Bishop Bruté’s family helps move his cause forward, more volunteers sought

By Sean Gallagher

The progress of the beatification and canonization cause of the Servant of God Bishop Simon Bruté, the first bishop of Vincennes, has been slow.

But it recently received some help from his descendants living in France.

According to Msgr. Frederick Easton, adjunct vicar judicial, relatives of Bishop Bruté have volunteered to transcribe some of his letters, especially those written to family members.

“We all feel good about the participation of the Bruté family,” said Msgr. Easton, who has been involved with the cause since it was launched in 2005. “It’s the right thing that they should have the chance to participate in helping us with this project. It’s also given a little life to the process.”

Msgr. Easton said that the work of promoting Bishop Bruté’s cause is currently at a “tedious” stage.

Some 2,000 documents with a total of 6,000 pages have been attributed as having been written by Bishop Bruté. Many were written in French, his native language. Fewer were written in English and Latin.

They all need to be transcribed, and documents written in French or Latin must be translated.

Msgr. Easton said that two monks at Saint Meinrad Archabbey are currently working on translating some of Bishop Bruté’s letters.

Completing the transcription and translation of Bishop Bruté’s writings, Msgr. Easton said, would allow the work of the cause’s historical and theological commissions to move forward.

The historical commission would determine if the documents attributed to Bishop Bruté were truly written by him.

The theological commission would then examine the documents to judge the orthodoxy of the beliefs expressed in them, and to see if they give evidence that Bishop Bruté lived a heroically virtuous life.

After these two commissions make their determinations, their work would be sent to the Holy See’s Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. The cardinals and archbishops of that congregation could affirm that Bishop Bruté had lived the virtues heroically.

Following such a decision, the pope could then declare Bishop Bruté “venerable.”

Before any of this can take place, though, the hard work of transcribing and translation needs to be completed.

Msgr. Easton noted that more volunteer transcribers and translators would help move the cause along more quickly.

“Many hands make light work,” Msgr. Easton said. “More volunteers that have enough skill in transcribing and translating [would be helpful].”

(To volunteer for the beatification and canonization cause of the Servant of God Bishop Simon Bruté or for more information, call the archdiocese at 317-236-1460 or 800-382-9836, ext. 1460.) †