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Today, August 26, is the memorial of Blessed Jacques Retouret.
Carmelite priest and martyr.
Born to a family of merchants in Limoges (France) in 1746, Jacques was an educated man and was known as a lover of books.
He joined the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance (O.Carm.) at age 15. He was a priest, whose preaching skills attracted hundreds and earned him public acclamation. He was forced to cut down on his missionary obligations due to ill health.
During the anti-Catholic persecutions of the French Revolution, Jacques was arrested at the Limoges convent. He was ordered deported to French Guinea, imprisoned on a ship in the harbor of Rochefort, France, and left to die in 1794 aboard the prison ship Deux-Associés, in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France.
Together with his fellow Martyrs of the Hulks of Rochefort, Jacques was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1995.