The scandalous crime outraged the whole of France, and protests demanding severe punishment for the culprit were not long in coming. Who was Jacques Fesch?
Newsroom (17/04/2025 10:30, Gaudium Press) For just over three years, Jacques Fesch has been a prisoner, and, according to his lawyer, he will now be a death penalty defendant too. For this twenty-seven-year-old, it will all be over in just two months. Tragic prospect!… Will two months of life be enough to pay off his debts to God before the implacable blade of the guillotine takes such a short and… misused life?
The answer would be no if he were still that deranged young man who, on the night of 25 February 1954, entered La Santé prison in handcuffs; but that is not the case. Not a hair remains of the ‘old’ Jacques Fesch.
A dream that ends in tragedy
Jacques was born on 6 April 1930 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a town on the outskirts of Paris, into a family that was as wealthy as it was atheist.
Despite the luxury and comfort that surrounded him, he soon felt dissatisfied with life. Worldly pleasures did not fulfil his expectations. Not even the birth of his daughter, Veronique, was able to calm his spirit.
An obsession took root inside him: he would forge a great adventure for himself on board a sailing ship. Perhaps he would be able to travel to the mythical Galapagos Islands, leaving behind a lifetime of failures.
However, dreaming is easier than realizing… and certainly cheaper. As expected, his father refused him the two million and two hundred thousand francs needed to fulfil his wishes. In a frenzy, the boy planned with some friends to rob a money changer’s shop and get the money he was denied at home ‘on his own’.
Is it too much to repeat that dreaming is easier than realizing? The crime failed completely. Jacques assaulted the money changer, but first he shot himself in the finger when he attempted to pull out the revolver he was carrying in his pocket… The cries for help were followed by a mad dash, in the middle of which he – who could barely see because he had lost his glasses – had the misfortune to shoot a policeman in the heart… In the end, abandoned by his accomplices and cornered in a railway station, he was imprisoned. The scandalous crime outraged the whole of France, and protests calling for the unfortunate man to be severely punished were not long in coming.
However, it was precisely behind the bars of solitary confinement that this boy’s life took an unexpected turn.
‘Like a strong gale…’
‘I have no faith, it is not worth it,’ were the first words he spoke to the prison chaplain. And there was nothing to predict a conversion. However, in a single instant, God appeared on his horizon in such a violent and peculiar way that you have to listen to Jacques’ own story to believe it:
“I was in my cell one night, a good three years ago. […] I was really suffering, for the first time in my life with a rare intensity, because of what had been revealed to me about certain family things… And it was then that a cry burst from my chest, a kind of cry for help: “My God!” And instantly, like a strong gale that passes without us knowing where it comes from, the Spirit of the Lord put his foot on my neck.
“And it is true that it is not just an image, because you really have the sensation of a tight throat and of a Spirit invading you; a Spirit too strong for the shell that receives it. It is an impression of infinite strength and sweetness that you could not bear for long. And from that moment on, I believed with an unbreakable conviction that never left me. I began to pray and to direct my steps towards the Lord, with a will fuelled by extremely powerful graces.”
Jacques simply ‘came back to life’. This is what he wrote in an attempt to explain his experience: “When for the first time the Lord deigned to visit my soul and give it His message of love, I understood perfectly what I had to do, and if I were to put down in writing what remained in my memory, I could perhaps write this: ‘My son, I have loved you, even from the first day that you began to offend Me; and above all in those very moments, My forgiveness is I Myself who give it to you in a total and absolute way, and I will give it to you even more. Receive My love, savour how affectionate I am to those who call on Me, and do not try to figure out if you are suffering justly or not. […] Will you not then understand that My Cross is the only way that leads to eternal life?”
The Light dawns on the sinner
“Someone saves me against my will. Someone removes me from the world, because I was going to lose myself in it; and I did nothing to deserve such a grace,” he would recognize. How can we explain what happened to Jacques?
The grace of conversion, say theologians, is an irresistible initiative of God in the soul of the sinner; and some authors compare this insignificant manifestation of divine power and mercy to the work of creation itself, identifying each of the seven days with a spiritual phase. This symbolism can help us understand the conversion of the young Fesch.
In the beginning, ‘God said, “Let there be light!” And the light was made’ (Gen 1:3). Likewise, on the first day of conversion, it is the Lord who decides to project His Light, making it shine within the heart. For Jacques, this sublime presence brought deep exclamations of joy and gratitude: “Joy, joy. If only I could transcribe on this paper all the graces I have received! Who can describe God’s love for his creatures?‘; ’Jesus is here with me, almost tangible. As soon as I call Him, His sweetness invades me and I am filled with joy.”
