Courageous Witnesses · Week 4 · Grades 9–12
Guided Notes: St. Charles de Foucauld
- Name
- Date
- Class
Follow along as your teacher presents. Fill in each section when its slide is on the screen.
Unbelief, the desert and a confession
Charles Eugène de Foucauld was born in Strasbourg in blank 1 to a rich noble family. He was orphaned at six. As a teenager he stopped believing in God. At military school he was lazy and was punished for wild parties, and he wasted most of a large inheritance.
Army service in Algeria in blank 2 woke him up. He then spent almost a year exploring Morocco in disguise, mapping in secret. His book won a gold medal in France. What stayed with him, though, was the sight of Muslims stopping to pray five times a day.
In October 1886, in blank 3, he asked Father Huvelin about faith. The priest told him to go to confession first. He did.
Nazareth in the Sahara
“As soon as I believed there was a God, I understood that I could not do anything other than live for Him alone.”
So Charles said later. After visiting Nazareth he wanted the hidden, simple life Jesus lived there. He spent seven years as a blank 4 monk, then left to be a convent handyman in Nazareth.
Ordained in 1901, he went where there were no other priests. In 1905 he settled in blank 5 among the Tuareg, who were Muslim nomads. He did not try to force anyone to become Christian. He learned their language, compiled a Tuareg-French dictionary, collected their poems and songs, and gave medicine to the sick.
On December blank 6, 1916, during World War I, raiders came to his fort. A 15-year-old guard panicked and shot him.
A life in stages
Write what happened at each point.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1858 | Write your answer |
| 1876 | Write your answer |
| 1883–1884 | Write your answer |
| 1886 | Write your answer |
| 1890 | Write your answer |
| 1901 | Write your answer |
| 1916 | Write your answer |
| 2022 | Write your answer |
Apply it
A student wants to share her faith with a friend of another religion. Which approach is closest to how Charles lived in Tamanrasset? Circle one.
- A Avoid the subject of faith so no one is offended
- B Argue until the friend admits she is wrong
- C Know and serve the friend, and live her own faith openly
- D Treat all religions as saying the very same thing
Why is that the right answer?
Apply it
A classmate posts good content for months and gets almost no views. Which lesson from Charles's life fits best? Circle one.
- A Fruit may come later; faithfulness is the task
- B No audience means the work has no value
- C He should copy whatever is popular instead
- D Good work will always be noticed in the end
Why is that the right answer?
Take a side
Charles lived for years among the Tuareg without trying to force anyone to become Christian, and he died with no followers. Is a life of quiet presence and friendship enough to share the Gospel?
My side: ☐ Yes, a life can preach ☐ No, words are needed too
- Charles said, “Cry the Gospel with your whole life.”
- The prayer of Muslims in Morocco moved Charles toward God without any argument.
- No one joined him or his planned order during his lifetime.
- He went to the Sahara as an ordained priest, not in disguise.
- Thousands now follow his way of life because people later read his written words.
My strongest reason, with evidence from the slides:
The best argument for the other side, and my response:
Hidden life, visible life
Charles wanted a hidden life like Jesus in Nazareth. Phones, social media and AI tools push us to be seen, counted and constantly answered. What would a “hidden life” look like for a student today, and what would it cost you?
Think: my idea before we talk
Sentence starters: “For me, a hidden life would mean ...”“The hardest thing to give up would be ...”“Silence matters for faith because ...”
Pair: something my partner said
Let us pray
Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.
Teach us the silence of the desert and the hidden life of Nazareth.
Make us brothers and sisters to all, whatever their faith or people.
St. Charles de Foucauld, pray for us.
Amen.
My own prayer or intention:
Well done!
Charles measured his life by faithfulness, not by followers. His hidden years in the Sahara still bear fruit around the world.
One thing I learned today:
One question I still have:
How could the example of St. Charles de Foucauld shape the way I live, online and offline?
Challenge: Keep a daily “desert” this week: fifteen minutes of silence with no phone, no music and no feed. Then do one act of friendship toward someone unlike you, and tell no one.