The founder of the Emmanuel community recognized as venerable

Pierre Goursat was born in Paris on August 15, 1914, just as the First World War had just begun. According to his biography published by the dicastery for the Causes of Saints and the Emmanuel Community website, at the age of 9 he experienced the abandonment of his father, who left the family home, and at the age of 12 the loss of his his brother Bernard. He himself is in fragile health and will be so all his life. Suffering from tuberculosis at the age of 19, in 1933, Pierre Goursat experienced a spiritual conversion while being treated on the Assy plateau, in a sanatorium in the Alps. Back in Paris, he supports his mother in running the family pension. In 1943, he met the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard, who would be decisive on his spiritual path and would accompany him as his spiritual advisor in his vocation. The cardinal thus receives his vow of chastity. Pierre devotes himself to evangelization while remaining lay.

As a mission area, it is particularly involved in the world of culture. In addition to opening a religious bookstore and launching a publishing company, he was involved in the Catholic Center of French Intellectuals, the French Catholic Cinema Office, and he founded the Cercle du Cinéma Français . He is a film critic, frequents the most famous names and participates in the Cannes and Venice festivals. Between various hospital stays, he worried about young people threatened by drugs and delinquency, and founded a reception and prevention center for them in an old barge moored on the banks of the Seine.

In 1971, he discovered the emerging “Charismatic Renewal” movement and received an “outpouring of the Holy Spirit” during a retreat. In this movement, the following year, he created with a young medical intern, the laywoman Martine Laffitte, a prayer group which attracted 500 participants in one year. These are the first fruits of the Emmanuel Community. Around sixty people made their first commitment to this emerging community on June 18, 1977. The sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Paray-le-Monial in Burgundy, where Pierre Goursat organized the training of members, would become one of the major places spiritual members of the community, who still host summer sessions there today attracting thousands of people. The community quickly developed internationally, with members present in many countries. Currently, it is present in 70 countries. In 1986, Pope John Paul II, visiting Paray-le-Monial, thanked Pierre Goursat for having founded Emmanuel.

In 1978, the barge on the Seine, where the founder moved, became the “headquarters” of his community. It is there that Pierre died on March 25, 1991, at the age of 56, after six years of retirement from government due to health. He is buried in Paray-le-Monial. For the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the new venerable lived the Christian virtues “with great ardor as a lay person, showing strength and courage in the various trials and difficulties of life.” Rome salutes his “great love for the Church” and his “unconditional loyalty to his magisterium”, as well as his service to the “wounded of life”.

Pierre Goursat maintained a reputation for discretion and humility, during his existence where he eschewed “notoriety, visibility, privileges and personal advantages”, we can still read on the site. Launched in January 2010 in Paris (France), the cause for the canonization of Pierre Goursat opened in Rome in 2016.