At Bordeaux in France, Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, priest, who, boldly exercising his pastoral zeal in secret for a long time, strove to gather the lay faithful to promote devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the foreign missions, and therefore founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate and the Society of Mary.
Lifespan: 1761–1850
Beatified: 3 September 2000 by Pope John Paul II
Memoria liturgica: 22 January
“My children, as you are here now, I have already seen you, in the blink of an eye, many years ago…”
William Joseph Chaminade was born on 8 April 1761 in Périgueux, France, the fourteenth child of cloth merchants.
At the age of fourteen he made his private vows, and in 1800, at Bordeaux, he promoted the organization of the Marian Congregations.
He always taught the faithful that it is their responsibility constantly to devise new ways of bearing witness to the faith, above all in order to reach those who are far from the Church and who do not have the ordinary means to come to know Christ. He invited every Christian to be rooted in his baptism, which conforms him to the Lord Jesus and communicates to him the Holy Spirit.
Father Chaminade’s love for Christ — which belongs to the spirituality of the French School — drove him to continue his work tirelessly, building from the foundations of spiritual families, during a troubled period in the religious history of France.
His filial attachment to Mary sustained him in interior peace in every circumstance, helping him to do the will of Christ.
His concern for the human, moral, and religious education of the young is, for the whole Church, a call to renewed attention to young people — who stand in need of educators and witnesses alike, who must turn toward the Lord and take their part in the mission of the Church.