Pierre Fourier

Saint Pierre Fourier, statue in the abbey church of Moyenmoutier (Vosges)

Pierre Fourier , German also Petrus or Peter Fourier , Latinized Petrus Forerius (born November 30, 1565 in Mirecourt , Lorraine ; † December 9, 1640 in Gray , Free County of Burgundy ) was a French priest and Augustinian canon and is a saint of the Catholic Church .

Life

Pierre Fourier first studied ancient languages, literature and rhetoric at the Jesuit- led University of Pont-à-Mousson . At the age of twenty he entered the Augustinian Canons Chaumousey Abbey . His ordination as a priest in Trier in 1589 was followed by further years of theological and legal studies. Conflicts with confreres led him to take the post of pastor in Mattaincourt in 1597 , where he stayed for four decades. In addition to his priestly work, his charitable and social measures were particularly noteworthy, through which he completely reshaped the neglected parish. Fourier set up a people's kitchen and took on the function of a local police force and an arbitrator. To secure the life of the people he founded a loan fund.

Together with the blessed Alix Le Clerc , he founded the Congregation of the Choir Women of Our Lady in 1597 , which set up free schools for young women. In the following year, 1598, the young community in Poussay opened the first public, school-free girls' school in Lorraine - a pioneering step, insofar as it enabled girls from poor families to get an education.

Fourier also reformed the Augustinian canons of Lorraine and founded the Congregation of Our Savior . The turmoil of the Thirty Years' War forced him to flee Lorraine.

Pierre Fourier died in Gray on December 9, 1640.

Canonization and worship

Pierre Fourier was beatified in 1730 and canonized in 1897. A statue of the saint can be found in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome among those of the great founders of the Catholic Church . Since December 10, 2010, a relic of the saint has found a special place on the statue of Fourier in the Welschnonnen Church (Trier) .

His motto was: Omnibus prodesse, obesse nemini (benefit everyone, harm no one). His feast day in the Catholic Church is December 9th.

literature

Ekkart Sauser : Pierre Fourier. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 17, Bautz, Herzberg 2000, ISBN 3-88309-080-8 , Sp. 395-396. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Commons : Pierre Fourier - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Directory of the Augustinian Canons in German-speaking countries on medals online

Individual evidence

↑ Maria Dorothea Kuld: The worldwide distribution of the Augustinian choir women of the Congrégation Notre Dame . In: Roland Ries, Franz Ronig (ed.): Four hundred years of witness to the faith of Trier citizens. The Marian citizen modality Trier from 1610 and your congregational church Welschnonnen . Published on behalf of the Marianische Bürgerodalität Trier 1610. Paulinus, Trier 2010, ISBN 978-3-7902-0207-6 , pp. 354–359.
↑ Petrus (Pierre) Fourier - Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints . Website heiligenlexikon.de. Retrieved January 1, 2012.

personal data
SURNAME	Fourier, Pierre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Catholic priest, Augustinian canon, saint of the Catholic Church
DATE OF BIRTH	November 30, 1565
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mirecourt , Lorraine
DATE OF DEATH	December 9, 1640
Place of death	Gray (Burgundy)

[1] Maria Dorothea Kuld: The worldwide distribution of the Augustinian choir women of the Congrégation Notre Dame . In: Roland Ries, Franz Ronig (ed.): Four hundred years of witness to the faith of Trier citizens. The Marian citizen modality Trier from 1610 and your congregational church Welschnonnen . Published on behalf of the Marianische Bürgerodalität Trier 1610. Paulinus, Trier 2010, ISBN 978-3-7902-0207-6 , pp. 354–359.

[2] Petrus (Pierre) Fourier - Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints . Website heiligenlexikon.de. Retrieved January 1, 2012.