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Our founder left
this world in 1981: we have now a little perspective from which to
view the meaning of his life and work:
Armand
Marquiset was an extraordinary man, with many talents, music as well as
cooking, interior decorating as well as public relations and the art of
fund raising. He had essentially the temperament of a founder.
He had already
established, before World War II, organizations for impoverished artists,
for disadvantaged children in the suburbs of Paris. In 1946 he created
Les petits frères des Pauvres, the main work of his life. Later
he established Brothers of Men (1965) and Brothers of Heaven and Earth
(1969), and in a way, they shifted what he had wanted to do in creating
the petits frères to a different context: the work in the third
world for Brothers of Men; or to the loneliness, the anguish, sometimes
the desperation of very disturbed people with Brothers of Heaven and Earth.
In these three
organizations we find the two basic intuitions of Armand Marquiset: the
notion of serving the poor and the profile of the "Little Brother."
0.2 Serving
the Poor
For
Armand Marquiset, serving the poor meant bringing them respect and love.
This is an idea found in the Gospels; it is an idea held by many humanitarian
founders. It is not then strictly original to Armand. In the providence
of God, however, there periodically arise souls able to recover the purity
of the original message and to revive it in us, to rescue us from the routine
of life and to wake us up. Moreover, Armand Marquiset added to this timeless
message his own individual touch.
One
fundamental principle of the petits frères is the importance of
superfluity, the necessity of luxury for the
poor, which translates into the motto,
"flowers before bread."
The
other fundamental of serving the poor for Armand is to give love. This
is evident in all that he said and did with the petits frères. It
is perhaps said most forcefully in his later writings, those of his last
years, when he wished to retain only the essentials:
"The
greatest poverty is the lack of love". "To be poor is above
all to be poor in love".
To
be sure, the Little Brother must help the poor solve their material problems,
and he must do so with discretion and respect. But above all he must be
brimming with love, transparent with love. Then the poor, feeling themselves
recognized and loved, can bloom anew and in turn give love. Love: it is
the only truth.
0.3 The
Profile of the "Little Brother"
For
Armand Marquiset, who is the Little Brother? He is a man who, like himself,
has yearned to love and serve the poor. "A man?" Yes. In the beginning
all the petits frères were men. It was customary at the time, and
Christian charitable organizations rarely mixed men and women. Since then
things have changed-and Armand changed with them. The Brothers of Heaven
and Earth, for example, included men and women from the beginning.
 "A
priest?" Considering our 'name, one might think so. Nevertheless, no. Armand
repeatedly said that he never wanted to be the founder of a religious order
or congregation. At one time there were discussions with Rome looking toward
official Church recognition, but for various reasons, nothing came of this.
Armand wished to protect the independence of the petits frères,
their complete openness to all.
"A
Christian, all the same?" Yes! But in a broad sense. Presenting the young
Brothers of Men to Pope Paul VI, Armand said: "Holy Father,
these young people go to serve the poor in Asia or Africa. They are Catholics,
Protestants, nonbelievers ..."
What
was important for him, what characterized the Little Brother, was the capacity
to love with all his might, to be burning with love.
0.4
For All the Poor
Certain
historical circumstances (the war, and at its end the destitution of many
old people in the large cities) explain why the petits frères concerned
themselves with the elderly. Armand, when he spoke of the petits frères,
said that they were made for "all the poor." In Paris, in 1946, he chose
the aged, because at that moment in that place, they were the poorest.
He
found there at once a field especially suited for work according to his
ideas, according to his heart: to bring flowers before bread and to give
love to people who were cruelly forgotten. This immediately struck a chord
among old people beaten down by life. But this work, which just happened
to begin with the aged, in the end remained confined to them. The old people
grew older. Their problems grew numerous, grave, complicated, requiring
a response ever more adaptable and competent. The petits frères
wished to remain loyal to each person until his last day. In so doing,
however, we were left very little time to reach out to other kinds of poor
people. Still, in the thinking of Armand Marquiset, one type of work with
the poor has no priority over any other type. He would have subscribed
to our efforts today to come to the aid of the "new poor."
If
in reality, however, we occupy ourselves primarily with old people, then
let's do it well-with all our resources, intelligence, imagination, loyalty,
affection, and love.
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