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Saint Mutien-Marie |
 Louis
Wiaux the third of six children, was born in a small village in
French-speaking Belgium where almost everyone was a devout practicing
Catholic. His father was a blacksmith, while his mother helped to run a
small cafe in part of the family home, where no rough language was allowed
and where the evening of Belgian beer and card playing always concluded
with the recitation of the rosary. Louis proved neither physically nor
emotionally suited to his father's trade; he was convinced that the Lord
was calling him to a different kind of forge. No sooner had he met the
Brothers in a nearby school than he determined to enter the novitiate at
Namur. After two years teaching elementary classes, Brother Mutien was
assigned to the boarding school at Malonne where he would spend the next
fifty-eight years. He had difficulties at first coping with the demands of
both teaching and prefecting. He was rescued by the Brother in charge of
the courses in music and art, at the time an important feature of the
curriculum. From then on Brother Mutien was not only an effective teacher
of those subjects, a vigilant prefect in the school yard, and a catechist
in the nearby parish, but a tremendous influence on the students by his
patience and evident piety. He was known to spend whatever time he could
before the tabernacle or at the grotto of Our Lady. Among the Brothers, it
was said that he had never been seen violating even the smallest points in
the Rule of the Brothers. After his death at Malonne, his fame began to
spread through Belgium where many miracles were attributed to him. His
relics can be venerated in Malonne at the shrine built in his honor after
his canonization.Born at Mellet, Belgium 20 March 1841 Entered the novitiate 7 April 1856 Died 30 January 1917 Beatified 30 October 1977 Canonized 10 December 1989 |