Charles of Mount Argus (11 December 1821 – 5 January 1893), was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Passionist The Passionists, officially named Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (), abbreviated CP, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men, founded by Paul of the Cross in 1720 with a special emphasis on and d ...

priest who served in 19th-century Ireland. He gained a reputation for his compassion for the sick and those in need of guidance. His reputation for healings and miracles was so great at the time that a reference is made to him in the famous novel '' Ulysses'' by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

. He has been

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. His feast day is 5 January

Life

Born Joannes Andreas Houben on 11 December 1821 in the village of

Munstergeleen Munstergeleen (; li, Munstergelaen ) is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Sittard-Geleen, and it lies in the Western Mine Region (''Westelijke Mijnstreek'' in Dutch). History No one knows exactly ho ...

in the Province of Limburg in the

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, to Peter Joseph Houben and his wife, Johanna Elizabeth Luyten. He was named after his maternal uncle and godfather, but to the family he was known as Andrew. His father was a miller by trade. As a boy Andrew attended the village primary school. One of 11 children in a poor family, he was a slow learner in his youth.D'arcy CP, Brian, "Doing God's Will", ''Herald of Hope: Reflections on the Life and Spirit of St. Charles of Mount Argus'', Ovada Books
/ref> To those outside his family he seemed quiet and extremely shy. A slow learner, for ten years he walked the two miles to a secondary school at nearby town of Sittard.Duffy, Patrick. "Saint Charles of St. Andrew of Mount Argus", Catholic Ireland
/ref> When Houben was 19 years old he was enrolled for military service in the First Infantry Regiment of the Netherlands. During his time as a soldier there was a disturbance in the town; the army were called out and ordered to fire. Afraid that he might hit someone, Andrew pointed his rifle the wrong way and narrowly missed shooting his superior officer.
On 18 February 1845 his period as a reserve in the army came to an end and he was formally discharged.

Passionist

Feeling called to

religious life Consecrated life (also known as religious life) is a state of life in the Catholic Church lived by those faithful who are called to follow Jesus Christ in a more exacting way. It includes those in institutes of consecrated life (religious and se ...

, in 1845 Houben was admitted to the novitiate of the Passionists, who had recently arrived in Belgium, in the village of Ere, near Tournai. He professed his religious vows the following year and was given the religious habit and the religious name of Charles of St. Andrew. His father died in 1850, just before Charles'

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform v ...

as a priest. The family were so poor they could not afford to go to his ordination because of the expenses of the funeral. Even happy days were lonely days. He was sent to serve in England in 1852. He did parochial ministry in the Parish of St. Wilfred and neighboring areas. Serving there, Charles first came in contact with the Irish who were moving to England in the wake of the devastating famine taking place there."Biography of Charles of St. Andrew", Zenit, May 29, 2007
In July 1857 Charles was transferred to Ireland to the newly founded monastery of Mount Argus, in

Harold's Cross Harold's Cross () is an affluent urban village and inner suburb on the south side of Dublin, Ireland in the postal district D6W. The River Poddle runs through it, though largely in an underground culvert, and it holds a major cemetery, Mou ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. Traditionally Passionists are supposed to conduct missions and retreats and, through preaching, spread devotion to the

Passion of Christ In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

. Charles was not a good preacher. He never really mastered the English language, but it was in the

confessional A confessional is a box, cabinet, booth, or stall in which the priest in some Christian churches sits to hear the confessions of penitents. It is the usual venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Churches, but si ...

and in comforting the sick that he excelled, and he became fond of the Irish people."Short Life of St. Charles", Passionists: St. Patrick's Province
/ref> In community he was cheerful and often was heard humming the

Dutch national anthem "Wilhelmus van Nassouwe", usually known just as "Wilhelmus" ( nl, Het Wilhelmus, italic=no; ; English translation: "The William"), is the national anthem of both the Netherlands and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It dates back to at least 1572 ...

as he walked around the house.

Healer

It was Charles' gift of healing the sick which is most clearly remembered. Another member of the Passionist community in Dublin, Sebastian Keens, C.P., told of a 12-year-old boy who had lost the use of his leg and was brought to him. Without delay he called Charles and shortly afterwards found the boy walking up and down in front of the house completely cured. He became so popular with the people that the

diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

authorities, as well as the medical profession, grew suspicious of him. Some medical doctors complained to Cardinal Cullen, the Archbishop of Dublin, that he discouraged people from going to the doctor, a claim later retracted. Unscrupulous persons took

holy water Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from ...

blessed by Charles and unbeknownst to him began to sell it throughout Ireland. In order to discourage this practice, Charles was transferred back to England in 1866 and remained there for eight years. Charles returned to Dublin in 1874. A trap in which he was travelling overturned near St Clare's Convent at Harold's Cross, causing a fracture which never set right. He remained in Dublin until his death that took place at dawn on 5 January 1893.Biography of St. Charles on Vatican Website

Veneration

At his funeral, attended by people from all of Ireland, there was definite proof of the popular devotion that had surrounded him throughout his life. The Superior of the monastery wrote to his family: "The people have already declared him a saint." The cause for Charles' canonization was introduced on 13 November 1935. After the declaration of a miracle attributed to his intercession, on 16 October 1988,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

beatified the man whom everyone called the Saint of Mount Argus. The miracle that led to his canonization was the healing of Adolf Dormans of Munstergeleen, Charles' birthplace, who was cured of "perforated, gangrenous appendicitis with generalized peritonitis that was multi-organically compromising" and which cure was "not scientifically explainable". The theologian consultors and the Ordinary Congregation of Cardinals and Bishops gave their unanimous approval of the claimed supernatural aspect of the said alleged healing. Charles was canonized on 3 June 2007 by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

. From December 2021 to January 2023, a special holy year has been given recognition by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Charles. The Apostolic Penitentiary has granted the possibility of gaining a

plenary indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission before God of ...

to those faithful who visit the tomb and shrine of St Charles at Mount Argus or the place of his birth at Munstergeleen in the Netherlands.

References

External links