Jacques Retouret was an 18th-century French Catholic priest belonging to the Carmelite Order. Born in Limoges in 1746, he entered the monastery at the age of fifteen and later studied philosophy and theology. He served as a preacher across southwestern France before the political upheavals of the French Revolution. Because he opposed the state's interference in church autonomy, he was arrested and sentenced to hard labor. He died in August 1794 while being transported for deportation, succumbing to illness and harsh conditions near Rochefort.
Life and death
After receiving his education at an Jesuit college, Retouret joined the Carmelites in Limoges. He was ordained a priest and spent years preaching in various churches and cathedrals. During the French Revolution, his refusal to support new civil laws affecting the church led to his arrest for counter-revolutionary activities. While awaiting deportation to French Guiana, he was held on a ship near Rochefort, where he died from typhus and poor conditions.
Veneration
Retouret was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995, alongside sixty-three other martyrs of the French Revolution. The Catholic Church commemorates him on August 26, the anniversary of his death. Since 1910, pilgrims have traveled to the island where he was buried to honor his memory.