Those who knew August-Francois Marceau in his early years would have never imagined that nearly 150 years later we will hold him up as a candle in the dark.
He was born on 1 March 1806 in France. His rich parents never bothered to raise him in Christian faith. Interested in ships and sailing, he joined the Ecole Polytechnique when he was 18. On graduating from the Polytechnic he joined the navy. When he was 20 years old, he set sail on a lengthy military cruise around the world. In 1829 he took part in what was called the Madagascar campaign and rescued a company of sailors who had been ambushed. This heroic adventure earned him the French award ‘Legion d’Honneur’ when he was just 23.
In 1835 he was made the commander of the steam-powered ship called L’Africain. During the voyage he was struck by malaria and was on the brink of death. He had to be brought back to France. A cousin of his, who was a pious Catholic, opened her home to the sick Auguste and looked after him tenderly. She placed a medal of the Blessed Virgin at his bedside and asked the members of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, founded in Paris by a priest that year, to pray earnestly for his cure. Six months later Auguste recovered. His cousin gave him the medal of the Blessed Virgin so that he would not forget his recovery, but he carelessly put it among his belongings. When he was not on duty, he indulged in a promiscuous, materialistic and frivolous life and blasphemed often.
Fr M.A. Joe Antony, SJ
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