Biographies of the Founders

Brother Francklin Armand, PFIBrother Francklin Armand was born on September 16, 1947 in Port-au-Prince the capital of Haiti. From the age of 3 months he was raised by his loving godparents. His godfather was in the military and imprisoned twice under the dictatorship of Duvalier because he could not, in good conscience, support the oppressive actions of his own government against its people.

As a young boy, Francklin became fascinated by the life of rural peasant farmers and their families. Since his earliest childhood, friends and family knew that he had been touched by God.

At the age of 17, Francklin entered religious life as a postulant of the Little Brothers of St Theresa of the Infant Jesus. By the time he was 28 years old, he was superior general of that community. Eleven years of religious life had prepared the way for what was to become "a call within a call" (to paraphrase Mother Theresa of Calcutta).

As a young man of 28, Brother Francklin encountered Charles de Foucauld (Brother Charles of Jesus) during a retreat and through his spiritual writings. Brother Charles was a former officer in the French army who later became a Trappist monk, a priest, and died alone as a nomadic hermit in the Sahara desert.

The writings of Brother Charles echoed the strong convictions which Francklin had sensed for so many years. As a result, Brother Francklin sought spiritual direction from the bishop of his diocese with regards to the foundation of a religious community deeply committed to a shared life amongst the poorest of the poor in Haiti.

On December 26, 1976, with the approbation of their bishop, the first small group of Little Brothers of the Incarnation opened their hearts and their doors to their rural neighbors in Dos Palais in the Central Plateau of Haiti.

Nine years later witnessed the co-founding of the Little Sisters of the Incarnation with Sister Emmanuelle Victor.

Sister Emmanuelle Victor, PSISister Emmanuelle Victor was born in the city of Cayes in 1953 (the third largest city in Haiti). Fourth oldest in a family of 10 children, her love of painting, music, and a position with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led her to Port-au-Prince where she spent much time in the company of other Haitian artists.

Despite these secular interests, Emmanuelle felt she was being called by God. Her uncle, at that time, was the Bishop of Hinche, the Diocese in which the Little Brothers of the Incarnation had just been newly founded. A chance encounter with Brother Francklin became the turning point of her life.

At 28 years of age Emmanuelle entered as a postulant in the community of the Little Sisters of Jesus, an international congregation founded in the spirit of Charles de Foucauld. After spending three months with the Little Sisters of Jesus, Emmanuelle approached Brother Francklin with the idea of co-founding the Little Sisters of the Incarnation.

Four years later, on August 6, 1985, the first Little Sisters of the Incarnation offered their lives to God in the service of the poor in rural Haiti. Sharing the same spirituality of Brother Charles de Foucauld which inspires the Little Brothers of the Incarnation, they work together to build a society which recognizes the value inherent in each person and welcomes each as a brother or sister in Jesus, where God is better loved and adored.

Some Little Brothers of the IncarnationSome Little Sisters of the Incarnation

 

 

 

 

 

 

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