Thomas Gueydier, postulator for the cause for canonisation of French Young Christian Workers martyr Blessed Marcel Callo, will be the guest speaker at the Australian Cardijn Institute webinar next month.
As well as being the centenary of the foundation of the YCW, this year also marks the 80th anniversary of Blessed Marcel’s death, and the 80th anniversary of the deaths of YCW lay co-founders Fernand Tonnet and Paul Garcet.
Mr Gueydier is a lecturer at the Catholic seminary in Rennes, France, Marcel Callo’s home city. Earlier this year, he published the book Prier 15 jours avec Marcel Callo (Pray with Marcel Callo for a fortnight).
Blessed Marcel Callo was born in December 1921. He became an apprentice printer at the age of 13 and soon after joined the Young Christian Workers movement
Aged 20, he fell in love with Marguerite Derniaux. Engaged after nearly two years, they adopted a strict spiritual rule of life for themselves, including praying the same prayers, going to Mass together and receiving the Eucharist as often as possible.
When the Germans occupied France, Marcel was ordered to leave for Zella-Mehlis, Germany, to take part in compulsory labour. He was forced to work in a factory that produced bombs.
He wrote to Marguerite: “One day Christ answered me. He told me I was not to give in to despair; that I should take care of my fellow workers – and I found joy again.”
On March 19, 1944, Marcel was arrested for activities against the Third Reich. “Monsieur is too much of a Catholic,” his captors told him.
He was imprisoned, where he secretly received the Eucharist and continued to pray and help his companions. These activities brought him to the attention of the Nazi authorities, who moved him to a prison at Mauthausen in Austria.
He fell victim to a series of ailments and illnesses, including bronchitis, malnutrition, dysentery, fever, swelling, and generalised weakness. He died on the feast of St Joseph, March 19, 1945 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 4, 1987.
The webinar is on Tuesday, September 9, at 7pm AEST. Click here for details and registrations.
FULL STORY
ACI Webinar 9 Sep 2025 Blessed Marcel Callo, YCW martyr and World Youth Day patron (ACU)
