Charles Péguy spent the night bringing flowers to Mary

On August 15, 1914, Lieutenant Charles Péguy (1) attended Mass for the feast of the Assumption in the church of Loupmont, France. For almost ten years, he had sensed that the war was inevitable. On September 3, two weeks fresh in the army, he spent the night laying flowers at the foot of the statue of the Blessed Virgin in the chapel on the hill of Montmélian. On September 5, he died in combat, shot in the forehead. His WWI had only lasted a month.

From 1907 onwards, the Christian faith rose steadily in the soul of this staunch and idealistic socialist like a flooding river. He gave up his support for the Socialist Party... This change of heart was not a resignation; his Catholicism was never a form of capitulation. A "biting God" had "planted" His "teeth" in his heart. He was harpooned.

But he was also alone. Alone among his friends, alone in his family, alone among Christians… "I am one of those Catholics," he said, "who would give all of Saint Thomas’ teachings for the Stabat, the Magnificat, the Hail Mary and the Salve Regina." All these prayers to the Blessed Virgin were there for the taking, within easy reach. All he had to do was to say those prayers to enter into communion with God; to whisper them, to kneel down at the feet of she who is the advocate of lost causes; to recite them, to understand and to examine and make peace with his own heart...

When he wanted to clear his soul, to walk "the stony path of grace," and to offer to God his baggage of sorrows, he would turn to Our Lady. He made three pilgrimages to Chartres on foot, once to ask Mary to heal his son, another time for a friend who had died, and a third time to overcome the temptations of marital infidelity.

This pilgrim always went to Mary, whom he called "the sinner’s refuge."

(1) Charles Péguy was a famous French poet, essayist, and editor who died tragically in 1914.

Damien Le Guay, French philosopher

Excerpts from his latest book, Les Héritiers Péguy, published in 2014 (Éditions Bayard).

Taken from Le Figaro