CAUSE OF BEATIFICATION AND CANONIZATION OF JULES CHEVALIER

History of the cause:

• 19 July 2011: Nihil obstat of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (Prot. N. 2840)
• From 25 May 2012 to 08 December 2013: Celebration of the Diocesan Enquiry in the Diocese of Bourges.
• 12 December 2013: Transmission of the Acts of the Diocesan Inquiry to the Vatican
• 16 December 2013: Opening of the Roman phase of the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Jules Jean Chevalier.
• 18 October 2014: Letter from Fr. Boguslaw Turek, Undersecretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, on the need to proceed with an additional investigation in view of the Validity of the Acts of the Diocesan Inquiry.
• 11 March 2016: Decree on the Validity of the Acts of the Diocesan Inquiry. This Decree of Validity is accompanied by a note signed by Archbishop Marcello Bartolucci, Secretary General, asking the Rapporteur of the Cause to contact the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to consult certain “problematic” writings of the Servant of God.
• 28 October 2016: Announcement of the appointment of Fr Maurizio Tagliaferri, as Rapporteur for the drafting of the Positio on the life, reputation for holiness and virtues of the Servant of God Jules Jean Chevalier.

  Where we are :

The Public Copy of the Acts of the Diocesan Inquiry carried out in 2012-2013 and the Supplementary Inquiry carried out in 2015-2016 on the life and virtues and the reputation for holiness of the Servant of God Jules Jean Chevalier was handed over on 5 October 2018 to Father André Bohas, msc, by the Rapporteur, Prof. Don Maurizio Tagliaferri of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Father André Bohas, msc, is the collaborator of the Postulator General Father Jean-Jules Chassem, msc, of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

At the request of the Secretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Archbishop Marcello Bartolucci, dated 11 March 2016, the Rapporteur, together with the Postulator General and his collaborator, went to consult the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about the writings of the Servant of God. At the request of the General Reporter of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in October 2019, Fr. André Bohas went to consult the Vatican Secret Archives (henceforth referred to as “apostolic”), the Vatican State Archives and those of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

In October 2019, the part of the Positio called Summarium Testium consisting of the formatting and study of the testimonies of the two diocesan investigations was completed. The editing of the reports of the Theologians and the Historical Commission presented at the two enquiries was also completed in October 2019. The work continues with the preparation of the abridged documented biography of the Servant of God. In October 2020, the Rapporteur Prof. Don Maurizio Tagliaferri asked Fr. André Bohas to begin the abridged documented biography with a first chapter that should specify the political, historical and ecclesial context of the 19th century during which the Servant of God Jules Jean Chevalier lived, attaching at the end of the chapter the most important authorized documents that support the understanding of what will have been thus developed throughout each chapter. Historical research and numerous readings were necessary for the study of this political, historical and ecclesiastical context and its writing was the object of the work of this year 2021 (from November 2020 to August 2021).

What still needs to be done

It then remains to continue writing the documented biography of the Servant of God, from his birth to his death in a chronological presentation, presenting his activities and works. The most important documents collected during the diocesan investigation (in particular the 737 letters selected from a total of 2737 letters and other documents collected in the second volume of the Public Copy) will be inserted at the end of each chapter according to the content of each chapter of the biography. Some documents not used in the biography will then be presented in the Summarium Documentorum.

Some specific problems that have been raised about the life and writings of the Servant of God and that require study and response will be inserted in another part of the Positio called Selected Questions (especially those found in the file of Fr. Chevalier’s file and consulted at the Holy Office on devotion to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, on the statue of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, as well as the relations with Fr Ramière and Fr Dehon, the questions raised in the Report of the theologians who studied the books published by Fr Chevalier).

Finally, the last part, called Informatio, will present in the Positio the path followed by the Servant of God to reach evangelical perfection and his permanent state of virtue, a presentation of the heroic exercise of the virtues (theological and cardinal, the auxiliary virtues as a religious and particular virtues) and his reputation for holiness.

When this work is completed, the Positio will then be studied by theologians (from Roman universities) chosen by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and then, based on the results of their research, a group of cardinals also chosen by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints will study the Positio. To all of them, theologians and cardinals, a copy of the book by E.J. Cuskelly, msc, “Jules Chevalier, the man and his mission – 1824-1907”, will be given as a supplement to the abridged documented biography. After this long process, if all this work is positive, the results will be presented to the Holy Father by the Prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints. The Pope will then be able to declare our founder, the Servant of God Jules Jean Chevalier, “Venerable”.

Let us not forget that for our founder to be declared “Blessed”, it is necessary to obtain through his intercession a presumed miraculous cure which will also be studied in another Positio on the miracle. The same applies to the process of Canonization.

It is therefore important that at this stage, with many steps still to go, all confreres and members of the Chevalier Family throughout the world (in their communities, in the parishes, movements, prayer groups, or schools where we minister…) pray and invite prayer intensely, persistently and tenaciously through the intercession of our founder, Servant Jules Jean Chevalier. Let us not forget to send in writing to the Postulator General, Fr. Jean-Jules Chassem, msc, our testimonies of graces received through the intercession of the Servant of God.

André Bohas, MSC (Province of France—encharged for the Cause of our Founder)