Louis Brisson

Louis Brisson (1817-1908)

Louis Brisson (born June 23, 1817 in Plancy-l'Abbaye ( Aube ); † February 2, 1908 there ) was a Catholic priest . He founded the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and Oblates of St. Francis de Sales . He was beatified on September 22, 2012 in Troyes Cathedral. His feast day was set for October 12th.

Life

Childhood and ordination

Louis Brisson was born on June 23, 1817 in Plancy-l'Abbaye , a town in Champagne , about 30 km from Troyes , the capital of the Aube department .

Louis was the only child of Toussaint Grégoire Brisson (1785-1875) and Savine Brisson, née Corrard (1795-1881). His baptism took place on June 29, 1817 in the parish church of Plancy. At school he was particularly interested in the natural sciences, i.e. mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics.

However, his professional goal was to become a priest. This wish came true on December 19, 1840, when he was ordained a priest in the neighboring diocese of Châlons-en-Champagne . Since the then Bishop of Troyes was ill, Brisson could not be ordained in his home diocese of Troyes.

As a formative memory of that day, Brisson reported later mainly that it was −27 ° C.

The first years of priesthood

Just one year after his ordination, he met Maria Salesia Chappuis , the superior who had a decisive influence on his life as a spiritual director at the Convent of the Visitation of Mary in Troyes . The “Good Mother”, as she was called by her fellow sisters, was convinced that Louis Brisson was the priest who supported her idea of founding a religious community in the spirit of St. Francis de Sales would put into practice.

St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622), the founder of the Visitation of Mary, wanted to found a male order as well. However, his early death at the age of 55 prevented this. Maria Salesia Chappuis did everything possible to win Louis Brisson for this plan. However, this was by no means enthusiastic. In addition to his priestly work (among other things, he was a teacher at the boys' seminar), he was more of a scientist. This interest spurred him on, for example, to design and build an astronomical clock that displayed sidereal time, solar time, world time, absolute time and the mean time of all countries on earth. This clock can still be seen today in the Convent of the Oblates of St. Admiring Francis de Sales in Troyes.

Foundation of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

Maria Salesia Chappuis finally prevailed. However, it took almost 30 years before Louis Brisson in 1872, namely on October 1, 1872, the Congregation of the Oblates of St. Francis of Sales founded.

In between, he was particularly concerned about those young men and women who had moved from the countryside to the city at the beginning of industrialization in order to find work there. Often they did not find proper accommodation. That is why Louis Brisson founded the St. Francis de Sales with the aim of rekindling the zeal of the faithful through prayer and works of charity. From this association four branches developed: the work of the pious life, the work of the soldiers, the mission work and the work of the working youth, for which he cared particularly. He also founded three homes in which the young working-class girls in particular found a solid home. Together with Leonie Aviat , he founded the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, who took care of the upbringing of these young girls.

In order to establish the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales came when his bishop asked him to save the diocese's only Catholic private school . He and his co-workers in this school formed the first community of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, which was officially recognized worldwide with the blessing of the Pope in 1875.

The last years of life

In the last thirty years up to his death in 1908, the fellowship spread across Europe, to Africa , North America and Latin America . The anti-church politics in France at the end of the 19th century contributed to this , as a result of which many priests and religious had to close their monasteries and were expelled from the country. This is what happened to the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. Due to his old age, Louis Brisson no longer felt able to leave the country. He retired to his birth house in Plancy, where he died on February 2, 1908 at the age of 91.

Beatification process

Immediately after his death, efforts were made to get Louis Brisson beatified. The informative process was opened in Troyes on February 11, 1938 and was only completed on December 15, 1949 after the Second World War. A complementary process followed in Rome from July 8, 1963 to January 13, 1964. The results of the informative process were confirmed by decree on October 6, 1995 by the Congregation for the Processes of Beatification and Canonization. On December 19, 2009, Fr. Brisson's “ heroic degree of virtue ” was recognized by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints . In this decree, Pope Benedict XVI. Literally: “In the present case, it is stated that the servant of God, Louis Brisson, priest and founder of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, the divine virtues of faith, hope and love for God and neighbor as well as the cardinal virtues of prudence and justice , Moderation and bravery and these related virtues to a heroic degree. "

Two years later, on December 19, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI recognized a miracle at Brisson's intercession. With this, the beatification process took its final hurdle. The beatification took place on September 22nd, 2012 in Troyes Cathedral. On behalf of Pope Benedict XVI. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato SDB, assumed the liturgical presidency of the beatification ceremony in Troyes Cathedral. Over 3,000 people attended the celebration in the cathedral and in the square in front of the cathedral, in Brisson's birthplace Plancy-l'Abbaye there were more than 1,500.

literature

Josef Bordat: BRISSON, Louis (Aloisius) Alexandre Sosthène. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 29, Bautz, Nordhausen 2008, ISBN 978-3-88309-452-6 , Col. 228-229. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
Françoise Bouchard: Father Louis Brisson. A heart in harmony with God , Paris: Salvator Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-2-7067-0861-9
Dirk Koster: Louis Brisson , Norden: Verlag Bert Post, 2008, ISBN 978-90-70376-62-8

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ louisbrisson.org: Overview of life data (accessed on September 26, 2012)
↑ Bulletin of the Holy See, December 19, 2009.
↑ Decree on the Virtues of Louis Brisson of December 19, 2009.
↑ The Bulletin of the Holy See on the Beatification of Fr Brisson (accessed December 20, 2011)
^ Page of the diocese of Troyes on the beatification of Fr. Brisson ( Memento of July 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on September 26, 2012)
↑ The program of the beatification of Father Brisson
↑ read-eclair.fr: Father Brisson beatified. ( Memento of December 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on September 26, 2012) ( French )

personal data
SURNAME	Brisson, Louis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Brisson, Louis-Alexandre; Brisson, Aloisius; Sosthène Brisson, Louis Alexandre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Catholic priest and founder of the Order of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales
DATE OF BIRTH	June 23, 1817
PLACE OF BIRTH	Plancy-l'Abbaye (Aube department)
DATE OF DEATH	February 2, 1908
Place of death	Plancy-l'Abbaye (Aube department)

[1] uisbrisson.org: Overview of life data (accessed on September 26, 2012)

[2] Bulletin of the Holy See, December 19, 2009.

[3] Decree on the Virtues of Louis Brisson of December 19, 2009.

[4] The Bulletin of the Holy See on the Beatification of Fr Brisson (accessed December 20, 2011)

[5] Page of the diocese of Troyes on the beatification of Fr. Brisson ( Memento of July 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on September 26, 2012)

[6] The program of the beatification of Father Brisson

[7] read-eclair.fr: Father Brisson beatified. ( Memento of December 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on September 26, 2012) ( French )