Jean-Bernard Rousseau (22 March 1797 – 13 April 1867) was a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
professed religious of the
– or the De La Salle Brothers. He assumed the religious name of "Scubilion" upon his profession and was dubbed the "Catechist of Slaves" due to his extensive decades-spanning work on
Réunion Island
Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island o ...
.
He was beatified in 1989 during the visit of
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
to the island.
Life
Jean-Bernard Rousseau was born in
Yonne
Yonne () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight constituent departments, it is lo ...
on 22 March 1797 as the eldest of four children to Bernard Rousseau and Regina Pelletier. His parents aided and hid
priests
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in p ...
during the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
in which anti-religious sentiment was at an all-time high.
He was baptized
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
hours after his birth at the home of his grandparents and would receive both his First Communion
First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin Church tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Communi ...
and Confirmation
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
around the age of ten in 1807.
The parish priest oversaw his education but this stopped with the death of the priest on 19 April 1811. A new pastor oversaw the rest of his education from October 4, 1818 onwards.[ Rousseau decided to devote his life to serving others and so desired to become part of the – or De La Salle Brothers – in an attempt to follow the example of ]Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle
Jean-Baptiste de La Salle () (; 30 April 1651 – 7 April 1719) was a French priest, educational reformer, and founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He is a saint of the Catholic Church and the patron saint for t ...
. He arrived in Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
on 9 November 1822 and commenced his novitiate
The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...
with the De La Salle Brothers on 24 December 1822.[ He assumed the religious name of "Scubilion". On 4 November 1823 he was sent to Alençon and was put in charge of the De La Salle house's kitchen and garden.][ His triennial vows were made on 15 September 1825. He made his perpetual vows on 27 September 1827 after a period of teaching and of studies.][ He obtained his teaching degree in 1826.][
In April 1833 he accepted an invitation to go to ]Réunion Island
Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island o ...
in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
to teach and evangelize. He and two other companions left on 20 April 1833 and arrived in Saint-Denis on 15 July 1833 on the ship "La Commerce".[ In the period of 1833 to 1843 he began to teach to poor children and at this time became a vocal advocate of slaves. He also fought against the mistreatment and abuse that female slaves suffered. On 17 November 1843 he was sent to Saint-Leu and began teaching there while also preparing slaves for baptism and their First Communion. He arrived in Sainte-Marie on 14 December 1856 to continue his work. Rousseau made a brief visit to ]Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
in 1866 to open a school. He modified all his lessons to suit the natives and also started night classes.[ He also collaborated in his initiatives with the local priests.
He died on 13 April 1867 after a long illness in Sainte-Marie and his funeral was celebrated on 14 April in which hundreds of people attended to mourn him. He was buried in Sainte-Marie but his remains were transferred in 1939 to the house of the De La Salle Brothers in Saint-Denis.][
]
Beatification
The beatification process commenced in Saint-Denis-de-La Réunion in an informative process that spanned from 1902 until 1905 and was tasked with collecting all available documentation and other information on Rousseau's life and his activities as a catechist and educator. The second process was held in Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
from 1904 and 1905 during the time of the first. The theologians assigned to the cause collated all of his writings and evaluated them in order to ensure that his views were in line with the magisterium of the Roman Catholic faith. The writings were approved in a formal decree issued in 1912. It was not until several decades later that another process was held in 1976.
These processes commenced despite the fact that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pa ...
did not issue their formal approval – or "nihil obstat
''Nihil obstat'' (Latin for "nothing hinders" or "nothing stands in the way") is a declaration of no objection that warrants censoring of a book, e.g., Catholic published books, to an initiative, or an appointment.
Publishing
The phrase ''ni ...
" (nothing against) – to the cause until 30 March 1981 in a move that also accorded Rousseau with the posthumous title of Servant of God
"Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint.
Terminology
The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...
. One final process was dispensed due to the fact that there was enough evidence gathered in the previous processes.
Formal conclusion to the processes allowed for the postulation to compile the Positio
In the Catholic Church, a ''positio'' (''Positio super Virtutibus'') is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path to canonization as a saint.
Des ...
– consisting of biographical details and attesting to the positives of his cause – and submitted it to C.C.S. officials in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
for their own personal investigation. Their consulting theologians met and approved the merits of the cause on 21 March 1984 while the C.C.S. followed suit on 5 June 1984. On 9 June 1984 he was proclaimed to be Venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism.
Christianity
Cathol ...
after Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
acknowledged the fact that Rousseau had lived a model Christian life of heroic virtue
Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...
.
The miracle required for his beatification was under evaluation in the diocese of its origin and was then sent to Roman officials for their investigation. The C.C.S. declared the process to have completed its work and ratified it in 1983. The pope approved it in 1987 and beatified Rousseau on the occasion of his visit to the island of Réunion on 2 May 1989.
The current postulator
A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Roman Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Obse ...
assigned to the cause is Rodolfo Cosimo Meoli.
References
External links
Hagiography Circle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rousseau, Jean-Bernard
1797 births
1867 deaths
18th-century venerated Christians
18th-century French people
19th-century venerated Christians
19th-century French educators
Beatifications by Pope John Paul II
French educators
French beatified people
Lasallian beatified people
People from Yonne
Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II