct. 6, 1849, Cohen was welcomed into the Carmelite Order and given the name Brother Augustine-Marie of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
During his novitiate, his spiritual life deepened and lingering attachments to the flesh were purged. As part of his religious training, he meditated on passages from the Order's Book of the First Monks, which teaches:
"Just as he who is crucified can no longer move his limbs at will, or turn around but must remain still where the executioner has nailed him, so must you attach yourself to the cross, renounce yourself and never turn your will for one moment toward selfishness or day-dreaming, but apply it totally where My will has nailed you, so as to spend the time of life which remains to you not following selfish desires but the will of God."
"During his earlier life," Tierney notes, Cohen "had been in the habit of taking snuff, which was then very much in vogue, as well as smoking tobacco, and being an avid coffee drinker." Dutifully, Br. Augustine-Marie left these habits behind, freeing himself to hasten his journey toward God.
Whatever pains the abandonment of these lesser vices may have caused, the spiritual succor the young novice experienced as he advanced in the spiritual life more than made up for them. In a letter from this period, he reflected:
"In the world during my life as an artist, I never had a childhood because I was introduced to the life of the salons at the age of twelve. God, in his great goodness, has amply made up to me for that during my novitiate, where I rejoice in the joys of spiritual childhood. I am bathed in the milk of consolation and want nothing else but to see God's will done in me and in everyone. Holy Communion occupies me totally – either in Thanksgiving or in preparation. I prolong these in such a way that my life is a continual Communion. This I think is like the joy of heaven. Here we are always in the Real Presence of the Eucharist."
Brother Augustine-Marie of the Blessed Sacrament made his first profession of vows on Oct. 7, 1850 – the Feast of the Holy Rosary. Following this, he began studying for the priesthood.
FROM BROTHER TO FATHER – THE PREACHING APOSTOLATE
On April 20, 1851 – Easter Sunday – Br. Augustine-Marie was ordained a priest of the Catholic Church, becoming Fr. Augustine-Marie. Fittingly, his first homily was devoted the importance of frequent Communion.
Not long after his ordination, Fr. Augustine-Marie was "entrusted with a busy apostolate of travelling and preaching," such that "he sometimes jokingly referred to himself as the 'Wandering Jew.'" As part of his mission, "he preached in nearly all the towns of southern France ... and invariably a movement for the practice of nocturnal adoration followed. His preaching never failed to make an impact."
Soon, his itinerant ministry of preaching expanded across ever-wider reaches of France, and on multiple occasions, the young priest commanded an audience of thousands. Shortly after Easter 1854, his work brought him back to Paris, where he delivered a powerful homily from the pulpit of the Church of Saint-Sulpice – one of his original places of pilgrimage during the earliest days of his quest for God. While in the city, he was gratified to see that the nocturnal adoration movement was continuing to grow rapidly throughout the French capital.
Within a few years, the impact of his preaching apostolate had spread throughout France, and in 1856, at the behest of his superior general, Fr. Augustine-Marie journeyed to Liege, Belgium, where he spent several weeks ministering to the faithful there – a sojourn that marked the beginning of his work abroad.
REBUILDING FROM RUIN
Even before his ordination to the priesthood, Augustine-Marie had been enlisted to help reestablish the Carmelite Order in France. Shortly after his ordination to the diaconate, while still a brother, he was sent to the southern French city of Carcassonne, charged with aiding the restoration of a Carmelite house that had been seized by the secular government during the Revolution. Soon after arriving, he wrote to a friend:
"We arrived at last after a hard journey. We encountered a lot of problems which the Lord in his goodness allowed. We were able to take over a lovely gothic church – still a stable – and also the old Carmelite priory. The habit has been welcomed here again. We don't know what providence has in store for the Order. It wouldn't surprise me if in a few years the whole of the south of France were part of a network of St. Teresa's vineyard."
"In this," Tierney writes, Augustine-Marie "was indeed proved right for it was really the beginning of a second spring for Carmel in France." The young cleric "couldn't foresee that he would play a significant part in this revival, not only in southern France but in England, too."
