REAL HEROES! (@REAL_HEROES)

REAL HEROES! - Servant of God Jacques Hamel Jacques was born on November 30, 1930, in Darnétal, France, a working class suburb on the outskirts of Normandy, into a lower class Catholic family. His father was a mechanic for the state owned railway, while his mother was a weaver. From early on he showed a strong religious inclination. His parents divorced when he was 12, and him and his younger sister went with their very pious mother to live in Houplines of northern France. 2 years later and he entered the minor seminary. He was called into military service and served for 18 months in Algeria. He refused an officer position as he did not want to order others to kill. After an attack at an oasis, he was the only survivor. His military service greatly influenced his life. In 1958, he was ordained a priest and served at the Saint Antoine Parish in Le Petit-Quevilly. He later went on to the Notre-Dame de Lourdes Church in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, then to Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf, Cléon, and finally Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray in 2000. He officially retired in 2005 at the age of 75, but continued to serve as the parish's assistant priest despite his advanced age. He was kind, gentle, fraternal, and peaceful to everyone. In January of 2015, ISIS terrorists conducted attacks across the Île-de-France region, including Paris. Assailants killed 17 individuals and wounded 22 others. Following the violence, Jacques joined and worked on an interfaith committee alongside the regional council of the Muslim faith, Mohammad Karabila, whom he befriended. On July 26, 2016, Jacques was saying morning Mass in his parish with a married couple and 3 nuns. Two Muslim men, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, attacked him, and ordered for him to kneel. They stabbed him 18 times, and slit his throat. They also wounded one of the nuns and stabbed another parishioner who then escaped. Several minutes later, the attackers were shot dead by the police. He died in the very moment when he was offering prayer for the whole Church and has been declared a part of the "Chain of Martyrs" by the Pope during the Mass celebrated for him. The Pope authorized the opening of his beatification in October of 2016 without the 5-year waiting period. For God's Glory. REAL HEROES! Website Posting: https://real-heroes.org/servant-of-god-jacques-hamel/