SAINT MUTIEN MARIE WIAUX

St. Mutien-Marie Wiaux
Born 20 March 1841 Belgium
Died 30 January 1917 Malonne

Beatified 1977 by Pope Paul VI
Canonized 10 December 1989, Vatican Basilica by Pope John Paul II


Feast day: January 30
1841 - 1917



Christian Brother praised as a model teacher. He was born the son of a blacksmith in Mellet, Belgium, in 1841. Entering the Christian Brothers, he changed his baptismal name, Louis, to Mutien. In 1859 he was assigned to St. Bertuin’s School in Maloone, where he taught for fifty-eight years. Mutien specialized in art and music. He was canonized in 1989 by Pope John Paul II.


 Born at Mellet, Belgium, on March 20, 1841; died Malonne, Belgium, on January 30, 1917; canonized by John Paul II on December 10, 1989. Louis Joseph Wiaux was the son of a deeply devout blacksmith and his equally fervent wife, who was an innkeeper. He became a Christian Brother at Namur in 1856 (age 15) and took the name of an obscure Roman martyr of unknown date, Mucian, who was killed with an unknown boy and another named Mark. After short times at Chimay and then Brussels, in 1858, Mucian Mary was moved to the college at Malonne, where he remained the balance of his life.

 It must have been difficult for Brother Mucian: He found himself in a teaching order but had little talent for it. Thus, he was given marginal subjects and assigned to those tasks that required no special teaching skills. Although he was no success in passing on book knowledge, Brother Mucian had that much prized skill of "bringing even the least gifted to the limit of their abilities." What a wonderful present God placed in the lives who knew Mucian! Here was a man who could lead others to share the charisms with which God had endowed them. Of course, the ability to bring out the best in those around him, made Brother Mucian much loved. His gentleness and holiness of life also served as a model to those who saw "the brother who is always praying."

 Visits to his tomb began immediately after his death. In Belgium he is known as a great intercessor before God, which led to his cause being open in 1936, less than 20 years after his death. At Mucian Mary's canonization, Pope John Paul II called him "the light of Belgium and the glory of his congregation." The Belgian bishops wrote that Mucian Mary "left no theological or spiritual treatise, nothing to bring his name out of the shadows. . . . [he] accomplished nothing out of the ordinary. . . . He was a man of prayer, an apostle among the students and went about his daily taks with holiness. . . . hurting none and forgiving all"