As a priest, Fr. Augustine-Marie continued to set up new Carmelite houses. After launching a new complex in the city of Montpelier, he interceded on behalf of a stalled effort in the town of Bagnères-de-Bigorre in the southwestern corner of the country, successfully petitioning the head of the diocese, Bp. Bertrand Laurence of Tarbes, for permission to construct a new church and priory for Carmelite friars there. He was even allowed to serve as architect for the new church, which was formally dedicated on Sept. 2, 1856, by Bp. Laurence himself.
As his work intensified, Fr. Augustine-Marie began to suffer bouts of ill-health. Still, though often weighed down by exhaustion, the devoted priest never slackened in his work for God. Even as he was pushing other endeavors forward, including the complex at Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Fr. Augustine-Marie was asked to help spearhead the return of the Carmelite Order to Lyon – the "second city" of France.
For generations prior to 1789, the Carmelite Order had flourished in Lyon, "the ancient city of the Gauls dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary." But that ended with the coming of the Revolution, which saw the friars driven out of the city in the anti-clerical frenzy that followed.
A project to restore the Order to Lyon began to gather steam in the late 1850s, centered on "a ruined Carmelite priory" that had been overrun by anarchists more than a half-century earlier. For decades, the priory had been used as an army barracks, with the church itself serving as sleeping quarters for French soldiers.
Despite various difficulties, with Fr. Augustine-Marie's help, in 1859 a new Carmelite foundation was established; at his behest, it was inaugurated on Sept. 8 – the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the twelfth anniversary of his First Holy Communion.
Quickly, the new foundation began to thrive, as the citizens of Lyon, inspired by the project, eagerly lent their support. Other religious communities in the city supplied the friars with meals, and donations poured in to drive the restoration of the priory forward. Meanwhile, Fr. Augustine-Marie set about establishing a group of the Third Order of Carmel, as well as a chapter of the Brown Scapular Confraternity, to promote the Carmelite practice of prayer in the tradition of St. Teresa of Ávila and St. John of the Cross.
For Fr. Augustine-Marie, "the new Carmelite house at Lyon was a great personal success," Tierney notes. "He was appointed vicar of the new community," and "the following May, the house was upgraded and allowed to inaugurate a novitiate." The pious priest thus became "first prior of the Carmelite house at Lyon ... leading the community, together with carrying on an apostolate in the city."
Father Augustine-Marie's work sparked "many notable conversions" during his time in Lyon. His pastoral approach often displayed "a surprisingly modern touch," Tierney recounts, such as when he encountered a gravely-ill elderly woman who had "resisted all efforts to reconcile her to the Church."
"I'm not going to confession," she spat when approached by the priest. Rather than upbraiding her, Fr. Augustine-Marie replied simply "Who says that you must?" His response disarmed her, and she ultimately yielded to grace, receiving the last sacraments from him just before her death.
'PRAY TO GOD FOR SINNERS'
Owing to her role in his conversion, Fr. Augustine-Marie harbored a deep devotion to Our Lady, and was keenly interested in Marian apparitions.
In the early days of his preaching apostolate, for example, as he was making his way across southeastern France, he arranged a meeting with Maximin Giraud and Melanie Calvat, the visionaries of La Salette, to discuss their encounter with the Mother of God several years earlier.
On Sept. 19, 1846, Giraud and Calvat encountered the Blessed Virgin while tending their flocks outside the Alpine village of La Salette. According to their testimony, She was in tears, her face buried in her hands. When the pair approached to inquire why She was weeping, She lamented that the iniquity of France – especially its sins of blasphemy and violation of the Sabbath – had become so great that She would not be able to stay the hand of God's justice for much longer.
"The effects of the French Revolution which had terrorized the Church, the blood spilt during the reign of Napoleon, the increasing secularization of social thought, and the rising political turmoil enveloping Europe had taken a serious toll on the faith of the people," explains Fr. William Saunders, a devotee of the La Salette apparitions. "Fewer and fewer people attended Mass and the sacraments were neglected. Cursing had overtaken praying; licentiousness, purity; and greed and self-indulgence, piety and sacrifice."
"Those who drive the carts cannot swear without introducing the name of my Son," Our Lady lamented to Giraud and Calvat. "There are none who go to Mass except a few aged women. The rest work on Sunday all summer; then in the winter, when they know not what to do, they go to Mass only to mock at religion."
