December 9 – The Banker Who Could Recite the Summa
Known as LE BON PÈRE DE MATTAINCOURT (Good Father of Mattaincourt), born at Mirecourt, Lorraine, 30 Nov., 1565 died at Gray, Haute-Saône, 9 Dec., 1640. At fifteen he was sent to the University of Pont-à-Mousson. His piety and learning led many noble families to ask him to educate their sons. He became a Canon Regular in the Abbey of Chaumousey and was ordained in 1589. By order of his abbot he returned to the university and became proficient in patristic theology; he knew the “Summa” of St. Thomas by heart.
In 1597 he was made parish priest of Mattaincourt, a corrupt district threatened with the new heresy. By his prayers, instructions, and good example, religion was soon restored. Fourier did not neglect the temporal interests of his parishioners; to help those who through ill-fortune had fallen into poverty, he established a kind of mutual help bank.
