He was born in the town of La Capelle, Northern France, on March 14,1843. Already as a child he wanted to become a priest. 
But his father opposed this. After attaining a doctoral degree in Civil Law, he became a diocesan priest and was assigned to the parish church of St. Quentin, where he became distressed over the unjust social conditions then prevalent in society, and over the neglectful state of the life of the clergy. He felt called to redeem these situations as a concrete way of expressing love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

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