“Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References”

ABEL, BROTHER: Jean Etienne Dumas, born in 1799 in the parish of , district of Pélussin, , to Antoine Dumas and Marguerite Melier. He entered the novitiate of N.- D. de I’Hermitage on 25th September 1824, and received the habit on 3rd April 1825. He probably spent the rest of that year studying at the Hermitage. In 1826, we find him among the assistant teachers at Saint-Paul-en-Jarret, with Bro. Bernardin and Bro. Benjamin (AFA, 2 14.64.2). We do not know how long he remained there. What we do know is that alter the death of Bro. Bernardin, in 1830, the latter was replaced by Bro. Louis, who found Bros. Xavier and Benjamin already there (AFA, 214.93.10). Bro. Abel had therefore left, perhaps during the 1829 vacation, since at that time he replaced Bro. Antoine as director in Saint-Symphorien-le-Château, “where he remained until 1836, despite the many difficulties which were created for him” (AFA, 2 14.93.10). In fact, according to L. 123, Bro. Avit has his date wrong, since Bro. Abel must have left that assignment in 1835, when he left the Institute. He then proceeded to open a public school right there in Saint-Symphorien. The principal citizens, with the parish priest at their head, felt that one school in the area was quite enough. They suggested a competition between the brothers and Dumas, announcing that they would keep the winner as the one and only official teacher. Bro. Liguori, the cook, took the tests with Dumas, and won, so the latter had to leave town. He moved to Vaugneray (cf. AFA, 214.93.31). (REFERENCES, p. 036)

ADELPHE, BROTHER: Philippe Esscrtier, born in Saint-Cassien, Isère, on 11th November 1808, to Pierre Essertier and Sophie Marthel. He entered the novitiate at the Hermitage on 15th January 1837, at the age of 28, and received the habit there on 3rd April 1837 (RV, 1, 69, 3° on the list). it seems he spent the 1838-1839 school year studying. The 1839 assignment list places him at Saint-Paul-en-Jarret with Bros. Xavier, Dalmace and Didime, even though Bro. Avit does not mention him in the annals of that school. Since we have no other assignment lists until 1846, there is no further trace of him. The fact that in 1843, Jean Louis Chadoud received the habit under the name of Bro. Adeiphe, shows that Philippe Essertier had left the Institute by that time, but we have no way of specifying the date when he did so. (REFERENCES, p. 036)

ADRIEN, BROTHER: Antoine Vernet, born in Cogny, in the arrondissement of Villefranche-sur-Saône, on 4th February 1810. to Antoine Vernet and Françoise Dugelet. He entered the novitiate at the Hermitage on 30th October 1836 at the age of 27 and received the habit on 3rd April 1837 (RV, 1,55). He made temporary vows on 9th October 1837, and perpetual vows on 10th October 1838 (RVP, 1 30). His teaching career was short but varied, apparently because of his lack of ability. Here is what Bro. Barthélemy, his director at Saint-Symphorien-d’Ozon, had to say about him when writing to Fr. Champagnat on 16th March 1840: “I have no complaints whatever about Bro. Adnen; he has done and still does all he can. But his lack of education, his lack of experience, and the great difficulty he has in speaking, really make it impossible for him to succeed in a place as difficult as this. I have personally profited from having this good brother, but on the other hand, his class has lost a great deal. I am surprised that I was given an assistant so incapable of teaching; if I had not trained him a bit and taught him how to make the children read the chart, how to use the signal, etc his children would not have done any better than those in St-Sauveur last year. “I was not there when he took the examination during the last vacation, for I assure you that if I had seen for

prefeng-letter.doc 1 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” myself his [lack of] knowledge and his difficulty in expressing himself, you would have really had to beg me to take him. For the rest, I am very pleased with him; he is a very good boy and would do very well at some kind of manual work or cooking, or even teaching someplace less difficult than this, provided that he be given a bit more training. He very much wants to educate himself, seeing that all he knows is what is absolutely necessary for him personally” (AFM, 121.12). We can see from this quotation that the young brothers studied during their vacations, and that their elders, especially the brothers directors, gave them examinations. We also see that in 1839, Bro. Adrien was in Saint-Saveur-en-Rue, which was no doubt his first assignment after a year of study at the Hermitage after his novitiate. The 1839 assignments (AFM, 139.5) list him in Peaugres; this is confirmed by Bro. Avit, who states in the annals of that establishment (AFA, 2 13.35.7), “Father assigned Bros. Sébastien and Adrien here”. He certainly did not stay there very long, since we find him in Saint-Symphorien d’Ozon in March 1840. We have no way of knowing how long he stayed there, nor what happened to him afterwards, since there is no further trace of him. Obviously, he left the Institute, but it is impossible to give even an approximate date for his departure. (REFERENCES, pp. 036-037)

ALEXANDRE, BROTHER: Louis Barthélemy Soyères, born in Ampuis, Rhône, on 7th November 1811, to Guillaume Soyères and Thérèse Dervieux. Entered the novitiate at the Hermitage at 18, on 1st September 1826, and received the habit on 15th August 1827. On 8th September 1828 he made temporary vows for three years and renewed them on 12th October 1834 (RVT, 1,8,9,26). He made perpetual profession, first privately on 29th September 1835, then We have no way of knowing exactly when he began his teaching career. On the assignment list for 1834 or 1835, he appears in Valbenoite with Brothers Benoît, Lucien, Hilaire and Joseph-Marie. It is during this period that we find a notation in one of Fr. Champagnat’s notebooks (AFM, 132.4, P. 33) to the effect that “Bro. Alexandre is becoming familiar with one of the children”. That did not prevent his beginning a long career as director in November 1837. According to Bro. Avit (AFA, 211.33), “Bro. Alexandre came to La Voulte, Ardèche, [in November 1837] as its first director; he was superior of this house for three years”, which brings us to November 1840. Speaking about Saint-Nizier in , Bro. Avit states that, “The first director was replaced by Bro. Alexandre, who soon became sick with worry and did not stay long”; he then adds that, “Bro. Louis-Bernardin replaced him from September 1840 to March 1841” (AFA, 2 14.48.7). We can see that our annalist did not double-check the dates when this brother began his various assignments, but we have no reason not to believe that he was in all three places. It appears that he even returned to Saint-Nizier from March 1841 to September 1846, for in the same annals, for that period, Bro. Avit again speaks of him and says, “He was too timid to stand up to the administrative council”. At the beginning of the 1846 school year, he must have replaced Bro. Paulin in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, Isère, since we find him there in January 1847, with Bro. Osée in charge of the upper class, with 56 students, while he taught the lower class, which had 81 children. The following year, 1847-1848, he took over the upper class and Bro. Gilbert replaced him in the lower (AFA, 2 14.89.7). After the retreat of 1848, he handed over his post to Bro. Vital, and went to replace Bro. Vincent in Semur-en-Brionnais. At this point, Bro. Avit offers some reflections on this brother: “A very good religious, fairly capable, but too diffident, even naive, Bro. Alexandre did not know how to give all he

prefeng-letter.doc 2 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” had. Neither his speech nor his appearance was enough to inspire confidence in superficial outsiders, nor even in his students. Discipline in the classes was weak, which limited their progress. Some people who doubted that he knew very much put him to the test: they got a carpenter to ask him the volume of a pile of wood with the bark still on; since a surveyor came up with a different answer from Bro. Alexandre’s, the latter was taken for an ignoramus. He may have been right, but he did not know how to assert himself, and he had to be replaced in class. He was given Bros. Alcibiade and Thibaud as teachers, and they did well.... Bro. Alexandre remained in Semur as director and did the cooking. He was a model among the first directors of the Institute from the point of view of economy, and it was needed” (AFA 2 12.48.12). During his twenty years as director in Semur, the average salary for three Brothers was 1,315 francs (about $ US 263). “They say that in order to save money when he made coffee, which was rare enough, Bro. Alexandre used to pour boiling water over old coffee grounds, which lasted a long time. He was very timid and did not dare stick his nose outdoors after dark.... The other Brothers played all sorts of tricks on him on that score...” (Story of the clock, AFA, 212.48.12.13). Baron De Semur did not care for Bro. Alexandre, whom he found too simple and too old. Fr. Laniotte, the parish priest, thought him a good religious, but more of a hindrance than a help to the school. He presumed that he obstructed the expansion of the school program. In point of fact, Bro. Alexandre did not like anything new. He thought that there was not enough emphasis in the two classes on catechism and piety, and there was sometnith to that. None the less, he had to be replaced at the 1869 vacation by Bro. Appélis who “died so tragically in the English Channel” (1881) (AFA, 212.48.13). After Semur, Bro. Alexandre was sent to Péage-de-Roussillon. Bro. Avit tells us that, “On 13th May 1870, Bros. Bertrand, Achiléus and Alexandre were new there. Bro. Achiléus was second in command, and prefect, while good old Alexandre was infirmarian”. He does not appear on the list for this establishment in 1872, and his file card mentions his being retired at St-Genis-Laval, where he died on 29th August 1879 (cf. Circ., VI, 223). (REFERENCES, pp. 037-039)

