Heroic Priest

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 786, 5 October 1929, Page 22

Heroic Priest

HOGGAR CHIEFTAIN BEGS AUTHORITIES NOT TO DISTURB BODY OF NATIVES’ FRIEND

HEART LEFT IN DESERT

SHE negroes of the desert in Hoggar, French Sahara, nailed mournful laments when an official caravan from Algiers removed for burial there the body of their friend, the Jesuit Father Charles, Viscount of Foucauld, who died to protect them. Evans elising among the fierce Tuareg tribesmen for several years before the war, this priest of noble birth was assassinated by a raiding party from Upper Tripoli, on December 1, 1916. Father Foucauld’s recruiting activities on behalf of the,, French had often been reported to the Turks.

Tlie body had remained in the desert sands for 13 years, until the French Government decided to bring it north, and give it a funeral worthy of Father Foucauld’s career of abnegation and initiative.

Adorned with all the picturesque paraphernalia of his rank, AkamoukagIhemma, king of the Hoggar, accompanied by his warriors, called on Prefect Nouet, in charge of the French expedition. “Father Foucauld is ours.” he pleaded. “He chose to live in the desert; in the desert he died like a soldier and a hero of charity and Let him lie where he fell.” The French officials were moved. They did not wish unduly to sadden the tribesmen, but the orders were

formal —the body must be brought back. So they left the heart of Father Foucauld with the king, and iu the southern foothills of the Atias. With a guard of Tuaregs always in attendance, overlooking that desert to which he had dedicated it. the heart of Father Foucauld, apostle of the Hoggar. will remain.