Father Jean Stern, M.S., born March 12, 1927, fled with his family from the Nazi advance. He lived through the deportation of both his parents. The young man of 15 years of age found himself in Isère, France, in the area of the La Salette Shrine; it was then that he discovered La Salette. His life is a beautiful illustration of the central message of this special place, namely, reconciliation. He has recently gone back to God.

 

The discovery of La Salette

 

Father Jean Stern explains his first experience at the Holy Mountain of La Salette in France:

 

“My discovery of La Salette: it was after my arrival in Grenoble, in 1942, that I learned about the pilgrimage. My first pilgrimage to the Shrine was in August of 1943, from August 17 to 19. At the beginning of September, I asked to enter the Apostolic School. Father Veillard, then rector of the Shrine and Provincial Superior, took me to St. Joseph’s (a house below the village of Corps) on Friday, September 10. The next day, Saturday, I went up (for the second time) to the Shrine, on foot of course, as in August, but this time in the company of (La Salette) Scholastics. I stayed at the Shrine until school started (in the second grade).”

 

 

The loss of his parents

 

Jean Stern was then 15 years old. He had just experienced the horror of Nazi barbarism. He was born in Austria, into a Jewish family of Czech origin, not practicing. When Hitler's Germany invaded Austria, his family left Central Europe and settled in Paris. The first anti-Jewish laws were soon implemented.

 

From June 1942, they had to wear the yellow star or badge. His father was arrested on May 14, 1941, and deported to Auschwitz at the end of June 1942, where he died in August, most likely gassed.

 

 

In July, the Vel d'Hiv roundup took place in Paris. Jean's mother fled again, with her son, to the unoccupied zone and found refuge near Grenoble thanks to friends. They were soon arrested on August 26 and taken to a sorting camp near Lyon, in Vénissieux. Young people under 16 years of age were released, which was the case for Jean. On the other hand, his mother was taken to Drancy, then deported, and he never saw her again.

 

His Seminary days

 

Jean was taken in by a Catholic school, the College of Rondeau-Montfleury. “Once, the gendarmes came to get me. The Superior told them: Certainly not! They left saying: “It's okay, we didn't see anything...” But in September 1943, with the arrival of the Germans replacing the Italians as occupiers, the situation became really too dangerous. I took advantage of this to enter the Seminary (in the second year) with the Missionaries of La Salette, under an assumed name, but the people in charge knew my identity. I was ordained a priest ten years later, in 1953.

 

What about his life of faith?

 

 On the religious level, Jean's journey is just as original. He explains: “My parents were non-practicing Jews. Religious education was obligatory in Austria, so I followed the Jewish catechism in elementary school. I remember it very well and what I learned there continues to be the basis of my religion, namely: there is only one God, who created the world; he gave commandments (which are not arbitrary, but express what is morally good); he elected Abraham and he made a covenant with Israel.

 

“I wanted to become a practicing Jew. My poor mother, who had little religious training, wanted to have me baptized to save me. Hence her answer: ‘First you will learn the Christian Catechism, and then you can become a practicing Jew.” I did indeed become a practicing Jew, but only after having learned, thanks to the Christian Catechism, that Jesus is our Messiah.

 

“I was baptized in March 1941, and the desire to become a priest came to me a few months later, even before I left Paris. I felt really Catholic; I wanted to become a priest. My mother didn't really agree, but I think that today she is happy.”

 

A busy intellectual life

 

Father Stern taught English in a La Salette Minor Seminary for thirteen years and then served as Archivist for the Congregation of the Missionaries of La Salette in Rome for 31 years. But he was always an intellectual with a passion for history and spirituality and became a Doctor of Theology. He published works in various fields and is considered an expert in La Salette Studies, and John Henry Newman.

 

First of all, John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) was the subject of his theology thesis, under the direction of Father Henri de Lubac, S.J. (1896-1991). It was published in 1967, under the title, Bible and Tradition in Newman: The Origins of history and its Development (in French: Bible et tradition chez Newman: Aux origines de la théorie du développement)

 

Another subject that he treated extensively in his writings was the apparition and the message of La Salette, with several works (1) that are authoritative and promote a need for discernment in a field that sometimes gives rise to aberrations. These tend to divert attention from the reality at the heart of this message, namely Christ, our Savior.

 

He has studied the link between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant in several books and articles, including John Paul II and the Mystery of Israel (Parole et Silence, 2015), Le lien entre catholicisme et Israël d'après le Cardinal Henri de Lubac (L'Harmattan, 2019). The new Covenant does not render the old one null and void but fulfills it in fullness. This is an important topic for someone who has experienced in his own flesh the drama of anti-Semitism, supported at times by members of the Catholic Church.

 

Today, Father Stern is 96 years old. He is the chaplain of a community of sisters of Notre-Dame de la Salette in Gières, near Grenoble. This priest, passionate about history and theology, is always motivated by various projects. From his journey, deeply marked by the Nazi horror, he keeps no resentment, no hatred. Forgiveness, which does not include forgetting, is fundamental for him, faithful in this to the fact that La Salette is centered on reconciliation.

 

Partial Bibliography by Fr. Jean Stern, M.S.:

 

·         Bible et tradition chez Newman, aux origines de la théorie du développement ; 12 editions published between 1966 and 1967 in French

·         La Salette : documents authentiques : dossier chronologique intégral; 7 editions published in 1980 in French

·         Le curé d'Ars et le message authentique de La Salette : la préhistoire des pseudo-secrets ; 5 editions published in 2018 in French

·         L'apparition de la Vierge Marie à la Salette, dans les Alpes eut lieu le 19 septembre 1846. (This work presents the experience of one of the witnesses of the apparition and the position of Pope Pius IX on the “secrets” of La Salette. Fr. Stern also deals with the question of salvation and divine mercy, based on a teaching given by Bishop de Bruillard, the bishop of Grenoble at the time of the apparition.)

·         Le lien entre catholicisme et Israël d'après le cardinal Henri de Lubac ; 5 editions published in 2019 in French and English

·         Notre-Dame de La Salette et son message authentique : un discernement amorcé par le saint curé d'Ars ; 4 editions published in 2020 in French and English

·         La Salette, bibliographie ; 3 editions published in 1975 in French

·         Bible et tradition pour Newman anglican : aux origines de la théorie du développement ; 5 editions published in 1965 in French

·         Maksymin i Melania : pasterze z La Salette ; 6 editions published between 1993 and 2017 in Polish

·         Maximin et Mélanie, les bergers de la Salette ; 5 editions published between 1980 and 1987 in French

·         Jean-Paul II et le mystère d'Israël ; 3 editions published in 2015 in French

·         Philibert de Bruillard - L'Eveque de Grenoble ; published in French in 2010.

 

(Reprinted with permission of the La Salette publication, Les Annales, August, 2022, pgs. 14-15, translated and edited)