Antoine Chevrier

Antoine Chevrier

Antoine Chevrier (born April 16, 1826 in Lyon , † October 2, 1879 ibid) was a French Roman Catholic clergyman and founder of the secular Prado Institute . In the Catholic Church he is venerated as a blessed .

life and work

Priests of the poor

Antoine Chevrier grew up in a family of silk weavers on the Lyon peninsula in modest circumstances. At the age of five and eight, he saw the silk weavers revolt twice . From 1840 he oriented himself towards the goal proposed by the doctrinalists of becoming a priest, and in three years he mastered the normally six years of preparatory schooling. From 1843 he attended the diocesan collegiate school in Sainte-Foy-l'Argentière , from 1846 the seminary in Lyon. On 25 May 1850 he was together with 49 fellow brothers in the Cathedral of Lyon for ordained priest and as chaplain in the parish of Saint-André (now in the 7th arrondissement , the Rhône left) used. In constant contact with the workers exploited in early industrial society and the neglected proletariat , he quickly acquired the reputation of a saint, not least through his work during the flood disaster of 1856, which killed 18 people in his pastoral care district alone.

Clergyman of the poor settlement of Rambaud

Inspired by a mystical experience at Christmas 1856, he decided to intensify his commitment to the poor and, above all, to the poor children and young people. In a first stage, he joined the project of the poor settlement Cité de l'Enfant-Jésus (Christ Child City) in August 1857 , which the later priest Camille Rambaud (1822-1902) had founded in the area of ​​today's Cours Lafayette , and began with the Christian instruction of the children, supported by some women, above all Marie Boisson (* 1836). On August 2, 1860, he became a member of the Third Order of the Franciscans by pledge .

Founder of the Prado Institute

In a second stage, in December 1860, he acquired the empty ballroom called Prado in what is now Rue du Père Chevrier and began to gather neglected street children and give them Christian instruction, with Marie Boisson again taking care of the girls. He named the house, which had a chapel from 1861, "Providence du Prado" (Providence of the Prado). The method consisted of taking in the young people (14 to 20 years of age) for six months and during this time to "tame" them, to civilize them and finally to Christianize them. An important principle was that, in contrast to the child labor that was common at that time from the age of eight , they did not have to work. The whole plant, which quickly grew from 10 to 200 children, lived exclusively on donations (including many small donations from those who were themselves poor), and in an emergency, Chevrier knelt in front of a town church and asked wealthier churchgoers for support.

Priestly educator

In a third stage, starting in 1866, he worked towards the fact that his wards also produced priests who had remained in contact with the Prado during their seminary training and thus not the priest's ideal of poverty, which he always had in mind, as was often the case in the priesthood of that time happened to give up. To this end, he founded his own Latin school ("école cléricale"), from which in 1873 the first four graduates were admitted to the seminary. For them he wrote a thick manual entitled Le véritable disciple de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ ("The true disciple of our Lord Jesus-Christ"), in which he "crucified his ideal of the priest as one in the imitation of Christ" and consumed “people unfolded.

Death and beatification

Chevrier claims to have worked his way to death. In early 1878 he was incapacitated and resigned as director of the Providence Work. In October 1879 he died of stomach cancer in the Prado at the age of 53 . 300 priests and more than 5000 people followed his coffin. On October 4, 1986, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Lyon.

Development of the Prado Institute

The constitutions of the Prado Institute, which had served about 2,400 young people during Chevrier's lifetime, were not approved by the Archbishop of Lyon until 1924. The sisters were recognized as an apostolic association in 1925 . After that there was a considerable expansion, first in the Archdiocese of Lyon , after 1945 in the rest of France , and later in the whole world. Today the work is represented in 30 countries and has over 1000 fathers.

Pope Francis on Chevrier

On April 7, 2018, Pope Francis said to a delegation from the Prado Institute:

“Dear brothers and sisters, I invite you to continually return to the wonderful figure of your Founder, contemplate his life and ask for his intercession. The deep spiritual experience he lived - an immeasurable compassion for the poor, understanding and sharing their sufferings, and at the same time contemplating Christ emptying himself in order to become one of them - was the source of his apostolic zeal ”.

Works (selection)

• Le prêtre selon l'évangile ou le véritable disciple de notre seigneur Jésus Christ . Parole et Silence, Paris 2010 (also Italian, Spanish and Catalan).
• Spiritual writings. Contemplation of life from the Gospel . Edited in the name of Prado Germany by Karlheinz Beichert and Toni Kalteyer. Vier-Türme-Verlag, Münsterschwarzach 1997.

Literature (selection)

• Franz Hillig (1935–2015): The Spirit of the Prado. The venerable Antoine Chevrier and his mission in our time . In: Geist und Leben 33, 1960, pp. 416-427 (online).
• Marius Alliod and Jacques Désigaux: Un fondateur d'action sociale. Antoine Chevrier . Bayard, Paris 1992.
• Olivier de Berranger: Antoine Chevrier, dis-nous ton secret . Parole et Silence, Saint-Maur 2012.
• Pierre Berthelon: Antoine Chevrier. Prêtre selon l'Evangile, 1826–1879 . Cerf, Paris 2010.
• Jacques Lancelot: Antoine Chevrier. Passionné de Jésus-Christ, ami des pauvres. Fondateur du Prado, 1826–1879 . Parole et Silence, Paris 2009.
• Jean-François Six (* 1929): Un prêtre, Antoine Chevrier. Fondateur du Prado, 1826–1879 . Seuil, Paris 1986.

Web links

• Literature by and about Antoine Chevrier in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)
• Biography and appreciation by a French Benedictine, German
• Pope Francis on Chevrier, German
• Mention in the dictionary of saints, own article is missing
• Biography and places of work on the website of the Prado Institute, French, illustrated