1. Daniel Brottier was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d'honneur for his services as a chaplain during World War I, did missionary work in Senegal, and administered an orphanage in Auteuil, a suburb of Paris.
20 Facts About Daniel Brottier
1. 2.
Daniel Brottier was declared venerable in 1983, and then beatified on the 25 November 1984, by Pope John Paul II.
3.
Daniel Brottier was ordained on 22 October 1899, after which he was assigned to teach for three years at a secondary school in Pontlevoy, France.
4.
Restless in his life as a teacher and determined to be a missionary, the young Abbe Daniel Brottier joined the Congregation of the Holy Spirit at Orly in 1902.
5.
Daniel Brottier was disappointed that he had been assigned to a city rather than the more difficult interior.
6.
Daniel Brottier gave weekly instructions to secondary school students, founded a center for child welfare, and published a parish bulletin, The Echo of St Louis.
7.
Daniel Brottier's health suffered from the climate and he spent a six-month period of convalescence in France in 1906.
8.
Daniel Brottier had felt called to a more contemplative life than he had been living as a missionary in Africa, but the stay at Lerins rid him of that idea.
9.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Daniel Brottier became a volunteer chaplain for France's 121st Infantry Regiment.
10.
Daniel Brottier was cited six times for bravery, and awarded the Croix de guerre and the Legion d'honneur.
11.
Daniel Brottier attributed his survival on the front lines to the intercession of St Therese of Lisieux, and built a chapel for her at Auteuil when she was canonized: the first church dedicated to the saint.
12.
Daniel Brottier dedicated his work to two aims: to save the most poor and unfortunate, and to dedicate those efforts to the intercession of Saint Therese.
13.
In 1933, Daniel Brottier pioneered a program that placed the children in the households of Catholic paysans associated with the Orphan Apprentices.
14.
At the time of his arrival, the facility was in charge of 140 orphans; when Daniel Brottier died, there were more than 1,400.
15.
Daniel Brottier even produced a popular film on the life of his personal patron, Saint Therese.
16.
Daniel Brottier died on 28 February 1936 in the Hospital of St Joseph in Paris.
17.
Daniel Brottier was buried in the Chapel of St Therese in Auteuil on 5 April 1936.
18.
Daniel Brottier was declared venerable on 13 January 1983 with a decree of heroic virtue by Pope John Paul II.
19.
Daniel Brottier was beatified by John Paul II in Paris on 25 November 1984.
20.
Daniel Brottier Refugee Services is a Non Profit organization set up to assist private sponsors welcome refugees to Canada.