Teaching and catechism
Gabriel Taborin was born on All Saints’ Day 1799 in Belleydoux (Ain), the youngest son of a pious farming family. From the age of twelve, he helped the parish priest with his schooling, the school having been abolished during the Revolution. He then became sacristan, catechist and teacher in his village.
At the age of 24, he felt called to devote himself to teaching rural boys and catechism. In 1827, he met Mgr Devie, Bishop of Belley, who encouraged and advised him in this direction. He received his first postulants in 1833, opened a boarding school in Belmont and two years later founded the Institut des Frères de la Sainte-Famille in Belley. Pope Gregory XVI recognized the congregation in 1841.
A meeting with J-M. Vianney
Faced with the difficulties of the foundation, he decided in 1837 to make the “Ars pilgrimage”. As he waits like everyone else to see the Holy Curé, the latter calls out to him:
Hello, Brother Gabriel! How’s your little community?
– But, Monsieur le Curé, do you know me?
Oh! Friends of the Good Lord know each other well!
A beautiful friendship began between them, along with spiritual, moral and financial support from the Curé d’Ars. In 1849, he asked Brother Gabriel to send him brothers for the new boys’ school in Ars. This is how brothers Athanase – who would stay for seventy years – Chrétien and Constance arrived.
It was also in 1849 that Brother Gabriel planned to write a sort of Ars pilgrim’s manual, with the Curé’s approval. In his experience, Abbé Raymond advised him to avoid praising Mr. Vianney in the first place.
His manual causes grief to the holy priest
In March 1850, L’Ange conducteur des pèlerins d’Ars finally appeared, and Brother Taborin was happy to bring the first copies to Ars. But the Holy Curé was deeply disappointed to discover that the brother couldn’t resist showering him with praise, comparing him to “the holy Precursor of the Savior of the world”! He is also described as a “living prodigy of faith, piety, gentleness, zeal, in a word, of all the virtues that make saints”…
In the sacristy, the Saint let his grief explode: “How could you deceive me like that? I thought you couldn’t make a bad book. I don’t want it to survive or appear in any way. Burn it quickly! I’ll refund your printing costs”. But the book continued to circulate, with the approval of the bishop… and the dismay of the humble parish priest!
Nevertheless, he did not hold it against Brother Gabriel for what he had experienced and welcomed as a new cross.
After a life of self-sacrifice, Brother Taborin died in Belley at the age of sixty-five, on November 24, 1864.
He was declared “venerable” by John Paul II on May 14, 1991.
Article taken from Annales d’Ars n° 338 [mai-juin 2012].
