Who is Father Antoine Chevrier?
A native of one of the many families who had come to Lyon to work in the silk industry, Antoine CHEVRIER was born in 1826 in the heart of the city. He was ordained a priest in 1850 and sent as an assistant pastor to Saint André, a newly established parish in the La Guillotière suburb on the other side of the Rhône, where a large industrial working class resided. He was pleased with this appointment and devoted himself generously to his ministry.
The period he lived through was marked by episodes of insurrection (the Canuts in 1831), the fall of the monarchy (in 1848), and the Lyon Commune (1870–71). It was also a period of reconstruction for the Church in France, which saw the emergence of diverse missionary initiatives: children’s education (the numerous “Providences” schools, the Marists under Father Champanat), and overseas missions (Pauline Jaricot). Antoine CHEVRIER was part of this movement.
In these turbulent times, and in a neighborhood right at the center of events, Father CHEVRIER emerges as a man who isn't afraid of the people, even when he is angry. He is always deeply moved by people’s suffering and their «good qualities.» He believes in people and in God’s love for them.
The poor have a right to the Gospel—the whole Gospel
He loves the poor so much, and he loves Christ and His Gospel so much, that he is constantly driven by the conviction that « »The poor have a right to the Gospel—the whole Gospel." . That is why he works tirelessly to contemplate the many treasures contained in the Gospel, to share them, and to make them accessible to the people of the La Guillotière neighborhood. He believes that young people who started working as early as age 8 who work in glassworks, enamel workshops, and other factories in Lyon—and who, by the time they are 12 or 15, cannot read and have never attended catechism classes—are capable of experiencing great joy in coming to know Christ. And he demonstrates this with all those who come to the Prado at that time. He wants to train poor apostles for the poor, and priests in particular. That is what he will devote himself to in poverty, accepting many hardships and giving himself entirely, day after day. He draws the necessary inspiration from contemplating Christ, a manifestation of God’s love for humankind. In the midst of his busy life, he will spend a considerable amount of time there. It is it was this spirit that he wanted to pass on to the Prado family. And that is why priests, nuns, and laypeople continue to join the Prado family even today, in well over fifty countries, living among the world’s poor in the year 2000 and amid the tumultuous upheavals that shake them.
The Prado: From a Ballroom to a Pastoral Project by the father Gilles VADON, priest of the Diocese of Lyon – Member of the Prado family.
A Spiritual Life
Father Antoine Chevrier never stopped sharing with others his desire to make Jesus Christ known to the poor. Why?
Seized by Christ
On Christmas Eve 1856, An event occurs that will leave an indelible mark on his life. He calls it his conversion: as he meditates at length on the events in Bethlehem, he feels a powerful calling to « »to follow Christ more closely in order to work more effectively for the salvation of humanity" as he himself would tell a few witnesses. It was a light and a call from God that would remain active in his life until his very last moments. As he contemplated the human birth of the Son of God in poverty, he realized that it was not enough to love people passionately and seek to alleviate their suffering. If he wanted to evangelize them, he would have to listen to Christ and do as Christ did: share in the lives of the poor and become poor like them.
Account of His Conversion, Christmas 1856
« The Prado was founded in Saint-André. It was while meditating on Christmas Eve on the poverty of Our Lord and His humiliation among men that I resolved to leave everything behind and live as simply as possible. » (P 2, p. 7). « »It was the mystery of the Incarnation that converted me« (P 2, p. 97). »It was this mystery that led me to ask God for poverty and humility and that caused me to leave the ministry to practice the holy poverty of Our Lord« (Letter, 1865). “My life was henceforth set » (P 1, p. 47). « I was thinking to myself: The Son of God came down to earth to save mankind and convert sinners. And yet, what do we see? How many sinners there are in the world! People continue to condemn themselves to hell. So I decided to follow Our Lord Jesus Christ more closely, to make myself better able to work effectively for the salvation of souls, and my hope is that you, too, will follow Our Lord closely. » (P 2, p. 98).
Disciple and apostle of Jesus
«How beautiful Jesus Christ is!»
Throughout his very busy life, he found a way to devote a considerable amount of time to studying the Gospel—to contemplate Jesus Christ, to seek his spirit, and to follow him closely as a true disciple. He was particularly concerned with understanding and imitating his poverty and his love for the poor.
