The land of his childhood 1838-1876

Frederic Janssoone, who would later become Good Father Frederic, was born in 1838 in Ghyvelde, a small coastal town in northern France near the Belgian border.

Life was difficult in this region of Flanders, which was at the mercy of the elements. The small Catholic community developed a devotion for the Virgin Mary that permeated their daily lives.

Young Frederic grew up in a farming family. He was the youngest of 13 children, all of whom received an austere education centred on faith and catechism, along with daily spiritual readings and submission to the divine will.

He was nine years old when his father, Pierre-Antoine, died.

At the village school, he was known as a model student. At age 13, he pursued his studies at college, where he became aware of a desire for a life in the church.

Four years later, he began his studies at Hazebrouck College; later, he studied at Notre-Dame-des-Dunes College, near Dunkirk.

His plans had to be set aside, however, when he needed to return to his family to support them.

He then worked as a travelling salesman for textile and fabric merchants; he put his talents for sales to good use later in his life.

At age 23, Frederic went through a difficult time when his mother, Marie-Isabelle Bollengier, died. The woman he considered a saint and a model of piety, who handed on to him her desire for temperance and mortification, as well as abandoning oneself to Providence, would have an impact on him for the rest of his life.

After returning to college and finishing his studies, he went through a period of uncertainty, then chose the monastic life with the Trappist Fathers after making a retreat at the Cistercian abbey of Mont-des-Cats.

In the end, however, he put on the Franciscan habit at Amiens on June 26, 1864. He went through a brief period of doubt regarding his vocation but professed his vows in July 1865.

He studied for the priesthood in Limoges, then in Bourges, where he was ordained on August 17, 1870. His ordination was done quickly so he could become a military hospital chaplain while France was at war with Prussia. He was 32 years old.

At the end of the war three years later, he participated in the founding of the convent of Bordeaux, of which he became Superior. He then developed his talent for organizing large-scale events.

After completing his term as Superior, he began preaching parish missions to remind the faithful of their religious obligations.

The year 1876 marked Father Frederic’s departure for the Holy Land, where he asked to live out his ministry.