Jean-François Régis was born in Fontcouverte, Aude, between Carcassonne and Narbonne, in 1597, at the time of the Wars of Religion. He was the youngest son in a family of châtelains and had a happy childhood.
At the age of 14, he left to study at the Jesuit college in Béziers. He also studied literature, grammar and philosophy at Tournon. He taught in Puy-en-Velay and Auch, then returned to study theology in Toulouse. In 1631, he was ordained a priest.
He was appointed a missionary and, after a difficult start, arrived in the region between Ardèche and Haute-Loire.
He is described as a tall (1.92 m), vigorous man: a true force of nature.
In 1636, he settled in Le Puy-en-Velay and quickly became involved with the poor, distributing food, clothing, blankets, etc. With the help of people from good families, he organized “l’œuvre du bouillon”, the popular relief organization of the time. He created the “Bon pasteur” shelter for prostitutes. In Le Puy, “the father of the poor” moved from hospital to prison, from slums to soup kitchens, from the fight against unemployment and the black market to shelters… And thanks to him, sometimes a street girl became a lace-maker! As their trade is threatened by an ordinance banning the wearing of lace, they choose him as their patron saint.
Statue of Saint-Jean-François-Régis - inside the Penitents chapel
Logo Declinaison Test2The missionby Jean-François Régis
He traveled the Velay and Vivarais regions, meeting peasants and evangelizing isolated farms and villages.
But the perimeter of the places evangelized by Saint-Régis is vast, and bears witness to his inexhaustible courage. Jean-François Régis, “God’s walker”, was a tireless walker. He walked from the Puy de Dôme to Tournon-sur-Rhône, Montpellier and Toulouse, not forgetting his native Fontcouverte.
During the last years of his life, it was on the mountain paths of the Velay and Vivarais regions that he walked, in very harsh and dangerous weather, when no one dared to go out.
He brought the word of God to his mountain “children”.
On December 31, 1640, “God’s walker” died of exhaustion and cold in Lalouvesc, Ardèche, at the age of 43.
He was declared blessed by Pope Clement XI, then canonized on June 16, 1737.