Father Chevrier’s unique educational approach was based on a love for Jesus Christ, his beauty, and his greatness. Since « Knowing Jesus Christ is everything », he was not afraid to list, drawing on the Gospels and St. Paul, the reasons why the disciple should prefer him to the «rest.».
Then he would ask, « That's all well and good, but does everyone understand it? »
Answer: « It takes a special kind of grace to understand him »
New question: « Can you feel this grace awakening within you? »
And he concluded: « If we feel that divine breath within us, if we glimpse a small light, if we feel even the slightest attraction to Jesus Christ, ah! let us nurture that attraction; let us help it grow through prayer, meditation, and study, »so that it may grow and bear fruit."
Disciple Training
Then he tirelessly sought to understand exactly how Our Lord had «taken charge of the inner formation of his apostles»: «He instructed them ceaselessly, corrected them at every moment, put them to work at everything, and trained them in everything.» « It was in this first apostolic college, then in its formative stages, that Chevrier sought his famous “method for forming people and giving them an interior life”: Teach, review and put into action, have someone do something, », that is life, its vitality, and the way to convey it…".
Take catechism classes
He systematized this «method» in one of his famous trilogies, thereby establishing the « the purpose of all instruction and catechism »: «It is to shed light on intelligence through knowledge, to reach the heart through love and to determine the will to take action. Faith, Love, and Action, »These are the three effects we must strive to achieve in all instruction.” (Father Chevrier VD, 118–119; 222, 451).
It is clear that his teaching method is rooted in the study of Jesus Christ as presented in the Gospel. In his desire to introduce Jesus Christ to the little ones, Father Chevrier encouraged the young men and women who joined him to «follow his catechism»: Studying the Gospel allows one to get to know Jesus Christ better—his thoughts and his actions—so that these can be integrated into the catechist’s life and conveyed through both words and attitude.
Poor Priests for the Poor
He sought to bring together priests who were willing to live in poverty among the poor, to share the Gospel with them in accessible language and with genuine attitudes. But he encountered many difficulties—some priests were unable to obtain permission to come, while others were unable to adapt. So he decided to to train young people himself for the priesthood.
In 1865 He began gathering a few young people at the Prado to provide them with an academic and apostolic education among the children of the Prado. If they wished to continue, he sent them to the diocesan seminary, where he continued to follow their progress, writing to them often and visiting them. He invited them to spend their vacations in the Prado so that they would not develop the habits of «bourgeois priests.» He wanted to immerse them once again in the life of the working class and enable them to deepen their discovery of Christ and the Gospel in their daily lives.
«We must form a true spiritual family among ourselves.», Learn more.
He also involves young female factory workers and domestic workers in this work. To those who are well-suited to this mission, he provides training based on the Gospel and offers them a life dedicated to Christ and the poor. One of them, Marie Boisson thus became the First Sister of the Prado. Among the young men who would become his collaborators, some would remain laypeople, while others would join the community of the Sisters of Prado; and of the four seminarians whom Father Chevrier trained, two would remain with him until his death. Despite the difficulties, he affirmed:
« And the bonds of this spiritual family are closer and stronger than those that exist in earthly families… When two souls, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, listen to the Word of God and understand it, a very intimate union of spirit is formed between them, of which God is the source and the center. This is the true bond of religion, the true bond of the soul and the heart » (VD 151).
The Painting of Saint Fons
To do this, he likes to retreat to the quiet of a humble little house in Saint-Fons, a few kilometers south of Lyon, to «fill the lamp with oil,» as he puts it!
Father Chevrier wrote extensively. About 20,000 pages … Here: the most original of all Father Chevrier's manuscripts. It’s a full-size manuscript—quite unique!
In this small farmhouse, which the mayor of St. Fons (Mr. Motard) had made available to him, Father Chevrier would regularly go there himself to «refill his lamp.».
Then he began to «paint» those walls in August 1866, in front of 12 young men who were considering becoming priests and whom he had brought there to lead them on a retreat: one could say that it is the founding ecclesiastical document of the Prado Priests' Association and the formation of «priests according to the Gospel» that Antoine Chevrier initiated.
In the end, it’s « »the essence" of his entire spirituality (He gets right to the point—and especially to the existential consequences of his spirituality: Father Chevrier is a practical spiritual leader!)
