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https://www.saint-joseph.org
The Pure Heart of St. Joseph

Yves Jacques

aint André Bessette, whose great love and de- From his early years, young Basil always showed
votion to Saint Joseph gave us the magnificent a great love for God and for His Church. He had a zeal
SOratory of Saint Joseph in Montreal, Canada, was about him that impressed everyone — a quality that
a Brother of the Congregation of marked his entire life. After the
Holy Cross. Concordat of 1801, which brought
The Congregation of Holy about a period of peace and open-
ness for the Church, a new pas-
Cross founder was Blessed Basil- tor, Father Julien Le Provost, was
Antoine Marie Moreau. Blessed assigned to the parish church of
Basil was born in 1799 in Laigné- Laigné. He recognized the quali-
en-Belin, in the Diocese of Le ties of young Basil and convinced
Mans, France. His parents, Louis his father to allow him to study the
and Louise Pioger Moreau, were academic subjects he would need
poor but pious and were dedicated in order to enter the seminary.
to raising their 14 children in the At the age of fifteen, he en-
Faith which they themselves so ar- tered the college of Chateau-Gon-
dently practiced. tier, then went on to Saint Vincent
The Moreau family lived in Seminary and was ordained a
a time when Catholics in France priest for the diocese of Le Mans
in 1821. Still sensitive to the mem-
struggled with the turmoil of the ory of persecution and suffering
French Revolution. The Church brought about during the Reign of
was devastated by years of civil Blessed Basil-Antoine Marie Moreau Terror, Moreau organized a group
war, with nearly two-thirds of Founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross of “Auxiliary Priests”, energetic
France’s clergy and religious either young men whose mission was to travel around the
exiled or killed. Basil himself had been baptized by a diocese to preach, teach, and bring the message of
fugitive priest who had refused to swear loyalty to the Christ to those in forgotten towns and villages.
state “church”. While in hiding, these holy and coura- Indeed, in rural areas children had not learned
geous men secretly carried on the true Faith and of- even the basics of reading and writing as most schools
fered the Sacraments to the faithful. prior to the Revolution had been Catholic and in the u

www.michaeljournal.org MICHAEL May/June/July 2019 29