Ven. Madeleine Delbrel: Our Deserts/Solitude/Voices That Pray in the Desert
Introduction Madeleine Delbrêl (1904-1964), though baptized and communed as a child, started her life as a strident atheist and student of philosophy; when her fiancé suddenly joined the Dominicans and her father went blind, she rethought the problem of God and embraced Catholicism. She dedicated her life to social work, through Scouting and through creating a community of young women (called "the Charity") in Ivry, a small factory town in France, at the time Communist-run. Through her conjunction of social work and deep Catholicism, she is often compared to Dorothy Day. Her spirituality can be summarized by her saying, near the end of her life: "I have been and I remain dazzled by God." Her cause for canonization was opened in 1993, and Pope Francis declared her Venerable on January 26, 2018. Delbrêl wrote a number of works, including The Holiness of Ordinary People; Humor in Love: Meditations and Fantasies; Missionaries Without Boats; Marxist Town, Mission Fie...