– The man.
Henri Caffarel was born on the 30th July
1903 in Lyon. He was baptized on 2nd August 1903 and ordained in Paris
on 19th April 1930. He died in Troussures on the 18th September 1996,
in the diocese of Beauvais where he is buried.
"
Come follow me!". These words of the Lord are inscribed on his tomb,
for, in March 1923, an event occurred which was to determine with certainty
the direction taken by his whole life : :"When I was 20, Jesus Christ,
in a flash became Somebody for me. Oh! It was nothing spectacular. On
that day in March, now far distant, I knew that I was loved and that
I loved, and that henceforth between Him and me it would be for life.
The die was cast ".
The young Henri Caffarel met "Somebody".
So everything he is going to found or organize will develop in the way
the Lord will show him.
Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger refers to Father Henri Caffarel as "a
prophet of the 20th century". He was conscious that he was doing "a
work of renewal for the Church".
Henri Caffarel was touched by the Lord’s love. His ministry will
be at the service of love, “to be loved, to love". The Lord’s
love is for him a source of dynamism and of life. He is immediately in
complete harmony with couples desirious of developing their love hand
in hand with the Lord.
Whatever the work that he undertook, Father Caffarel had a single aim: to put
each person in front of the Lord, at the outset of every vocation.
Henri Caffarel concluded that : "The die was cast." This
indeed was a characteristic conclusion…
" There is nothing more to be said, one obeys, one does one’s work,
one does not become puffed up by what one has done, and when it is finished,
one leaves….."
He is the personification of rigour, exactingness, precision as regards detail,
the will to go right to the end, a sound sizing up of events and people, and
the capacity to shed everything not in accord with the direction of his vision.
-Three periods of his life.
I. The Movements founded (1939-1949)
Henri Caffarel responded to the appeal
of couples who wanted to live to the full their sacrament of marriage. "The
demands of sanctity must be your concern. To respond to them, you have
a sacrament which
is yours, the sacrament of marriage."
The number of Teams of Couples increases. They are given a spiritual
orientation, more and more lucid according as the couples discover the
grace of marriage.
The publications, "Letter to Young Couples" (1942), "The
Wedding Ring" (1945), left an indelible mark on a great many couples
and their influence reached well beyond the Teams. Father Caffarel wanted
his work to be understood by everyone so that the grace of God’s
love could be active in every individual. He wanted everyone to understand
the greatness of marriage. The challenge is still there today.
A crucial moment in Father Caffarel’s life was the drafting and
putting into effect in 1947, of "The Charter of the Teams of Our
Lady". The means set out in the Charter are demanding. "The
Endeavours," particularly "the sit-down", are characteristic
of the daily life of couples. "Having grasped the spirit of the
Teams, you will have no trouble in accepting their discipline",
says Father Caffarel. A couple living according to the Gospel, such is “the
way to holiness.”
During this same period, two new movements are founded
: the Movement for widows "Hope and Life" and "Our Lady’s Fraternity
of the Ressurection",a secular Institute for widows. As always,
it is not he who has the idea for these movements: people come to him,
they tell him of their desire for a holy life; he discerns what is required,
and he gives encouragement and continuing support.
II. The Maturing (1950-1973)
The Teams of Our Lady develop steadily.
A proper system of organization is put in place.Huge Gatherings are
held: Lourdes
in 1954, Rome in 1959,
Lourdes in 1965… They are occasions for the deepening of the grace
and the greatness of marriage,
Father Caffarel stresses also the
mutual enrichment effected by the sacraments of Ordination and Marriage
: two « complementary » sacraments
for responding to the vocation of love.
The Teams debate some important issues:
Are they a movement of initiation or of perfection ? The balance between
these two aspects must be found.
Trials are experienced : at issue is the unity of the Movement and the
liberty of the laity, their originality and their individuality. In this
domaine Father Caffarel always showed himself to be in harmony with the
Church, sometimes even in a very exemplary and courageous manner. He
directs the team members towards their parish, their diocese, their apostolate
in their profession and in the world.
At the age of 70, of his own accord, he quits his service
of the Teams, having first ensured there was someone to succeed him.
III. The Deepening (1973-1996)
The influence of Father Caffarel’s fruitfulness
is to be found in people’s hearts, in the unique relationship of
each person with God. Countless are the persons who discovered the Lord
in the House of
Prayer at Troussures. His enormous desire was to share with others the
revelation he had had at the age of twenty. His final years at Troussures
reveal the spring from which he poured out everything he had in him.
– Works
full of life
· The Teams
of Our Lady : founded in 1939, they now number 60 000 couples, spread
over 70 countries,
·
Our Lady’s Fraternities of the Resurrection founded in 1943, has
200 members.
· Hope and Life : the spiritual movement for widows.
· The Intercessors who pray, fast and offer up their daily life.
Father Henri Caffarel also played
a part in setting up the Centres of Preparation for Marriage, with
the help of Father
Pierre Joly and Father
d’Heilly.
The House of Prayer at Troussures.
This Centre was invaluable for those who wanted to learn to pray. Its
work is being
continued as a result
of proposals made by the Teams of Our Lady to the House of the Couple,
Massabielle ( at Saint-Prix, Val d’Oise) and also very particularly
by the importance given to contemplative prayer in the Teams and in the
schools of prayer.
It is worth noting how up to date
are Father Caffarel’s published
works : his writing in the reviews :: "Offertory", "Notes
on Contemplative Prayer"…and his numerous books:” Being
present to God”, “At the crossroads of love”……,
etc.
Monsignor André VINGT-TROIS, Archbishop of Paris, on the 25th
April 2006, gave a warm welcome to the proposal of the Teams of Our Lady
to promote the cause for canonisation of Father Henri Caffarel. "The
Friends of Father Caffarel" would like him to be canonised because
:
·
His holiness is the holiness of a "prophet of the 20th century"
· His holiness is seen clearly in his life, wholly animated by the Lord.
· His holiness is apparent in the faithfulness of his love for the Church.
-The Process of Beatification
Beatification, and its final stage, canonisation,
are decided at the end of a procedure initiated by the Bishop when he
is convinced of the holiness and influence for good of the person who
is the subject of the process.
The first step is appointing a promoter of the cause – "the
Friends of Father Caffarel". The promoter nominates a postulator
. The Bishop sets up a commission, charged with the task of conducting
in his name the diocesan enquiry and he appoints theologians and historians
to verify the correctness of the subject’s biographical details,
the theological quality of his writings, and to place the cause in its
historical context.
When the Bishop considers the time is right, the
file of the diocesan enquiry is sent to Rome to the Congregation for
the Causes of Saints
which directs the drafting of the "Positio super virtutibus".
This document enables a judgement to be made and the cause to be presented
for the decision of the Holy Father.
The final step in the cause is the recognising of a miracle, such as
a cure which cannot be explained scientifically, obtained by the intercession
of the servant of God.
In order to bring the cause to a successful conclusion, the promoter
needs to have the funds necessary to meet the expenses involved in building
up the file ; it is for this reason that an appeal is being made to everyone’s
generosity.
By making a donation you will become a member of the Association of
the Friends of Father Caffarel !
ASSOCIATION OF THE FRIENDS OF FATHER CAFFAREL
49 rue de la Glacière – 7ème étage
F-75013 PARIS
