Charles of Blois

Although compelled by his rank to lead incessant military campaigns, Charles of Blois strove to govern with justice and charity. His temporal action was deeply marked by his religious convictions. Among his major works is the foundation, by an act of April 27, 1362, in concert with his wife Jeanne of Penthièvre, of the Toussaints chaplaincy in Nantes. Located on the causeway of the bridges of Nantes, this house of charity was intended to welcome and care for pilgrims and poor travelers. Charles of Blois also proved to be an outstanding benefactor of the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans, also called Cordeliers). He actively supported their convent in Guingamp, where he chose to establish his burial place. Furthermore, he played a decisive role in the promotion of holiness in Brittany. Very devoted to Yves Hélory de Kermartin (Saint Yves of Tréguier), the lawyer of the poor who died in 1303, Charles of Blois financed and actively supported his canonization process. His efforts led to the official canonization of Saint Yves by Pope Clement VI on May 19, 1347.

The life of Charles of Blois is characterized by a rigorous asceticism, unusual for a prince of his time. Admitted into the Third Order of Saint Francis (Third Order of Penance) at the Cordeliers convent in Guingamp, he strove to live according to the ideal of poverty and humility of Saint Francis of Assisi. Beneath his courtly garments and combat armor, he constantly wore a hair shirt (a garment of goat hair) tightened by thick ropes that dug into his flesh. This hair shirt was discovered on his body by soldiers after his death at the Battle of Auray. He practiced many other mortifications, such as placing pebbles in his shoes, fasting frequently, and sleeping on straw rather than in a state bed. His Eucharistic piety was immense. He attended Mass daily and confessed regularly, sometimes every night for fear of falling asleep in a state of sin. On the morning of the Battle of Auray, he confessed and received communion with fervor. His love for the poor was manifested concretely: he served them with his own hands at his table and ensured that justice was always rendered to them equitably. A famous episode illustrates his devotion: in 1347, after being temporarily released on parole, he fulfilled a vow by walking barefoot and in a simple shirt through freezing cold from La Roche-Derrien to the tomb of Saint Yves in Tréguier. Touched by this spectacle, the inhabitants threw straw and their own clothes under his bleeding footsteps, but the Duke pushed them aside to continue walking on the hardest stones.

Immediately after his death in 1364, the remains of Charles of Blois were transported and buried at the Franciscan friary of Guingamp. Very quickly, his tomb became a place of popular pilgrimage and miracles were reported there. Faced with this popular fervor, Pope Urban V ordered the opening of an inquiry in 1369 with a view to his canonization. This trial, conducted notably in Angers in 1371, collected the testimonies of 164 people attesting to his heroic virtues and piety. Although Pope Gregory XI had prepared a bull of canonization in 1376, the process did not officially succeed in the Middle Ages, partly due to the political opposition of the victorious Montfort dynasty and the troubles of the Great Western Schism. Over the centuries, his cult was maintained in Brittany. In 1591, after the destruction of the Franciscan friary of Guingamp during the Wars of Religion, his relics were transferred to the church of Notre-Dame de Grâces, located near the town. At the end of the 19th century, under the impetus of the Benedictine scholar Dom François Plaine, the cause was officially reopened in 1892 by Mgr Charles Laborde, Bishop of Blois. On December 14, 1904, Pope Pius X solemnly confirmed the immemorial cult rendered to Charles of Blois, officially inscribing him in the catalogue of the blessed.

The spirituality of Blessed Charles of Blois rests on the intimate union between political office and evangelical demand. For him, ducal power was not a privilege of domination, but a sacred service rendered to God and to the most humble. He embodies the figure of the "ascetic prince" or the "monk-knight," capable of combining military courage on the battlefield with a life of contemplative prayer and rigorous penance. His legacy remains alive in Brittany, particularly in the dioceses of Saint-Brieuc and Vannes. In Auray, the place of his death, a parish bears his name (Parish of Blessed Charles of Blois) and a parish church is dedicated to him, built in the 20th century near the historic battlefield. His liturgical feast is set for September 29 (the day of his birth into heaven) by the Roman Martyrology. He is also celebrated on September 28 in certain calendars, on June 20 in the diocese of Blois, and on October 3 in the Breton dioceses.