This year, the Weekly Update will include a quote from or fact about Father Basil Anthony Moreau, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Father Moreau was beatified in Le Mans, France, on September 15, 2007.
Quote of the Week
Father Moreau had many roles during his lifetime: priest, teacher, spiritual director, retreat director, visionary and founder. In beatifying Father Moreau, the church is recognizing the validity of testimony to his heroic virtue, and the church is holding him up to us as a model…He preached about faith through is own lived reliance on Divine Providence; his zeal for ministry was fired by the depth of his hope; and his charity was constant, especially in the face of great adversity.
Keynote address at the Annual Convocation of Holy Cross Institute
Previous Quotes
“Like his master, Blessed Basil Moreau endured the Cross and abandonment.
He lived out the motto given to his community” Hail, O Cross, our only hope.”
(Beatification Celebration September 14, 2007)
“Blessed Basil Moreau felt called to be an artisan of renewal, a seeker of new life!
That was the vision he had for the family of Holy Cross.”
(Opening Celebration of the Beatification September 14, 2007)
“Our zeal is always guided by charity. Everything is done with strength and gentleness.” Moreau
Father Moreau planted the roots of the family of Holy Cross deeply within the church, placing them at the service of the local and universal church. Through this placement and rootedness, they have become an international and multicultural apostolic religious family.
Holy Cross Spirituality for a new Millennium
“Blessed Basil Moreau’s goal in founding the family of Holy Cross was to prepare, form and offer to the Church, workers for the Gospel, who could respond to the needs of the times: education, care of the sick and marginalized, parish ministry, missions abroad. Such was the perspective that guided Holy Cross foundations throughout the world.”
(Opening Celebration of the Beatification September 14, 2007)
Today Father Moreau’s vision of Holy Cross brothers, priests and sisters serving the world has come to fruition as the little community he formed in the Holy Cross neighborhood of Le Mans, now numbers more that 3,000 religious, serving in nineteen countries on five continents around the world. Signs of Hope
“It is God’s hand which has guided everything, and it is God whom we must thank above all.”
Circular Letter 36 - Moreau
“I am convinced that Providence, which has in the past done everything necessary for the development and perfection of its work, will continue to bestow on it most abundant blessings. To ensure this, we must be constantly animated by the spirit of zeal and generosity which so holy an undertaking requires.” Circular Letter 9 – Moreau
“Holy Cross will grow like a mighty tree and constantly shoot forth new limbs whose branches will produce yet others, and all nourished from the same sap and endowed with the same life.”
Circular Letter 65 – Moreau
“If at times you have a marked preference for certain people, it should be for the poor, the abandoned, the most in need of education, those who have less than everyone else. It is a matter of justice to give more to those who have received less.” Christian Education – Moreau
“To succeed in the important undertaking entrusted to us, we must be, first of all, so closely united in charity as to form but one mind and one soul; for, as you well know, in union there is strength, and a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.” Circular Letter 1 - Moreau1835
“If knowledge without reverence makes one proud and thus becomes dangerous, it is likewise true that reverence without knowledge makes a teacher useless and compromises the honor of the mission as a teacher. “ Christian Education –Moreau 1856
For Moreau, the measure of mission is the formation of new men and women "for better times than ours." Christian Education
“With eyes of faith consider the greatness of your mission and the wonderful amount of good which you can accomplish.” Christian Education – Moreau 1856
“Knowledge itself does not bring about positive values, but positive values do influence knowledge and put it to a good use.” Christian Education – Moreau 1856