Jean-Baptiste Fouque

Nicknamed by his contemporaries the "Marseille Saint Vincent de Paul," Abbé Fouque is a major figure of social Catholicism in Provence. Faced with the upheavals of the Industrial Revolution and the growing misery of the working classes, he developed a multitude of works of assistance, protection, and education. His pragmatic approach consisted of launching projects with the help of devoted laypeople, then entrusting their management to existing religious institutes to ensure their sustainability.

His main foundations and achievements include: * The Holy Family (April 6, 1888): A reception house intended to protect and house isolated young girls who came from the countryside to work in the city. This work was later entrusted to the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation of Tours. * The Work of Abandoned Childhood / House of the Holy Guardian Angels (October 3, 1892): Initially created on Rue Villa Paradis to welcome boys without families and those who were abandoned, it was transferred in 1894 to the Sainte-Anne district under the name House of the Holy Guardian Angels, and entrusted to the Daughters of Charity. * The Work for the Protection of Young Girls and "Les Amies du Foyer" (1901): A network of reception and support for young women. * The Women's Restaurant (1903): A place for dining and reception for domestic workers and employees without families in Marseille. * The Cours Saint Thomas d'Aquin (1903): Reopening of the former boarding school of the Ladies of Christian Doctrine, Rue Dieudé. * The Work of La Salette (1905): A retirement home for destitute elderly people, established in the former convent of the Sacramentines of Prado, then transferred in 1945 to Montval in Le Cabot (which became the La Salette Montval retirement home). * The Perrin-Sainte-Trinité School (1911): A parish school to provide a Christian education to children in the La Palud district. * The Work of Guilty Childhood (November 27, 1913): Established in Saint-Tronc for the reception and reintegration of juvenile delinquents or those in trouble with the law, entrusted to the Priests of Saint Peter in Chains. * The Saint-Joseph Hospital (1919): His masterpiece. During the First World War, Abbé Fouque voluntarily transformed structures to treat the wounded. In 1919, noting the lack of free medical care for the poorest, he decided to found a large, free, and non-discriminatory Catholic hospital. Thanks to donations and the help of volunteer doctors, the Saint-Joseph Hospital of Marseille opened its doors. It is today one of the largest private non-profit hospitals in France.

Upon the death of Abbé Fouque on December 5, 1926, in his beloved Saint-Joseph Hospital, the emotion in Marseille was immense. An innumerable crowd of the poor, orphans (nicknamed the "little Fouques"), and the faithful attended his funeral. The newspapers of the time headlined: "A saint has died."

The cause for beatification was introduced during the Second World War. After a period of slowing down, the diocesan process was relaunched and solemnly closed on December 7, 2002, by Archbishop Bernard Panafieu of Marseille. The Positio on the heroic nature of his virtues was then studied in Rome by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

On December 21, 2016, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Abbé Jean-Baptiste Fouque, thereby declaring him "Venerable."

On December 18, 2017, Pope Francis signed the decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Jean-Baptiste Fouque, thus opening the way for his beatification. The recognized miracle: It concerns the sudden and scientifically inexplicable healing of Maria Grassi (sometimes spelled Marie Grassi). Suffering since 1915 from a pyloric ulcer and severe gastric and intestinal disorders, this woman from Marseille lived in constant agony, unable to eat properly and extremely weakened. Despite two unsuccessful surgical interventions in 1927 and multiple treatments, doctors considered her incurable. Having known Father Fouque personally, she began to pray to him fervently after his death and applied a relic of the priest to her body. On August 25, 1929, while participating in a pilgrimage to Lourdes and traveling on the train, she was struck by a violent crisis of pain and fainted. After receiving the anointing of the sick from an accompanying priest, she awoke totally and definitively healed. Subsequent medical examinations confirmed the complete and lasting disappearance of all pathology. The beatification ceremony of Father Jean-Baptiste Fouque was celebrated on September 30, 2018, at the Cathedral of Sainte-Marie-Majeure (La Major) in Marseille. It was presided over by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and official representative of Pope Francis, in the presence of a crowd of faithful and representatives of the numerous works he founded.

The spirituality of Abbé Fouque is deeply Eucharistic and centered on the Heart of Christ. It is in the daily contemplation of the Blessed Sacrament that he drew the energy necessary for his overflowing activity, which Cardinal Panafieu summarized with this phrase: "This priest is a volcano." His personal motto, taken from the Gospel, guided all his actions: "Omnia possibilia sunt credenti" ("Everything is possible to one who believes") and "A Domino factum est istud" ("This is the Lord's doing").

An indefatigable confessor, he spent long hours each day in his confessional at the church of La Palud, welcoming sinners with infinite mercy. He was distinguished by his absolute trust in Divine Providence, often repeating in moments of financial distress: "The hour of Providence will come."

During the Angelus on September 30, 2018, Pope Francis honored his memory in these terms: "Today, in Marseille, Jean-Baptiste Fouque is proclaimed blessed, a diocesan priest who was a parish vicar his entire life. A beautiful example for careerists!"

Today, the legacy of Abbé Fouque remains extremely vibrant in Marseille. His works are federated within the Union of Works and Friends of Abbé Fouque (created in 2007) and the Saint Joseph Hospital Foundation. They continue to keep his spirit of unconditional charity alive among the sick, the elderly, disabled children, and young people in difficulty.