Jean-Baptiste Fouque
French Catholic priest (1851–1926)
Feast: 5 December (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 21 December 2016 — Heroic virtue declared — title Venerable (decree list, 2016)
- 18 December 2017 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2017)
Who they were
Jean-Baptiste Fouque was a priest of Marseilles, born on 12 September 1851, who spent his life founding works of charity for the young, the sick and the poor of the city. He died on 5 December 1926.
The miracles
A woman of Marseilles — Marseilles, France — 25 August 1929
From 1915 a woman suffered violent stomach pain and vomiting and could barely eat; two operations in Marseilles failed. She had known Father Fouque personally, prayed to him, and kept a reliquary that had belonged to him. On 25 August 1929, on the train home from Lourdes, she had a violent attack and fainted, and was given the anointing of the sick. When she came round she was completely healed, and later tests found nothing wrong.
Why that counted as sanctity
The case of a woman of Marseilles was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 18 December 2017, opening the way to beatification.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography of Blessed Jean-Baptiste Fouque, with the miracle
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q3164090 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Jean-Baptiste Fouque (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.