Father Libermann

Biography of Father Libermann

Jacob was born in Saverne, Bas-Rhin, in 1802, into a Jewish family of strict orthodoxy. The son of a rabbi, he intended to be a rabbi himself, but contact with the outside world in Metz deeply disturbed him and, in 1826, he confessed not to believe the Bible. After a long and painful journey, he settled in Paris where a sudden conversion to Catholicism awaited him.

One day in November 1826, he began to pray, begging the God of his fathers. “Immediately,” he recounts, “I was enlightened and saw the truth. Faith penetrated my mind and my heart.” Baptized, he who is now called Francis enters the seminary of Saint Sulpice in Paris. Hearing of his apostasy, his father cursed him. In 1829, on the eve of his ordination to the subdiaconate, Francis was struck down by an epileptic seizure which, for twelve years, blocked his path to the priesthood. During this long trial, he became the spiritual advisor of many seminarians, priests and lay people with whom he maintained frequent epistolary relations.

Informed of a project to evangelize slaves, the work of blacks, Francis embarked on the adventure and went to Rome to plead the case. Rome’s response was positive. Healed, he was finally ordained a priest in 1841 at Amiens. He then founded the Congregation of the Holy Heart of Mary, for the evangelization of the most abandoned, with a priority for the black continent. In 1848 his small company merged with the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. Libermann became its eleventh superior general.

In his letters to his missionaries, he commented at length on the profound meaning of what he called “apostolic life”. In the course of his correspondence, Father Libermann reveals himself as one of the great spiritual masters of our time, highlighting, from his own experience, the action of the Holy Spirit at the heart of human life and commitment. When he was not 50, Libermann died in 1852.

Libermann and Eugénie Caps

On 25 April 1915, Eugénie Caps heard the call to found a new Society of Missionary Sisters. In 1919, during a missionary exhibition, she discovered the writings of Father Libermann. After reading the «life of the Venerable Father Libermann», she says: «Here is our spirit all found». Eugenie finds in Libermann’s writings a spiritual experience that is common to them.

We find similarities between these two spiritual figures. The great common point is the life guided by the Holy Spirit at the service of evangelization, to the poorest and most remote regions. At the time of Libermann, they were black slaves of Africa. At the time of Eugenie, Africa still lived under the colonial era. Both had heard the missionary call to make Christ known to these distant populations. The spirituality of Eugenie Caps meets that of Father Libermann in:

  • Discernment of God’s Will
  • Docility to the Holy Spirit
  • Apostolic zeal and mission
  • The Holiness of the Missionary
  • Charity and practical union
  • Humility, Renunciation and the Cross
  • Abandonment and Peace
  • Trust and joy

Their life path also has some rather surprising similarities: both were called to found a new work of missionaries, but neither could go to Africa for the Mission. Both die in some sort of exhaustion, having given everything for the success of the work entrusted by God. Both had a great devotion to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Heart of Mary.