Father Jean-Édouard Lamy: "another Curé of Ars"

Summary:

Jean-Edouard Lamy was born in Le Pailly, thirty kilometres south of Langres (France, Haute-Marne) on 22 June 1853, into a family of modest craftsmen (his father was a bricklayer). His great-grandparents had hidden refractory priests during the French Revolution, and their memories haunted the young boy's imagination. He grew up in material poverty, but in a loving family. He was not a very good student, preferring to walk in the countryside and go to the markets rather than study at his village primary school.

On the other hand, he was a pious boy who soon earned the nickname "the boy with the rosary". He gladly attended ceremonies and heard mass. One day he was able to become an altar boy and fulfilled this role to perfection. From an early age, he had a great devotion to the Virgin Mary, and spent whole nights in prayer before the statue of Mary Immaculate. He was eleven when the Mother of God appeared to him for the first time, while he was in a field looking after his parents' two cows. From then on, he resolved to become a priest.

In 1875, he did his military service, which lasted three and a half years. He was asked to look after the "military circle" library, and when their chaplain, Abbé Henri Nicole, founded the "Legion of Saint-Maurice", Lamy was told to act as a spiritual guide to young soldiers. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant, but deep down he felt that a career in the army was not for him. Some friends told him about a religious group to which they belonged: the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales, in Troyes (France, Aube). They persuaded him to join them, which he accepted. It was a turning point in his Christian life.

He left his family on 1 September 1879, determined to earn a decent living and, above all, to serve Jesus. His first job was as an assistant at the Œuvre de la jeunesse, a kind of patronage aimed at helping young people who were sometimes away from the Church to live a Christian life. He thus discovered the missionary meaning of his existence.

At the same time, he studied at the Oblate studium, but had little success in his exams: "I studied when I could, and I was only free at night. My education was barely primary. And I had two courses: one in theology and one in Latin", he would later confide. His novitiate lasted more than two and a half years. Like the Curé of Ars, Father Lamy never showed any real taste for books.

Some days, he was even discouraged. But one evening in March 1884, he went into the chapel to meditate for a while. Kneeling on a bench, Saint Joseph appeared to him, "standing on the floor, by the first pillar, on the right, at the entrance[...], emitting his own light", he said. Saint Joseph stared at him and said a few words that penetrated the mind and heart of the future priest: "Be a priest. Be a good priest. You will become a good priest."At first he wondered whether he had been the victim of an illusion, and he went round the chapel, looking everywhere for some clue. "Everything was locked; that way I was sure I wasn't being fooled by an illusion", he would explain years later. Like any true private revelation, St Joseph's message remained etched on the young man's memory and will. He later testified: "Without St Joseph's intervention, I would not have become a priest."

He received minor orders on 21 March 1885 and, after making his religious profession and completing his studies in philosophy and theology, was ordained a priest on 12 December 1886. As soon as he was ordained, the Oblates appointed him director of their Work. He reorganised it, and the fruits of his apostolate with teenagers were soon many and varied: a return to the practice of religion, conversions, mutual respect, and so on. Father Lamy was the new "parish priest for hoodlums", as he was known at the time. His popularity soared, as he was fully committed to defending his young people, not hesitating to defend some of them in court.

At the same time, he led a hectic life and, what's more, God blessed him with incredible mystical gifts: visions, prophecies, knowledge and so on. He wore out his health prematurely, sleeping too little and eating poorly. His superiors then sent him to Guéret (France, Creuse) where they wanted to found a new Work after receiving a new property. Father Lamy, very much alone at the time in a region he knew nothing about, was nevertheless appointed vicar of the parish of Guéret. There, he devoted himself unstintingly to the souls and bodies of his parishioners, the poor and young people in particular.

In 1892, he was sent as pastor to Saint-Ouen (near Paris). There he set up patronages to bring together young people from different backgrounds, and radically overhauled catechism classes. He was then appointed parish priest in the diocese of Paris. He ceased to be an Oblate, while "remaining attached at heart" to his congregation.

On 14 September 1900, Father Lamy moved to La Courneuve (France, Seine-Saint-Denis). He dedicated his parish to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and founded the Confraternities of the Sacred Heart and the Heart of Mary, telling his parishioners, mostly workers and market gardeners whom he called his "foot soldiers": "If God, in his anger, were to break up the world, Mary would bring him back the pieces!"

His pastoral zeal was superhuman: as the only priest for a population of 23,000 inhabitants, he never gave up or took time off, day and night, taking communion to the sick, visiting families, baptising, confessing, administering the sacrament of the sick, etc. To help the poorest, he founded the "Dressing Room of the Child Jesus", a kind of mutual aid centre where people gave food and clothing. The number of members quadrupled in just a few years, from 100 in September 1900, to 400 two years later. When the First World War broke out, he was confessing thousands of soldiers passing through La Courneuve station, assisting the dying, burying the dead and so on. "At Easter, I was overwhelmed, I had up to a thousand Easter confessions. Sometimes I had to confess two hundred priests who came back in batches...".

