Jacques Berthieu

Jacques Berthieu, SJ (also James; 27 November 1838 – 8 June 1896) was a French Jesuit priest and missionary in Madagascar. He was murdered during the Menalamba rebellion of 1896. He is the first martyr of Madagascar to be beatified. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

Biography Jacques Berthieu was born on 27 November 1838 in the area of Montlogis, in Polminhac, in the Auvergne in central France, the son of deeply Christian farmers of modest means. His childhood was spent working and studying, surrounded by his family. The early death of an older sister left him the oldest of six children. He studied at the seminary of Saint-Flour and was ordained to the priesthood for the diocese on 21 May 1864. His bishop, de Pompignac, named him vicar in Roannes-Saint-Mary, where he replaced an ill and aged priest.

Because of his desire to evangelize distant lands, and to ground his spiritual life in the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, he sought admission to the Society of Jesus and entered the novitiate in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, on 31 October 1873, at the age of almost thirty-five. Mindful of his farming background, he was happy to cultivate the kitchen garden that supplied the station. After a stay in Ambositra of five years, he went to Andrainarivo in 1891. This post was northeast of the capital and had 18 mission-stations to look after, situated in the most remote and inaccessible places.

Veneration The cause for Berthieu's beatification was formally opened on 26 June 1940, granting him the title of Servant of God. He was declared venerable in 1964, and was beatified by Paul VI on 17 October 1965. He has been celebrated liturgically on 8 June by the French Province of the Society of Jesus, and February 4 by the rest of the Society.

Quotes "God knows I love and if I still love and patriae fine dulcis Alverniae arva (the native soil and the beloved land of Auvergne). And yet God gives me the grace to love more these uncultivated fields of Madagascar, where I can only catch a few souls for our Lord."