Charlene Richard

Charlene Marie Richard (January 13, 1947 – August 11, 1959) was an American Catholic from Richard, Acadia Parish, Louisiana who died of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She is believed by many to have performed miracles and local Catholics promoted the popular veneration of her for years, leading to the opening of her beatification process in 2020 by the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana. She is titled a Servant of God.

Biography

Charlene was the second-oldest of ten children born to Joseph Elvin and Mary Alice Richard. Adults and children who knew her considered her to be smart but otherwise unremarkable. She was a devout Catholic but no more so than was customary in the local Cajun community. In May 1959, after reading a book about St. Therese of Lisieux (Therese of Lisieux was a young woman from France who suffered and died from a painful, debilitating illness but offered her suffering to God through prayer and became one of the most popular saints of the twentieth century.) As a result, only two weeks before her death she was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia and hospitalized at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Lafayette, Louisiana. At the request of her family, she was informed by the hospital chaplain, Joseph Brennan, a newly ordained Catholic priest, that she was going to die. the priest introduced her to the Catholic doctrine of redemptive suffering. Though the illness was painful, she remained cheerful, meekly accepted her fate, and offered up her suffering to God. He was assigned to St. Edwards parish in Richard, Louisiana — Charlene Richard's burial place—that same year. Once there, he discovered the need to raise money to build a new church there. Calais says that he was "invited to retreats and recollections, and began speaking about Charlene, how she achieved grace before she died" and about the need for money to build a new church in the parish. "People started going to her grave," he said, "and began sending checks to build the church. What I thought would take 8–10 years took 2 1/2."

By 1989, the belief had spread outside the Cajun area. On the thirtieth anniversary of her death that year, an outdoor Mass was held there which was attended by four thousand people and which was covered by Louisiana television stations and the Cable News Network, and was reported in newspapers in Louisiana, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Albany, and Seattle. The media coverage resulted in knowledge of Richard spreading world-wide, with interest in her expressed in Yugoslavia, Croatia, Australia, and Africa.

Veneration Though no beatification process had begun for Richard, the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana began collecting in 1991 testimonials about reputed help obtained through her.