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Mystic · Contemporary

St. Charles de Foucauld

1858–1916 · Nazareth spirituality; universal brotherhood

Saint Latin

Canonized by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022, who ended Fratelli Tutti with him as “the universal brother.”

A dissolute cavalry officer who explored Morocco in disguise, was converted at thirty by the sight of Muslim prayer and the counsel of Abbé Huvelin, became a Trappist, then a hermit in Nazareth, then a priest living alone among the Tuareg of the Sahara, learning their language, compiling their dictionary, adoring the Blessed Sacrament, and welcoming every visitor as a brother, until he was shot at his hermitage in 1916. He made no converts and founded no congregation in his lifetime; eleven now follow his rule.

Why he matters: The Church's saint of presence among Muslims: not polemic but the hidden life of Nazareth lived in their midst. Massignon was his friend and disciple, and Nostra Aetate 3 reads like his life.

Reading

  • Charles de Foucauld: Writings
    ed. Robert Ellsberg · Letters and meditations, including the Prayer of Abandonment.
    Journal
  • Charles de Foucauld
    Jean-Jacques Antier · The standard life.
    Journal
  • Fratelli Tutti (2020) §§ 286–287
    Pope Francis · Why the encyclical on fraternity ends with him.
    Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error
I

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology
Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology
How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing
Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing
Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes
Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes
II

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Fideism
Rationalism Fideism
Is truth objective? Objective truth
Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth
Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium
Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium
III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul
Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul
Are you free? Free will
Determinism Free will
How fallen is human nature? Between
Totally depraved Basically good
Does nature desire God? Natural desire for the vision of God
Pure nature Natural desire for the vision of God
The body and its desires Contempt for the flesh
Contempt for the flesh Desire as its own law
Person and community Collectivism
Individualism Collectivism
Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace
Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity
What is suffering for? A share in the Cross
An evil to be relieved A share in the Cross
IV

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Is morality objective and knowable? Natural law
Relativism Natural law
Rules or character? Morality of virtue and beatitude
Morality of obligation Morality of virtue and beatitude
What is conscience? Conscience bound to truth
Autonomous conscience Conscience bound to truth
In doubtful cases Rigorism
Rigorism Laxism
What is happiness? Beatitude in God
Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God
V

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace
Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace
Who can be saved? Indifferentism
Strict exclusivism Indifferentism
What is salvation for? Deification
Pardon and escape Deification
Where does your eye rest in Christ: His divinity or His humanity? The man Jesus of Nazareth
The eternal Word made flesh The man Jesus of Nazareth
VI

Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.

Church and state Social kingship of Christ
Laicism Social kingship of Christ
The economic order Socialism
Socialism Laissez-faire capitalism
The nation and the Church Nation does not matter
Nation or race first Nation does not matter
May a Christian take up the sword? Never: the way of the Cross is nonviolence
Never: the way of the Cross is nonviolence Yes: war can be just and sometimes a duty
VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

Liturgical development Receive and develop organically
Reconstruct and innovate Receive and develop organically
Icons and images Veneration of images
Iconoclasm Veneration of images
The way of prayer Stillness and the Jesus Prayer
Stillness and the Jesus Prayer Discursive meditation
The procession of the Holy Spirit From the Father and the Son (Filioque)
From the Father through the Son From the Father and the Son (Filioque)
The office of Peter Universal and immediate primacy
Conciliarism Universal and immediate primacy
What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato
Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato
When the Pope speaks Every word binds
Resist and judge Every word binds
Should the faith take the forms of each culture it enters? The Gospel in each people's own forms
One form everywhere The Gospel in each people's own forms
Contemplation or action? Contemplation: the one thing needful
Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy Contemplation: the one thing needful

A profile of your philosophical and theological leanings, measured against the settled teaching of the Catholic Church, East and West. It is a tool for examination and reading, not an instrument of judgment.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.