"If my people will not submit, I shall be forced to let fall the arm of my Son. It is so strong, so heavy, that I can no longer hold it. For how long a time do I suffer for you! If I would not have my Son abandon you, I am compelled to pray to him without ceasing."
Our Lady's warning resonated with Fr. Augustine-Marie, as the spiritual condition of France had only worsened since her call to conversion at La Salette – a decline punctuated, especially, by the turmoil of 1848.
A few years after his meeting with Giraud and Calvat – as Fr. Augustine-Marie was pushing the projects in Bagnères-de-Bigorre and Lyon forward – reports of a new Marian phenomenon captured the priest's attention.
On Feb. 11, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, a peasant girl (and future saint) from the town of Lourdes, in southwestern France – a hamlet only a few miles west of Bagnères-de-Bigorre. Over the next five months, Our Lady visited Soubirous seventeen more times, imparting various messages – a number of which underscored the urgency of interceding for wayward souls.
"Penance! Penance! Penance!" she exhorted, for example, on Feb. 24. "Pray to God for sinners."
The events at Lourdes caused considerable consternation among local (largely anti-clerical) officials, and before long, they decided to cordon off the grotto where the apparitions were occurring to dissuade the faithful from gathering there. In spite of this, a burgeoning army of pilgrims soon began assembling regularly at the site, and Fr. Augustine-Marie, who first learned of the apparitions in March, wanted to be among them.
Father Augustine-Marie, in fact, became "the first Catholic priest to lead a pilgrimage in Lourdes," Tierney writes. "This in itself is some kind of distinction if we consider the countless thousands of priests who have followed in his footsteps."
On Sept. 20, just two months after the Blessed Virgin's final appearance at Lourdes, Fr. Augustine-Marie led hundreds of faithful to the grotto, "although it was still enclosed behind barricades and access was forbidden by the civil authorities."
In his book Bernadette Speaks: A Life of St. Bernadette Soubirous in Her Own Words, Fr. René Laurentin, a renowned French theologian and Mariologist, described the effect of Fr. Augustine-Marie's sojourn to the apparition site.
"This musician, a convert from Judaism, whom many called a saint ... stirred up great excitement in Lourdes with his loud and hearty rendition of the Magnificat, and one of the psalms, and then by preaching at the forbidden grotto."
Through his pilgrimage, Fr. Augustine-Marie discerned that the Blessed Virgin was indeed present in all that was happening at Lourdes. Reflecting later on his encounter, he said, "I have not seen Our Lady, but I [experienced] the same sensations at the grotto that I received at my conversion."
At the end of his retreat, as he prepared to leave Lourdes to continue his work elsewhere, Fr. Augustine-Marie gave "a parting address" to his fellow pilgrims:
"People of Lourdes: The Blessed Virgin has done great things in your city. I have traveled a lot, and I would like to tell you that I have not found a church like yours anywhere else bearing witness to your great devotion to the Blessed Virgin ... You have received a great grace."
During his brief sojourn, Fr. Augustine-Marie met directly with Soubirous, engaging her in discussion, prayerfully and compassionately, for a long while. The holy priest "made an impression on Bernadette," Fr. Laurentin observed, noting that years later, "in February 1865, when she received his picture, she announced, 'I've really wished to have this.'"
Another key figure he seems to have favorably impressed was Amirale Bruat, governess to Napoléon, Prince Imperial – the son of Napoléon III, Emperor of the French, and heir to the nation's throne. Bruat met Fr. Augustine-Marie on the day he ministered to the faithful outside the grotto barricades; nine days after the holy priest's visit, Napoléon III ordered the apparition site opened to all pilgrims.
ON TO ENGLAND
In 1862, Fr. Augustine-Marie set out for Rome to attend the canonization of Japanese martyrs, St. Paul Miki and Companions. While there, he reconciled with his old friend and mentor, Franz Liszt, who "received Holy Communion from his hands in the church of Santa Maria Vittoria."
Rome proved consequential in another way: It was the catalyst for a new mission – to London.
