Saint of the Day: St. Mutien-Marie Wiaux

Religious Brother (1841-1917)

His life

+ Mutien-Marie was born in French-speaking Belgium in 1841. The son of a prosperous blacksmith, he entered the De la Salle Christian Brothers in 1855.

+ His first teaching assignment was a disaster, but a senior brother took Mutien-Marie under his tutelage and he came to discover untapped musical gifts, becoming proficient in playing a number of musical instruments.

+ Noted for his dedication to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin, his entire life was focused on educating the young, particularly in art and music.

+ An extended illness that ended his teaching career and Saint Mutien-Marie spent the last thirty years of his life praying for his confreres and their students.

+ Honored as a saint of the “Little Way,” Mutien-Marie died on January 30, 1917, and was canonized in 1989.

For prayer and reflection

“For him, nothing was more important than obedience, nothing more joyful than poverty, nothing more urgent than the obligations of common life, the acceptance of his pupils and of anyone who came to him. Faithful to the hidden tasks entrusted to him, day after day Brother Mutien offered his life to the Lord, in a forgetfulness of himself that had become natural for him. For this reason alone, he is an exemplary figure: he came to holiness in daily life, following with docility the path of the sons of St John Baptist de La Salle.”—Pope Saint John Paul II

Prayer

O God, who raised up blessed Mutien-Marie in your Church to show others the way of salvation, grant us, by his (her) example, so to follow Christ the master, that we may come with our neighbor into your presence. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Common of Holy Men and Women—For Educators)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.