YCW and YCS martyrs beatified at Notre Dame

Twenty YCW and YCS leaders, chaplains and seminarians were beatified alongside a group of Scouts and Catholic Action chaplains at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, on Saturday 13 December 2025 (video above).

During the celebration, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, himself a former YCW and YCS chaplain, read the apostolic letter on behalf of the Holy Father.

Apostolic Letter

To grant the wishes of Our Brother,
Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline,
Metropolitan Archbishop of Marseille and
President of the Conference of Bishops of France,
those of many other Brothers in the Episcopate
, and those of many faithful,
after consulting the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints,
We decide, by Our Apostolic Authority,
that the Venerable Servants of God

Raymond Cayré , diocesan priest,
Gérard Martin Cendrier , professed religious of the Order of Friars Minor,
Roger Vallée , seminarian,
Jean Mestre , faithful layman,
and their forty-six companions, martyrs,
who did not fear to offer their own lives even to the shedding of blood,
to bring witness to the consolation and comfort of the Gospel,

may they henceforth be called Blessed , and may they be celebrated
on May 5th of each year in the places and according to the norms established by law. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Given at Rome, near St. Peter’s, on November 11,
in memory of Saint Martin of Tours, bishop,

in the Holy Year 2025,
the first of Our Pontificate.

Leo PP. XIV

Below is a list of the YCW and YCS leaders with links to brief biographies

YCW leaders

Jean Lépicier (1921-1945), died at Buchenwald;

Bernard Lemaire (1920-1944), died of typhus at Buchenwald;

Maurice Grandet (1920-1944), died of typhus at Buchenwald;

René Ponsin (1923-1945), died at Buchenwald;

Claude-Colbert Lebeau (1922-1945), died at Zöschen;

Jean Chavet (1922-1945), died of typhus at Mauthausen;

André Parsy (1922-1944), interned at Zöschen, died at Trebitz;

André Vallée (1919-1945), died at Flossenbürg;

Henri Marrannes (1923-1945), died in Zwickau;

Louis Pourtois (1919-1945), died in Mauthausen; Camille Millet (1922-1945), died in Flossenbürg;

Marcel Carrier (1922-1945), died in Neustadt during the “death march”;

Alfredo Dall’Oglio (1921-1944), Italian naturalised French, died in Wuhlheide;

Marcel Touquet (1914-1945), died in Ravensbrück;

Lucien Croci (1919-1945), died in Barth;

Jean Mestre (1924-1944), died shortly after his arrest;

Jean Perriolat (1920-1945), died in Mauthausen;

René Rouzé (1922-1945), died in Dora-Mittelbau;

Henri Euzenat (1920-1945), who died at Dachau;

Eugène Lemoine (1920-1945) (also a Scout), died at Zöschen;

Bernard Morizot (1924-1945) (also a Scout), interned at Buchenwald and shot.

YCS leaders

Jean Préhu (1920-1945), YCS lay leader (and Scout), died at Dachau.

So too did YCS leader, Jean Chavet, who was also a YCW leader (see above)

Priests

René Giraudet (1907-1945), interned at Bergen-Belsen, sick with typhus, died in Paris;

Victor Dillard (1897-1945), who died at the Dachau concentration camp;

Louis Doumain (1920-1944), died at the Zöschen concentration camp;

Pierre de Porcaro (1904-1945), who died at the Dachau concentration camp.

Jocist seminarians

Roger Vallée (1920-1944), who died at Mauthausen;

Jean Tinturier (1921-1945), who died at Mauthausen.

Martyrs of the YCW and YCS (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)