Pope, at general audience, pays tribute to Venerable Madeleine Delbrêl
November 08, 2023
Continuing his series of Wednesday catecheses on the theme of “the passion for evangelization: the apostolic zeal of the believer,” Pope Francis devoted his November 8 general audience to a French laywoman, Venerable Madeleine Delbrêl (1904-1964).
“In our catechesis on apostolic zeal, we have been reflecting on the spread of the Gospel through the witness of Christians of every time and place,” Pope Francis said, in the words of the Vatican summary of his remarks. “Today we turn to the Servant of God Madeleine Delbrêl, a 20th century French social worker, writer and mystic.”
The summary continued:
After a period of agnosticism in her youth, Madeleine encountered Christ through the witness of her friends and, following her conversion, chose to live a life completely devoted to God, in the heart of the Church and the world.
Madeleine was deeply moved by the plight of the poor and the anguish of those struggling to find meaning in life; she saw this as an urgent summons to reawaken missionary fervor in the Church of our day. For over three decades, she lived, prayed and worked among the poor in the peripheries of Paris.
Madeleine Delbrêl’s example of apostolic zeal reminds us of our own baptismal mission to share the joy of the Gospel with others, and, in the process, to grow in fidelity to the twin commandments of love of God and love of all our brothers and sisters.
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