 Introduction Ludovicus Hubertus Rutten was born in Maastricht, on December 8, 1809, and was baptized on the following day. His father had a brewery and was quite wealthy. Lodovicus lost his mother on April 16th,1816 when he was only 7 years old. He was brought up, along with his seven siblings by his grand-mother Maria Lousberchs. After having some doubts about his vocation, finally he decided to study in a seminary in order to become a priest. He was ordained a priest on March 25, 1837, and then worked for the poor and neglected children in Maastricht, the Netherlands. On November 21,1840 he founded a congregation of religious brothers. In this way he could continue with his ideal, namely, working for the poor. Brothers FIC, are in fact the faithful followers of him. Reflection 1) Every time I reflect on the life of Mgr. Rutten, spontaneously I remember what Jesus said in the Gospel of Mark when a rich young man was approaching him and asked him this question: “Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”, and Jesus replied: “You know the commandments: you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery…etc”. And the young man said that he had kept all these commandments since his earliest days. So Jesus said to him: “young man, you need to do one more thing: go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; then come follow me” ( Mk. 10:21) In my imagination although Louis Rutten was a son from a rich family, he did not make use of the wealth of his parents for his personal gains but for the poor and for the neglected children in Maastricht. He spent a lot of money from his family to finance his projects for the poor. He left the luxurious life of the family to be able to serve the Kingdom by serving the people in need. Since the beginning, even before his ordination, he had a great desire to work for the mission. However due to his weakening health he finally decided to go back to Maastricht and educate poor children who belonged to the forgotten groups. After his ordination, with the blessing of Rev. Fr. Van de Ven, the President of the major seminary Herlaer, he went back to Maastricht and started right away the work for the poor. The obvious need at that moment was the fight against religious indifference among the poorest of the poor. 2) From his autobiography I can see clearly that Louis Rutten was able to recognize the signs of the times. In Maastricht, at that time, many children were neglected by their parents. Due to the growth modern industrialization in 18th century most parents were working day and night, leaving their children unattended. Rutten considered this situation as a call for him to do something good for the well-being of the children. He saw the real need of the children and then took actions accordingly. He recognized the call of God in the real situation of Maastricht. We, his followers, are also challenged to have an open eye, mind, and heart, to be able to recognize the need of the situation where we live and work, and then to take concrete actions accordingly. 3) Another aspect of Rutten’s life that strikes me very much is his strong faith in the divine providence and the protection of Mother Mary. In whatever steps he was taking, he always relied on the divine assistance. And Rutten really experienced the divine assistance in times of difficulties and uncertainties. He founded our congregation based also on the trust he put in divine providence and Mary’s protection. He strongly believed that God and Mother Mary never left him alone in his struggle to help the poor and needy. Hence, he never gave up or lost hope whenever he encountered difficulties and hindrances. Instead he always had courage to move forward in defending the poor for he believed that God and Mary are with him. Our Founder is really a man of God. We are proud of him. 4) We can also learn from him the way he worked for the poor. He did not work alone. He established so many contacts and collaboration with other people of good will. For him the most important thing to achieve was not his own pride and honor, but the well being of the poor. When the demands of the education for the poor kept growing, Louis Rutten asked Ursuline nuns to take care of the nursery schools for poor girls. In working for the poor Rutten was not seeking his own glory but God’s. He claimed himself as just a poor instrument, and that “all glory and honor is due to God, and that everything good he was doing was only the work of Providence”. Despite his success in helping the poor, he remained humble. 5) Finally, I am strongly touched by his faithfulness to his commitment; he remained faithful until the end. From 1870 this energetic priest developed a serious mental break-down, from which he never recovered until his death in 1891. I cannot imagine the suffering and bad feelings he might have had during that period of sickness. Despite all afflictions he had, he kept on corresponding with the General Superior who visited him regularly. To me this is a very touching and an important learning point from him. We learn how to be faithful to our commitment; being faithful until the end. He died in Tienen on December 16, 1891, and was buried in Maastricht his home town. Conclusion With a feeling of gratitude we, brothers FIC, commemorate the 200th year of the birth of our Founder, Mgr. Louis Rutten. We can learn a lot from his life, among others: his strong faith in Divine Providence, his sensitivity in reading the signs of the times, his strong commitment to work for the poor, his humility to do the work, his availability to work together with others, and his faithfulness to the commitment he made until the end of his life. We certainly are proud of him. We thank him for his exemplary life, and we thank God for giving us a good and committed founder. Br. Martinus Handoko |
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