Venerable Andrew Fournet

André-Hubert Fournet (6 December 1752 – 13 May 1834) was a French Roman Catholic priest and together with Jeanne-Elisabeth Bichier des Ages the founder of the Daughters of the Holy Cross, Sisters of St. Andrew. Fournet had a disdain for religion in his childhood but became a priest due to the shining example and influence of an uncle of his. He later fled France in 1792 following a brief arrest during the French Revolution after refusing to take the oath, and returned sometime later where he met Bichier. Pope Pius XI beatified him in 1926 and canonized him a short while after in 1933. André-Hubert Fournet was born on 6 December 1752 in Vienne to Pierre Fournet and Florence Chasseloup. He had at least one sister and his cousin was Julien Augustin Chasseloup de Chatillon (1760-1800). His uncle Antoine Fournet baptized him in the local parish church on 7 December. Fournet found most things bored him and religion in his childhood was one such thing he deemed to be a bore. This disdain for religion continued to grow because his mother kept nagging him to become a priest and he often said of it: "I'm still not going to be a priest or monk". Fournet went through legal and philosophical studies at Poitiers but ran off from school as a sign of rebellion towards his mother and even joined the armed forces; his mother found him and pulled him out of it. He did not want to get a job and his poor handwriting limited the scope of job hunting. His uncle Jean Fournet – a rural pastor – had such an influence on him that he decided to become a priest, and was ordained in 1776. He was made the parish priest of his own hometown (succeeding his uncle) in 1781, to the pleasure of his mother. The French Revolution saw him refuse to take the oath and he continued his now illegal pastoral mission in secret. On 6 April 1792 – on Good Friday – he was arrested for his activities.