Basil Moreau
Founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross (1799–1873)
Feast: 20 January (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Basile-Antoine Marie Moreau was born at Laigné-en-Belin on 11 February 1799, entered the seminary of Le Mans in 1817 and was ordained on 12 August 1821. From 1823 he taught in the seminary.
He founded the Congregation of Holy Cross, the first Christian schools in Algeria and the first rural orphanage in Rome. He fell ill on 1 January 1873 and died twenty days later.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A priest-founder who sent teachers and missionaries wherever the Church needed them.
The cause
Basil Moreau has been beatified; the cause continues. Favours received, and offers of help, go to the postulation, the office that carries the cause forward: Congregation of Holy Cross: the cause of Basil Moreau.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Basile-Antoine Marie Moreau
- Wikidata Q2495219 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Basil Moreau (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.