Basil Anthony Moreau
(1799-1873)
Beginnings
Basil Moreau was born on February
11, 1799, in Laigné-en-Belin, a small French village south of Le Mans.
He was the ninth in a family of fourteen children, three of whom died at
an early age. Basil’s father, Louis
Moreau, and his mother, Louise Pioger, were farmers. Louis Moreau was also a wholesale wine
merchant.
The pastor of Laigné-en Belin recognized
quickly the signs of a priestly vocation in the young boy and encouraged him to
pursue studies that would lead him to the priesthood. Basil began his studies in 1814 at the
seminary college of Château-Gontier and in 1817 at the diocesan seminary of Le Mans. He was ordained to the priesthood at the age
of 22 on August 12, 1821. Following ordination
his bishop sent the young priest to Paris
where under the direction of the Sulpicians he received further training in
theology and spirituality. Basil Moreau returned to the seminary in Le Mans in 1823 where for
thirteen years he taught successively philosophy, dogma and Sacred Scripture.
Foundation of Holy
Cross
Endowed with an active and
enterprising nature, while still a seminary professor, the young priest sought
to respond to the pastoral needs of the time.
In 1835, Basil Moreau formed a group of auxiliary priests who would
preach parish missions and retreats throughout the countryside. That same year, his bishop asked him to
assume the direction of a fledgling community of teaching brothers, Brothers of
Saint Joseph, founded fifteen years earlier by Father Jacques Dujarié, pastor
of Ruillé-sur-Loir. In Le Mans, in 1837, Basil joined these two
groups into a single entity, whose aim was to provide quality education for the
youth and to evangelize the people of the surrounding country parishes. The educational institutions undertaken by
the priests and brothers quickly acquired a reputation for excellence that
extended beyond the confines of the city of Le Mans.
On August 15, 1840, Basil Moreau
professed the vows of religious life along with several of his followers. With
the arrival in 1841 of Léocadie Gascoin, who took the name of Mother Mary of
the Seven Dolors, he laid the solid foundation for the women’s branch of his
congregation, the Marianites of Holy Cross, thus realizing the fulfillment of
his plan to establish a community consisting of three distinct societies of priests,
brothers and sisters. It was at this time that Basil Moreau added a missionary
dimension to his community. In 1840, a
small group of religious was sent to Algeria;
the following year another group left for the United States. In 1847, another group of priests, brothers
and sisters went to Canada and
in 1853, the congregation was established in East Bengal which is today Bangladesh. In 1869 the Marianites of Holy Cross in Indiana received their autonomy and became the
Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross; in Canada,
in 1883 the Marianites in Canada
became the branch known as the Congregation of the Sisters of Holy Cross
(Soeurs de Sainte-Croix).
Basil Moreau’s Vision
Spirit of union
What Basil Moreau sought most often
to instill in his religious was a spirit
of union. He often repeated the
statement: “In union there is strength;
dissension leads to ruin.” He desired union not just because of the challenge
of three religious societies existing together; he believed that the members of
any religious community if it is to survive must imitate the first Christians
who had but one heart and one soul. Following this line of thought, he gave as
examples illustrating this spirit of union the Holy Family of Nazareth and the
union of the Three Persons in the Trinity.
He wrote in one of his first circular letters: “Since we form with Him (Jesus Christ) but
one body and draw life from the same Spirit, he urges us to remain united among
ourselves in Him in order to be one like the branches and the vine, borne by
the same root and nourished by the same sap, and forming together but one
plant.” It was for this reason that he
consecrated the priests to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the brothers to Saint Joseph and the
sisters to the Heart of Mary, and the entire congregation to Mary under the
title of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Divine Providence
In addition to the spirit of union
and mutual collaboration, Basil Moreau strove to promote among the priests,
brothers and sisters of Holy Cross a firm reliance
on divine Providence.
Seeing himself as merely a tool in the hands of a provident God, he wrote: “Holy Cross is not a human work, but God’s
very own. … I beg you to renew
yourselves in the spirit of your vocation, which is the spirit of poverty,
chastity and obedience … If such is our conduct, we can rely on the help of
Providence … Providence never fails to provide for all the necessities of those
who abandon themselves to its guidance in accomplishing their duties … The
Congregation of Holy Cross is God’s work, and by the very fact that He has not
permitted its ruin despite the many terrible attacks of the enemy of all good,
he wants it to continue in existence and to develop in even greater proportions.”
Apostolic zeal
Linked to this reliance on Providence, the founder
of Holy Cross saw flowing from it the growth among his religious of an
apostolic spirit that is best described as a zeal for the mission. In his book Christian Pedagogy, published in 1856, Father Moreau writes, “By
zeal is understood that flame of burning desire which one feels to make God
known and served and thus save souls.
Apostolic activity is therefore the essential character of this virtue,
and (ministers) who are animated by this virtue will fulfill their duties with
eagerness, affection, courage and perseverance … Our zeal is always guided by
charity, everything is done with strength and gentleness; strength because we
are courageous and unshakable in the midst of pain, difficulty and trials … and
with gentleness because we have the tenderness of our Divine Model.”
Ecclesiastical
Approbation
It was in 1857 that Basil Moreau
attained the height of his career. That
year Pope Pius IX granted official approbation to the men’s congregation. This special moment was marked by a
thanksgiving celebration that took place in the church of Our Lady
of Holy Cross. Ten years later papal
approbation was granted to the Marianites of Holy Cross. This was also the beginning of his greatest
period of trial which ended with his resignation as superior general in 1866.
Death of the Founder
Forced by his congregation to live
apart from the community, Basil Moreau spent his remaining years preaching
retreats with great success in the country parishes surrounding Le Mans. He was taken ill on January 1, 1873 and died
twenty days later in the small house where he had been living with his two
sisters. Mother Mary of the Seven Dolors
was with him at the time of his death. The
Marianites of Holy Cross never abandoned him and always remained faithful to him.
It was not until 1893 that
subsequent superiors general strove to revive veneration of Basil Moreau and
devotion to his memory. During this
time, the congregations founded by Basil Moreau grew and spread throughout the
world.
Holy Cross Today
Today the men and women of Holy
Cross have established and still maintain educational institutions as well as
important social and pastoral ministries in France,
North and South America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. It is through their commitment to the vowed
life, their zeal for the mission and the diversity of ministry that the
priests, sisters and brothers of Holy Cross continue to live out the vision of
Basil Moreau.
Beatification
Although his cause for
beatification was introduced in the diocese of Le Mans in 1946, it was not until 1994 that
the study of the virtues of the founder of Holy Cross was presented to the
Vatican Congregation for the Cause of the Saints. The study was approved and on April 12, 2003,
Pope John Paul II declared Basil Moreau’s practice of virtue to be heroic thus
bestowing upon the servant of God the title of Venerable. Two years later, on April 28, 2006, His Holiness, Pope Benedict
XVI, authorized the promulgation of the decree regarding the miracle attributed
to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God, Basil Moreau.
Finally, even if the name of the
Congregation of Holy Cross does not spring from the founder’s special devotion
to the cross of Christ – Holy Cross (Sainte-Croix) was the name of the Le Mans
suburb where the congregation was founded – Father Moreau did not fail to make
use of this title when insisting on the role of the cross in the spiritual life
of his sons and daughters. He gave as a
motto to his community the verse from the liturgical hymn: O Crux
ave, spes unica! Hail, O Cross, our
only hope.