ALPHONSE, BROTHER: Jean Verchère, born in 1809 in Cours, Rhône, to Jean Verchère and Marie Poizat. He entered the novitiate at the Hermitage on 31st October 1832. and received the habit on 2nd February 1833. The following 15th August, he made temporary profession for two months. He must have been sent to Mornant shortly after, since Fr. Champagnat wrote to him there (L. 31) on 3rd November 1833, in reply to one of his letters. He made temporary vows again on 15th October 1834, this time for six months. The 1834-1835 assignment list places him in Saint-Paul-en-Jarret. After that he does not appear again on any vow list. Since Fabien Guyonnet received the habit and the name of Bro. Alphonse on 9th October 1837, we presume that Jean Verchère had left sometime between 1834 and then. (REFERENCES, p. 039)

ALYPIUS. BROTHER: Jean-Baptiste Delorme, born in Saint-Laurent d’Agny, Rhône, on 19th July 1817, to Jean-Antoine Delorme and Pierrette-Rose Renard. He is the brother of Jean-Marie Delorme who was already in the congregation under the name of Bro. Marie-Nizier. As he had for Jean-Marie, a benefactor, Mr. Jean Brosse, paid for his novi- tiate, which he began on 2nd July 1835 at the age of sixteen. Less than six months later, on 20th December, he received the religious habit. On 10th October 1836, he made public temporary vows for three years (RVT, 1, p. 65). He most likely spent the 1836-37

prefeng-letter.doc 3 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” school year studying at the Hermitage. According to L. 175, on 7th March 1838. he was in , where he must have gone at the beginning of the 1837 school year. It is possible that after the 1838 vacation, the superior removed him at his request (or so it appears from the letter), but we do not know to what school he was then assigned. He does not appear on the 1839 assignments, nor on any subsequent list. In the register of those entering, there is a marginal note next to his name: “Left on 4th February 1844; 100 francs refunded” (RE, 1, p. 47). (REFERENCES, pp. 039-040).

AMON, BROTHER: Claude Duperron, was born in 1811, in Chauffailles, Saône-et- Loire, to Michel Duperron and Françoise Thivin. On 22nd September 1837, at the age of 26, he entered the novitiate at the Herrnitage, where he received the habit and the name of Bro. Amon, on 1st January 1838 (RV, 1, 76). He made perpetual profession on 10th October 1838 (RVP, 1, 30), so we may presume he never made temporary vows. He may well have spent the 183 8-39 school year studying at the Hermitage, since we do not find him listed anywhere else. The 1839 assignments (AFM, 137.5) mention him as being in Lyons without any further precision. It would not be too far-fetched to think he was receiving special formation before leaving for the missions. In any case, the circular of 4th February 1840 (L. 318) mentions him among the missionaries “who will leave for New Zealand from the port of Brest early this month”. They sailed on the 12th, but unfortunately, Bro. Amon was not with them when they reached their destination, since he left the Institute at a port of call en route. (REFERENCES, p. 040).

ANACLET, BROTHER: (1788-1838) Superior General of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Claude Louis Constantin was born on 8th January 1788 in the district of Champagnole, Jura, to Charles Melchior Constantin and Claudine Charlotte Romand, who were peasants from the Franche-Comté region. Mr. Mornier, who had at one time been a seminarian in minor orders and later became the village schoolmaster, realized that this boy was gifted and began to teach him Latin. Later on he recommended him to Mr. Bacoffe, [perhaps a “secularized” brother] who was recruiting for the congregation of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. On 23rd July 1805, Louis Constantin persuaded his father to take him to Lyons, because he had learned that several of the brothers (who had had to disband because of the Revolution) had formed a community in that city and he wanted to join them, even though some professed brothers at the time found the uncertainty of the future sufficient justification for delaying their re-entry into religious life. Bro. Anaclet was placed in charge in St-Etienne, St-Chamond, Alencon, and at the school on lie St-Louis in Paris; he was responsible for many students and teachers who were his own age or older. On 15th September 1813, he made his perpetual profession in Lyons, before Bro. Gerbaud, Superior General. In 1822, he became third assistant to Bro. Guillaume de Jesus, whom he succeeded in 1830, just as he was turning 43. He had four assistants: Bros. Eioi (Louis Lafargue), Philippe (Matthieu Bransiet), Abdon (Abdon Lennen Dangien) and Jean-Chrysostome (Jean-Claude Rotival). During his generalship the Institute opened houses in Italy and Canada, 84 establishments in all. The number of brothers increased from 1400 to 2100. When he was re-elected Superior General on 10th July 1834, he said, “Let us strive to remain faithful to the spirit of our Founder, which is a spirit of humility, simplicity and obedience”. In 1835, during his administration, there took place the official recognition of the remains of the Founder. During the summer of 1838, he made a long visit to the houses in ; he returned to

prefeng-letter.doc 4 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” the motherhouse on 29th August. The next day he felt feverish and went to bed; the doctor diagnosed an inflammation of the liver, from which he died during the night of oth- 7th September 1838. He was buried the following Saturday in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, in a grave bought for him. He was 50 years of age, and had spent 35 years in community, 25 under vows, and 8 as Superior General. (AFEC, Relations mortuaires, Dossier Fr. Anaclet, EE, 276, dossier 19). (REFERENCES, p. 041)

ANACLET, BROTHER: Etienne Chaverondier, born 2nd November 1810 in , Loire, to BenoIt Chaverondier and Benoîte Brossier. He was admitted to the Hermitage on 9th September 1837 at the age of 26, and received the habit there on 29th October 1837. A year later, on 10th October 1838, he made the one and only profession of his life, by perpetual vows (RVP, 1, 30). He immediately went to his assignment as assistant teacher in Saint-Didier-sur-Rochefort, Loire. According to his file, he was at La Côte- Saint-André in October 1839, but he is not mentioned in the annals of that school. From 1840 to 1845, the records show him in Carvin, which is confirmed by the letters we have from Bro. Theodore to the superiors. At first he taught there, and then, after a serious illness, he did the cooking. The letters also tell us that the brothers’ life at that school was very hard. Bro. Martin also fell seriously ill, and the brothers were all overworked. Bro. Anaclet, still according to his file, was transferred to Quesnoy-sur-Deule from January 1846 to September 1851, and then to Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise until September 1859, but we have no other records to confirm that information. It appears from the record that he retired to Beaucamps in 1859. He served there as porter until his death on 17th January 1883. (REFERENCES, p. 040).

ANDEOL, BROTHER: Annet Blanc, born in 1812 in Sury-le-Comtal, Loire, to Gaspar Blanc and Catherine Rolan. He entered the novitiate of N.-D. de l’Hermitage on 5th November 1836 at the age of 24, after having spent a few months in the seminary. He received the habit on 3rd January 1817, made temporary vows for three years on 19th October of that year, and perpetual profession on 10th October the following year. In November 1838 we find him in St-Julien-Molhesabate (AFA, 213.85.8), where he stayed until November 1840 (AFM, 137.5). He is listed as having left the Institute in 1849, a date we accept for lack of proof to the contrary. His brother was Fr, Blanc, assistant parish priest of Saint-Galmier (see below under BLANC, and also L. 108). (REFERENCES, pp. 041-042).

ANDRE, JEAN-CLAUDE: Parish priest of Saint-Julien-de-Cray, born 17th December 1794, in Coublanc, Saône-et-Loire. We do not know the date of his ordination, but we do know that in 1821, he was named curate in La Guiche. Afterwards, he served successively in the parishes of Saint-Martin-de-Salencay, from 1825 to 1827; Saint- Juliende-Cray, until 1854; and finally, Jonzy. He died on 11th August 1874 (Information obtained from the archives of the diocese of Autun, in a letter of 14th May 1982). His contact with Fr. Champagnat was limited to a single letter in the beginning of 1840, in which he requested brothers for his parish. On 22nd March of that year, the Founder replied that he could not satisfy his request just yet, and urged him to ask the sub- prefect to be patient also (L. 314). (REFERENCES, p. 042).

