Jean-Bernard Rousseau

Jean-Bernard Rousseau, FSC (22 March 1797 – 13 April 1867) was a French Catholic member of the De La Salle Brothers. He assumed the religious name Scubilion upon his profession and was dubbed the "Catechist of Slaves" due to his extensive decades-spanning work on Réunion Island.

He was beatified in 1989 during the visit of Pope John Paul II to the island.

Life Jean-Bernard Rousseau was born in Yonne on 22 March 1797 as the eldest of four children to Bernard Rousseau and Regina Pelletier. His parents aided and hid priests during the French Revolution in which anti-religious sentiment was at an all-time high. He was baptized hours after his birth at the home of his grandparents and would receive both his First Communion and Confirmation around the age of ten in 1807.

The parish priest oversaw his education but this stopped with the death of the priest on 19 April 1811. A new pastor oversaw the rest of his education from October 4, 1818, onwards. It was not until several decades later that another process was held in 1976.

These processes commenced despite the fact that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints did not issue their formal approval – or "nihil obstat" (nothing against) – to the cause until 30 March 1981 in a move that also accorded Rousseau with the posthumous title of Servant of God. One final process was dispensed due to the fact that there was enough evidence gathered in the previous processes.

Formal conclusion to the processes allowed for the postulation to compile the Positio – consisting of biographical details and attesting to the positives of his cause – and submitted it to C.C.S. officials in Rome for their own personal investigation. Their consulting theologians met and approved the merits of the cause on 21 March 1984 while the C.C.S. followed suit on 5 June 1984. On 9 June 1984 he was proclaimed to be Venerable after Pope John Paul II acknowledged the fact that Rousseau had lived a model Christian life of heroic virtue.

The miracle required for his beatification was under evaluation in the diocese of its origin and was then sent to Roman officials for their investigation. The C.C.S. declared the process to have completed its work and ratified it in 1983. The pope approved it in 1987 and beatified Rousseau on the occasion of his visit to the island of Réunion on 2 May 1989.

The current postulator assigned to the cause is Rodolfo Cosimo Meoli.