Fourier was born on 30 November 1565 in the village of Mirecourt, in what was then the Duchy of Lorraine, a part of the Holy Roman Empire (now the French department of Vosges), which was a bulwark of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. He was the eldest of the three sons of a cloth merchant and his wife, who were faithful Catholics. At the age of 15, his father enrolled him in the new Jesuit University of Pont-à-Mousson (eventually merged into the University of Lorraine).[1]
In 1585 Fourier was admitted to the novitiate of the canons regular of the Abbey of Chaumousey, where he made his profession of vows two years later. He was ordained a priest at Trier, at the age of 23, on 24 February 1589.[2] His abbot then sent him back to the University of Pont-à-Mousson to further his studies. He became a scholastic theologian who knew the Summa Theologica by heart,[1] and earned the great respect of both the university officials and the Count-Bishop of Metz, who offered him a high ecclesiastical post. Fourier chose, instead, to return to his abbey.
After his return to his canonical community, however, he was subjected to two years of hostility and abuse by his less fervent fellow canons,[3] including. by some accounts, attempted poisoning. He chose not to confront his abbot with the situation and accepted this persecution patiently. The care of local parishes in that region of France was routinely entrusted to the many abbeys and priories of canons. In 1597, when his abbot was assigning him a post, Fourier passed over two prestigious options and accepted the post of vicar of the parish of Mattaincourt in order to combat the indifference to religion widespread in the town, and to counter nascent Calvinism in the area. He went on to spend the next twenty years of his life serving its people.[1]
To this end, Fourier instituted two major reforms. The first of these was to improve the financial lives of his community by setting up a community bank, from which the townspeople could borrow without interest. His motto in serving the parish was to feed only one person was to of use to all. His second innovation was in his preaching style, where he employed dialogues with small groups of his parishioners to explain better their Catholic faith to them. He had his pupils engage in dialectics on Sundays on the various virtues and vices in practice by the congregation. This style proved immensely successful.[2]
Fourier led an extremely ascetic way of life while serving the people of his parish. He would spend much of the night in prayer. He refused the services of a housekeeper, even when his own stepmother offered to provide his care. His severe self-denial enabled him to direct much of the income of the parish to the needy of the town. He himself would often spend the night nursing the sick of the town.
Go here to read the rest.
