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This December 18, 2024, Pope Francis authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to issue a decree recognizing the heroic virtues of the founder of the Emmanuel Community, Pierre Goursat (1914-1991), who is now “venerable.”
Two other martyrs were recognized by the Church, German bishop Eduard Profittlich (1890-1942) and Italian priest Elie Comini (1910-1944), while a Romanian bishop and an Italian priest were also made “venerable.”
At the same time, the Pope approved the equipollent canonization of Blessed Thérèse de Saint-Augustin, Mother Superior of the Carmelites of Compiègne, and her 15 companions, murdered during the French Revolution, as Aleteia reported in another article.
Founder of the Emmanuel community recognized as venerable
According to his biography published by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the Emmanuel Community website, and the website dedicated to Goursat, Pierre Goursat was born in Paris on August 15, 1914, at the start of the First World War. At the age of 9 he experienced the abandonment of his father, who left the family home, and at 12 the loss of his brother Bernard.
His health was frail and would remain so for the rest of his life. In 1933, at the age of 19, Pierre Goursat was suffering from tuberculosis. While being treated at a sanatorium in the Alps, he underwent a spiritual conversion. Afterwards, back in Paris, he supported his mother in running their boarding house.
In 1943, Pierre Goursat met the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard. The cardinal was to play a decisive role in Goursat’s spiritual journey and accompany him as his spiritual advisor in his vocation. Pierre made a vow of chastity and dedicated himself to evangelization while remaining a layman.
Evangelizing the world of culture
Goursat’s area of mission was especially the world of culture. In addition to opening a religious bookshop and launching a publishing company, he was involved with the Catholic Center for French Intellectuals and the French Catholic Office of Cinema. He also founded the Circle of French Cinema. He was a film critic, interviewing the most famous figures of the industry, and taking part in the Cannes and Venice film festivals,
In between hospital stays, he became concerned about young people threatened by drugs and delinquency. He founded a prevention and support center for them in an old barge moored on the banks of the Seine.
In 1971, he discovered the emerging Charismatic Renewal movement and received a “baptism in the Spirit” during a retreat. As part of this movement, the following year he and a young medical intern, the laywoman Martine Laffitte, set up a prayer group that attracted 500 participants within a year. These were the beginnings of the Emmanuel Community. Some 60 people made their first commitment to this fledgling community on June 18, 1977.
Close ties with Paray-le-Monial
The shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Paray-le-Monial in Burgundy, where Pierre Goursat organized the formation of members, became one of the major spiritual sites of the community, which still hosts summer sessions attracting thousands of people. Today, the community is present in 70 countries.
In 1978, the barge on the Seine, where the founder moved, became the community’s headquarters. It was here that Pierre died on March 25, 1991, after six years away from leading the community for health reasons. He is buried at Paray-le-Monial.
According to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the new Venerable lived the Christian virtues “with great ardor as a layman, demonstrating strength and courage in the various trials and difficulties of life.” Rome praises his “great love for the Church” and his “unconditional loyalty to its magisterium,” as well as his service to those “wounded by life.”
Goursat maintained a reputation for discretion and humility throughout his life, during which he shunned “notoriety, visibility, privileges, and personal advantages,” the website continues.
Launched in January 2010 in Paris (France), Pierre Goursat’s cause for canonization opened in Rome in 2016.
Two martyrs of totalitarianism
Another decree recognizes the martyrdom of Eduard Profittlich (1890-1942), a German Jesuit priest who became Apostolic Administrator of Estonia in 1931 and Bishop in 1936. Following the Russian invasion of Estonia in June 1940, all priests were arrested. He could’ve returned to Germany, but chose to stay instead.
In 1941, he was deported to Russia, where he was tortured. He was sentenced to death, but died on February 22, 1942, before his scheduled execution. As the Vatican points out, his martyrdom was not known until many years after his death, following the collapse of the Soviet regime.
Another priest-martyr Rome recognized was Fr. Elia Comini (1910-1944), a member of the Society of St. Francis de Sales from the Bologna region. Following in Don Bosco‘s footsteps, he worked as a youth educator in the Salesian schools of Chiari and Treviglio. In the summer of 1944, he moved to Salvaro, near Bologna, to help his elderly mother. The region was at the epicenter of the war between the Allies, partisans, and Germans, and the priest put himself at the service of the population.
Accused of being a spy for the partisans, he was arrested by the Nazis and killed on October 1, 1944. The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints recounts:
“During the execution of some forty people, who were machine-gunned, Fr. Elia’s body protected one of the three survivors in what became known as the Pioppe di Salvaro massacre. The survivor, who became a decisive witness to these events, helped to publicize the martyrdom of Fr. Elia Comini.”
Romanian bishop and Italian priest made venerable
The Church also recognized the heroic virtues of Romanian bishop Áron Márton (1896-1980). During the Second World War, he opposed Nazi racial laws and those imposed in Romania. He took care of refugees, exiles, and Jews.
After the war, he sought to safeguard the faith against the onslaught of the Romanian Communists, even if it meant being sentenced to prison and hard labor until 1956, when he was placed under house arrest. Stricken with cancer, he died in April 1980, and a large crowd attended his funeral despite the limits imposed by the communist authorities.
Lastly, the Church recognizes as venerable a priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Giuseppe Maria Leone (1829 – 1902). A Redemptorist from Puglia, he was a man of great faith, and particularly dedicated to his priestly ministry through the sacrament of reconciliation.
And today we celebrate...