On Thursday 9 September 1909, while on pilgrimage to Gray (France, Haute-Saône), the Virgin Mary appeared to him while he was celebrating Mass. He remembered the moment perfectly: it was between the end of the Gloria and the beginning of the offertory: "My attention was suddenly drawn to a great light coming from the vault on the Epistle side [...]. Immediately the light opened, and a woman seated in the light appeared. She was dressed in a dark blue robe, her head covered with a small white veil ". Behind Mary, he saw a "very stern-looking figure, his hair proudly pulled back over his forehead", who made him uneasy. The Mother of God and this figure then approached the altar. Mary's right hand touched Father Lamy's chasuble, and he in turn was enveloped in light. He noticed that the mysterious figure was somewhat removed from the marvellous light. He would remain so for the rest of the vision. The scene had three exceptional features:

1. Mary appeared with the devil: not that she had come with him (she began by expressing surprise at his presence), but Satan showed up slightly behind her, giving his physical position a theological meaning.
2. In addition, a dialogue took place between Mary and the devil, which Father Lamy heard. These words had high doctrinal meaning, such as this exchange: "The devil, addressing the Blessed Virgin, said to her: 'You are so perfect that you can equal yourself with God. The Blessed Virgin replied, "I am like you, a creature of God, but by a special privilege I have become his Mother." 
3. The Virgin asked the priest to continue his Mass, which he managed to do despite his emotion. He realised that the Virgin Mary followed the liturgy very closely: during the recitation of the Creed at the Incarnatus est ("He became man") she bowed her head as a sign of respect.

The first account of this event dates from 1910, just a few months after it occurred. Father Lamy would later write other versions, in 1917, 1918, and 1926, all in agreement. 

During the apparition, the Virgin asked him to set up a pilgrimage to the isolated, poor chapel of Our Lady of the Woods, near Violot, in Haute-Marne, close to the village where he was born, "because," she told him, "they have nothing in those parts". She also showed him the statue he was to put there and the house that would serve as the chapel. Finally, she asked him to found a religious congregation. Each of her wishes was fulfilled in a very short time, even though nothing had been planned ahead!

Shortly afterwards, Father Lamy learned that a house was for sale in the Violot area. With the help of donations from his parishioners, he bought it. In January 1913, he spotted the statue he had seen during the apparition, in a shop in Paris. On 20 April 1914, the newly acquired house was blessed, becoming the chapel of the future community. Father Lamy celebrated the first mass there on 14 June 1922.

In the meantime, the ragpickers' priest had befriended Jacques and Raïssa Maritain (a Catholic married couple who are being considered for canonization. Jacques  was a Catholic philosopher and Raïssa a poet and philosopher) who would defend his memory so much. Their mutual friend, Count Paul Biver, Fr. Lamy's future biographer, helped him to found the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary, at the request of the Virgin Mary. At the age of seventy-seven, Biver became the first Superior General.

Welcomed by Bishop Nègre of Tours, Fr. Lamy settled with a few volunteers in Chambourg (France, Indre-et-Loire) in 1930. The first few months were difficult due to indiscipline, strained relations, and lack of piety. Fr. Lamy was disappointed, as he tried every day to "put a little love of God into souls". In the end, he left Chambourg the following year. The congregation was in dire straits, but Father Lamy remained serene, even though he was morally affected:"I'm at peace, but that doesn't stop me from suffering."

He gave up his soul to God on 1 December 1931, during a visit to his friend Count Biver in Jouy-en-Josas.

Beyond reasons to believe:

Father Lamy was parish priest totally devoted to his parishioners, open to the intellectuals and artistic movements of his time, founder of pilgrimages and a patronage for young people, and author of spiritual writings. He is a model of spirituality and a giant of charity.

Going further:

Yves Chiron, Le Père Lamy. Un itinéraire mystique et missionnaire, Paris, Artège, 2021.

More information:

• Cent pensées du Père Lamy: Suivies du récit inédit de la visite de la Vierge à Gray le 9 septembre 1909,  by Jean-Edouard Lamy and Yves Chiron, VIA ROMANA (November 25, 2021)

• Jacques Maritain, "Notice nécrologique.M. l'abbé Éd.Lamy, ancien curé de La Courneuve", La Semaine religieuse de Paris, 20 February 1932, pp. 281-283.
• Paul Biver, Apôtre et mystique : le père Lamy,Paris, Gabriel Énault, 1933.
• Daniel-Rops, Histoire de l'Église du Christ, t. 6, vol. 2, Un combat pour Dieu, Paris, Fayard, 1963, p. 789-792.
• On the Prophecies for Our Time website, the article " Père Jean-Édouard Lamy (1853 - 1931) : "la paix sera rendue au monde".
• On the Notre Histoire avec Marie website, the article " Le père Lamy : Marie en toute simplicité".
• The Aleteia article: " Father Lamy, saved from the bombings... by his guardian angel".