Five Oblates of La Brosse
Lucien Wisselmann, O.M.I FIVE OBLATES OF LA BROSSE by Lucien Wisselmann, O.M.I. 12 Oblate Heritage Series O.M.I. General Postulation Rome, Italy 1998 Translated by: James M. FitzPatrick, O.M.I. Cover: Claude Tardiff, O.M.I. Printed by: Tip. Citta Nuova Largo Cistina di Svezia, 17 00165 Roma (Italia) FIVE OBLATES OF LA BROSSE On July 24, 1944, five Oblates were killed in full view of The Victims the community of La Brosse-Montceaux. The three groups in the scholasticate, priests, professors, scholastics, brothers, were all represented. Fathers Christian Gilbert and Albert Piat were professors, Lucien Perrier and Jean Cuny were scholastics, and Joachim Nio was a brother. Fr. Christian Father Christian Gilbert, aged 32, from Asnieres, near Gilbert Paris, was professor of moral theology. He was well-liked O.M.I. as a spiritual director and confessor. He was also director of the choir. Learned and reserved, he was a man of holiness. Those seated near him in the chapel recalled seeing him wrapped in devotion, holding his oblation cross, during thanksgiving after Mass. He had the desire to be a martyr, and he once wrote, “We have the right to know the limits of our strength and to know how to go even beyond them” This found fulfilment on July 24. Fr. Albert Fr. Albert Piat, 35, was from Roubaix, in the north, and was Piat professor of Scripture. Each week he traveled to Paris to O.M.I. follow courses at the “Catholic Institute”. It seems that it was there that he first had contact with the publishers of the underground journal “Christian Witness”, and he made it known to his acquaintances.
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