Saint Salomon Leclerc

Solomon Leclercq, FSC (born Guillaume-Nicolas-Louis Leclercq; 15 November 1745 – 2 September 1792) was a French religious brother of the Institute of the De La Salle Brothers. Leclercq was killed in 1792 after he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new French Revolutionary government almost two weeks before the kingdom was dissolved. He was killed in the garden of a Carmelite convent around a fortnight after he had been arrested and imprisoned in Paris. He was the first Brother of the Christian Schools to be martyred, and the first to be beatified. His canonization was celebrated on 16 October 2016; his feast day is September 2. Guillaume-Nicolas-Louis Leclercq was born to a family of merchants in Boulogne-sur-Mer, on 15 November 1745. He attended a school run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and worked in the family business for a time. He entered the novitiate at the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Rouen on 25 March 1767. He took his vows in 1769 and in September 1770 was sent to teach at Maréville. Leclercq is described as "... quiet, gentle, and somewhat shy, but also engaged and firm". He made his final profession in 1772. The following year he became director of novices at Maréville. Leclercq was made procurator in 1777 of Maréville and in 1780 was sent to teach mathematics at the scholasticate in Melun. In 1787 he become secretary to the Superior General of the Congregation. In 1790, during the French Revolution, the institute was designated as being illegal due to the members who refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new French government following the toppling of King Louis XVI. In 1791, the Brothers were forced to give up their schools, and to retire into civilian life. Brother Solomon stayed on at their property in Paris, dressed in ordinary clothes and looking after the house. Leclercq too refused to take the oath and despite being watched, he penned letters to his relatives.