Jacques Sevin, founder of Catholic Scouting

Baden-Powell said of Jacques Sevin: «He made the best realisation of my own thoughts». Co-founder of ‘Scouts de France’, the Jesuit priest Jacques Sevin shared the same sense of humour, the artistic gift of song, drawing and theatrical animation with the founder of the Scout Movement.

Born in Lille in 1882, he joined the Jesuits in 1900 and became an ordained priest in 1914. Impassioned by Scouting’s educational method, Sevin met Baden-Powell in 1913 and wrote his master-work ‘Scouting, a documentary study and applications’.

Having followed B-P’s famous training courses at Gilwell, Sevin adapted them into French. Gradually, he put in place his own training methods, which, at the time, were disparaged by religious circles. It was then in 1920, based on the projects and ideas of Jacques Sevin, that Catholic Scouting in France officially began under the name ‘Scouts de France.’ Its success was immediate. Education to responsibility, dedication and the discovery of nature, allured the young people. Jacques Sevin was also the author of the Scout prayer that millions of Catholic Scouts recite together “Lord Jesus, teach us to be generous…»

From this educational movement, a Scout spirituality came about, which was at the origin of the Jerusalem Sainte Croix congregation in 1944, whose roots are to be found in the spirituality of Carmels, Saint Ignace of Loyolas. Jacques Sevin’s beatification was opened in Rome.