About Al Menia, Algeria:
The primary Catholic place of interest in El Menia, Algeria, is the Église de Saint Joseph (Church of Saint Joseph). This church is a significant pilgrimage site, particularly due to its association with Saint Charles de Foucauld.
About Charles Foucauld:
Born on September 15, 1858, in Strasbourg, France, Foucauld was born into Catholic aristocracy but orphaned at age six ( his mother died in 1864 after a miscarriage, followed shortly by his father). Raised by his devout maternal grandfather, Colonel Beaudet de Morlet, young Charles received a privileged education and early exposure to faith, including nightly prayers for his family.
However, by his teenage years, he rejected Catholicism, embracing a hedonistic lifestyle marked by vanity, excess, and disbelief. He later reflected: “At 17 I was totally selfish, full of vanity and irreverence, engulfed by a desire for what is evil. I was running wild… I remained twelve years without denying or believing anything, despairing of the truth and not even believing in God.” Following in his grandfather’s footsteps, Foucauld trained at the elite Saint-Cyr Military Academy, graduating to join the cavalry.
By age 20, upon inheriting his grandfather’s fortune, he earned the nickname “Fats Foucauld” for his indulgent pursuits in food, parties, and relationships. His military career took him to Algeria in the late 1870s, where he was dismissed in 1881 for refusing to end an affair with a married woman.
Foucauld turned to adventure, embarking on a perilous undercover expedition to Morocco in 1883–1884, disguised as a Jewish rabbi to map the region. This journey, detailed in his book Reconnaissance du Maroc (1888), exposed him to the devout faith of Jews and Muslims amid the Sahara’s harsh beauty. The “vast silence of the desert” stirred a spiritual void he had long ignored.
Returning to France in 1886, he confided in a Jewish acquaintance, Rabbi Mordekhai Abu Seror, who challenged him: “If you seek truth, look to Jesus.” This encounter reignited his Catholic faith. Foucauld later wrote: “As soon as I believed there was a God, I understood that I could not do anything other than live for him alone.” Inspired, he joined the Trappist order in 1890, first in Notre-Dame du Jardin in France, then in Akbes, Syria (1893–1897), where he lived humbly among the poor. Leaving the monastery, he worked as a handyman for Poor Clare nuns in Nazareth (1897–1900), seeking to imitate Jesus’s hidden life.
There, he discerned a call to priestly ordination, which he pursued in Viviers, France, completing in 1901, Foucauld returned to the Algerian Sahara, settling first at Béni Abbès in 1901 to found a fraternity open to all—Christians, Muslims, and others—as a “universal brother.” No one joined him initially, so he adopted a solitary eremitic life, moving to Tamanrasset in 1905 among the nomadic Tuareg Berbers. He built a simple hermitage on Mount Assekrem, compiled a Tuareg-French dictionary to preserve their language and culture, and advocated for their loyalty to French colonial authorities while fostering deep bonds.
On December 1, 1916, during World War I unrest, Charles Foucauld (then age 58) was shot and killed by a Tuareg bandit at his Tamanrasset hermitage. Seen as a martyr, his life inspired René Bazin’s 1921 biography, sparking a revival of eremitic spirituality.
Though he founded no order in his lifetime, his writings and witness birthed the Spiritual Family of Charles de Foucauld, including the Little Brothers and Little Sisters of Jesus (established in Algeria in the 1930s), lay associations, and secular institutes worldwide. These groups emphasize contemplative life amid the poor, interreligious dialogue, and radical Gospel simplicity.
Charles Foucauld’s spirituality centers on abandonment to God and fraternity with all, captured in his prayer: “Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will…”. His story resonates today as a model of conversion from privilege to service, especially in contexts of cultural encounter and desert-like spiritual aridity.
Charles was Beatified on November 13, 2005, by Pope Benedict XVI and Canonized by Pope Francis on May 15, 2022, thereafter being known as Saint Charles de Foucauld.
We celebrate the Feast of Saint Charles de Foucauld on December 1.
About The Church of Saint Joseph (Eglise de Saint Joseph) church in El Menia, Algeria:
Built in 1928, and officially consecrated in March 1938, the building’s shape is reportedly inspired by the Ketchaoua Mosque in Algiers, featuring a circular entrance and two minarets on the right and left.
the church became an important historical and spiritual monument. After Charles de Foucauld was canonized as a Saint on May 15, 2022, the church and his tomb became a significant pilgrimage site for people from around the world.
Traveling to The Church of Saint Joseph (Eglise de Saint Joseph) church in El Menia, Algeria:
By air: You can reach El Menia by flying into Algiers (ALG) or Ghardaia (GHA), and then taking domestic flights or ground transport to El Meniaa (ELG), Be sure to get a visa in advance!
The location has wheelchair-accessible parking and free admission.