ANDRONIC, BROTHER: Jean Antoine Jeury, born in Pélussin, Loire, in 1815, to

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Antoine Jeury and Marie Durand. He entered the Hermitage on 23rd December 1835; he there received the habit on 3rd July 1836 and pronounced public temporary vows on 10th October of the same year (RVT, 1, 65). Fr. Champagnat’s letter of 26th July 1837 to Fr. Mazelier (L. 122) informs us that he had just drawn number 98 in the draft lottery. He made perpetual profession on 9th October 1837. We have no information as to what he did between then and September 1838. He may have stayed at the Hermitage for a while as a teacher, and may also have replaced someone in Charlieu for a few months. At the beginning of the 1838 school year he replaced Bro. Pierre-Marie as director in Saint-Genest-Malifaux. According to Bro. Avit, “He stayed there only briefly and was then sent to the North” (AFA, 2 13.49.7). Specifically, on 16th August 1840, he replaced Bro. Jean-Baptiste as director in Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise. He remained there eighteen years, until September 1858, at which time he was named procurator in Beaucamps. In September 1862, he replaced Bro. Pémen in Braine-le-Comte, Belgium, and served as acting director under Bro. Theodore because of the latter’s poor health. Bro. Theodore was recalled to the Hermitage at the request of the parish priest, so that Bro. Andronic could become director in fact, but despite the priest’s insistence, Bro. Pémen was not sent back to that school. Bro. Andronic stayed there until October 1867 (AFA, 2 16.1.17), when he was named Visitor of the houses in the North of France, which function he carried out until September 1875. The director in Haubourdin, Bro. Vital, having fallen ill, Bro. Andronic took over his position temporarily. He had, to maintain and develop a new boarding school, and put up a suitable school building at the Institute’s expense. He made it his business to carry the projected construction of both the boarding section and the school to a successful and inexpensive conclusion. He had some knowledge of architecture, but he did not study the plans sufficiently and so under- estimated the cost of the work, which was suspended by order of the superiors. Bro. Andronic restudied the whole project, and the final result was the present building. We do not know how long he stayed in Haubourdin, but it was certainly not very long, since he died in Beaucamps on 8th September 1877 at the age of 62. He had spent 42 years in community, and 39 in vows. (Circulaires, V, pp. 490 if.). (REFERENCES, pp. 042- 043).

ANTHELME, BROTHER: Théodore-Marie Millot, born in , Loire, on 9th September 1817, the son of Jacques Millot and Marie Chavoin. On his mother’s side he was the nephew of Jeanne-Marie Chavoin, Mother Saint-Joseph, foundress of the Marist Sisters. She had taken on the position of housekeeper in the rectory of Cerdon where Pierre Colin was parish priest and his brother Jean-Claude was curate. She brought along two of her nephews, Theodore-Marie’s older brothers. In 1832, after having been brought up by his brother André, he joined his brother Jean-Marie, who had followed Fr. Colin to Belley (cf. OM, IV, pp. 312-315, 383). It had almost certainly been discovered that Theodore-Marie was not sufficiently gifted to study for the priesthood. That is why Fr. Colin thought of sending him to Fr. Champagnat, as he states in his letter of 4th September 1834: “I still intend to send you two of our brothers to make their novitiate with you and to receive the holy habit in your house. [Fr. Coste notes that the two in question would appear to be Jean-Baptiste Cartier and Theodore-Marie Millot.] It is time that these different brothers became centralized and attached to the brothers’ motherhouse. You know that my intention is that the Marist Brothers and the Joseph Brothers form one single group” (OM, doc. 322, III, p. 723). The name of Theodore-

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Marie Millot appears in the register of those entering the Hermitage, under date of 17th November 1834, at the age of sixteen. Fr. Champagnat added the note: “We will work it out with Fr. Superior in Belley” (AFM, RE, 1, 56). He received the habit on 11th January 1835, under the name of Bro. Anthelme (RV, 1, 34), and made private temporary vows on 28th May that year (RV, 1, 52); he renewed these vows publicly on 16th October 1836. After 1837, he no longer appears on the list of professed brothers. According to Fr. Jean Coste, he left the Society and “set himself up as a teacher in Saint-Victor-sur- Rhins, where he died on 29th March 1840” (OM, IV, p. 315). (REFERENCES, p. 043).

ANTOINE, BROTHER: Antoine Couturier, born on 18th June 1800, in La Valla-en-Gier, Loire. He entered the La Valla novitiate on 1st January 1818 and received the habit there on 15th August of that year, under the name of Bro. Antoine. On 11th October 1826. He made private perpetual vows, which he renewed publicly ten years later, on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, 28). He went with Bro. Louis to open the school in in 1818, and l remained there until its temporary closing in 1822. Bro. Jean-Baptiste tells us that the two brothers returned to La Valla; they certainly did not stay there, but we do not know where Bro. Antoine was stationed during 1823 and 1824. Was he the other brother who went with Bro. Jean-Marie (Granjon) to open the school in Saint- Symphorien-sur-Coise in 1823? That is a likely supposition on the basis of Bro. Avit's statement (that in November 1824, he replaced Bro. Jean-Marie as director of that school and stayed there until 1829 (AFA, 214.93, pp. 9-10). However, speaking of the house in Saint-Antoine, Bro. Avit also tells us that, "Alter having given Father Champagnat a great deal of trouble, Fr. Courveille came here [to Saint-Antoine] in 1826. He bought part of the abbey for about 60,000 francs. He tried to found a congregation of farming brothers there. Brothers Dominique and Antoine, who had followed him, soon left him and returned to the l’Hermitage...." (AFA. 214.71. 8 ) . Father Jean Coste, who cites this text, comments: "It was common knowledge in the Institute that Bro. Dominique had followed Fr. Courveille, since the circular announcing his death alluded clearly enough to some hesitation, which he was able to overcome because of his extraordinary affection for the Founder and his docility in following his advice. On the other hand, there is not a single document which mentions Bro. Antoine in connection with this incident; perhaps it was thought better to pass over in silence this temporary departure of one of Fr. Cllampagnat's very first brothers, and a native of La Valla itself to boot. Still, it is hard to see how he could have been mentioned in connection with the incident unless there were some foundation in fact. However, it must be noted, without attaching too much importance to such details, that Bro. Antoine did not receive a sum of money in October 1826, as did Bro. Dominique" (OM, III. doc. 859, pp. 822-823). In any case, it must be admitted that our annalist is far from consistent, since on the one hand he places Bro. Antoine in Saint-Symphorien from 1824 to 1829, and on the other, in Saint-Antoine in 1826. This does not help us to reconstruct the facts, unless our fugitive left during his stay in Saint-Symphorien and went back there after his return. Difficult though it may be to substantiate, it is not unthinkable that Fr. Champagnat would have wanted to show him in this way that his confidence in him was unshaken. The fact remains, none the less, that Bro. Avit's annals contain a number of approximations as can be seen again from the following. According to him, Bro. Antoine went to open the school in Millery in November 1829 with Bro. Gonzague. But according to the letter of 10th September 1830 (L. 17), it was Bro. Dominique who went with him,

prefeng-letter.doc 7 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” although it is true that Bro. Gonzague replaced the latter the following year, as we know from L. 20. Bro. Antoine seems to have given Millery all he had. He stayed there until 1840. with just one brief interruption: "It appears", the annals tell us, "that Bro. Antoine himself was replaced (at least for a few months), although we do not know in what year, by Bro. Jean-Baptiste.... It was probably during this period that he was sent to Bourg- Argental or fell seriously ill.... Once he had recovered his health, he returned to Millery " (AFA, 214.80.6, Life, 412-413). The letter of 4th February 1831 seems to confirm the event, which must therefore be situated at the end of 1830 and the beginning of 1831. Bro. Antoine "took very well" to Millery, as Bro. Avit also notes, and was very much loved by everyone. "The inhabitants spoke very highly of him long after his departure. One of his students was Bishop Thibaudier, the present [1883] bishop of Soissons His Grandeur has loud memories of him.... In 1830, the two [brothers] were enrolled in the National Guard, but they never showed up for drill, and nobody ever bothered about it." In these same annals, Bro. Antoine is described as "a perfect example of the excellent brothers formed by our venerated Founder. Simple, mortified, with unlimited devotedness, this good brother had not left the world only halfway. Like all the first brothers, he had little secular education, but he laid great stress on religious instruction and had a great love of poverty.... He wanted to enlarge his school. Even though the building was very narrow and not really suitable, he added a small boarding division to his private school. .." (AFA, 214.50, pp. 5-6). In September 1840, he definitively handed over the reins to Bro. Denis, and went to take over the school in Ampuis. The annals of that establishment do not give us many more details about the brother director, other than that, according to his own testimony, "The parish priest, as well as the other members of the committee have expressed their satisfaction [with him]", and that the remarks he made to his assistants in order to correct certain abuses, "were not heeded" (AFT, 214.3.13). The next pace of that document reports that, "Bro. Antoine was replaced in 1849 by Bro. Hilarion...” Later, however, someone decided to correct that statement by writing, "Bro. Antoine died here on 7th March 1851. He was replaced by Bro. Hilarion". According to the death certificate, the date and place are correct, but that does not necessarily mean he was not replaced as director in 1849, since he could have remained there as assistant during his two last years. It is true that after the above- quoted sentence, there is absolutely no further allusion to his presence; the annals speak only of Bro. Hilarion and of "his sub-director, ex-brother Arcade". But that does not exclude a possible third person on the scene, especially since in 1854, mention is made of the need for a fourth brother. In any case, as far as Bro. Antoine is concerned, we can be sure that he died with his boots on, on 7th March 1851, in Ampuis, where he is buried. (REFERENCES, pp. 44-46).

