In his 20s he resigned from the army to explore Morrocco, a relatively dangerous undertaking. He was influenced by the strong faith of Muslims he met, which inspired him to begin to question his own lack of faith. When he came back to France, he returned to his Catholic faith.
 
On January 15, 1890, he became a Trappist monk. However, he felt his true calling to be the imitation of the life of Jesus. In fulfillment of this mission, he lived for a time as a hermit near a convent of Poor Clares in Nazareth. His devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist was so profound that he often spent hours before the Tabernacle. In 1901, at the urging of the superior of the Poor Clares, he returned to France to be ordained a priest.
 
After his ordination he went to live as a hermit with the Tuareg people in the Sahara Desert in Algeria. He spent13 years there, learning the Tuareg language and culture. He made the first French-Tuareg dictionary and translated the Gospels into Tuareg.
 
Though his dream of establishing religious orders did not come true, St. Charles de Foucauld is the inspiration for lay associations, religious communities and secular institutes of laity and priests collectively known as “the spiritual family of Charles de Foucauld.”
 
Known as one of the pioneers of interreligious dialogue, Charles was assassinated in 1916. He was beatified in 2005 and canonized by Pope Francis on May 15, 2022. St. Charles de Foucauld, pray for us!