Bl. Basil Moreau

Basil Moreau was born in 1799, during the French Revolution, the ninth of fourteen children in a poor family near Le Mans. He was ordained in 1821, a little early, because so many priests had been killed in the Revolution.

He taught in the seminary and preached parish missions. In 1835 his bishop asked him to take over the Brothers of St Joseph, whose founder was ill. Moreau joined the brothers with his group of auxiliary priests, and in 1837 they became the Congregation of Holy Cross. He later added sisters. Holy Cross spread quickly; it founded the University of Notre Dame in Indiana in 1842.

He faced bitter internal disputes in his last years and was pushed out of leadership. He died in 1873 and was beatified in 2007.

Moreau's later years were marked by conflict and financial trouble in the congregation he founded. He resigned and lived out his life largely sidelined.

Basil Moreau was beatified in 2007.

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