A text by Philippe Brunel.
In fact, Father Chevrier very often speaks of « »these three stations" in his writings or letters, including those to laypeople. (See Sister Marylène’s work, which identifies this three-part framework in the letters and writings of Antoine Chevrier). In fact, he had already set out, in writing, virtually the same three-part framework for the young men and women who were considering dedicating their entire lives by becoming brothers or sisters, following in the footsteps of Father Chevrier.
In several of his writings, Antoine Chevrier tells everyone that these three stations must, in a sense, become like the three «stigmata» that should mark their entire lives, so that they may «follow Jesus Christ more closely.» This is not entirely original: this triptych of the manger, the cross, and the tabernacle is quite traditional in the Church.
However, the painting of St. Fons depicts a special kind of richness. In fact, in his writings, Father Chevrier refers to these three stations in what is often a linear order: the manger—the cross—the tabernacle (or charity).
This is by no means insignificant: Father Chevrier then emphasizes the goal, the ultimate purpose, which is Eucharistic charity. He refers to the «highest degree» in connection with the tabernacle, charity, and the Host: « how to make good bread ». Thus, the other two stations—the manger (= poverty) and the cross (= dying to oneself)—are, in a sense, the paths that Jesus Christ took and that he wants us to follow as an example, so that we ourselves may attain a «Eucharistic life» of total self-giving.
Yet the whole point of the painting at St. Fons is that it presents itself as a «3D triptych», which makes it much more dynamic and vivid… Because, in fact, we are, in a sense, «physically integrated» into the painting of St. Fons. It’s a bit like a stage, where we are invited to step right in ourselves. We are no longer on the outside, as if facing a piece of paper or listening to a theoretical lecture presenting the three stations in sequence: the Nativity—the Cross—the Tabernacle.
Here, the «picture» of St. Fons is therefore not simply a picture; it is truly «a space,» with depth. Within this space, Father Chevrier has concretely arranged three physical symbols:
- one feeding trough in which he laid a beautiful Baby Jesus on some straw;
- a beautiful crucifix which he hung in the center of the other wall, right across from the nativity scene.
- in the center, the narrow gate an open doorway, directly in front of us, leading to the small chapel where the tabernacle is located.
This space is, ultimately, the depth and breadth of the life of a true disciple, of the Christian life, of the life of a priest according to the Gospel. For here, we are personally and physically placed in the midst of—inside—a composition of these three panels that communicate and engage in dialogue with one another. And that changes everything!
Ideally, I would say that the painting of St. Fons is not meant to be merely looked at and «analyzed»; it is meant to be «experienced,» that is, related to our own existence, «lived through.» Even though one can spend long moments meditating before this triptych, the point is not to remain seated in front of the painting. The point is to inhabit it, to pass through it, moving between the manger and the cross, until one passes through the narrow gate of charity. The goal is clearly to reach the tabernacle of Christ’s total love, which continues to give itself, together with us, to humanity.
We are thus physically and spiritually placed at the center of the three stations. And in my view, what gives movement to the whole is precisely what first imposes itself upon us, what stands before us; it is the narrow gate of charity! In reality, it is charity that, in a certain way, calls us to pass through it; it is this that sets us in motion, since the tabernacle is not visible, being located in a room in the back (much like Eastern sanctuaries, which are situated behind the iconostasis): to reach it, one must make one’s way between the nativity scene and the cross…
In my opinion, to truly grasp the deeper meaning of this triptych by Prados, So we must begin by considering the central panel of "Charity", that is, through the word «give.» In fact, if we look closely at the painting as a whole, we see that it is entirely organized around the verb «GIVE»: we find it written by Antoine Chevrier five times (including three times in the central panel).
In addition, the quote « AN EXAMPLE FOR YOU » appears on all three sides of the painting: « This is an example I gave you given » !
«Having the Spirit of God is everything!»
« The Spirit of God is one: He is the same everywhere; He is on earth what He is in the Holy Trinity: He works in the same way, and His action is always to unite souls to God, just as in the Trinity He unites the three divine Persons to form one God.
