The Jesuits have also renovated St. Regis’ House, which has 50 rooms for visitors—students, Jesuits, pilgrims, and retreatants—and coupled it with a café and a small but interesting museum on the life of St. Francis Regis. The Pilgrim Shelter, built in 1920, is another venue, although a very rustic and cheap place appealing to hikers, cyclists, motorcyclists, and families. It is run by teams of volunteers.
Jean-François Régis was born 31 January 1597, in Fontcouverte, Aude, in the Languedoc region of southern France. At age 19 in 1616, he entered the Jesuit novitiate of Toulouse. He became a grammar teacher and was sent to Le Puy where he served at the Église-du-Collège. He was ordained a priest in 1630 and aspired to be a missionary in Canada, however, his superiors wanted him to stay in France and act as a missionary at home. Besides, he had chronic bronchitis and frequent frost-bite of his hands.
As a teacher he wasn’t content with just book learning, but he pushed his students into action on their knowledge. For example, they spoke Latin in class and practiced it during recreational periods. They recited Latin poetry in order to acquire a taste for eloquence. Students also participated in theatrical productions.
Regis also taught adults how to acquire a Christian life of prayer with daily Mass, regular confessions, the examination of conscience, partaking of the sacraments, cultivation of Christian virtues, and avoiding vices. He encouraged them to sing songs and hymns and to recite poetry. He also spoke to the people in their own language, including lenga d'òc in the Occident.
A man of multiple charisms, he was a passionate witness to the mercy of God through activism. For example, he intervened for poor people in order to preserve their dignity and defended the lace makers whose work was threatened by burdensome regulations and physical abuse. He started soup kitchens for those who didn’t have access to proper nutrition and engaged volunteers to run the kitchens, which were maintained until the French Revolution of 1789.
Francis Régis led the fight against people’s misery in order to save both body and soul. He cared for people abandoned or dying in hospitals. He visited others and made sure they had food to eat. He protected prostitutes, especially from violence, as well as orphans and prisoners.
He had chronic bronchitis and died in Lalouvesc in 1640 at age 43. He was beatified in 1716 and canonized on June 16, 1737.
10 -- In Le Puy, the misery of families led to prostitution. Régis created a refuge for women quo wanted to change their lives. He is assaulted many times as a result. One night, four young men decided to kill him. They layed a trap for him in front of the Église-du-Collège.
However, his words touched their hearts and they not only didn't kill
kill him, they were transformed.
11 -- The decrees of Louis XIII forbid wearing lace on clothes. The lacemakers of Le Puy fell into unemployment as a result. Régis saw this crisis as a means of creating solidarity among the workers. He predicted that their industry would provide them with a decent living. Since then he is venerated as the patron of lacemakers.
Régis fights an intense fever after various remedies are ineffective. Around midnight he had a vision of God that opened him to paradise. "Between your hand, O God, I hand back my spirit," he said. He died at age 43.
St. Francis Régis died in 1640. He was beatified in 1716 and canonized on June 16, 1737. He was known as a defender of the poor and a missionary and apostle of the countryside. He was also a man of multiple charisms and a passionate witness to the mercy of God.
Living during the post-Reformation period, he promoted dialogue with Protestants, and he was known as a protector and promoter of women, especially the lace workers who populated this area of France and were frequently abused. Régis’ relationship with the lace-makers of south-central France was legendary to the point that he was heralded as the saint of the lace-makers.
Régis was also known as a fighter against people’s misery where he aimed to save body and soul alike, care for the abandoned or the dying, and visiting people to make sure they were eating. He also protected orphans, prisoners, and prostitutes, many of whom were victims of violence.
While the pandemic has put a halt to further development at this time, the village’s focus for the future remains the same: ecological projects, pilgrimages, return to the countryside, and art. This vision is all quite in line with the life of St. Francis Régis who was a walker who moved around a lot. He visited people and welcomed them into community although not just for religious reasons. He worked with the young as well as couples. In these ways his 400-year-old message remains the same: Christians should be open to others, filled with hope, and inspiring to others in their way of life.
St. Francis Régis in Le Puy
Although he didn't stay a long time, Franics Régis lived in Le Puy, taught at the Église-du-Collège, and started a soup kitchen for the poor. Every year around June 16, the Église-du-Collège holds St. Régis Day where parish officials open up his old room and conduct tours there.
His small and modest room contained his worldly goods plus an altar where he could say Mass and sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
People are invited to sit in St. Francis' room to be inspired by the man who ministered to the poor and helped realize the new apostolic movement in the Church.
Resource
Église en Haute-Loire, June 2021, pp. 10-21.
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