Every 30 January the Catholic Church and the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools celebrate the memory of Saint Brother Mutien-Marie Wiaux.
He was born on 20 March 1841 in Mellet, a small village in Belgium. His Christian name was Louis-Joseph Wiaux and he was the third of six children. His father Jean Wiaux was a blacksmith, and his mother Elisabeth Badot was in charge of her children’s education and, at the same time, ran a café.
During his youth, Louis-Joseph met the Brothers of the Christian Schools who were working in a school in Gosselies, near his home town. At the age of 15, impassioned by the Lasallian charism, he decided to enter the novitiate in Namur on 7 April 1856. On 2 July of the same year, he received the religious habit and professed his first vows on 14 September 1859. By this time, as was customary, he had already received the religious name: Mutien-Marie. Ten years later, on 26 September 1869, he made his perpetual profession.
Before exercising his vocation as an educator, Brother Mutien-Marie had to prepare himself and it was there that he encountered a great challenge, for it was believed that he was not suitable for teaching and he was on the point of being dismissed from the Congregation. It would be the beginning of a journey marked by humility and the ability to discover God in the small details of each day, in the simple tasks entrusted to him.
For two years he taught primary school in Chimay. He was then sent to a boarding school in Malonne, where he would spend the rest of his life: 58 years! Such an example of love for God and perseverance for the call he had received!
Although at the beginning he had difficulties in carrying out the tasks of educator and, at the same time, of tutor in the boarding school, with the help of Brother Maixentis he got competent to teach Drawing and Music, as well as different trades that he would carry out in the future. Brother Mutien-Marie knew how to adapt to the circumstances, discovering God’s will step by step, always valuing the fraternal support of his Brothers in the community.
In this way, his pathway to holiness was carved out each day in fidelity to his daily duties, between remedial classes, accompanying students and prayer. There he found every day an opportunity to give himself entirely to God, loving those around him, and professing a deep devotion to the Eucharist and to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“For him there was nothing more important than obedience, nothing more joyful than poverty, nothing more urgent than the obligations of common life, the welcome of his students or of anyone who came to him”.
He passed away in Malonne on 11 May 1926. His reputation for holiness had spread throughout Belgium. So much so that, on the day of his funeral, many favours were attributed to his intercession.
On 30 October 1977 he was beatified by Saint Paul VI, and on 10 December 1989 he was canonised by Saint John Paul II. At present his relics are venerated in Malonne, in a monument built in his honour after his canonisation.
We ask Saint Mutien-Marie to intercede for Lasallians so that we may be faithful to God in the tiny details of each day, and learn to live our educational mission from “the little” and committed to the most impoverished and most vulnerable.
