Guy De Fontgaland

Guy was born in Paris, France, on November 30, 1913 and soon after, his parents consecrated him to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  When he was only eight months old, one of the first words he said was, "Jesus!"  His Nanny would take him for a stroll in his baby carriage, he would blow kisses up to Heaven, whenever she talked about God.

When Guy was about two years old, he prayed to Our Lady for a little brother.  A baby boy arrived in May, 1916.  As baby Mark grew, Guy became very fond of him.  He taught his baby brother to make the sign of the cross before he learned to speak, and to blow kisses to the Infant Jesus.

When Guy woke up in the morning, his first move was to make the sign of the cross.  He then looked at a little statue of Our Lady and only then would he give his mother a kiss.

In 1918, Guy went to the country often with his family.  He loved to make things with his Mechano set.  He also loved to go hiking and collecting insects and butterflies.  He would run after them or hide behind some flower, and in the twinkling of an eye he would catch them between his thumb and finger.

That same year Guy took part in the procession of the Blessed Sacrament.  He had lots of flower petals to throw in front of the good Jesus.  That evening, after his prayers, Guy told his mother, "I really liked throwing flower petals in front of the good Jesus, but I would much rather receive Him!"  He was only five years old and this was his first desire for Holy Communion.

On November 22, 1918, Guy started taking Catechism lessons.  He put his whole heart into it but when it came to Bible History, he was not very keen on the parts which he did not understand.  He was very intelligent for his age and within two months he learned how to read and write.  He went to see an exhibit of cars and airplanes and said, "Someday I'll be a great inventor and make a machine bigger than the Eiffel Tower, with a motor to make it move!"

Guy loved to attend Mass and the different ceremonies in church.  He followed the Mass in his missal and would look up the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels by himself, saying, "I wish I knew Latin already, so that I could say the same words as the priest."  And he loved to attend Benediction with all the candles and flowers.  He always thought, "We can never make it beautiful enough for Jesus!"

Each year for the month of May, the boy would set up a little shrine to Our Lady, in his bedroom.  He would place flowers and blue and white candles around a statue of Our Lady.  And before going to bed, he and Mark would recite a decade of the Rosary in front of this little shrine.

When Guy was seven, he took Catechism classes to prepare for his First Communion.  He began making little sacrifices to prepare himself for the coming of Jesus into his heart.  Guy hated meat!  His parents would serve it to him only once a day, and when they did, he would always take a little fit, getting angry about being served meat.  But when he prepared for his First Communion, he made real efforts; the anger spells became less and he counted each mouthful of meat as a sacrifice.

Now this was the same Guy who would get into an argument with his little brother, jump on him, and give him a smack.  And when Mark would start yelling and crying, he'd say, "Don't yell so loud!  I only gave you one because of my First Communion.  If I was not getting ready for that, you would have got two or three smacks!   

From May 18^th through May 22^nd, Guy attended a children's retreat for all those who were going to make their First Communion.  Here are some of the notes he wrote down:

1) Be good, make efforts and sacrifices, and do something that costs for Jesus, who will enter us on Sunday.

2) Obey my parents right away, in everything, and do it cheerfully.  Little Jesus obeyed his parents on earth.

3) Make the resolution never to commit a mortal sin and if I do commit one, do not go to bed without making a good act of contrition and confessing it.

4) I must promise Jesus to overcome my main fault of laziness to please Him.  I must force myself to work, learn my lessons and do my homework.

5) I must go to Communion often, to remain pure and good.  Jesus gave us the Eucharist to stay with us, so that we could go to Him in our sorrows & joys.

6) Prepare to go to Holy Communion the day before by throwing flowers to little Jesus, that is by offering sacrifices to little Jesus.

7) We must not be afraid to go and see God in Church and talk to Him as to our best friend.  We must receive Him often in our heart.

To prepare for his First Holy Communion, Guy made 118 sacrifices.  He received his First Communion on May 22, 1921 and when his mother asked him what he asked of Jesus, Guy replied, "I didn't ask Him for anything.  Jesus is the one who talked to me.  I listened too Him and I just told Him,' YES'!"

After his First Communion, Guy went often to Holy Communion.  When someone asked the boy if he was going to Communion on a certain Feast Day, he replied, "It's dumb to go to Communion because it's a Feast Day or because everyone else is going.  It's always a Feast Day for little Jesus and His Guy when they get together. That's why we pretty much laugh at feasts that other people make, just because it happens to be such and such a day."

When Guy was almost eight, he joined the Paris Cenacle Crusaders and was faithful to the monthly meetings during the first year.  From then on he made it a practice to go to Communion on the First Friday of the month.

On October 24, 1921, Guy entered St. Aloysius Gonzaga School.  There, at first he was very shy and spoke very little because he was used to having a private teacher at home.  He didn't work very hard at school and he was only an average student.  He would always do his homework in a hurry, just to get it out of the way, and he almost never learned his lessons.  Laziness had become his main fault, he made few efforts to correct it… later you will see why!

Guy was always humble; he was never proud and others noticed this great virtue in him.  He was very simple in his ways and he never boasted, very charitable and he never spoke evil of a friend.  He never pouted or got hard headed and … he hated praise!  When his friends or family praised him, he ignored the praise!

Guy loved the Blessed Virgin Mary.  One day he said, "The finest word to say to God is, 'Yes'.  If the Blessed Virgin had not said 'Yes' to the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, where would we all be?"

In the summer of 1922, Guy struggled against his laziness.  He did his vacation studies so well, that he won first honours when he returned to school.

In July 1924, Guy and Mark went with their parents to Lourdes, France, the place where St. Bernadette saw Our Lady eighteen times.  There Guy went to Communion twice and drank the miraculous water several times.  And at the grotto, Our Lady told Guy, "I will come to take you soon.  You will die soon!"  The boy suddenly became more prayerful after his return from Lourdes.  He talked to Our Lady more often and every evening he said some extra decades of the Rosary.  He meditated several times a day and gave Our Lady some flowers.  

By October 1924, Guy had really improved at school.  He still did not learn all his lessons, but he made good efforts to do his homework well.  His parents rewarded him for this and he continued to succeed.

Suddenly, on his eleventh birthday, November 30, 1924, Guy became very sick with diphtheria!  The doctor was called, and nuns and priests were asked to pray for the poor boy.  At this time Guy told his mother, "When I made my First Communion at seven, Jesus told me, 'I will come and take you.  You will die young!' And at Lourdes the Blessed Virgin Mary told me, 'My dear little Guy, I will come soon to take you.  You will die young.  I will come to take you and bring you to Heaven.'  And Mama I was lazy in school because I told myself, 'What's the use of knocking myself out, since I am going to die so young.  What's the use of working to pass my exams and prepare a career in life like the others since my career will soon be in Heaven?'"  

Guy also told his mother, "The good Lord will make me suffer many long weeks to erase my laziness, because He wants to put me straight into Heaven without going through Purgatory.  I'll go to Heaven, straight to heaven!"

Three weeks later, Guy was cured of diphtheria, but that same evening, he fell ill again.  Soon his legs became paralyzed, his heart failed and his kidneys stopped working.  But in a few days he was cured of all these things when some relics of saints and Lourdes water were applied to him.  On Friday January 2, 1925, Guy received Communion and the Last Rites, and on Saturday, January 24^th, he died in his mother's arms, just as he had said he would.

We can hope that Guy is in Heaven, ready to help us if we ask him to.

The End