Michel Le Nobletz was born at Kerodern manor in the parish of Plouguerneau on the 29th of September 1577. After his studies with the Jesuits in Bordeaux and Agen, and at the Sorbonne in Paris, he received his priesthood in 1607. Back in Plouguerneau, he retreated an entire year to a cell, that he had made in the rocks beside Trémenech beach, where he led an austere life. He decided then to become a missionary, using as motto the words of Saint Paul: “Vae mihi, si non evangelizavero !” (Woe unto me if I don’t preach the Gospel).
He undertook missions in the bishoprics of Tréguier and Léon, went then to the islands of Ouessant, Moléne and Batz, before leaving for Cornouaille in 1614. He first settled in Quimper, where he bought a small house in the Terre-au-Duc area. He preached every Sunday and on holidays in the church of Saint Matthew, where he also taught catechism. With Quimper as his base, he would preach in Le Faou, in Concarneau, in Pont-l’Abbé, in Audierne, and on the Ile de Sein… He resigned his position of rector of Meilars only a few months after being appointed, to settle in Douarnenez, a district of the Ploaré parish, in May 1617.
For twenty-three years he taught catechism to the faithful, visited the poor and the sick, developed new educational methods, wrote numerous Breton hymns, that tradition still preserves. To illustrate his preachings, he invented painted cards – that prequel the “taolennou” or mission paintings. Through him, Douarnenez became place of fervent Christian life.
He returned to the diocese of Léon in 1640, to Le Conquet, where he lived the last twelve years of his life: after a life dedicated to God and to his brothers, he received the Saviour’s passion stigmas in 1651 or 1652. He died at the age of 75 in Le Conquet on the 5th of May 1652.
Nicknamed “ar beleg foll”, dom Michel Le Nobletz was the first and one of the most vigorous missionaries of the counter reformation of Lower Brittany. Dom Michel Le Nobletz kept a journal of his missions of which we may read some fragments in a book based on his life, published by Father Antoine Verjus (La Vie de Monsieur Le Nobletz. Prestre et Missionnaire de Bretagne). His work was continued and improved by the blessed Julien Maunoir (1606-1683) (beatified on the 20th of May 1951).
The beatification procedure
The beatification process of dom Michel Le Nobletz was opened in 1701 by His Grace Le Nevoux de La Brousse, bishop of Léon. It was renewed by His Grace Lamarche, bishop of Quimper and Léon on the 30th of October 1888. Two diocesan processes examined successively dom Michel’s holiness, his virtues and miracles, and the absence of a popular cult. A decree by pope Léon XIII of April 6th 1897, officially introduced the cause to the Sacred Congregation of Rites. Compliant with the rules of that period, a new apostolic process re-examined the cause, and was then submitted to the cardinals of the Sacred Congregation. On the 14th of December 1913, Pope Pius X acknowledged the heroic virtues of dom Michel, thus clearing the way for the beatification of the Venerable dom Michel Le Nobletz, as soon as a miracle is recognized.
PRAYER TO ACHIEVE BEATIFICATION
God, our father, you instilled in the Venerable Michel Le Nobletz the tender love for the Blessed Virgin Mary and through her intercession you bestowed upon him the grace to practice the evangelical virtues to the highest degree and to give himself with ardent zeal to the service of missions in Cornouaille, Léon and Tréguier.
We humbly implore you to manifest the glory of your servant through miracles that would lead our Holy Church, our Mother, to admit him amongst the numerous beatified, thus proposing him to our devotion as a model of priest fully devoted to the proclamation of the Gospel and the salvation of souls. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Report a grace received
Many healing miracles were attributed to dom Michel during the XVIIth and XIXth centuries. These facts unfortunately were too old to be taken into consideration for the cause of his beatification, and the “consulta medica” of the Sacred Congregation of Rites had them discarded as insufficiently proven.
A recent case of healing must be reported to fulfil the cause. If an inexplicable case of healing occurs around you after invoking the Venerable dom Michel Le Nobletz, please report it to Quimper’s bishopric chancery, as it would help in his cause of beatification:
by letter: Monsieur le Chancelier, Evêché, 3 rue de Rosmadec 29018 Quimper cédex
by e-mail: chancellerie @ diocese-quimper.fr
Dom Michel receives a triple crown from the Virgin Mary: the crown of virginity, of spiritual master, and of the contempt of the world (painting by Yan’ Dargent, bishop’s house of Quimper)
Bibliography
Jean-Michel LE BOULANGER, Michel le Nobletz. Ar beleg fol. 1577-1652, Un missionnaire en Bretagne, Douarnenez, Mémoires de la Ville, 2001.
Hippolyte LE GOUVELLO, Le vénérable Michel Le Nobletz (1577-1652) un apôtre de la Bretagne au XVIIe siècle, Paris, V. Retaux, 1898.
Julien MAUNOIR, sj, La vie du vénérable dom Michel Le Nobletz, Saint-Brieuc, impr. A. Prud’homme, 1934.
Fańch MORVANNOU & Yves-Pascal CASTEL, Michel Le Nobletz/Mikêl an Nobletz, Trelevenez, Minihi-Levenez, 2002.
Ferdinand RENAUD, Michel Le Nobletz et les Missions Bretonnes, Paris, Éd. du Cčdre, 1955.
Jean-Marie UGUEN, Buhez Mikael An Nobletz (1577-1652), misioner Breiz, Brest, Moulerez ar “C’hourrier”, 1929.
Antoine VERJUS, La vie de Monsieur Le Nobletz prestre et missionnaire de Bretagne, Paris, 1666.
Vita del Servo di Dio Michele Le Nobletz. Anno 1577-1652, Roma, 1888, 221 p.
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