Frézal Tardieu

Who they were

Jean-Pierre-Eugène Tardieu was born in Chasseradès, in Occitania, France, on 18 November 1814. He entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (the Picpus Fathers) as a novice in 1837, professed in 1839 taking the name Frézal, and was ordained priest around 1840. He served as novice master at Vaugirard, Louvain in Belgium, and Issy-les-Moulineaux, noted for his compassion toward the poor and children; among the novices he prepared for profession was the future Saint Damien of Molokai.

In 1860 he became a member of his congregation's general council, based at the motherhouse on rue de Picpus in Paris, and taught dogmatic theology. He was one of the few religious who remained after the community evacuated during the Paris Commune; arrested on 12 April 1871, he was imprisoned and then shot on 26 May 1871 at rue Haxo, together with fellow Picpus Fathers, three Jesuits, a diocesan priest, a seminarian and Father Henri Planchat. He was beatified in Paris on 22 April 2023.

The miracles

As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.

Why that counted as sanctity

French Picpus Father, member of his congregation's general council and professor of dogmatic theology, shot in the Paris Commune's rue Haxo massacre in 1871; beatified in 2023.

The cause

Connected on this site

• Henri Planchat Blessed
  “He was one of the few religious who remained after the community evacuated during the Paris Commune; arrested on 12 April 1871, he was imprisoned and then shot on 26 May 1871 at rue Haxo, together with fellow Picpus Fathers, three Jesuits, a diocesan priest, a seminarian and Father Henri Planchat.” — this site's research