ANTOINE-REGIS, BROTHER: Jean-Antoine Raymond, born in 1820 in Peaugres, Ardèche, to Jean-Baptiste Raymond and Anne Riboulin, who were landowners. On 15th April 1835, he entered the novitiate at the Hermitage where he received the habit on 26th July. Two months later, on 24th September, he made private temporary vows for three years (RVT, 1, 53), and on 10th October 1836, public perpetual vows. We have no information about him during his first years in religious life, which he must have spent either studying at the Hermitage or as cook in one of the communities. He surfaces again in September 1839, when he is sent to open the school in Craponne-sur-Arzon, Haute-Loire, with Bros. Auguste, Aidant and Cyr. During his four years as director there,

prefeng-letter.doc 8 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” he wrote no less than 23 letters to his superiors. It was also during this period that he obtained his certificate of competence in Grenoble. “We do not know,” says Bro. Avit in his annals for this establishment, “what serious reasons led Bro. Antoine-Regis to leave Craponne, but the following letter tells us that he did so suddenly and unexpectedly, after a visit from Bro. François. [The letter] is dated 16th January 1844, and says in part: ‘The departure of Bro. Antoine-Regis really shocked me: the speed with which he packed his belongings leads me to suspect he does not intend to return. I seem to recall that he took with him a liter of liqueur; I have no doubt he intended to use it for some other purpose than as a gift for you. Since the last vacation period, he has spent a great deal of time studying secular subjects, especially mythology; he hid that book when you were around. He told us several times how much he regretted not having continued what he called his studies...” (AFA, 2 13.13.13). On that basis, he must have left Craponne towards the end of 1843. The superiors must not have been too surprised, since he had already asked them, on 19th December 1842, “to transfer his authority to Bro. Célestin”, a request he repeated in February 1843, “saying that he was unhappy with everything here and that he did not want to stay any longer even if he were nailed to the place” (ibid.). We have no idea what he did during 1844-45, at least until October of the latter year, when he went to open the school in Villeneuve-de-Berg, in Ardèche. In the annals of that house, we read, “Bro. Antoine-Regis was a superficial and pretentious man. He made it a point to flatter the primary-school inspector and treat him to good meals. That Functionary paid him back in kind and also obtained a bronze medal for him.... In September 1852, Bro. Isidore replaced him, since he had just been named Econome General of the Institute. He did not find in that position all the honors, perquisites and independence he had expected. Under the specious pretext that the Superior General opened the mail addressed to the Econome General, he left both the job and his vocation, in 1856, to drag out the rest of his life in the world, as ignored as he was pretentious (AFA, 21 1.81, pp. 9-10). (REFERENCES, pp. 046-047).

APOLLINAIRE, BROTHER: François Ginet, born 11th January 1814 in La Frette, Isère, to Matthieu Ginet and Anne Bouvard. He entered the Hermitage on 21st January 1832 and received the habit there the following 25th March. On 10th June of that same year he made temporary vows for three years, and renewed them for the same length of time on 12th October 1834. He made perpetual profession on 10th October 1836 (RVP, l,-25 and 26). In the interim, he had already had a taste of teaching. As we know from L. 38, he was in with Bro. Dominique, and had most likely been there since November 1833. Since he was eligible for conscription in 1834, he had doubtless drawn a number which obliged him to seven years of military service unless he could find someone else who was exempt but willing to enter the army in his place in return for a substantial sum of money. But neither he nor his parents nor the Institute could afford that. Since the Institute did not have legal authorization and he did not have his certificate of competence, it looked like nothing could save him from military service, which would have endangered his vocation. However, since there was still some time before his call-up, the Founder was able to find a solution which would prove very workable. He became acquainted with Fr. Mazelier, who was superior of a new congregation very much like the Little Brothers of Mary, but duly authorized. They soon reached an agreement: I will send you my men who are in danger of being drafted, and you will see to it that they get their certificate; meanwhile you can use them in your

prefeng-letter.doc 9 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” schools until they are definitively exempted. So it was that in 1835, Bro. Apollinaire found himself in the first group of four Marist Brothers to go to Saint-Paul-Trois- Châteaux. According to L. 68, he was there on 8th May 1836, but not on 23rd February 1837 (L. 95). Perhaps he had returned because of illness. He went back to Saint-Paul in the course of the year, but soon fell ill again, as we read in L. 128 of 6th August. Fr. Champagnat’s advice to him was that he have the doctor fill out a certificate, and have it countersigned by the mayor, to avoid any danger of his being picked up by the army, and then return to the Hermitage for rest and rehabilitation. That is probably what he did, although we have no proof as to the first point; still, the fact that he did not return to Saint-Paul shows that he was no longer in danger of being drafted. On the other hand, we know from LL. 141 and 147 that he left Saint-Paul and went to get some rest with his family in La Frette. There is every indication that during 1838 and 1839, Bro. Apollinaire stayed either at the Hermitage or in Marihes, trying to regain his health (LL. 275, 282). Bro. Avit thinks that in March 1838, he replaced Bro. Louis-Bernardin in Lorette (AFA, 2 13.28.3), but he may have the date wrong. If he had improved momentarily, why would Fr. Champagnat have sent him to a school, rather than to Saint-Paul to continue his studies and finally obtain his certificate? Besides, L. 282, of 20th October 1839, tells us that he spent most of that year at the Hermitage. Finally, we know that from the beginning of 1840, he was definitely in Lorette, since we have a certificate from Dr. Rimaud in Rive-de-Gier, countersigned by the mayor, Mr. Michel Robichon, under date of 14th January 1840 (AFM, 53 1.22.4; 539.10, APO). This certificate attests that Bro. Apollinaire suffered from recurrent dysentery, complicated in November and December 1839 by gastritis; it specifically states that he was a resident of Lorette. “After the 1840 retreat, Bros. Apollinaire, Jean, Modeste and one other took over [the school in Saint- Didier-surRochefort]”. The annals of that establishment, which we have just cited, devote several pages to the time of Bro. Apollinaire; the following extensive quotations will make us better acquainted with him. “It seems that Bro. Director was accused of attracting young boys to the house and playing forbidden games with them. When the Superior General wrote to reprimand him, Bro. Apollinaire [replied]: ‘...since All Saints, we have played marbles a few times with the children.... We played bowls with them only twice...but the youngsters never came. ..were never called to come play.... It is true that I bought a few cents’ worth of marbles which I sold to the children, but I realized myself that that was not proper, and I did not do it again. I assure you that in the future, we will be even more on our guard, since your letter will be a powerful motivation to keep us from falling into any faults in that area.... For even greater security, and so that you will not have to worry any further about this matter, since your worries would be ours, Bros. Jean and Modeste want to sign this letter to confirm its contents.... “Early in 1842, one of the houses in the town caught fire. In an instant, Bro. Apollinaire was at the scene and had climbed onto the burning roof with an axe. He was trying to save part of the roof, when he suddenly realized that he was surrounded by flames and that every escape route was cut off. His cassock had already caught fire. In the face of such imminent danger, instead of losing his head, he bravely jumped to the roof of another house across the Street. The event brought him great renown in the town and the surrounding area.... “Though he had little education, especially in mathematics, Bro. Apollinaire had a great deal of savoir-faire. He knew how to make a good appearance; he was often called on to speak, and did so quite well, with great self-assurance. His school thus rapidly acquired a good reputation. Thanks to the drinks and even the

prefeng-letter.doc 10 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” dinners he offered to Mr. Gonthard, the primary-school inspector, the latter did not spare the good marks.... Bro. Apollinaire was named Visitor after the 1844 retreat. His visits were easy enough. He asked few questions of the students, did not examine the accounts of the houses, seldom interviewed the brothers privately, and sent the superiors only a fairly vague report on several houses at once. He was very good at bowls” (AFA, 213.46). In 1846, he went to Vauban as bursar, to replace Fr. Rigotier, a diocesan priest who was going to enter the Marist Fathers’ novitiate. It was there that he had the serious accident recounted in the annals of that house. Sometime after Easter 1848, “while going to La Clayette in a carnage with his butcher, the latter was proudly urging on his horse, which took the bit in its teeth on a downgrade. Bro. Apollinaire was frightened and tried to jump, but he fell on a rock and fractured several limbs. He was picked up unconscious and carried to the presbytery in La Clayette, where he remained motionless for several days.... The accident left him an invalid for the rest of his life” (AFA, 212.54.12). It certainly took him more than a year to recover, but in October 1849, he went to Neuville-sur-Saône, where he ran the school for four years. His file next places him in Paris, in St. Augustine’s parish, at 26, rue de la Pépinière. Among the letters he sent to the superiors from there, eleven, written between 6th November 1853 and 30th April 1855, have been kept. In the first, he gives an account of the team’s arrival and shares his first impressions: “We arrived safely in Paris. The parish priest welcomed us with great joy, and after having breakfast at the presbytery, we went immediately to our own residence. We had dinner there. Rio. Marie-Jubin arrived that same evening....” After describing the buildings, and then his first unpleasant encounter with the parish priest, about finances, he adds: “I think it is going to be very difficult to get along well with Father. This priest, who seemed so kind and gentle, is certainly the most changeable, the most brash, and the most manipulative I have ever seen in my life; pardon the expression, but I have to use it to make myself understood...” In his second letter a month letter, on December 8th, he describes in five crowded pages how the Vicar General, having sent for him, received him coldly. He then launches into a violent diatribe — against the parish priest of Saint-Augustin; about how lonely the brothers feel in the capital; and about how punctilious the priest is about money, to the point of avarice. He concludes by giving his personal opinion: “You can understand that with all this grief and these problems the parish priest gives us, I simply cannot go to confession to him. So I hope you will not be displeased, and that you will give your approval, if I continue to go to kindly Fr. Desgenettes, the parish priest of N.-D. des Victoires, who was willing to receive me among the many penitents whom he directs with so much goodness and wisdom. “Today, the feast of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, I had the happiness of receiving Communion in the church of N.-D. des Victoires and even at the altar of the Blessed Virgin. I assure you that I prayed to her wholeheartedly to obtain for me from her dear son all the graces I need in my present situation. I recommended to her in a special way the success of our little establishment here in Paris, which was founded under her auspices and protection. I also prayed to her for the whole society in general and for you in particular. Believe me, I returned to my beloved solitude with a light and happy heart, determined to do all I can to see to it that our first establishment in the capital is a success, and to become, as you and I both desire, a really typical Brother of Mary. While awaiting your orders and a few words of encouragement and consolation, I ask you to accept He wrote again in the same vein on 5th January 1854: “Ever since you told me that you had to send brothers to

