Blessed Daniel Brottier

Daniel Jules Alexis Brottier, C.S.Sp. (7 September 1876 – 28 February 1936), was a French Roman Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans). He was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Légion 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. He was declared venerable in 1983, and then beatified on the 25 November 1984, by Pope John Paul II. Brottier was born in La Ferté-Saint-Cyr, a commune in the Loir-et-Cher Department of France on 7 September 1876, the second son of Jean-Baptiste Brottier, coachman for the Marquis Durfort, and his wife Herminie (née Bouthe). A story from his childhood recounts that his mother asked him what he would like to be when he grew up. Daniel's answer was, "I won't be either a general or a pastry chef—I will be the Pope!" His mother reminded him that to be the pope, he would first have to become a priest. Little Daniel piped up, "Well, then I'll become a priest!" /* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */ .mw-parser-output .citation{word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)} /* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */ At the age of 10, Brottier made his First Communion, and enrolled a year later in the minor seminary at Blois. In 1896, at the age of 20, he did one year of military service at Blois. He was ordained on 22 October 1899, after which he was assigned to teach for three years at a secondary school in Pontlevoy, France. Restless in his life as a teacher and determined to be a missionary, the young Abbé Brottier joined the Congregation of the Holy Spirit at Orly in 1902. After completing his novitiate, Brottier was sent by the congregation to serve as a vicar in a mission parish in Saint-Louis, Senegal in 1903. He was disappointed that he had been assigned to a city rather than the more difficult interior. Nevertheless, Brottier immediately set to work.