The Holy Spirit is on earth: He works within souls and draws them to God. He enlivens them, sanctifies them, elevates them, and instills in all of them the same aspirations of love, faith, and charity—to the extent that they are capable of them—in order to unite them intimately with God, through Him and the Divine Son. » (1)
(1) Antoine Chevrier, Manuscript «Preparation for the Incarnation,» 1871 or 1872—Full text in Y. Musset, *Le Christ du Père Chevrier*, Paris: Desclée, 2000, pp. 54–57
See also
Works:
- The Priest According to the Gospel, or the True Disciple of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Prado Editions Librairie, Lyon, 1968, 558 pp.
- Letters, Prado, 1987, 463 pp.
Sources:
- Manuscripts by Father Chevrier held at the Prado Spiritual Center, 2054 Chemin de Saint-André, 69760 Limonest;
- Statements collected between 1897 and 1901 during the beatification process and preserved in Limonest;
- J.M. Villefranche, *Life of Father Chevrier, Founder of the Providence du Prado in Lyon*, Vitte, Lyon, 1894, 380 pp.;
- Claude Chambost, *A New Life of the Venerable Father Chevrier, Founder of La Providence du Prado*, Vitte, Lyon, 1920, 620 pp.;
- Henriette Waltz, *A Poor Man Among Us*, Cerf, Paris, 1947, 324 pp. (new edition published by Cerf in 1986);
- Jean-François Six, *A Priest*, Antoine Chevrier, *Founder of the Prado*, Seuil, Paris, 1965, 537 pp.; A
- Antoine Chevrier, *Selected Spiritual Writings*, edited and introduced by Yves Musset, Cerf, Paris, 1986, 118 pp.;
- Yves Musset, *History of the Family of Antoine Chevrier, Founder of the Prado*, Prado, 1989, 219 pp.;
- Yves Musset, *The Genesis of the True Disciple of Father Chevrier*, Prado, 1997, 3 volumes (260, 342, and 342 pp.).
The beatification of Father Chevrier in 1986
To all of you—priests, brothers, sisters, and laypeople of the Prado—as well as to all those to whom you are sent.
To all the people who live in the Guillotière neighborhood today, I extend my affectionate Apostolic Blessing. A novena was written based on the teachings of Father Chevrier, who was beatified in 1986 by Pope John Paul II. Read the Novena of Antoine Chevrier
A newsletter A quarterly publication has been released calling for the canonization of Blessed Antoine Chevrier. Please feel free to read and share these articles from Prado:
- July–September 2018 – Newsletter No. 1.
- October–December 2018, Newsletter No. 2.
- January–March 2019, Newsletter No. 3.
- April–June 2019, Newsletter No. 4.
October–December 2019, Newsletter No. 5.
Blessed Antoine Chevrier, a Priest According to the Gospel
«How beautiful Jesus Christ is!»
Father Chevrier expresses his deep admiration and joy in the One he contemplates, and in leading others to contemplate Him as well, notes Cardinal Garonne in a preface included in the new edition of the book by the founder of the Prado: *The Priest According to the Gospel, or The True Disciple of Our Lord Jesus Christ*.
«How beautiful is this man of God,» Blessed Antoine Chevrier would say, speaking of the priest «in the image of Jesus Christ.» From Rome, where he was finishing preparations for the ordination of his first four deacons, he sent them this note: «How great you will be when you become priests, yet at the same time you must be humble in order to truly be new Jesus Christs on earth… How beautiful, yet how difficult. Only the Holy Spirit can help us understand this.».
«Evangelizing the poor was the great mission of Jesus Christ on earth.» For Father Chevrier, therefore, this is the mission of the «new apostles in the world» whom he so dearly wishes to give to the Church. To begin with the poor—the first recipients of the Good News—is to ensure that no one is forgotten.
Preparations
Father Chevrier’s life bears the mark of the world that shaped him. Antoine was born on April 16, 1826, into a modest family in the heart of the city of Lyon. His father worked at the city tax office. His mother was a silk artisan. A native of the Dauphiné region, she always displayed an energetic temperament. She was reluctant to let her son leave for the seminary, hoping for a better future for him. It was a curate at her parish who suggested to Antoine Chevrier that he become a priest, a proposal he gladly accepted. After attending the parish seminary, he entered the Saint-Irénée Major Seminary in Lyon in 1846. He was 20 years old. He was ordained a priest on May 25, 1850. He was too young to have any vivid memories of the two Canut revolts of 1831 and 1834. However, he did witness the events of the 1848 revolution. A group called «Les Voraces» even occupied the major seminary.
