2026 anniversaries

Victoire Cappe - Len Faulkner - Joseph Wresinski - Therese Cornille - Manuel Larrain - Enrique Angelelli - Priests for the Third World

Jan 01, 2026

Once again, I’m beginning the new year with a short overview of anniversaries connected with Cardijn and the various jocist-inspired movements. In particular, we remember the martyred Blessed Enrique Angelelli and his companions, who died fifty years ago this year in 1976.

Also important is the 75th anniversary of the First World Congress on Lay Apostolate held in Rome in October 1951 with Cardijn as one of the keynote speakers.

Sadly, we also note that this year will mark the fortieth anniversary of the division at international level of the YCW in 1986. Let us pray to all the saints and martyrs of our movements for the healing of this wound in Cardijn’s vision.

No doubt there are many more significant anniversaries. If you know of any, please let me know and I will update this post.

In any case, even this short list once again illustrates the extraordinary heritage of our movements.

And, yes, the photos of Enrique Angelelli, Victoire Cappe and the 1951 World Congress are colourised by AI, which really does - in my humble opinion at least - help bring them back to life!

People anniversaries

1886: Birth of Victoire Cappe, founder of the Syndicat de l’Aiguille (Needleworkers Union) in Belgium, on 18 March 1886. One of Cardijn’s earliest collaborators in launching study circles for teenage female workers at Laeken in 1912.

https://victoirecappe.com

1926: Fr Roger Poirier: Born on 8 August 1926, Roger Poirier became an Oblate of Mary Immaculate. He served as diocesan chaplain to the JOC in Montreal and also as national chaplain to the Quebec JOC.

1926: Archbishop Leonard Faulkner: Born on 5 December 1926, Len Faulkner was a priest of the Archdiocese of Adelaide, South Australia. He first heard Cardijn speak while studying in Rome. Back in Adelaide, he was appointed diocesan chaplain before becoming bishop of Townsville in Queensland. During this period, he became the Australian bishops’ delegate for the YCW. Appointed archbishop of Adelaide, he became recognised as a progressive “Vatican II” bishop and promoter of the lay apostolate. In 1991, the Adelaide Archdiocese hosted the 6th International Council of the International YCW. Archbishop Len, who was also a personal friend, died on 6 May 2018.

1946: Thérèse Cornille launches the first Claire Amitié house for young female workers in difficulty.

1956: Former YCW leader, Fr Joseph Wresinski, who grew up in extreme poverty himself, was assigned to a camp at Noisy-le-Grand near Paris in 1956. He found 250 families living in appalling conditions - huts built on a muddy field with no basic amenities. It was here that he launched ATD Quart Monde, the movement for “the Third World living in the First World.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Movement_ATD_Fourth_World

1966: Death of Fr Louis-Joseph Lebret op, founder of the Jeunesse Maritime Chrétienne, a movement for young sailors, on 20 June 1966. Later, Fr Lebret became a specialist in world development and author of the first draft of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, Populorum Progressio

Bishop Manuel Larrain (left) with Cardijn

1966: Death in a car accident of Bishop Manuel Larrain on 22 June 1966. Bishop Larrain was a major promoter of the JOC and Specialised Catholic Action in Chile and one of the founders of the Latin American Bishops Council, CELAM.

1976: Martyrdom of Blessed Bishop Enrique Angelelli and his companions on 4 August 1976. Young Fr Angelelli had co-founded the JOC in Cordoba diocese along with Pepe Palacio, also martyred in December 1975. Bishop Angelelli was one of the original signatories of the Pact of the Catacombs and also the Pietralata Appeal in November 1965.

https://angelelli.josephcardijn.com

Movement anniversaries

1926: The first YCW group in France: In 1926, Fr Georges Guérin, a curate in the parish of St Vincent de Paul in the industrial Paris suburb of Clichy, launched the first JOC team in France.

1926: First national congress of the KAJ, the Flemish JOC: The Flemish-speaking YCW in Belgium held its first national congress on 29 September, 1926.

1926: Manuel de la JOCF: A new edition of the YCW Manual for the female movement (JOCF was published in 1926. This was the first edition of the Manual to provide a systematic explanation of therSee Judge Act.

1926: The family in modern life: Cardijn delivered a keynote speech at the Social Week for Universities at Leuven on the theme “The family in modern life.”

1951: First World Congress on Lay Apostolate, Rome, proposed by Pax Romana ICMICA leader, Vittorino Veronese, with Cardijn’s keynote address on “The world today and the lay apostolate,” later described by Brazilian Bishop Helder Camara as one of the most significant talks he ever heard.

https://www.josephcardijn.com/en/item/55

1956: The first Mondragon worker cooperative, ULGOR, was founded by Fr Jose Maria Arizmendiarrietta and several young workers.

https://www.josephcardijn.com/en/item/213

https://www.mondragon-corporation.com/en/about-us/

1966: Cardijn’s last trip to Asia and the Pacific: This was a controversial trip as Cardijn found himself declared persona non grata in South Vietnam as a result of his support for the peace movement and against the Vietnam War.

He also visited Australia, where one of his talks was recorded and is now available online.

https://www.josephcardijn.com/en/item/3077

https://www.josephcardijn.com/en/item/938

1976: “Priests for the Third World Movement” founded in Argentina by JEC (YCS) chaplain, Carlos Mugica, JOC (YCW) chaplain Lucio Gera and others was closed down by the Argentine military during the “Dirty War.”

1986: Split in the International YCW, establishment of the ICYCW and recognition by the Holy See. This is one of the more tragic movement anniversaries marking forty years of division among YCW movements, deeply contrary to Cardijn’s own vision for the movement.

Stefan Gigacz

Cardijn Research

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