During his time in the Eternal City, Fr. Augustine-Marie met Cdl. Nicholas Wiseman of Westminster, the United Kingdom's leading prelate, who was pursuing every opportunity to reignite British Catholicism after centuries of persecution. Energized by the Sept. 29, 1850 reestablishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England, Cdl. Wiseman was actively encouraging the revival of long-dormant religious orders throughout the country. In Fr. Augustine-Marie, the cardinal recognized "the qualities of a founder and was aware of his record as such in France [and] invited him to do the same in London."
The priest agreed, and a new mission, "undertaken with the express permission of Pope Pius IX," was launched. Though the duration of his work in the United Kingdom would be comparatively short – lasting just three years – he would impact countless souls during this time, and make great headway on behalf of the Carmelite Order in Britain.
Father Augustine-Marie arrived in England with the equivalent of just twenty dollars in his pocket on Aug. 6, 1862. "Here I am at my post, charged with establishing a new Carmel," he reflected in a message to Bp. Félix Dupanloup of Orléans shortly after landing in London. "I beg your grace to recommend me to Our Lord and His holy mother. This project appears to me to be very difficult and takes from me all the support I felt in France."
In a letter to his brother just eleven days after arriving in Britain, Fr. Augustine-Marie elaborated on the suffering he was experiencing owing to his new mission, while reaffirming his willingness to suffer for the greater glory of God and for the salvation of souls.
"I have to admit that to me it's a real sacrifice to leave France, where my role as priest and religious gave me so much consolation," he conceded, adding, "I'm only half-alive."
"But no matter," the stalwart priest continued, "Since religious life is one of sacrifice, why not take a few more steps forward when it's a question of helping so many Catholics of all nations who are scattered throughout this huge city of London, and, as far as any religious assistance is concerned, abandoned almost entirely to themselves."
Within weeks of his arrival, a handful of Carmelites from France and Italy began to join him. On Oct. 15, the Feast of St. Teresa of Ávila, they established their first foundation in England at a house on Kensington Square, in the city's West End. Father Augustine-Marie entrusted the project to the care of St. Simon Stock, a 13th-century English Carmelite priest to whom the Blessed Virgin Mary, in an apparition, imparted the Brown Scapular – a symbol of Marian devotion – attaching to it a promise that "Whosoever dies clothed in this Habit shall not suffer the fires of hell."
Reflecting on the the condition of Catholicism in England – a land where, prior to the machinations of King Henry VIII, Marian devotion burned so brightly as to earn it the title, 'Our Lady's Dowry' – Fr. Augustine-Marie was gratified to be part of the rebuilding then underway across the country.
"Out of the thirteen dioceses created on the reestablishment of the Hierarchy in England, twelve were placed under the special invocation of the Mother of God," he reported to his confreres a year after his arrival. "The Month of Mary is now celebrated in all the Catholic Churches; and the piety of the faithful has blossomed into new life with confraternities of the Rosary, of the Holy Scapular, and of the Holy Heart of Mary."
"As if this filial homage could be out of place in England, the birthplace of the devotion of the Holy Scapular, the favored spot to which the Blessed Virgin came, bringing from heaven that pledge of salvation, to bestow it upon a Religious, not of Italy or of Spain, but on an English Saint, born and bred in England, English in his labors, in his mission, and in his election as General of the Carmelite Order.
This preference for England as the scene of that revelation, and the choice of an Englishman, St. Simon Stock, as the receiver of the promise attached to the Scapular is, to my mind, a pledge of the future conversion of that nation."
From the new Carmelite base in Kensington, Fr. Augustine-Marie delivered homilies and heard confessions, not only in English, but in French and German, as well. As a result, throngs of Londoners began to make their way to the Carmelite chapel, and many conversions followed, with a number of young men applying to join the Order as postulants.
Meanwhile, through his efforts, a pioneering group of Carmelite nuns were brought to the British capital to set up a community, arriving on Dec. 23, 1863.
Before long, Cdl. Wiseman named Fr. Augustine-Marie "spiritual director for his clergy and engaged him for their retreats." Aware of the priest's devotion to the Eucharist, Wiseman also named him head of the Eucharistic apostolate in London – an assignment, Fr. Augustine-Marie remarked later, that brought him great joy: "Anything to do with the Blessed Sacrament is dear to me. The cardinal knows my preference very well."