After the seminar, his personal notes reveal his desire to become a good priest «who knows how to devote everything to the Gospel.» “For,” he continues, “there is good to be done wherever I am, and no matter how bad or wicked the people I am called to lead may be, they are all called to salvation.”.
Beginnings
Ordained three days earlier, Father Chevrier crossed the Rhône to join the recently founded parish of Saint-André de la Guillotière. The population was growing very rapidly, with people flocking in from the countryside and the surrounding provinces and crowding into
brick houses nestled among the factories and workshops. The metallurgical, textile, and chemical industries were booming. The first railroad lines ran from Lyon. A village in the Dauphiné region with 7,000 inhabitants in 1815, this suburb of La Guillotière would have a population of more than 40,000 by the time it was incorporated into the city of Lyon in 1852. By 1856, that number had doubled again. The young vicar found himself at the heart of industrial expansion and its many problems. He devoted himself tirelessly to his ministry to the point of falling ill. He witnessed the material and moral poverty of the workers and suffered greatly from the distance that separated him from the people. In December 1855, he was forced to take a four-month break before returning to Saint-André.
A Decisive Year
On May 31, 1856, the neighborhood was flooded by the overflowing Rhône River. The parish clergy were at the forefront of the rescue efforts. Father Chevrier played a very active role in the relief efforts. His reputation for dedication grew. He came to appreciate even more fully the extent of the poverty afflicting the people. These events brought him face-to-face with the lives of families in the neighborhood—living in unsanitary housing and working endless days, even on Sundays. While faith in God shaped their outlook, it was above all religious «ignorance» that scandalized him—even more so than the frequent hostility toward priests and the Church. To them, priests were from another world. He was pained to see his ministry bear so little fruit. Yet he is very busy. His parish priest lets him celebrate most of the baptisms, weddings, and funerals. On the other hand, he opposes the meetings of a group of young people that Father Chevrier has gathered to train as «apostles.».
Probably that same year, 1856, in June, he met Camille Rambaud. This young man from the Lyon bourgeoisie had dedicated himself to serving the poor, living like them and among them. He built «La Cité de l’Enfant Jésus,» a sort of emergency shelter. Antoine Chevrier was deeply moved by his visit and said upon his return to the rectory: «I saw John the Baptist in the desert!»
On Christmas Eve 1856, he meditated before the nativity scene. «The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.» Something was born on December 25 of that year—an entirely inner event that he called his conversion.
He has been a priest for six years, serving in an ordinary parish ministry, and is well-liked by the faithful. Yet, according to those to whom he confided directly, he said: «It was the mystery of the Incarnation that converted me… I used to think: The Son of God came down to earth to save mankind and convert sinners. And yet, what do we see? How many sinners there are in the world! People continue to condemn themselves to hell. So I decided to follow Our Lord Jesus Christ more closely to make myself better able to work effectively for the salvation of souls.» Then, speaking with the insight of a founder, he continued: «And my desire is that you, too, follow Our Lord closely.».
So something began at Christmas 1856. Antoine Chevrier conceived the plan to live as a priest according to the Gospel in order to respond to the immense apostolic needs he saw around him. «It was in Saint-André that the Prado was born,» he would say.
The Manifestation of Charisma
In fact, Antoine Chevrier went through another four years of trial and error. Determined yet cautious, he sought advice from various people. As early as 1857, he went to consult the parish priest of Ars. The two men held each other in high regard. Father Chevrier recognized in Jean-Marie Vianney an older brother who, in his own way, was accomplishing what Chevrier himself felt called to do. He would do it differently, however, since they were not of the same generation. And the situation of a parish priest in a working-class suburb, at the heart of the emerging industrial and technological world, was not that of a village priest. In August, he left his parish ministry to become chaplain of the «Maison de l’Enfant Jésus,» founded by Camille Rambaud for terminally ill children, as well as of the «Cité» of the same name, a social housing project for workers. He taught catechism to the children with the help of a few laypeople, including Marie Boisson, a young silk worker who would become the first superior of the Sisters of the Prado. Father Chevrier and his companions soon realized that the situation was unsustainable, as Camille Rambaud’s project and their own were too different.
