Foucauld, Charles-Eugène, viscount de

(1858-1916)

   explorer, missionary

   Born in strasbourg, Charles-Eugène, viscount de Foucauld (later known as "le père Foucauld"), was a military officer who made the first exploratory journey through Morocco and, disguised as a rabbi, charted more than 2,000 kilometers of new routes (1883-84). He had a religious conversion in 1886, left the army, and eventually joined the Trappists of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, Ardèche (1890). He then made several visits to Palestine, Syria, and Algeria, was ordained a priest (1901), and became a hermit missionary in the Sahara, at first at Bene Abbès, then at Tamanrasset (1905), where he was killed by the Senoussis. Foucauld is the author of Reconnaissance du Maroc (1888), works on the Tuaregs: Grammaire et Dictionnaire français-touareg, touareg-français; Poésies touareg, and Écrits spirituels. A process of beatification for Foucauld was begun in 1926.