Faith

Maureen Crowley
Heil

Lucien Botovasoa was born in 1908, the first of nine children in his family in rural part of Madagascar. He was baptized into the Catholic faith at age ten and received his First Holy Communion at age fourteen. After a few years at a state-run school, Lucien attended the Jesuit College of Saint Joseph. After graduating with a teaching certificate, he became an instructor there. He ended every class with a short story on the life of a saint.
Lucien took the Jesuit Latin motto 'ad maiorem Dei gloriam', which translates to 'All for the greater glory of God' and sought to reflect Christ in his words and actions. In 1930, Lucien married Suzanne Soazana. They eventually had five children who lived to adulthood. Because he had a prayerful demeanor and lived a life of obvious piety, a nun that Lucien worked with once asked if he ever regretted marrying instead of becoming a priest. Lucien replied immediately, "I do not have the slightest regret at all." He felt that he was well able to serve God through his marital vocation.
Although happily married and devoted to his family, Lucien desired a closer tie to religious life. He found the perfect fit when he discovered the Rule of the Third Order of Franciscans, a world-wide community of Catholic men and women who follow a code of simple living set forth by Saint Francis of Assisi.
Since there was no such group in his country, Lucien sought out other like-minded people and established a local branch in 1944. He began to dress in brown as Franciscans do, instead of the usual black of a Malagasy teacher.
After the end of World War II, political upheaval came to the island of Madagascar. Lucien's wife feared that his public holiness was casting an unwanted spotlight on him in this time of unrest, but Lucien was not afraid. In 1947, a persecution of Christians began: priests and nuns were arrested, and people were killed for their faith. Lucien's church was burned on Palm Sunday of that year.
On April 14, 1947, as Lucien sat eating lunch with his pregnant wife and four other children, he heard that anti-Christian forces were coming for him. He entrusted his wife and children to the care of his brother. Lucian was arrested, condemned without trial, and killed that night by men whom he had taught as schoolboys. He prayed for them before he died, saying, "O God, forgive my brothers who are here, because they now have a very difficult duty to fulfill regarding me."
May we all have the courage to forgive as Blessed Lucien did.

- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.

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