Daniel Brottier

Daniel Jules Alexis Brottier, C.S.Sp. (7 September 1876 – 28 February 1936), was a French Roman Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans). He was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d'honneur for his services as a chaplain during World War I, did missionary work in Senegal, and administered an orphanage in Auteuil, a suburb of Paris. He was declared venerable in 1983, and then beatified on the 25 November 1984, by Pope John Paul II.

Biography

Early life Brottier was born in La Ferté-Saint-Cyr, a commune in the Loir-et-Cher Department of France on 7 September 1876, the second son of Jean-Baptiste Brottier, coachman for the Marquis Durfort, and his wife Herminie (née Bouthe). A story from his childhood recounts that his mother asked him what he would like to be when he grew up. Daniel's answer was, "I won't be either a general or a pastry chef—I will be the Pope!" His mother reminded him that to be the pope, he would first have to become a priest. Little Daniel piped up, "Well, then I'll become a priest!" At the age of 10, Brottier made his First Communion, and enrolled a year later in the minor seminary at Blois. In 1896, at the age of 20, he did one year of military service at Blois.

Nevertheless, Brottier immediately set to work. He gave weekly instructions to secondary school students, founded a center for child welfare, and published a parish bulletin, The Echo of St. Louis. After the war, Brottier founded the National Union of Servicemen (L'Union Nationale des Combattants), an organization of French veterans of various conflicts. He was buried in the Chapel of St. Thérèse in Auteuil on 5 April 1936. The cause for his canonization was greatly advanced by the claim, in 1962, that his body was as intact as on the day of his burial.

Brottier Refugee Services is a Non Profit organization set up to assist private sponsors welcome refugees to Canada.

Selected bibliography