Blessed Daniel Brottier - February 28
Memorial
28 February
Profile
Ordained in 1899. Taught at the college of Pontlevoy, France. Entered the Congregation of the Holy Ghost at Orly, France in 1902. Missionary to Saint-Louis, Senegal in 1903. His health suffered, and he returned to France in 1911.
At the request of Bishop Jalabert, he conducted a fund-raising campaign to build a cathedral in Dakar, Senegal; he promoted the structure as a way to honour Africans who had died for France, and French who had died for Africa. The cathedral was consecrated on 2 February 1936, just a few weeks before his death.
Chaplain in the French army in World War I. Cited six times for bravery, awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour; he attributed his survival on the front lines to the intercession of Saint Therese of Lisieux, and built a chapel for her at Auteuil when she was canonized. After the war he administered the Orphan Apprentices of Auteuil. Honoured in his life and today as a man who put the family of God above considerations of nationality or race.
Born
7 September 1876 at La Ferté-Saint-Cyr, Diocese of Blois, France
Died
28 February 1936 of natural causes at Paris, France of natural causes
15,000 Parisiens turned out to honour him, and Cardinal Verdier preached his funeral homily
Venerated
13 January 1983 by Pope John Paul II (decree of heroic virtues)
Beatified
25 November 1984 by Pope John Paul II in Rome, Italy
Abercius
Antonia of Florence
Augustus Chapdelaine
Bosone of Chiaravalle
Caerealis
Carlo Gnocchi
Cyra of Beroea
Daniel Brottier
Ermine
Hilary, Pope
Llibio
Maidoc
Marana of Beroea
Oswald of Worcester
Romanus of Condat
Ruellinus of Treguier
Sillan of Bangor
Stanislaw Antoni Trojanowski
Villana de’Botti
—
Martyred in Alexandria
Anonymous Martyrs of Alexandria (unknown number)
Caerealis
Gaius
Pupulus
Serapion
Martyrs of Antwerp (14 saints)
Martyrs of Corinth (26 saints)
Martyrs of Unzen (16 beati)
Four Martyred Potters
Justus
Macarius
Rufinus
Theophilus
—
Abba the Great of Selevkia-Ktesiphon
Elisabeth of Pomerania
Jirays Hana Saleh
February 28 Blessed Daniel Brottier (1876-1936)
Daniel spent most of his life in the trenches—one way or another.
Born in France in 1876, Daniel was ordained in 1899 and began a teaching career. That didn’t satisfy him long. He wanted to use his zeal for the gospel far beyond the classroom. He joined the missionary Congregation of the Holy Spirit, which sent him to Senegal, West Africa. After eight years there, his health was suffering. He was forced to return to France, where he helped raise funds for the construction of a new cathedral in Senegal.
At the outbreak of World War I Daniel became a volunteer chaplain and spent four years at the front. He did not shrink from his duties. Indeed, he risked his life time and again in ministering to the suffering and dying. It was miraculous that he did not suffer a single wound during his 52 months in the heart of battle.
After the war he was invited to help establish a project for orphaned and abandoned children in a Paris suburb. He spent the final 13 years of his life there. He died in 1936 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Paris only 48 years later.
www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx