A few days before the Feast of All Saints, rereading Libermann’s call to holiness addressed to Charles Lairé (1) invites us to rekindle within ourselves that fundamental desire which should dwell in every disciple of Christ. Holiness is indeed the primary vocation of every baptized person and the source of all missionary fruitfulness. The Feast of All Saints turns our gaze toward that multitude of men and women who, throughout the centuries, allowed the grace of God to shape their lives and, through them, transform the history of the world.
‘Be holy’: Libermann’s call that remains as relevant as ever
As Pope Leo XIV recently emphasized in his address to the participants of the symposium “Holiness in History,” organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the saints, enlightened by grace, were able to respond to the challenges of their times “by reconciling faith and history” and by dedicating their lives to the building up of the Kingdom of God. For this reason, he stated, “the history of the world without saints would be infinitely poorer, that is, less human.”
In this spirit, as we approach the Feast of All Saints, I invite us to reread the letter that Libermann addressed on 8 May 1851 to the young missionary Charles-Marie Lairé (Spiritan Anthology 321-326 – ND XIII, 142-145). This text, among the most beautiful and compelling in our Spiritan tradition, brings us back to the very heart of the missionary vocation. Through advice marked by paternal concern and spiritual depth, Libermann reminds us that holiness is the source of mission, the soul of fraternal life and, for us Spiritans, the first of all missions.
Missionary fruitfulness springs from a holy life
In this letter addressed to the missionary Charles Lairé, sent to Grand-Bassam, Francis Libermann speaks neither of pastoral methods nor of missionary strategies. Instead, he leads him immediately to what is essential: “Your principal preaching consists in the holy life that you must lead.”
For Libermann, peoples are not brought to God primarily through the talents or skills of missionaries. He states forcefully: “This African people does not need, nor will it be converted by, the efforts of clever and capable missionaries; it is the holiness and sacrifice of its Fathers that must save it.” The fruitfulness of mission is born from a life profoundly united to Christ. The sufferings, renunciations and sacrifices of the missionary find their true effectiveness only when sustained by a life wholly offered to God. This is why he writes: “All your sufferings and all your sacrifices will remain sterile if they are not sanctified by the whole of your life.” Apostolic fruitfulness therefore depends less on what the missionary does than on what he becomes under the action of grace.
For this reason, Libermann makes a pressing appeal that still resonates powerfully today: “Be holy, and encourage all your confreres to be holy; upon this depends the salvation of souls.” Then, concerned to preserve the unity of the congregation and the fervour of its members during a period of expansion, he reveals what weighs upon his heart as founder: “Ah! How I wish that all my dear confreres felt as keenly as I do the need for holiness in a missionary of Africa.”
Behind these words lies one of Libermann’s fundamental convictions: holiness is the inner source of every authentic mission. It is the first mission of every disciple and, for us Spiritans, the first mission of every Spiritan. Before carrying Christ to others, we must allow him to take full possession of our own lives; before guiding others, we must learn to let ourselves be guided by him. All apostolic fruitfulness springs from this inner transformation by which the missionary becomes the first witness of what he proclaims.
Holiness: welcoming Christ and allowing him to live within us
But what is holiness? A few months before his death, Libermann returned to this major theme in his Instructions to Missionaries. As if wishing to engrave its essence upon the hearts of his missionaries, he wrote: “Holiness is life, the very life of God, in Our Lord Jesus Christ, and through Our Lord Jesus Christ in us” (ES 383). Holiness, therefore, is neither merely moral perfection nor human greatness; it is participation in the very life of God, given in Christ and called to radiate throughout the believer’s entire life. For Libermann, the Father pours out his divine life into the Son, and the Son shares it with all who remain united to him through faith and the sacraments, like branches attached to the vine (cf. Jn 15:1-5). The vocation to holiness consists in welcoming and allowing the very life of Christ to unfold within us. Apostolic ministry can therefore spring only from this active presence of the Lord in the missionary’s heart.
This is why, in his letter to Charles Lairé, Libermann does not stop at defining holiness; he immediately points to its fruits. The life of Christ, welcomed into a soul, takes flesh in everyday life and becomes visible through concrete evangelical attitudes. Here he focuses mainly on two qualities that he considers essential: gentleness and humility. In his view, they constitute the true foundation of all apostolic fruitfulness. When deeply rooted in the heart and inspiring daily actions, they make the soul docile to the action of the Spirit of God. Conversely, even the most generous zeal risks losing its fruitfulness if it is not sustained by the gentleness and humility that characterize Christ. Without this foundation, the missionary is more exposed to following his own spirit than to being led by the Spirit of Jesus.
The intercultural community: a school of holiness
In this third phase of the Animation Plan, dedicated to intercultural community life, Libermann’s words appear strikingly relevant. For the divine life received from Christ not only transforms individuals; it also builds up the communities in which they live. Holiness thus becomes the source of fraternity and shared mission. It is in this spirit that Libermann recommends to Charles Lairé that he act toward his confreres “with gentleness, affection, moderation, simplicity and confidence” and that he strive to “maintain among them peace, gentleness, charity and the most perfect union.”
These counsels resonate today with particular force in our Spiritan communities, marked by an ever greater diversity of cultures, origins, languages, generations and life experiences. As the Superior General recalled in his message launching this third phase, intercultural community life is a privileged place of conversion, witness and growth in charity. We may dare to add that it is also one of the primary places of our sanctification.
When Libermann writes to Charles Lairé, “Our Lord will be in our midst if we are well united together in his holy Name,” he leaves us a criterion that remains fully relevant today. The evangelical quality of our fraternal relationships is one of the surest signs of our growth in holiness. It is not merely a consequence of mission; it is already one of its most eloquent expressions. Wherever charity, unity and peace reign, the Spirit of Christ continues his work of sanctification in both persons and communities.
As we prepare to celebrate All Saints’ Day, Libermann’s appeal retains all its strength. Pope Leo XIV reminds us that saints make the world more human; Libermann reminds us that they also make mission more fruitful. Both invite us to see holiness as the daily vocation of every baptized person and of every Christian community.
Let us therefore allow this call, once addressed to Charles Lairé and today addressed to each one of us, to echo in our hearts: “Be holy as Jesus was holy.” For holiness remains the most beautiful preaching, the source of all apostolic fruitfulness, and the path by which the Kingdom of God continues to take flesh in our history. Without holy Spiritans, Spiritan history would be poorer; with them, it becomes more conformed to the heart of God and, to use Leo XIV’s beautiful expression, more profoundly human.
Is this not, even today, the first and most urgent mission of every Spiritan?
Crispin Mbumba, C.S.Sp.
- Charles-Marie Lairé (1826-1852), a young Spiritan missionary trained by Libermann, was then ministering in West Africa, first in Gorée and later in Grand-Bassam. The letter that Libermann addressed to him on 8 May 1851, in response to one received on 7 March of the same year, is one of the most significant texts of Spiritan spirituality on missionary holiness. It already contains several major insights that the founder would develop during the same period in the Instructions to Missionaries. Lairé would die in November of the same year as Libermann, having carried into the mission field the spiritual heritage he had received from his master
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