What are the Foyers of Charity?
The Foyers of Charity are Catholic communities of men and women who, following the example of the first Christians, place their material, intellectual and spiritual goods in common.
They live their commitment in the same Spirit, in order to build, with Mary as Mother, the Family of God on earth.
They do this under the leadership of a priest, the Father, in an unceasing effort of charity among themselves.
By their life of prayer and work in the world, they give witness to Light, Charity and Love according to the great message of Christ, King, Prophet and Priest.
The Origins
From 1925 onwards Marthe was becoming progressively paralysed to the point where she could no longer leave her little bedroom on the family farm. Her spiritual life intensified and she entered into a fuller union with Christ her Saviour. In the early 1930’s ( 1931-1933) the Lord revealed to Marthe His plan for the creation of the Foyers of Charity which He called the “Great work of His Love”. It began first with the foundation of a girls school in 1934 (asked for by the Lord).
The first meeting took place on February 10th 1936 between Marthe and Fr. Finet. She requested a picture of Mary Mediatrix of all Graces for the little school and it was Fr. Finet who brought it from Lyon.
When Fr Finet entered Marthe’s room, she was extremely moved: she recognised him, she had already “seen” him twice, spiritually. For a long time, she had been praying for him. Jesus had already spoken to Marthe about this priest in 1933: “The priest that I am preparing for the creation of the Work and for its immense growth will be an apostle with a powerful influence. Moreover, he will achieve some amazing victories and many unexpected conversions.”
The meeting in the farm of “La Plaine” between Marthe and Fr Finet lasted three hours. During the first hour, they spoke about Blessed Virgin Mary: “I was overwhelmed by the way she talked about Our Lady. She referred to her as her mummy dear. I assumed that they must know each other well.” (Fr Finet)
During the second hour, they discussed the Church and the political events in France. Marthe was well acquainted with the state of her troubled country, and prayed for its conversion: “The good Lord will intervene through the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit: it will be the new Pentecost.” The Church will “be totally rejuvenated by the apostolate of the laity. The laity will have a very important role to play in the Church…they will be formed in many ways but notably in the Foyers of Light, Charity & Love.”
Marthe then spoke about the Foyers of Light, of Charity and of Love: Our Lord’s words to her: “I want to do something new here, and in the church…a magnificent work…to the Glory of God the Father, for the spread of His Kingdom throughout the Church and for the regeneration of the whole world, through the religious teaching which would be given here and whose supernatural action would spread throughout the whole universe”.
At the third hour, the conversation suddenly took a different turn: Marthe gave Fr Finet a request from God…to come and start the first Foyer of Charity in Chateauneuf de Galaure. He consented and so the Foyer began. The first fundamental retreat was preached the following September 7th-13th 1936.
Today
The Lord revealed “This work will be the refuge of the great human distresses which will come there to draw consolation and hope(…). Countless sinners will come from all parts drawn by my Mother and Myself, to find light and healing for their ills in My Divine pardon. I want it to be a Foyer shining with Light, Charity and Love, (…). The life-giving oasis to those of goodwill, to those who are anxious and discouraged, to sinners who are hardened and sceptical…the House of My Heart is open to all.”
So to come into the Foyer of Charity is to enter into the Heart of Jesus. They are called Foyer families rather than communities, places of prayer and hospitality. It is to enter into the hearth or fireplace (in Irish “An Tinteán) of the home. The Lord says “You are called to a work that is not yours”, so the building of the Foyers is God’s work.
Each Foyer consists of a priest who is the Father of the Foyer, who teaches, absolves, nourishes and lay men and women, who commit their entire lives to God in the Foyer.
The members consecrate themselves each day to Jesus through Mary. They live a simple life modelled on the Holy Family of Nazareth, with Mary as the Mother of the Foyer “My most Holy Mother, who shall be the Queen gloriously loved and listened to in this Foyer of My Love which she herself will guide by her maternal presence.”
