It is important to understand the time period in which Father Pierre Jean Antoine Gailhac was born. The outbreak of the French Revolution began in 1789. The Napoleonic Wars took place between 1802 through 1815. Father Gailhac was born November 13, 1802, in Beziers France. From a young age he was drawn to those marginalized by society, the poor, sick and imprisoned. He was ordained in 1826 at a seminary in Montpellier and began working as a chaplain in the hospital in Beziers in 1830. In 1832 a cholera epidemic struck Beziers and Fr Gailhac worked side by side with the nuns to nurse patients. In 1834 Fr Gailhac heard confessions of several women while serving as a chaplain in the Beziers hospital. He realized that through no fault of theirs they had to be employed as prostitutes--Beziers was both a port and a military garrison. He knew that these women needed help to change their lives so he founded a safe shelter for them with the financial help of Appollonie Cure. On November 29, 1834 he opened the House of the Good Shepard. As news of his kind and generous nature spread women started bringing Fr Gailac children for whom they could not longer care so an orphanage was formed in part of the building being used to house women.
Eugene and Apollonie Cure became very good friends with Father Gailhac and often financially supported his endeavors. By 1848 there were 80 boarders throughout his house for women and the orphanage. At this time there was need to expand services to include older girls who were leaning toward conduct unbecoming of girls at that age. Father Gailhac established a separate home for these girls. Again, Eurgene and Apollonie encourage their friend on this new venture.
Suddenly in November, 1848 Eugene Cure suffered a stroke and died. The ramifications of his death and the future of Appollonie Cure and the future of the works begun by Father Gailhac can be found under the Appollonie Cure tab at the top of this libguide
All his life Father Gailhac worked tirelessly to ministered to everyone around him. He added a boys' orphanage, was the formation director for the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, the order he founded with Appollonie Cure, and suffered through vicious rumors concerning his work. By the age of 88 he was so frail he could no longer get out of bed. Father Gailhac passed away on January 25, 1890.
Black-and-white image of Father Gailhac
“From the most tender years of my youth, God filled me with a sacred fire” (1878).
