On February 10th 1936 a young priest in his thirties named Georges Finet drove down from Lyon, where he was Director of Education for the diocese, to the village of Châteauneuf-de-Galaure in the Drôme foothills to visit a lady he had not met before.

He carried in his car a hand-coloured picture of Mary Mediatrix of All Graces, which a mutual friend had asked him to deliver to her. Later he was to say "I thought I was taking Our Lady's picture to Marthe, but it was She who was bringing me!"

Marthe lived with her parents in a small farmhouse a mile from the village. Born in 1902, the youngest of five children, she had been bedridden since 1928, and from 1929 more of less paralysed.

Already she had a reputation for living in the closest possible mystical union with Christ and his Mother, and in October 1930 she had been marked with the stigmata of his Passion, and every Friday relived his sufferings on the Cross.

This meeting was to prove providential, for it led to a partnership between Marthe and Père Finet which would only be broken by her death in 1981, by which time there would be some sixty Foyers in five continents.

In the course of three hours of conversation Marthe convinced the Abbé Finet that his vocation lay in helping her. For the first hour they spoke of the Blessed Virgin and her role in the Church. Finet, who gave Marian conferences on the teaching of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort, was astonished at the depth of her insights.

At three o'clock she began to talk of the great events which were soon to occur in the world, some very painful (World War II?), others rich in graces (Vatican II?). She announced "a new Pentecost of Love" which would be preceded by a renewal of the Church.

Père Finet asked her to define a Foyer:

"It will be something quite new in the Church. It will consist of consecrated lay persons, but will not be a religious order. A Foyer will be a great family, with a priest at its head and Our Lady as its Mother. The teaching that will be given during retreats will be lived by the community as a witness to its unity and prayer.

The Foyers will radiate light throughout the entire world. They will be an answer from the Heart of Christ to the world after the material defeat of people and their satanic errors." She named communism and secularism and Freemasonry amongst these errors. There would be an intervention by Our Lady, she said.

At 4 o'clock Marthe turned to the Abbé Finet and said, "Monsieur l'Abbé, I have a request to make to you, on behalf of God."
"What is that, Mademoiselle?"
"It is you who must come here to Châteauneuf and found the first Foyer of Charity."
"I, Mademoiselle? But I am not in this diocese. I am from Lyon!"
"What does that matter, since God wills it!"

"Ah! I beg your pardon ... I hadn't thought of it like that! But what would I do?"
"Many things. Chiefly you would preach retreats."
"But I do not know how."
"You will learn!"
"Yes ... I suppose three day retreats would be a good thing."
"No. In three days one doesn't change a soul. The Blessed Virgin asks for five whole days."

"I see! And to whom will these retreats be given?"
"To begin with to ladies and older girls."
"And what shall we do during the retreats? Workshops? Discussion groups?"
"No! The Blessed Virgin wants complete silence."

"You think I shall be able to keep ladies and girls in silence for five days?"
"Yes, since that is what Our Lady asks for."
"Ah! I'm sorry ... I hadn't thought of that! But how shall we publicize these retreats?"
"The Blessed Virgin will see to that. Jesus will give extraordinary graces. You won't need a lot of publicity!"

"But where will these retreats take place?"
"In the girls school."
"But we shall need beds ... and a kitchen. Who will take on this work?"
"You!"
"But with what money?"
"Don't worry ... the Blessed Virgin will see to it!"

"When should the first retreat happen?"
"On Monday the 7th of September ... it will last until the afternoon of Sunday the 13th."
"I can't refuse; but I shall have to ask permission from my superiors.
''Of course! You must remain under obedience."

Abbé Finet's superior, Mgr. Bornet agreed to let him go. So did the Vicar-general of Lyon. Finally his spiritual director, a professor of theology at the university, was enthusiastic for the idea. He had already met Marthe.

Thus the first retreat was conducted for thirty-three persons (all women), several of whom were to become permanent members of this original Foyer. Today there is room for 200 retreatants at Châteauneuf, besides a school for girls and another in the next village for boys and of course a growing community.

Fifteen other Foyers have been established in France, and more than sixty worldwide in forty countries. Only the Holy Spirit could have created such a phenomenon. The members do not wear a uniform or take religious vows. They make a "commitment"; having entered, few leave.

Marthe Robin, whose cause is well advanced in Rome, would appear to be for the second half of this century what St. Thérèse was for the first half. And indeed the two women are closely linked. Whereas Thérèse died aged 24 and became known through her autobiography, Marthe lived to be 79 (she died in 1981) of which the greater part was spent entirely immobilized in a small room in her parents' house.

Mystically united to Christ and his Mother, she was visited by most of the retreatants who came to Châteauneuf over a period of fifty years. It has been estimated that she may have met a hundred thousand people; each one waited in the little kitchen and was allowed ten minutes with Marthe in her darkened room. She showed a keen interest in the affairs of each visitor, gave sound advice, and always finished by praying with him or her.

She had extraordinary insight into those who sought her advice, and all left her the better for their visit. A number of growing communities originating in France, such as the Congregation of Saint John and the Community of the Beatitudes, owe their foundations partly to her support.

She left a large collection of prayers, meditations and observations (but being paralysed she could not actually write herself), which are gradually being published, and a large number of books have been written about her. She is constantly quoted in the Foyers.

As yet there is practically nothing in English, and we await the foundation of the first Foyer in the United Kingdom. Perhaps her most striking spiritual document was the Act of Consecration made in 1925 at the age of 23. In this masterpiece of spiritual thought the word "love" appears twenty-two times, but "justice" not once.

From then on she was consecrated through Mary to Jesus to be a living sacrifice to God. The first full biography of Marthe by Raymond Peyret (who never met her) was entitled "Take my life Lord" and subtitled 'The long Mass of Marthe Robin'. She never attended Mass after 1928, yet her whole life was like a mass, a perfect oblation of thanksgiving, united to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, inspired by love.

"One can only make people love to the extent that one possesses it, just as one can only radiate light if one carries within oneself the truth which is light." Marthe Robin, 16.2.1930.

Martin Blake, June 1998