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Montataire, I thought several times of writing to tell you that you might do better to send us there and to drop immediately our establishment at St-Augustin which was unfortunately so poorly set up. No one sees any chance of our succeeding here, but at the same time, my self-love and my love for the society begin to stir and I say no; even if I have to leave here the rest of my bad leg and the good one too, this establishment must not collapse. It must go on, willy-nilly, even if I have to leave there several more inches of my height and even of my reputation, because I am convinced that if this establishment were entirely in our hands, and if you gave me a fairly free hand to build it up, I would not despair of being able to speedily set up a house which would run well and give a certain degree of satisfaction; in a word, a house which would be worthy of the Brothers of Mary”. His following letters also speak about the parish priest. On 30th April 1855, Bro. Apollinaire hints that discouragement is gaining on him. “I have done all I can to found and maintain the house you entrusted to me. Today I have run out of courage and strength. However, I hope that God and the Blessed Virgin will sustain me until the end. My conscience is at peace, I have nothing about which to reproach myself.... People may accuse me of whatever they want; I am in your hands, do with me whatever you want. I beg you to pray and to have prayers said for me. I recommended all these things yesterday evening to Our Lady of Victories, so I hope that Mary and you will come to the help of the most afflicted and most devoted of all your servants During the 1855 vacation, he went to Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise. An 1856 assignment list mentions him as bursar, even though his name does not appear in the annals of that house. In September 1859, he once again took over the direction of Saint-Didier-sur-Rochefort. Bro. Avit has him two years at that school, and says that Bro. Darius succeeded him in 1861 (AFA, 213.46, p. 13); but then in the annals of Perreux, he has him arriving in that establishment in 1860 to replace Bro. Gervais who had just left the Institute. We have no other document against which to check the facts. In any case, he stayed in Perreux until September 1866. He then spent eighteen months at the Hermitage, and in March 1868, he returned for the third time to direct the school in Saint-Didier-sur-Rochefort. “He was by then a much different person than he had been the first time, since his accident in La Clayette had left him an invalid. Along with directing the school, he was supposed to see to the supervision.... After Bro. Apollinaire came Bro. Kostka, who directed the school for six years” (AFA, 2 13.46.15). As can be seen, Bro. Avit does not give us specific dates, but since he tells us further on that Bro. Kostka left the school in 1876, we deduce that Bro. Apollinaire had handed the reins to him in 1870, when he retired permanently to the Hermitage, where he spent the last decade of his life. The Registre general des déces contains the notation that “Brother Apollinaire, né François Genet in La Frette, Isère, on 11th January 1814, died at N.-D. de l’Hermitage, Loire, on 17th September 1880, at the age of 66 years, 8 months and 6 days, having spent 48 years, 7 months and 24 days in community” (AD, 3, n. 894). (REFERENCES, pp. 047-051).

ARDAILLON, JACQUES MARIE: (1795-18..), iron-master in Saint-Chamond and Saint- Julien-en-Jarret, mayor of Saint-Chamond, general councilor, deputy for the Loire. He was born in Boulieu, in the Ardèche, on 7th March 1795, and married Flore Convince; they had three children: Paul-André, Valérie and Corrine. The Saint-Chamond census figures, which provided the above information, also mention a sixth name: “Françoise, retired, living on the income from her property”; she was probably a sister of Mr. Ardaillon who lived with his family in the Palermes quarter of Saint-Chamond. The fact

prefeng-letter.doc 12 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” that he was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1813, for outstanding bravery, shows that he entered Napoleon’s army as a young man, but we do not know his rank, nor what education he might have acquired beforehand. In 1820, he joined with Mr. Bessy in founding the iron-works in Saint-Julien-en-Jarret, Between 1825 and 1829, despite the rather disappointing results of the first blast-furnaces, they had two of them built on the Horme property, between the road and the Gier, near the outskirts of the town of Saint- Julien, and added a foundry to supply the iron-works (ADL, 57-1406-139, and Bulletin Industriel, 1841, vol. XVIII, p. 61). From that time on he began to add various political responsibilities to his professional activity. On 14th September 1830 he was named mayor of Saint-Chamond, which office he held without interruption until 1848. On 5th July 1831, at the time of the elections for the legislature, he campaigned for the votes of the electors of the second “college” of the department of the Loire, whose center was Saint-Chamond, and was elected. On 20th September of that same year, he and his partner, Mr. Bessy, were granted a ten-year patent on a rolling-mill process for the manufacture of rifle barrels (Catalogue de Brevets d’invention, M. Descreux, and Bulletin Industriel, 1850, vol. XXI, p. 132). That year alone they manufactured more than 500 rifle barrels ordered by the Minister of War. That first patent was followed five months later (9th March 1832) by another, for five years, “for the simultaneous production of a certain number of joined damascened strips to be applied to the barrels of hunting rifles” (ibid.). Then, from 1833 to 1842, the name of Mr. Ardaillon appears on the list of general counciliors for the Loire. As a politician, Mr. Ardaillon “was always among the ministerial majority in the various legislatures, (but he still remained) faithful to his promise to vote against hereditary peerdoms”, but in the deliberations of the Chamber of Deputies, “his only role was that of an interrupter” (DPAN, Paris, p. 85). None the less, “he voted in favor of the lawsuit against the newspaper La Tribune, which was defended by Audry de Puvravault et Cormenin”, the deputy from the Am. In addition, “he voted for the drafts of the laws presented in the wake of Fieschi’s attempt to assassinate the king (1835), against the creation of the jury system and against the press” (DPAN, Paris, p. 85). We have very little information about him as mayor of Saint-Chamond, except that under his administration, “thanks to the generous gifts of Messrs. Dugas and Montbel,.. .the city’s savings bank and library were established” (J. Condamin, Histoire de Saint-Chamond, p. 44). He played a dominant role in the affair of the College Sainte-Marie in Saint- Chamond, as much by the fact that he was mayor as by his clearly counter-revolutionary political stance (G. Michel, Al. Champagnat et l’autorisation légale de l’lnstitut). He must have had the confidence of his constituents, seeing that he remained in office for several consecutive terms. The St-Etienne indicateur of 22nd February 1835, page 2, mentions him as mayor. We do not have his 1840 nomination, but the list of mayors of St- Chamond drawn up by J. Condamin, as well as one we received from the municipal offices, confirm that there was no change of incumbents. We know that he was still mayor in 1841, since we find him signing the census forms in that capacity (ADL, 49.M.22). On 21st January 1847, he was renamed by royal ordinance, with Mr. Joanny Berlier and Mr. Adrien Lagier as assistants (A.M., Reg. des Del., 19th Feb. 1847). In fact, his signature appears at the end of the minutes of that session. On 30th April 1847, Mr. Berlier, deputy mayor, chaired the session, duly authorized by the sub-prefect (Reg. des Dél, A.M. Saint-Chamond). On 23rd August 1847, Mr. Ardaillon chaired a session of the town council, but his signature does not appear at the end of the minutes. He was absent again from thirteen council meetings held between 27th November 1847 and

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23rd May 1848. Mr. Berlier is listed as mayor for the first time at the town council meeting of 6th June 1848, and again at that of 28th June, but there is no mention in the minutes of either Mr. Ardaillon’s resignation or Mr. Berlier’s nomination, which is certainly not normal. Moreover, his opponent. Mr. Gaultier, had won the legislative elections of 9th July 1842. It was also in 1847 that the “Society of Foundries and Iron- works of l’Horme” came into existence through a partnership between Mr. Ardaillon and Mr. Girardet: “The former was the sole owner of the iron-works in Saint-Julien-en-Jarret since 1832; the latter had built a Bessemer converter at l’Horme in 1840” (ADL, 57.2406.151). From that time on we can find no further information about Mr. Ardaillon, not even the date of his death. He possibly retired to his birthplace, Boulieu in the Ardèche, but we have no proof of that supposition. He had a very close relationship with Fr. Champagnat, who relied very heavily on him to further the legal recognition of his Institute. It is hard to say to what extent his influence was really effective. Mr. Ardaillon certainly devoted himself wholeheartedly to the matter, but his influence with the government was certainly not so great as the Founder had first thought. In any case, his place in ’s correspondence is far from negligible, in terms of both letters sent to him (LL. 40, 50, 57) and mention of him in other letters (LL. 58, 170, 174, 175, 178, 185, 193, 314, 319). (REFERENCES, pp. 051-053).

