Saint Peter Fourier

Nov 272009

[Saint Peter Fourier]
Also known as

Good Father of Mattaincourt
Le Bon Père de Mattaincourt

9 December

Profile

Educated at the University of Pont-a-Mousson, entering at age 15. Tutor to the sons of many noble families. Augustinian Canon Regular at the abbey in Chaumousey, France. Ordained in 1589. He returned to university, became a master of patristic theology, and could recite the Summa Theologica of Saint Thomas Aquinas by heart. Reforming priest at Mattaincourt, Vosges, France, an area noted for corruption and lax attitudes to heresy; he revitalized the spiritual life of the district, and established charities and banks for the poor. Spiritual teacher of Blessed Alix le Clerc. In 1598 he founded the Daughters of Our Lady for the education of girls. Founded the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception, or Children of Mary. His attempt to found a parallel order to teach boys failed. In 1621 he was ordered to reform his order in Lorraine. In 1625 he was sent to Salm to preach missions and work against Calvinism; within six months all the fallen away Catholics had returned to the Church. Helped found the Congregation of Our Saviour in 1629 and served as its superior general in 1632. When the French government ordered him to swear allegiance to King Louis XIII he refused, and spent the rest of his life in exile in the town of Gray, Haute-Saone, France.