Blessed Louis-Antoine-Rose Ormières Lacase

Louis-Antoine-Rose Ormières Lacase (14 July 1809 - 16 January 1890) was a French Roman Catholic priest from the Diocese of Carcassonne and the founder of the Sisters of the Guardian Angel - an order dedicated to the care of children and the educational needs of the poor. Ormières became a Servant of God on 25 March 1954 under Pope Pius XII and was made Venerable on 8 March 1997 after Pope John Paul II confirmed his life of heroic virtue. Pope Francis recognized a miracle attributed to him in 2016 which confirmed his beatification; the celebration took place in Oviedo on 22 April 2017 with Cardinal Angelo Amato presiding on the pope's behalf. Louis-Antoine-Rose Ormières Lacase was born in 1809 in Aude in France during a time of unease due to the French Revolution a decade prior to his birth. He was baptized a few hours after his birth at the local parish church. He was pleasant as a child and often joked around though sometimes had a look of uneasiness on his face. He first attended school in his hometown and then attended a school in Limoux before deciding to commence his ecclesial studies in 1828 in Carcassonne. He commenced his studies for the diocesan priesthood in Carcassonne where he was ordained as such on 21 December 1833. He obtained a degree in education in Montpellier. His superiors at the time recognized that he had a flair for education and he himself believed he would become a diocesan teacher. This prompted his superior to name him as a professor to seminarians in Carcassonne. Ormières established - on 3 December 1839 - a school that heralded in the establishment of the Sisters of the Guardian Angel. The school and order in and of themselves were established so that he could devote his pastoral mission to the education of children with a particular emphasis on a proper civic and cultural education that applied more to rural areas of France.