ARDIN, JEAN-PIERRE; see PEMEN, BROTHER.

ARNAUD, PHILIPPE: Carpenter, nephew of Fr. Champagnat, born 26th September 1805 in Saint-Sauveur-en-Rue, Loire. His father, Benolt Arnaud, a former seminarian, then schoolteacher in Saint-Sauveur, was the one who tutored young Marcellin Champagnat to help him make up for his late academic start; he died 15th November 1826. His wife, Philippe’s mother, was Fr. Champagnat’s sister Marie-Anne, who died in 1816, ten years before her husband. At the time of her death, there were three young children in the Arnaud-Champagnat home: Philippe (11), Eugénie (7), and Jean-Baptiste who was younger stilL Philippe took some lessons in Latin from his uncle Marcellin in La Valla, but he soon gave up Latin in favor of the carpenter’s trade. A few years later, in 1828 according to Bro. Avit, he rejoined his uncle at the Hermitage, where he was of great service to him as a carpenter and for other kinds of work. “During the winter of 1830, which was very severe, Fr. Champagnat, his nephew Philippe, and several brothers, cleared the trees, dug up the rocks, and created the large terrace as well as the road leading to it, on the eastern slope of the hill” (AFA, 96). On 29th January 1834, he married “Jeanne Patouillard, a minor, born in Izieux on 20th November 1813, daughter of Mathieu Patouillard and. Françoise Thouilleux, landowners in Les Gaux in the town of Izieux” (Registry of Izieux, Registre des manages, 1834, n. 5). There is every indication that he and his wife lived at the Hermitage at least until 1838, since he was still there when Fr. Champagnat spoke of him in his letters to Bro. François (cf. LL. 182, 196, 197). Bro. Sylvester, in his Mémoires, also states that, “He stayed many years at the Hermitage, working under the direction of Fr. Champagnat, who confided in him about many important matters” (p. 5). It was possibly after the death of Fr. Champagnat that he left the Hermitage to settle in Izieux, on the property called La Bruyere, where he remained until his death, as we read in his death certificate: “JeanBaptiste Arnaud, 51, son of the deceased, and Jean-Baptiste Moulin, dyer, his son-in-law, declare that Philippe Arnaud, a landowner.in this town...8l years of age, born in Saint-Sauveur,

prefeng-letter.doc 14 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” husband of Jeanne Patouillard, son of the late Benoft Arnaud and Jeanne Champagnat, died on 1st August 1886 at eleven p.m. at his home, La Bruyère” (Registry of Izieux, Registre des décès, in the archives of St-Chamond). Because of the family relationship with Fr. Champagnat, we add here some information about Eugénie, Philippe Arnaud’s sister, who married Augustin Seux, a tailor, on 21st January 1829, at the age of nineteen-and-a-half. They had eight children; three of their sons entered the service of the Church. Jean-Baptiste Seux, born in Saint-Sauveur on 6th November 1829, became a Marist Brother under the name of Bro. Tharcise; on 18th July 1878 he left for New Caledonia, where he died on 29th March 1890 at the age of 61; he is buried in the little cemetery of Vao on the Île des Pins. Camille Seux became a priest; after his ordination he went to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Tony Seux also became a Marist Brother under the name of Bro. Théonas; he lived 46 years in the Institute and died in Neuville-sur-Saóne on 3rd March 1902. (REFERENCES, pp. 053-054).

ARQUILLIERE, CHARLES FRANÇOIS PASCAL: Headmaster of the Montbrison normal school, born 26th August 1790, almost certainly in Boënsur-Lignon, from which his family came. We know very little about him. He was headmaster of the Montbrison normal school at least until 1843. As of that date he was head of the departmental education committee, its other members being Gérentet, a doctor in Montbrison; Ardaillon, the mayor of St-Chamond; Thiollière-Dutreuil, its parish priest; and Robichon, mayor of Rive-de-Gier. He was a member and then vice-president of the committee for elementary education in the department of the Rhône from 1846 until 1850. He died at his home at rue du Thou, 2, in Lyons, on 29th October 1851 (cf. L. 64). (REFERENCES, pp. 054).

ARSENE, BROTHER: Césaire Fayol, born 10th November 1783 at Fontanès, in the town of Saint-Héand, Loire, to Claude Fayol and Claudine Meiller. On 19th September 1832 he was admitted to the Hermitage, where he received the habit on 7th October (RE, 1, 45; RV, 1, 19). On 12th October 1834, he made private perpetual vows, which he renewed publicly as soon as he could do so; i.e., on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, 19- 26). In 1815, he became associated with Louis Chomat (Bro. Cassien) in running a school in Sorbiers, and accompanied him when he went to see Fr. Champagnat for advice and direction. The two companions entered religious life together and returned to Sorbiers to continue their apostolate, the school thus becoming an establishment of the Institute. When the Founder withdrew the brothers from there in 1837, for reasons which are explained in the biography of Bro. Cassien and the entry on Sorbiers, they both went to La Grange-Payre. Bro. Arsène remained there many years before retiring at the Hermitage and then at Saint-Genis-Laval, where he died on 19th May 1863 (RD, 3, 383). Cf. also Our Models in Religion, pp. 197-231. (REFERENCES, pp. 054).

ARTRU, BARTHÉLEMY: Parish priest of Peaugres in the diocese of Viviers, was born on 25th June 1805 in Annonay. After his ordination in 1828, he was named curate in Boulieu-lès-Annonay, then parish priest of Peaugres in 1829. He wasted no time in asking Fr. Champagnat for brothers to see to the Christian education of the boys of his parish. “We do not know,” says Bro. Avit in the annals, “whether Father Artru went to the Hermitage, or whether the Founder, while visiting the brothers in Boulieu, also went to Peaugres, but they did meet, as we know from the letter written by Fr. Artru on 6th

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October 1833” (AFA, 2 13.35.2). This is what he wrote: “I would have written sooner, to specify the time when you could send me the brothers you promised me, if the repairs on their future house had not gone more slowly than I had anticipated; they will all be completed by the end of this week; I will immediately have the furniture which was promised me brought in; as for the missing articles, I will supply them bit by bit. “I will therefore expect the two brothers you have reserved for me by the 25th of this month at the latest. but I really would hope that your commitments will allow you to come to Peaugres before then, so that we can settle the salary, and I can give you the conditions set by the town council, which will probably not allow you to have the two hundred francs it voted for primary instruction, unless you commit yourself to allowing a specified number of children from indigent families to attend the brothers’ school But you can count on the 400 F. you asked me for and which I promised you.... “Please do not forget my request that you choose two good subjects for Peaugres; I think I already told you that they are going to replace a lay teacher who had completed all his studies and even two years of major seminary. The inspector who visited here not long ago admitted he was the best schoolteacher he had ever met. Mr. Justier (that is the name of this learned schoolteacher) seems unhappy about leaving my parish. In spite of all his learning, I would gladly let him compete; that’s how convinced I am that he will be outclassed right from the start, but he won’t try” (AFM, 129.7). The school did in fact open in 1833, with two brothers, thanks mostly to the parish priest, as we have just seen. In a second letter to Fr. Champagnat, on 7th September 1835, he explains the reasoning behind his actions: “I had always understood the necessity of giving the children of my parish a better education than what they had been getting before I came. Neither the teachers who came from Savoy during the winter months to give a few lessons in arithmetic and writing, nor the hypocritical henchmen of the normal school could reach our goal. My predecessors’ experience with them, an experience I wanted to have for myself, reinforced my conviction that I had good reason to beware of any education not given by teachers belonging to a religious organization. At the end of 1833 I asked for your brothers, being fully convinced that only they could reach the goal I was aiming at; their establishment in my parish has been a total success; a few months were enough to destroy the unfavorable prejudices of a few persons, and there is no better proof of the good they are doing than the haste with which families, not only from my own parish but from the neighboring parishes, entrust their children to them.... “Since the Sisters of Providence of Annonay have given me space on their property in Peaugres for a house and garden for the brothers, I hope to be able next year to carry out my plan to build them a suitable house, and in that way to perpetuate their establishment in my parish (AFM, 129.15). Bro. Avit’s comment about this building is that “he miscalculated in building the house in which he intended to lodge the brothers in 1836, since they could not take over the new premises until 1841” (AFA, 2 13.35.5). Fr. Artru himself gives us some details about it in a third letter, which he sent to Fr. Champagnat on 5th January 1840, to urge him not to carry out the threats he seems to have made to withdraw the brothers. He says, “I am happy to inform you that we are finally beginning to build the schoolhouse whose foundations were dug last week; we should be laying the first stone the day after tomorrow. Father Superior, you can count on my entire goodwill and my cooperation to move this construction along so that it can be inhabited next November with no danger to the health of our children and their teachers. But please, Father Superior, do not suspend classes; that step could not be more inopportune at this

