Saint Mutien-Marie Wiaux

Brother Mutien-Marie's career as an educator began with short assignments. He first taught for one year at the primary school in Chimay (1857-1858), then spent a year in Brussels (1858-1859) within the French section of the Saint-Georges school. In 1859, he was transferred to the boarding school of the Institut Saint-Berthuin in Malonne, near Namur. He would spend the rest of his life there, totaling fifty-eight years of uninterrupted service. His beginnings in Malonne were marked by great professional difficulties. Lacking natural authority and obvious pedagogical gifts, he struggled to maintain discipline in his classes, to the point that his superiors seriously considered dismissing him from the congregation, judging him unfit for teaching. He was saved from this exclusion thanks to the intervention and fraternal support of Brother Maixentis. Mutien-Marie was then reoriented toward more modest tasks and support functions: supervising playgrounds and study halls, and teaching elementary drawing and music. Although he had no natural aptitude for these artistic disciplines, he applied himself out of pure obedience to studying the piano, the harmonium, the transverse flute, and the double bass in order to be able to teach them properly. At the same time, concerned with the education of the most disadvantaged in accordance with the Lasallian charism, he obtained permission to teach catechism to the children of the free school attached to the college, a task to which he dedicated himself with extraordinary fervor for many long years.

The holiness of Brother Mutien-Marie was forged in the obscurity of an unremarkable daily life, characterized by absolute obedience to the rule of his institute and a life of continual prayer. His students and confreres, witnesses to his constant piety, affectionately nicknamed him 'the Brother who always prays.' As soon as he had a moment of freedom, he would go to the chapel to adore the Blessed Sacrament or pray before the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes set up in the college park. He would tell his rosary throughout the day, the movement of his lips betraying his constant union with God. Over the years, his reputation for kindness and as an effective intercessor spread far beyond the walls of the establishment. People came from all over the region to entrust him with prayer intentions. Worn out by a life of humility and work, he fell ill and passed away peacefully at the college of Malonne on the morning of January 30, 1917, at the age of 75. His final words summarize his spiritual life: 'How happy one is when one is, like me, on the edge of the grave, to have always had a great devotion to the Most Holy Virgin!'

Brother Mutien-Marie was first buried on February 1, 1917, in the Brothers' vault at the communal cemetery of Malonne. Very quickly, his tomb became a place of popular pilgrimage where the faithful flocked, and numerous favors and miraculous healings were attributed to him. In order to facilitate access for pilgrims, his remains were exhumed and transferred on May 11, 1926, to the foot of the tower of the parish church of Malonne. In 1980, his relics were moved under a white marble slab in a new sanctuary-chapel built in Malonne, flanked by a museum gathering his mementos. The canonical process progressed steadily under the impetus of popular fervor. On October 30, 1977, Pope Paul VI proclaimed him blessed during a solemn celebration at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Twelve years later, on December 10, 1989, Pope John Paul II officially canonized him at the Vatican, proposing him as a model of holiness in daily life for all Christian educators.

The spirituality of Saint Mutien-Marie Wiaux is that of "fidelity to God in the smallest details of every day." Without having written any major theological works, he testified that an ordinary life, lived with extraordinary love and perfect obedience, leads to the heights of holiness. His interior life rested on a deep Eucharistic and Marian devotion. In a letter dated January 3, 1914, he wrote: "To arrive at an intimate union with our Lord, take the path of Mary where there is no stain or shadow that can stop your journey toward Jesus." His legacy remains particularly alive in Belgium, where he is one of the most popular saints, as well as throughout the educational establishments of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools around the world. The shrine of Malonne continues to welcome many pilgrims who come to seek from him comfort and inspiration to sanctify their own daily lives.