World War I opened painful memories of childhood for Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858–1916). As a young boy, he lost both parents and was raised by his grandfather from Strasbourg. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), French Strasbourg was occupied by the Prussian army (after the war it was ceded to the Germans), and twelve-year-old Charles had to flee the city.
At the beginning of World War I, Charles was in the Sahara and was troubled by thoughts of his loved ones who were caught up in the fighting. A letter survives in which he inquires to General Laperrin whether he would be more useful on the front lines as a field chaplain or a medic. The response was negative, so he remained in Tamanrasset, from where he wrote to a childhood friend:
“My dear Gabriel,
how much I think of you since the war began! How much I have thought of you when I learned about the fighting in Saint-Dié, about the capture and recapture of the city! I worry about you, about your brother, about your nephew, who is probably in battle. I earnestly ask you to send me news about yourself…, just a line will suffice…, the rest we will discuss when we meet after victory… If, as I firmly hope, we win, shall we go together to see Strasbourg when it is French again?”
Blessed Charles, pray for us!
(Charles de Foucauld /1858–1916/, letter to a childhood friend, November 25, 1914;
introduction processed according to the book by the Little Sister of Jesus, Charles Foucauld, Spiritual Biography)
