Born in Lyon (France) in 1826, Antoine Chevrier came from a family of modest means. He entered the Saint Irénée seminary and was ordained priest for the diocese of Lyon in 1850. Sent then as vicar to the parish of S. André de la Guillotière, in a poor and working-class district of Lyon, he discovered poverty there, in all its forms. He will remain forever marked by it.
During Christmas night 1856, while praying in front of the nativity scene, he felt called to follow Jesus as closely as possible in his love for men, through poverty, humility and renunciation. He then decided to leave everything and live as poorly as possible. He felt the need to be reinforced in this particular vocation. In January 1857 he consulted with Saint John-Baptiste-Marie Vianney (1786-1859) on his mission. The Curé of Ars strongly encouraged him.
In 1857, he joined C. Rambaud who had just founded a workers’ town to accommodate the victims of the catastrophic floods of 1856. Father Chevrier then devoted himself to the religious education of children and young people in this city.
In 1859 he became a professed member of the Third Order of Saint Francis.
In 1860, he bought a huge dance hall, called “le Prado” at La Guillotière, in which he already built a chapel. He welcomed poor young adolescents from the neighborhood there to teach them and, above all, to catechize them; thus, was born the work of the Prado. For him: “evangelizing the poor was the great mission of Jesus Christ on earth”. As he refused to let children work, it was mainly poor people who helped him run this institution; workers from the Croix Rousse in Lyon, put a little money aside each week for the children of Father Chevrier.
In 1866, he founded a “clerical school” at the Prado to train priests who “understand and know the poor”. This gave rise to the Association of Prado Priests which, after his death, experienced great growth. He wrote for them, shortly before his death, “The true disciple or the priest according to the Gospel”, where he brings together his thoughts on the priesthood and the training of priests. “The priest is a stripped man, the priest is a crucified man, the priest is an eaten man,” he remarks.
He died of exhaustion and illness on October 2, 1879. Thousands of poor people and workers from La Guillotière accompanied him to his final resting place. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1986 in Lyon.
The feast day of Blessed Antoine Chevrier is celebrated on October 2.
Sources:
https://www.arsnet.org/en/ars-great-witnesses/father-antoine-chevrier/