Benedict was born in 480 in Nursia, in the Apennines. When he was 17, his parents sent him to Rome to complete his studies. But the speeches of the rhetors were far from appeasing his thirst for the absolute... "As the thirsty deer yearns for springs of living water, so my soul yearns for you, O my God. My soul thirsts for the strong and living God."
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Jean-Baptiste Muard was born on 24 April 1809 in Vireaux (Yonne), the son of farm labourers. While still very young, he declared: "I would like to be a missionary and die a martyr. He was already haunted by concern for the salvation of souls. But what did God expect of him? God's plans would only be revealed gradually.
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Born in 1840, Louis Banquet began his studies at the seminary in Albi and arrived at La Pierre-qui-Vire in 1864. It had been nine years since the death of Father Muard. "I breathed in the fullness of my soul the victorious fragrance of holiness that the servant of God had left in this desert", he wrote. His superiors were quick to appreciate the true value of his fiery temperament.
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Dom Gérard Calvet was born on 18 November 1927 in Bordeaux. 1940: enters the École des Roches (Maslacq), under the guidance of André Charlier. 1949: military service with the Spahis in Morocco. 2 February 1950: takes the habit at Madiran Abbey. 4 February 1951: temporary vows. 1952: community transferred to Tournay. 18 February 1954: solemn vows. 13 May 1956: ordination to the priesthood.
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