Meanwhile, demand for his preaching continued to grow, and he travelled often to Ireland, Scotland, France and Germany to give homilies, many times with thousands in attendance (an appearance in Waterford, Ireland, for example, drew more than 9,000 faithful).
Father Augustine-Marie left London in October 1865 at the insistence of his superiors, who said his efforts were needed once more in France. Before his departure, construction on a new Carmelite church had gotten underway in Kensington. It was dedicated on July 16, 1866 – the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
THE FINAL CHAPTER
Over the next few years, Fr. Augustine-Marie continued his work in France and beyond. However, the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in July 1870 changed everything for him, and focused his attention on a final mission to faithful in need.
The war was the result of France's attempt to reassert its waning dominance in continental Europe. It declared war on the Kingdom of Prussia, leader of the North German Confederation, on July 16. But Prussian troops proved to be better trained, better equipped and better led. To the horror of the French – and in a foreshadowing of what was to come during the First and Second World Wars – the Prussian army swept across the country's northeastern provinces with surprising rapidity. By late September, Paris was under siege. In January 1871, the city fell to Prussian forces, and France was forced to surrender.
German by birth, Fr. Augustine-Marie felt compelled to leave France, his adopted homeland, as his countrymen closed in on Paris. Heartbroken, he made his way to neutral Switzerland, where he was enlisted to care for refugees from the conflict. Before long, however, he was tapped for a new mission – to serve as chaplain to the more than 5,000 French prisoners of war held at Spandau Prison, on the outskirts of Berlin. He notified his sister of his plans in a letter:
"I am leaving to minister to the French prisoners interned in Germany. French priests who wished to go were refused permits. I felt I could not refuse this mission, since Jesus says to those he rejects, 'I was in prison and you did not visit me.' People think I am suited to the work because I have relatives in Germany. So I am setting out under the protection of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I am looking forward to bringing some consolation to these prisoners who are in such great need."
"I am at Spandau," he wrote in a follow-up letter. "I vest in this sacristy every day to say Mass and preach to the French prisoners. About 500 of them are ill with typhus and dysentery. About 400 attend Mass every day, and I preach to them. Then I visit the hospital to minister to the sick; and in the afternoon, I visit the barracks to see those who are well. Pray earnestly for their conversion; many of the healthy have not been to confession yet."
His work among the soldiers began to have an impact, as evidence by subsequent communiques to his family.
On Dec. 12, he informed his sister-in-law: "The prisoners are beginning to ask for confession. This evening, I had eight in my room. You see the Lord gives me plenty to do! I have never had such as vast harvest from which to win people to Christ."
On Dec. 22, he wrote her again: "The prisoners besiege me from eight o'clock in the morning until evening, and I try to serve them; and they make use of me! They are allowed to come to the presbytery. I must say they are grateful for my devotion to them."
During his ministry at Spandau, Fr. Augustine-Marie – who for some time had been receiving premonitions that God would call him home to heaven while still a relatively young man – began to suffer from declining health.
Father Henri de la Billerie, a friend who occasionally met with Augustine-Marie during visits to Berlin, later recalled: "I found him old and worn and very pale. I also noticed an unhealthy looking spot on his left hand, which seemed to be the result of contagion in the hospital. I went to visit him again in the evening in his room in St. Hedwig's presbytery where he used to stay when he visited Berlin. As he spoke to others present, I studied his face; and I became convinced that he had come to the end of his laborious career."
His sentiments proved prescient.
In January, Fr. Augustine-Marie contracted smallpox while anointing a pair of prisoners suffering from the disease. On Jan. 13, he told Fr. de la Billerie, "Well Father, I need you. I have smallpox and shall be in bed for three or four weeks. I shall be unhappy if the work I have begun is not continued. Besides, the Lord can take me. You will be there to take my place."
"Father," de la Billerie replied, "I hope God will leave you still longer in your ministry."
"No, I don't think so," Fr. Augustine-Marie replied, gazing at his crucifix. "I hope the Lord will take me this time."
One week later, he died.
