At Port Louis on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, Blessed Jacques-Désiré Laval, priest, who, after some years spent in the practice of medicine, became a missionary in the Congregation of the Holy Spirit and led the blacks newly freed from slavery to the freedom of the children of God.
Lifespan: 1803–1864
Beatified: 29 April 1979 by Pope John Paul II
Memoria liturgica: 9 September
“We count on God alone and on the protection of the Blessed Virgin.”
Born at Croth in Normandy on 18 September 1803, he had begun to practise medicine in a small town in his native diocese of Évreux; but little by little the call — refused for a time — to an undivided love of the Lord led him to abandon his profession and worldly life: “As a priest I will be able to do more good for my neighbour,” he explained to his brother. A late vocation to the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, he was immediately assigned there to the service of the poor; then, as curate in the small parish of Pinterville in Normandy, he shared everything he possessed with the destitute.
But, having come to know the misery of the Black people of Africa and the urgency of bringing them to Christ, he obtained permission to depart for the island of Mauritius with the Apostolic Vicar Monsignor Collier. For twenty-three years, until his death, he consecrated all his time, spent all his strength, and gave all his heart to the evangelisation of the local people: tirelessly he listened to them, catechised them, and helped them to discover the Christian vocation. He also frequently intervened to improve their health and social conditions.
He died at Port Louis on 9 September 1864.
The spiritual heritage of Blessed Laval continues to shape the life of the Church and of society in the islands of Mauritius to this day.