His priority is «a wholly spiritual ministry.» His three young companions are determined to devote themselves primarily, like him, to teaching catechism to poor children: Marie is 22 years old; Pierre Louat, a notary’s clerk, is 27, and Amélie Visignat, 22, has joined the Cité to teach catechism to girls. To Father Chevrier’s surprise, Marie did not hesitate to consult Cardinal de Bonald to ensure the success of this project; he received her very warmly and encouraged her simple and resolute approach.
At the end of that same year, 1857, the man who came to be known as Father Chevrier went on a retreat, at the conclusion of which he made a resolution that expressed the meaning of his priesthood: «Studying Jesus in his earthly life and in his Eucharistic life will be my sole focus. To imitate Jesus—that is my one and only goal, the purpose of all my thoughts and actions, and the object of all my hopes and desires. Without this, I will never be a good priest nor will I ever work effectively for the salvation of souls. To study Jesus—that is the sum total of my study.» He left behind more than 20,000 handwritten pages of his «Study of Our Lord Jesus Christ,» diligently crafted in prayer and with the threefold purpose of advancing himself in a life as a true disciple, providing solid and simple nourishment for «teaching the catechism,» and forming apostles for the evangelical service of the poor.
The First Communion Ceremony
At the end of 1859, Father Chevrier left the Rambaud housing project. In the Guillotière neighborhood, he would sometimes pass by a disreputable dance hall called the Prado. Each time, he asked God to give it to him. One day in 1860, the hall was listed as «for rent or for sale.» With the help of two fellow priests, Father Chevrier paid the rent; a Protestant contractor offered to send workers to renovate the premises. The hall was immense: a thousand people could dance there comfortably. Father Chevrier first had the chapel built in the center; on either side, he had quarters built to house poor and uneducated adolescents, whom he would take in for six-month periods to give them «a sense of their own dignity,» lead them to First Communion, and provide them with a basic education. Father Chevrier took possession of the premises on December 10, 1860. The Prado was founded. Sister Marie took charge of the girls. Around Easter 1861, the Prado was home to ten girls and fifteen boys. A few years later, the house would have to feed more than two hundred people. Father Chevrier would even go so far as to beg on days when bread ran short; he never wanted any work to be brought to the children on the premises, as was customary at the time. The little time they spent at Le Prado was too precious in his eyes for them to be deprived of discovering «their duties as men and as Christians.».
«The Needs of the Times and of the Church»
In 1865, Father Chevrier began to carry out «a project he had long desired»: a school for the formation of priests. For him, bringing seminarians into contact with the children of the Prado was the best way to train poor priests for the evangelization of the poor. Over the course of the year, an exchange of letters with Father Gourdon led him to believe that the latter might join him. In late January 1866, Father Chevrier realized that the archdiocese would not grant the requested authorization. In May, he purchased a house and a plot of land located across the street from the Prado. The sisters moved in there with the girls preparing for their First Communion. The Prado could then accommodate the seminarians. Father Chevrier devoted considerable time to their formation. He wrote a book for them that he left unfinished: *The Priest According to the Gospel, or the True Disciple of Our Lord Jesus Christ*. In this, he remained faithful to the grace he received at Christmas 1856, «when he received very special insights into the poverty of Our Lord and into his special vocation to form poor priests.» He provided this formation while continuing the work of First Communion and, from 1867 to 1871, taking charge of the parish of Moulin à Vent, thus carrying out his commitment to «the work of poor parishes.» With the approval of his archbishop, he also spent several months in Rome to complete the formation of the first deacons.
In 1878, Father Chevrier faced the ordeal of seeing the work he cherished most fall apart. The first four priests he had trained wanted to leave—one to La Trappe, another to La Grande Chartreuse, and yet another to serve as a missionary in China… He then wrote a heartfelt letter to Father Jaricot: «I would feel a certain sorrow at seeing the Prado deserted and without children, when, for eighteen years, it has been the site of so much toil, labor, and conversion… I will take comfort in having formed Trappists, Carthusians, and missionaries, even if I have not succeeded in forming catechists; although, it seems to me, this must be the need of the times and of the Church today.».