Father Augustine-Marie of the Blessed Sacrament, aged 49, breathed his last on Jan. 20, 1871. His final words were: "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit."
A LASTING LEGACY
The contribution of Fr. Augustine-Marie to the Faith is beyond measure.
Not only did he encourage and exhort, absolve and convert countless souls during his lifetime; the ongoing spillover effect of his work continues to this day.
As a newly-baptized lay convert, he made a lasting mark on the spiritual lives of myriad French faithful by promoting devotion to the Eucharist, especially through the practice of nocturnal adoration.
Indeed, his Eucharistic devotion proved contagious; St. Peter Julian Eymard, for example, was "greatly impressed" by the young convert and his budding band of nocturnal adorers.
"Eymard's Eucharistic spirituality had been evolving, but this contact with the Paris group was the catalyst that reaffirmed his 'early attraction for Communion'," Tierney notes. "They seemed to have inspired him to pursue the idea of a religious congregation devoted to the Eucharist." And St. Peter Julian Eymard went on to do just that, establishing the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament for men, and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament for women.
Additionally, first as a brother, and then as a priest, Augustine-Marie served the Carmelites with "untiring zeal," fueling "the expansion of the Order, which he had embraced with a filial recognition of Mary," throughout France and England. As one Carmelite writer later observed, Fr. Augustine-Marie's role "in planting and strengthening the vine of St. Teresa in France" was immense. "He was a man who seemed prepared in a special manner by Providence, to assist in the growth of our holy Reform."
Today, the outgrowth of Fr. Augustine-Marie's work continues, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, inside one of Paris' most recognizable monuments.
In the waning months of 1870, as it became more and more certain that France would suffer defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Bp. Felix Fournier of Nantes proposed the construction of a national church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as reparation for the nation's sins – attributing France's defeat to the moral rot that had metastasized since the Revolution.
On Sept. 6, 1878, Cyril Mont de Benque, one of Fr. Augustine-Marie's "first companions at nocturnal adoration" some thirty years earlier, inaugurated Eucharistic adoration inside a makeshift chapel on Montmartre – a hill overlooking the French capital notorious then, as now, for its decadent nightlife. Two years later, the National Assembly approved a resolution authorizing construction of a national church on the site, and today it is home to the Basilique du Sacré Coeur, or Basilica of the Sacred Heart, where Eucharistic adoration is offered in perpetuity.
"From the very beginning, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament has been maintained in this basilica day and night," Tierney observes. "Surely there is a direct link here with the Eucharistic zeal of Cohen."
The legacy of Servant of God Father Augustine-Marie of the Blessed Sacrament, OCD is one of abiding adoration of Christ, filial devotion to Our Lady, and intercession on behalf of others. As recounted in Part I of this series, he credited the Blessed Virgin Mary with his conversion, maintaining that God poured upon him a deluge of graces owing to her intercession on his behalf; he, in turn, spent the remainder of his life following her example by interceding for poor sinners everywhere.
The souls won for God by his persistence in prayer included many within his own family. But, for years following Fr. Augustine-Marie's conversion, there was one soul who stubbornly refused to accept his embrace of Christ. Father Augustine-Marie was long grieved by the fact that the person dearest to him in all the world – his mother, Rosalie Cohen – remained obstinate in her rejection of the Faith, seemingly even unto death.
As we'll see in Part III, however, appearances aren't always what they seem.
No matter how hopeless a case may appear from the outside, persistence in prayer can ultimately win any war.
It can even conquer a hardened heart.
Click here to read Part III.
Editor's note: To read more about A Life of Hermann Cohen, click here or on the image below.
Editor's note: To expand your knowledge of Communism's long march of death, deception and infiltration, click here or on the image below.
Writer, editor and producer Stephen Wynne has spent the past seven years covering, from a Catholic perspective, the latest developments in the Church, the nation and the world. Prior to his work in journalism, he spent eight years co-authoring “Repairing the Breach,” a book examining the war of worldviews between Christianity and Darwinism. A Show-Me State native, he holds a BA in Creative Writing from Pepperdine University and an Executive MBA from the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Excellent; thank you for bringing this to us, Stephan.