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YCW and YCS martyrs beatified at Notre Dame

Twenty YCW, YCS and Scout leaders, chaplains and seminarians were beatified at a special mass at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris on Saturday 13 December 2025.

Papal legate Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, who is himself a former YCW and YCS chaplain, presided over the ceremony. Recalling the heroic sacrifices of the French martyrs, Cardinal Hollerich said “faith is never private; it must find expression in the concrete service of our sisters and brothers”.

“Let me make an appeal to the young people of France,” he continued. “You who call yourselves young Catholics, you are devoted to the adoration of Our Lord, and that is as it should be: may this love of Christ impel you to become missionary apostles.

“And all of you young people, perhaps not attending church, from France and Europe, you who no longer see meaning in your lives, you are searching for an identity that gives you purpose, look to Christ, Prince of Peace, Prince of love and not of hate, learn from him as your elder brothers, martyrs, beatified today, learn from him to commit yourselves to the good of your brothers and sisters! Your life can be so beautiful, and you will see this beauty in your life by following Christ.”

Cardinal Hollerich’s homily (English)

Homélie du Cardinal Hollerich (Français)

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The martyrs

Here is a list of YCW and YCS leaders, chaplains and seminarians to be beatified today with links to their biographies (some not yet complete).

YCW leaders

Jean Lépicier (1921-1945), died at Buchenwald;

Bernard Lemaire (1920-1944), died of typhus at Buchenwald;

Maurice Grandet (1920-1944), died of typhus at Buchenwald;

René Ponsin (1923-1945), died at Buchenwald;

Claude-Colbert Lebeau (1922-1945), died at Zöschen;

Jean Chavet (1922-1945), died of typhus at Mauthausen;

André Parsy (1922-1944), interned at Zöschen, died at Trebitz;

André Vallée (1919-1945), died at Flossenbürg;

Henri Marrannes (1923-1945), died in Zwickau;

Louis Pourtois (1919-1945), died in Mauthausen; Camille Millet (1922-1945), died in Flossenbürg;

Marcel Carrier (1922-1945), died in Neustadt during the “death march”;

Alfredo Dall’Oglio (1921-1944), Italian naturalised French, died in Wuhlheide;

Marcel Touquet (1914-1945), died in Ravensbrück;

Lucien Croci (1919-1945), died in Barth;

Jean Mestre (1924-1944), died shortly after his arrest;

Jean Perriolat (1920-1945), died in Mauthausen;

René Rouzé (1922-1945), died in Dora-Mittelbau;

Henri Euzenat (1920-1945), who died at Dachau;

Eugène Lemoine (1920-1945) (also a Scout), died at Zöschen;

Bernard Morizot (1924-1945) (also a Scout), interned at Buchenwald and shot.

YCS leaders

Jean Préhu (1920-1945), YCS lay leader (and Scout), died at Dachau.

So too did YCS leader, Jean Chavet, who was also a YCW leader (see above)

Priests

René Giraudet (1907-1945), interned at Bergen-Belsen, sick with typhus, died in Paris;

Victor Dillard (1897-1945), who died at the Dachau concentration camp;

Louis Doumain (1920-1944), died at the Zöschen concentration camp;

Pierre de Porcaro (1904-1945), who died at the Dachau concentration camp.

Jocist seminarians

Roger Vallée (1920-1944), who died at Mauthausen;

Jean Tinturier (1921-1945), who died at Mauthausen.

Martyrs of the YCW and YCS (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)

Blessed Marcel Callo church to open

A new church named after YCW martyr, Blessed Marcel Callo is under construction in his home city of Rennes, France.

Located among apartment towers in the Baud-Chardonnet district, it is being built in the parish of Saint-Hélier.

Originally expected to open this month, the official opening will now take place on 7 February 2026, according to Olivier Bertrand, a member of the Friends of Marcel Callo.

SOURCE

À Rennes, l’inauguration de la nouvelle église Marcel-Callo est reportée à 2026 (actu.fr)

Marcel Callo (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)

French YCW founder canonisation process moves to Rome

The diocesan process for the cause for canonisation of French YCW founder-chaplain, Fr Georges Guérin, concluded at a ceremony in Paris on 16 May 2025.

Vicar-general Mgr Michel Guéguen presided at the event which took place at the office of the Workers’ Catholic Action (ACO) movement.

Born on 24 October, 1891 in Grandménil, commune of Écrouves (Meurthe-et-Moselle), Fr Guérin died on March 15, 1972 in Paris.

An apprentice metal tester then an office worker, he was ordained a priest of the diocese of Paris in 1925 and was appointed vicar at St Vincent de Paul parish in Clichy, an inner suburb.

Appointed as chaplain to the new movement in 1927, he remained in this post until 1950.

Georges Guérin is now recognised as a “servant of God.”

The process now moves to Rome, where another investigation will rule on the heroic nature of his virtues and eventual recognition as “venerable.”

Fr Georges Guérin (left) with Fr Joseph Cardijn

SOURCE

Clôture de l’enquête diocésaine pour la cause de l’abbé Georges Guérin (Diocèse de Paris)

Georges Guérin (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)

Stefan Gigacz, Joseph Cardijn, Georges Guérin and the Jocist Network at Vatican II

New book on Marcel Callo

Rennes seminary lecturer, Thomas Gueydier, is publishing a new book on the French jocist leader, Blessed Marcel Callo, who died in a Nazi concentration camp.

Entitled, “Prier 15 jours avec Marcel Callo” (Pray with Marcel Callo for a fortnight), the book published by Nouvelle Cité will be available on 12 March 2025.

Marcel Callo was a young typographer and YCW leader from Rennes, who was sent to Germany as forced labour.

While there, he organised his fellow workers into jocist teams. As a result, he was sent to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria, where he perished on 19 March 1945, just weeks before the end of the war in Europe.

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987.

The book will be available in bookshops on 12 March.

SOURCE

Un nouveau livre sur Marcel Callo, possible futur saint breton (Ouest-France)

Marcel Callo (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)

PHOTO

Thomas Gueydier / Ouest-France