prefeng-letter.doc 16 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” moment when the spirit of opposition, which is still trying to stir up trouble here, would not fail to profit by the ‘interregnum’ of our Marist Brothers to try to replace them with some teacher on the style of the normal schools, and to create a serious obstacle for one of your establishments which is already old and on the eve of producing the most advantageous results for you and for us.... “I would like to be able to help pay the debts of ex-brother Nilamon. but our construction is going to eat up what little resources we have, and even put us in the necessity of contracting a few debts; however, I will keep the commitment I made you to give your brothers an annual salary of 800 F., and if, because of circumstances, the school months cannot produce that sum, I pledge to make it up myself.... “Please, Father Superior, have a little patience and all will go well, I hope, in line with your desires and mine; and if it is true that in the long run, God always blesses good works which at first encounter many difficulties, and makes them succeed, I have no doubt that he will also bless and bring success to the one which has been for seven years the only aim of my ambition and concern (AFM, 129.77). According to Bro. Avit, Fr. Artru “was an excellent priest. In speaking about him, his bishop did not hesitate to say he had preserved his baptismal innocence. He belonged to one of the best families in Annonay” (AFA 2 13.35.8). To meet construction costs, as well as to permit the children of the neighboring towns to profit by his school, he asked the brothers to take in boarders. Since they did not want to, even though the size of the new house would have made that possible without too much inconvenience, he appealed to the superiors, who gave him Bro. Avit to take care of the boarders. The latter recounts his own experience in that assignment, and particularly his dealings with Fr. Artru. That is why we quote him here, despite the length of his account. “I began to take in those who came. We had as many as thirty-six, but the number varied greatly in summer. Everything went wonderfully until 1848. After the schoolhouse, the parish priest had the church rebuilt; he sank most of his own money into it and his brother contributed also. Mr. de Vogue donated the wood. Since that was not enough, the parish priest ran a drive together with the former mayor (Vallas), which angered Mr. Raymond and his councilors, the workers, and all the disreputable elements of the parish. “During the Revolution of 1848, they tore down the wall of the priest’s garden, planted there a tree of so-called liberty, and made it into a public square. We were out on a walk. When we came back and saw what had happened, I went to console Father, whom I found hiding in his house, thoroughly frightened. I was entirely devoted to him. While we were talking, I saw the ‘crazies’ coming towards us. Fr. Artru could not hold me back and I went downstairs in a rage; the bandits were dragging a cask of wine along with them. They were already inside the presbytery. “Mr. Raymond, who was wearing a red sash, told them to yell, ‘Long live the brothers’. One of them, who was drunk, yelled, ‘Down with the brothers’. I punched him in the face so hard that he rolled into the ditch. ‘That’ll teach you to insult the brothers’, Mr. Raymond told him. He added, ‘If the parish priest had opened his door to us and given us a drink, everything would have gone differently’. He had the cask of wine left in the yard, and the brothers used it. The crazies gradually wandered off to the bars to shout against the parish priest. “Everything was turned upside down in Peaugres. The revolutionaries came from Annonay to keep the disorder going. Father suffered from asthma six months of the year, and all these goings-on made it flare up again. He informed Bishop Guibert, his ordinary, of what had happened. I also wrote to Bro. François about it. One of the bandits took it on himself to stand guard at the door of the church. One day when the priest felt a bit better, he tried to go

prefeng-letter.doc 17 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” in. The scoundrel forbade him and threatened to open fire if he came any closer. Fr. Artru went away broken-hearted. Then the bishop arrived with his two vicars-general and several priests from the area. He climbed into the pulpit and thundered against the agents of disorder, put the church under interdict, and told the parishioners present that he was stripping it of its sacred character and that they could thresh their grain there without fear, and he took Father with him to Annonay. “The bishop told me that he had ordered the parish priest of Félines to reserve a chapel in his church for us and our children, and that he had written to Bro. François not to withdraw us from Peaugres. He ordered me to keep him posted. I wrote him eight letters about the situation, and His Grandeur answered every one of them. That lasted three and a half months, during which we had to take our children to Felines or Serrières every Sunday to hear Mass. That was neither pleasant nor convenient. “After the June days, the revolutionaries gradually withdrew, the agitators calmed down, and the solid citizens regained the upper hand a bit. Brother Esdras so informed the bishop, and at His Grandeur’s order, he assembled all the good people of the town. They went in procession, with banners furled, the mayor and his councilors at their head, to meet the bishop and his vicars- general on the road to Annonay. Bro. Esdras went up to His Grandeur, read him a petition in the name of the parishioners, and begged him to lift the interdict he had hurled against the parish. Then the mayor spoke. After the bishop had spoken a few words of encouragement, the procession returned to town, this time with banners flying. Having reached the church, the bishop mounted the pulpit, praised Fr. Artru, blamed his persecutors, and lifted the interdict. “Father Boissonnet, who was born in Serrières, a nephew of the excellent Fr. Gauthier, was assigned here by the bishop. Counting on his uncle and his banker brother, he assumed responsibility for all the debts flowing from the construction of the church, but only on condition that he would be Fr. Artru’s successor, and his co-pastor in the meantime. Bro. Esdras told us that he was a bit too friendly with the people who had given Fr. Artru so much trouble. As for Fr. Artru, he died shortly afterwards (22nd July 1850, at the age of 49) and Fr. Boissonnet remained parish priest of Peaugres” (AFA, 213.35.8.11). (REFERENCES, pp. 054-058).

AUDRAS, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see LOUIS, BROTHER.

AUDRAS, JEAN-CLAUDE; see Laurent, BROTHER.

AUGUSTIN, BROTHER: Benoît Valla, born 12th January 1809 in , Loire, son of François Valla and Antoinette Largeron. He was the brother of Gabriel Valla, Bro. Timothée, who went to the mission of Oceania. He entered the novitiate at the Hermitage on 26th October 1836 at the age of 26, and received the habit there on 8th January 1837, under the name of Bro. Augustin. His name does not appear in the register of temporary professions, so it must have been the vow of obedience which he made on 10th October 1841. His perpetual profession is registered under date of 13th September 1843. His file indicates that in 1838-1839, he was working for the Marist Fathers. In the autumn of 1839 he was sent to the orphanage in St.Chamond as its director, with Bro. Claude-Marie as his assistant. According to the assignment lists, he seems never to have left there; although his file says he was in turn assistant in St- Lattier, Mornant and Vauban, there is no mention of him in the annals of those establishments. He was certainly director of the St-Chamond orphanage in the autumn

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AURRAN, BLAISE: Landowner in Cuers, Var, then a coadjutor brother of the Society of Mary; born 3rd February 1784 in Cuers, son of François Aurran and Marthe Berge. On 24th November 1817. he married Françoise Herande; they seem not to have had any children, which allowed him to use his considerable wealth in doing good. We do not know how he came into contact with the Society of Mary. From what we were able to learn, he appears to have first met Father Champagnat, since he wanted to establish a school directed by religious in his area, as we know from the Founder’s letter (L 219) in reply to his own which unfortunately has not been kept. It might have told us if this was his first contact, which seems doubtful, since Fr. Champagnat asks him to give some financial assistance to the school in Charlieu, and recommends to him Catherine Emmerich’s meditations on the Passion. Still, it was thirteen months before Mr. Aurran again gave any sign of life. For reasons we do not know, but which certainly did not arise from the Founder, since he had gone to inspect the premises, this projected work did not come into existence, or at least not in the form envisioned: the school opened only in 1846, and the novitiate was never started. At any rate, their correspondence at least tells us that Mr. Aurran’s only interest was in doing good, and that he had the money for it. Since he certainly did not succeed so well as he had expected with the brothers, he turned to Fr. Cohn, who must have seemed more open to his suggestions. He presented a project for a house of the Marist Fathers in La Seyne, and the ordinary, Bishop Michel, was ready to place at their disposal a house he owned in that city, provided that they give missions in his diocese. In 1843, Mr. Aurran sent the Marist Superior a request for a missionary residence, and with the backing of the vicar general, it was followed by a request for brothers to found a school in La Seyne. The residence was founded early in 1845 by Fr. Epalle and two other priests, but the school was postponed, moss probably because the brothers were still waiting for their government approval. It is said that one day, when he had brought Fr. Colin to the property he owned in Montbel in the La Cray area near Hyères, along the narrow Real Martin River, Mr. Aurran promised him to put up a building there if the Fathers would take it over. The idea went over so well that in 1853, the novitiate-scholasticate of Bon-Encontre, in the south-west, was transferred there. The next year, 1854, Mr. Aurran added a chapel to the house. Things did not go so well with the brothers, since Mr. Aurran wanted a boarding division in Lorgues, where they had had a school since 1864; but under the circumstances, they did not think it possible to open one, even though at the time of the foundation, they had accepted the contract which called for one. Mr. Aurran, annoyed at the superiors’ delay in carrying out that part of the contract, finally lost patience and called in the Brothers of Saint Gabriel, who had run the school before us. Despite Bro. François’ protests to Bro. Siméon, Superior of the Brothers of Saint Gabriel, the Marist Brothers had to withdraw from the school in 1852. Meanwhile Mr. Aurran, together with his wife, decided to dedicate the remainder of their lives to God in religious life, and each quickly did so. He applied to the Society of Mar, which admitted him to the novitiate as a coadjutor brother in 1863. He made perpetual vows on 8th December of that year. In 1871, he was assigned to the community in Montbol, where he died six years later, on 27th February 1877, at the age of ninety-three. There are divergent opinions about him.