The Foyers of Charity were on 8th of December 1999 definitively approved by the Pontifical Council of the laity in Rome as “A Private Association of the Faithful of International Character”. Today there are over 80 Foyers spread throughout 45 countries worldwide, found in Europe, Canada, South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Daily Life
Each day follows a rhythm of prayer, work, study, brotherly love and welcome. Our life of prayer and union with God is paramount to welcoming all those that the Lord brings to the Foyer: friends, helpers, retreatants, members of other communities. The two most important rooms in the Foyer are the oratory and the kitchen/dining room. People come in prayer together and then join around the table to share a meal and chat.
Our prayer consists of the Liturgy of the Hours, daily Mass, Rosary, silent Eucharistic Adoration. Our Lady is the Queen and Mother in each Foyer and each morning we make that prayer of consecration to Jesus through Mary. We hand over our lives, our day and all to her. Everything in the Foyer is done in, with, through and for Our Lady. “The Holy Virgin holds us by the hand but also by the heart. She walks along with us constantly in life. She leads us to a heart to heart with Jesus” ( Marthe Robin).
“The vocation of the Foyers of Charity is to call the Holy Spirit onto the world. We shall not call Him with charisms but we shall call Him by being united with the silence of Mary” (Fr. Finet).
As a Foyer member it is a call to be…
A Foyer of Light by the teaching given, which is that of the Roman Catholic Church…the beautiful truths of the faith are transmitted.
A Foyer of Charity through the life of work, and persevering in the search for unity, forgiveness and the conversion of each of the members through the sharing of all our material, intellectual and spiritual goods at the service of the community for the growth of all and evangelisation… “through a total gift of ourselves to each and everyone, in a total gift to God” ( Marthe Robin).
A Foyer of Love through our communal life, in order to reveal the face of God… “our aim is love, and in order to tend towards love we need the light of Christ and the exercise of charity” ( Fr. Finet).
Each day the work is shared among the members. Different Foyers undertake different apostolic and social works e.g. some have schools, health clinics, catechetical centres. But the essential mission and work of all the Foyers is the preaching of the fundamental retreat.
Why a Foyer of Charity in Ireland?
Pope John Paul II called for the re-evangelisation of Europe and therefore of Ireland – our families, our education, our media, our culture, our politics… The hour is certainly now ripe for a Foyer in Ireland to answer that call – to build up the faith of our people, so that once again, Ireland may become “a light to the nations” – and in so doing to fulfil her historic mission in the world.
The first Foyer of Charity called “Nazareth” was started in 2007 in Dunmore East, County Waterford with Fr. Kilian Byrne and lay members with the blessing of Bishop William Lee. We ask your prayers for this new work of the Lord in Ireland. You are welcome to come and see.
You are called to a work that is not yours. It is God’s work. We are presently in Dunmore East, Co. Waterford. We have a small house there and an oratory where we have our daily Mass, prayer and adoration, night vigils, study groups etc. At the moment the retreats are given in retreat houses around the country as we do not have the space to have the retreats in Dunmore East. We have been donated 20 acres of land in Rathlogan, Co. Kilkenny, to build a full Foyer of Charity.
Two things that are important in the Irish Foyer:
To be true to the charism as given to Marthe and Fr. Finet. This is the two priesthoods, the baptised and ordained working together for the evangelisation of the Church and the world as required by the Lord. “But firstly it is the priest” ( Marthe Robin), representing the Paternity of God the Father.
To be true to what is genuine in Irish spirituality. We are as a nation called to be missionary, but also to a love of learning. We are a land of saints and scholars, called to holiness and learning, to discover the beauty of truth. We have been donated 20 acres of land to build a full Foyer of Charity in the Midlands, Rathlogan, Co. Kilkenny.
We hope it will eventually become…
- A place for retreats,
- A place for learning, perhaps with a school. Marthe said the privileged way to start a Foyer is through a school.
- A place for children, young people and adults to grow in their faith.
- A place of prayer and authentic liturgy.
- A place of welcome and beauty where people can get away from the busyness of everyday life and rest in quiet and beautiful surroundings.