The letter is signed: «Your brother in Jesus Christ, forsaken on the cross.» A few months later, he fell seriously ill and had to cease all activity. After receiving treatment in Limonest, he was transferred, at his request, on September 29 to Le Prado, where he died on October 2, 1879.
«Sacerdos Alter Christus»
This theme recurs frequently in Father Chevrier’s writings. For example, in a letter addressed to Father Gourdon: «The priest is another Jesus Christ—that’s all well and good. Pray that I may truly become one. I feel that I am so far removed from this beautiful model that I sometimes lose heart—so far removed from his poverty, so far removed from his death, so far removed from his charity. Pray, and let us pray together, that we may become like our beautiful model.» We find this again in one of his later writings: «Our special motto is «Sacerdos Alter Christus.» To imitate Jesus Christ, to conform ourselves to him, to follow him as closely as possible: this is our desire and the great goal of our lives.» He found the phrase in the writings of the Church Fathers, he said. It is more likely that it comes from the literature of the time. That is not what matters. Father Chevrier simply believed that priestly ordination had bestowed upon him a free gift from God, a grace to be brought to fruition. To do this, he must «know, love, and follow Jesus Christ.» To know him by studying the Gospel, for it was written so that we might walk today the path that the apostles walked with him. Knowing him leads us to love him more and invites us to model our lives on his, and thus to follow him in the mission he received from his Father. For him, this formula is not an abstract theological definition but a guiding principle for his life, a journey to be lived out day by day.
«Knowing Jesus Christ is everything. The rest is nothing. Whoever has found Jesus Christ has found the greatest treasure. He has found wisdom, light, life, peace, joy, and happiness on earth and in heaven—the solid foundation upon which he can build.» Based on this unique knowledge, Antoine Chevrier, as a true educator of the faith, pioneered a spiritual and pastoral approach that puts «the inner life first»: «It is the Holy Spirit who produces Jesus Christ within us.» «Are we not here for this and this alone: to know Jesus and his Father and to make him known to others? I work at this with joy and happiness. Knowing how to speak of God and making him known to the poor and the uneducated—this is our life and our love.».
On the walls of a former barn, where an animal trough still stands today, Father Chevrier had the idea of painting, together with twelve young men who were considering becoming priests, a painting that the people of Saint-Fons have come to call the Saint-Fons Painting: the Nativity, Calvary, and the Tabernacle. The layout of the space led him to place the mystery of the Eucharist at the center of the triptych. The idea of summarizing the Gospel ideal in this way was not his own invention. But his commentary on it is uniquely his own, particularly the threefold affirmation: «The priest is a man stripped bare, the priest is a man crucified, the priest is a man consumed.» The last phrase has become widely known. But one can grasp its full meaning only by carefully reading and living out what Father Chevrier himself lived—just as his Master and Lord did. Without poverty and suffering, even the most all-consuming activity will never «become good bread.».
For no other reason than to love the people whom God loves, to the point of being passionate about «giving them the faith» that he had received, Father Chevrier—himself deeply influenced by the holiness of Francis of Assisi—remained faithful to the mission he had set for himself after Christmas Eve 1856: «To be with the poor, to live with them, to die with them.» He died at the age of fifty-three. The residents of La Guillotière asked the prefecture that he be buried in the Prado Chapel. «Three hundred priests participated in the funeral, and the number of people who followed the procession was estimated at ten thousand. It was also said that fifty thousand people had gathered along the route of the procession.».
The Prado: From Chevrier to the Present
The Association of Diocesan Priests of the Prado, which for a long time was based in Lyon, expanded after World War II into numerous dioceses in France, Spain, Italy, and the Middle East, driven particularly by Bishop Ancel. Today, it is present in more than fifty countries. The family has expanded to include Sisters and consecrated laypeople, both women and men. Deacons and an increasing number of lay faithful around the world are also drawing strength from this message. Father Chevrier was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Lyon on October 4, 1986. He made a pilgrimage to his tomb on October 7.
The chapel, with its humble simplicity, welcomes numerous pilgrims from France, Italy, Spain, and various other countries.
Roland Letournel
Robert Daviaud
The Life of Father Antoine Chevrier: Key Dates
Diagram excerpted and translated from a presentation by Father Luc LALIRE (First Assistant to the General Prado) for the laity of Peru (January 2025).