Blessed Louis-Édouard Cestac

Louis-Édouard Cestac (6 January 1801 – 27 March 1868) was a French Roman Catholic priest and alongside his sister Marie-Louise-Élise co-founded the Serviteurs de Marie. Cestac was dedicated to the needs of the poor and he met with them on a frequent basis in order to get to know them better and to know how he could better serve them in terms of their material and spiritual needs. But he was concerned for girls who were poor and destitute and so decided to provide them with a stable environment. He enlisted the aid of his sister and the two founded a religious order that would be dedicated to helping them. His beatification received approval in mid-2014 from Pope Francis after the pontiff approved a miracle that had been found to have been attributed to his intercession. Cardinal Angelo Amato beatified Cestac in mid-2015 on the pope's behalf. Louis-Édouard Cestac was born in 1801 in France to Dominique Cestac and Jeanne Amitessarobe at number 45 on the Rue Mayou; his siblings were Marianne and the Marie-Louise-Élise (14.03.1811-17.03.1849). His mother Jeanne was Basque-Spanish. Marianne (b. circa 1795) was the eldest while Élise was the last meaning Cestac was the middle sibling; he was Élise's godfather at her baptism. In his childhood he suffered an incurable neuralgia and complete mutism for a duration of three years. His mother decided to consecrate him to the Mother of God and Cestac's condition improved to the point where he was healed. His healing was credited to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. The Cestac's later moved to Puntous due to the Peninsular War. Cestac underwent his ecclesial studies from 1816 at Aire-sur-l'Adour and Paris where he befriended Michel Garicoïts. He received the minor orders on 25 December 1821 and in 1822 was back to his studies and formation after recovering from a serious illness. He was ordained to the diaconate on 26 June 1825 before being ordained to the priesthood on 17 December 1825.