It should be noted that Jacques wrote these lines in the last months of his life, with the prospect of being condemned to death! Nothing could overshadow the graces received in his conversion.
A fertile land that bears fruit
Enlightened because, with the divine Light and united with God in an ‘inner heaven’ (cf. Gen 1:6-7), the land appears and is separated from the waters (cf. Gen 1:9-10), which symbolizes that the soul is no longer submerged in the waters of concupiscence and becomes a fertile land that bears fruit of generosity, love of the Cross and humility on the arduous path of sanctification.
In the lines of his diary it is impossible to recognize the old Jacques, so changed was his heart, so tempered by pain and so aware of the purifying process he would have to go through: “I must not forget who I am, what I have done and what I would do if the Lord were to give me a little of Himself. I have a corrupted and broken nature, and I must above all apply myself to reforming it”.
But love and the desire for perfection can only be realized through works, and Jacques had great things to accomplish before he died, in order to offer the Lord the fruits of his spiritual garden. ‘I’ve made progress in my prayers and I’ve made a resolution to make good use of the austere time, which I do not want to miss under any pretext’.
An assiduous life of prayer gave him the strength to embark on the difficult journey, and with heroic generosity he began by renouncing the tiny comforts of prison: he eliminated treats and cooked meals, sacrificed hours of sleep and then tackled his worst vice, tobacco:
“It’s not that a cigarette can have any importance in itself; but I have such a desire for it that if I had the willpower to give up smoking, and I did, that sacrifice would be more pleasing to Jesus. […] Courage! With a little willpower, we can do anything! Ten days ago, I smoked twenty cigarettes; now, ten; and next week… maybe none! I wish I could: I have so little time!”
Watered with many sacrifices, overcoming insensitivities and trials, these resolutions made him ever more generous in accepting the renunciations that came his way, and as a corollary of his total surrender to God, Jacques sought to sacramentally bless his union with Pierrette, Veronique’s mother, before he died.
The shining sun of charity
On the fourth day, the sun took its place in this creation (cf. Gen 1:14-19), in other words, charity flooded the converted heart; the moon and the stars, which are faith and virtues, shone especially brightly on it. From the love he felt descending upon him, Jacques drew strength that translated into resignation to God’s will and an eagerness for the apostolate.
“Dear Veronique, Jesus wants this death. If He takes me from His heart as a little child, it is because He thinks it would be better, for the good of us all, to call me to Himself. And how much better things He himself will be able to give you than I could ever do! Trust, trust in the love of Jesus,” he wrote to his daughter.
As well as his wife, Jacques began to draw relatives and inmates to God, one of whom was baptized thanks to his example. When he was executed, the inmates decided to remain silent all day in honour of the young man who had built them up so much in such a short time.
On the sea of mercy… towards the eternal pinnacles!
On the fifth day (cf. Gen 1:20-21), fish and birds are born; the converted sinner swims in the waters of God’s mercy; and, like an eagle, he swoops swiftly towards the eternal mountains:
“When I pray, I feel caught up outside myself and I cannot stop contemplating or meditating, forgetting even to breathe. When the soul rejoices, the body becomes dead and nothing counts more than the kisses that are sent to heaven. My Lord and my God!“
The last day and rest in the Lord
The day set for the execution finally dawned: 1st October. Jacques had already recovered his state of grace and had thus restored in himself the dignity of man made in the image and likeness of God on the sixth day of creation (cf. Gen 1:27-28); it was time to rest in the likeness of the Lord on the seventh day, contemplating the work of his hands (cf. Gen 2:2).
What was Fesch’s encounter with his God and Saviour like? It is a surprise that we well not know until the last day… Here are just a few extracts from the end of his diary. Let them serve as a pledge of confidence in the unlimited power of an authentic conversion:
“Last day of struggle; I will be in Heaven by this time tomorrow! My lawyer has just told me that the execution will take place tomorrow at four o’clock in the morning. May the Lord’s will be done in all things! I have confidence in Jesus’ love and I know that He Himself will order His Angels to take me into their hands. […]
“May every drop of my blood serve to erase a great mortal sin and may divine justice be completely calmed. May no one be lost because of me, but may every action, every thought, every word serve to glorify our God.”
With files from the Heralds of the Gospel Magazine, February 2025. By Sr Diana Milena Devia Burbano, EP
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
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