Bl. Antoine Chevrier

Antoine Chevrier was born in Lyons, France, in 1826, to a family of modest means. He was ordained in 1850 and sent to a working-class parish on the edge of the city.

Praying before a Christmas crib, he decided to live in real poverty, like the infant Jesus. With encouragement from St John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, he bought an old dance hall called the Prado in 1860. There he taught poor and working children the faith and prepared them for First Communion. He also trained priests to live simply among the poor; they became the Society of Priests of the Prado. He died in 1879 and was beatified in 1986.

Antoine Chevrier was beatified in 1986.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.