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On the one hand, Bro. Avit, in his .4brege des Annales, says that, “Mr. Aurran spent immense amounts in doing good, but he had more zeal than prudence. Most of his good works were not well-founded and did not last long. The Bishop of Fréjus, referring to him, once said, ‘He’s a pious scatterbrain! (AFFA, p. 295). On the other hand, the author of the Vie du Très Révérend Père Colin in 6 volumes, who is believed to be Fr. Jeantin. testified that Mr. Aurran was “the outstanding benefactor of our society and the providential helper of our founder... .His whole long career was simply a mirror of his gentle virtues” (Vol. Ii. p. 296). (Cl. Rozier, Cent ans d’éducation a Toulon, APM, Reg. des coadjuteurs, Don. Aurran). (REFERENCES, pp. 059-060).

AVIT, BROTHER: Henri Bilon, born 11th October 1819 in Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne, Am, the son of Louis Bilon and Marie Moyron, was admitted to the Hermitage at the age of 18, on 9th March 1838. and received the habit the following 13th May. On 11th October of that same year. he made temporary vows, and on 13th October 1839. his perpetual profession. Since at the beginning of the Abregé des Annales he describes at length the important events of his life (pp. 3-9), we will not repeat them here, but simply flesh out his account with other details he gives elsewhere which offer us further insights to his character and personality. At the end of October 1838 he was assigned to Pélussin. his first school: he did not stay there even a full year, since he was needed to replace Bro. Célestin in the lower class in Terrenoire. He was transferred again after the 1839 vacation, this time to Viriville, where even though he was busy From 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., he still managed to prepare for his certificate of competence by studying “until midnight and even until two in the morning”. Once he obtained this diploma, on 9th March 1840, in Grenoble. he was the obvious choice for more important assignments which were no guarantee of tranquility, since along with the perspicacity of a clear and and reflective mind, he had a very forceful character. So it was inevitable that as a young director in Saint-Genest-Malifaux, he would have a confrontation with the parish priest, Fr. Vernet, a very obstinate man. The outcome was another transfer for Bro. Avit, and his reduction to the rank of assistant teacher. “While he was in Mornant, Bro. Théophile was director and Bro. Chrysogone, the one who was to become Econome General, was a young brother teaching the lower class. One day, the latter put a par- ticularly unbearable student out of his class, and sent him into the garden after tying his hands with a ribbon. The boy got loose and went home. During dinner, his father arrived, furious. The director went down to speak with him, but not knowing what to say to the man in the state he was in, shrank into a corner like a saint in a niche. Mr. Grevon (that was the father’s name) started upstairs, so Bro. Avit forced the reluctant Bro. Chrysogone to go down, and followed him. When Grevon saw his man stop in the middle of the staircase, he started up towards him and would have given him a good beating. But Bro. Avit stepped between them, grabbed Grevon by the collar, forced him back down the stairs, gave him a good shaking, and in reply to his vulgar language, gave him a kick in the pants. Grevon is still running. Bro. Chrysogone had a narrow escape and Bro. Théophile had a good scare” (AFA 2 14.56.13). In September 1843, he replaced Bro. Denis in Bougé-Chambalud, where he remained until September 1846 and was very popular. Perhaps that is why he was given the combined functions of director in Montdragon and visitor of the sectors of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux and La Bégude. In April 1849, he was named visitor for the provinces of the Center and the South. It was in that capacity that he gave his all as an organizer, since everything had

prefeng-letter.doc 20 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” to be done from scratch: organizing the competitions among the brothers and the students, drawing up the accounts, preparing for new foundations. Let it also be recalled that in 1850, despite the difficulties involved, he was able to obtain from the rectors of the Drôme and the Ardèche departments, the documents which saved some forty brothers from military service (cf. Biographies de quelques frères, 11,5). After seven years of errands and visits, in September 1855 he was allowed to choose between two assignments: Craponne or Digoin. He thought Craponne would be too cold, and so he chose Digoin, even though he knew about the problems there. He did, in fact, have many problems there, as he describes in the annals (AFA 212.27.17 and .18). As he himself tells it, “In April (1859), the parish priest of Bourbon-Lancy came to visit us and said, ‘I know all about the intrigues and unjustified annoyances people are creating for you here. Come to Bourbon; you can play the harmonium there, you will be happy, and we will love you’. “Bro. Avit answered, ‘We are under the orders of our superiors, but you have a good director’. “He will have to be changed,’ said he; ‘this isn’t right’. “(The priest) left and wrote to St-Genis. Bro. Assistant, who did not know how to go about changing us, saw in this an act of Providence. He wrote to us, to change places with Bro. Lothier. Even though we were amazed, we went to Bourbon immediately and stayed there three and a half months” (ibid.). This time the superiors wanted to put him in charge of the province of Saint-Genis-Laval. So he began again to make visits, which became more and more difficult for him, until the autumn of 1867. On 25th August of that year, the General Chapter elected him Assistant. At that time he was 57, his health was not good, and his eyesight was very weak. In that condition, he took over the province of the Bourbonnais, which had to be organized, beginning with the novitiate. Profiting by the next General Chapter, three years later, he asked to be relieved of his responsibilities, which he was on 12th March 1880 (Biographies, II, 6). His role as visitor had given him the opportunity to take copious notes, so much so that he was perhaps the only one who knew all the houses of the Institute. Working steadily in his room with the help of volunteer secretaries, in the space of ten years he produced the annals of the Institute as well as those of 600 schools, including those which had been closed. There is no doubt we find the man himself in his style of writing. What he always looked for in human relations was integrity, frankness and justice. His biographer tells us that he was loved and esteemed by the brothers. This was certainly because the brothers knew they had in him a capable and faithful defender. From his writings, we know he had a mind naturally gifted with finesse and vivacity, from which sprang his quick replies peppered with sharp and sometimes sarcastic remarks. He was always ready to pick up some amusing incident and tell it in the annals, as he must have done on his return from his visits. It is not the least of his merits that he left us such an historical record which facilitates our research today, even if there are some gaps in the dates he gives us. He certainly helps us to relive the early days of the Institute in lively fashion and with a great sense of humor. Bro. Avit had just passed his 72nd birthday in December 1891 when he fell ill and asked to be placed in the infirmary. He went there on 16th January and died there three weeks later, 7th February 1892, at two in the afternoon. (REFERENCES, pp. 060-062).

AVIT, JEAN-PIERRE: Parish priest of Erôme in the diocese of Valence; born 2nd Max’ 1792 in Saint-Haon, Haute-Loire. After his ordination J on 1st March 1817, he was successively named assistant in Etoile; then, on 1st July 1819, assistant in Luis-la-Croix-

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Haute; and finally parish priest of Erôme on 1st July 1822. It was in that capacity that he asked Fr. Champagnat for brothers; the latter answered him on 7th October 1839 (L. 276). In 1861, since his sight was failing, he retired to Matson Saint-Joseph in Erôme, with an old-age pension. The archives of the diocese of Valence, from which we obtained this information, do not indicate the date of his death, but they do contain the notation: “A man of merit and of great virtue”. (REFERENCES, pp. 062-063).

BADARD, BARTHÉLEMY, see BARTHÉLEMY, BROTHER.

BADIOU, JEAN-PIERRE: (1798-1868), parish priest of Saint-Romain-Lachaim, Haute- Loire, in the diocese of Le Puy. Born 10th December 1798, he was ordained 12th May 1825 and named curate in Langeac-deSorihac, Haute-Loire. He was parish priest of Saint-Romain-Lachaim from 1836 to 1846, so it was almost at the beginning of his ministry there that he asked Fr. Champagnat for Marist Brothers for his parish (L. 120). In September 1868 he was transferred to Saint-Georges-L’agricol, Haute-Loire, where he died two months later, on 26th December 1868 (Diocesan archives of Le Puy). (REFERENCES, pp. 063).

BALMON, JEAN-BENOIT: (1789-1863), born a few days after Fr. Champagnat, 9th June 1789, in Amplepuis, Rhône. They met in the major seminary where they no doubt took the same courses every year until the day they were both ordained, 22nd July 1816 (cf. OM, I, p. 217). On 12th August, Fr. Balmon was named curate in Givors, Rhône, and on 20th August 1825, parish priest in La Pacaudière, Loire. Eight years later, on 13th August 1833, he was named parish priest of Saint-Martin-la-Plaine, as successor to “Fr. Terrasse, who had died on 26th July. Since he no doubt had good reason to be dissatisfied with the lay teachers, he went to see our Founder in 1836 and asked him for brothers. Having reached an agreement with him about everything, he rented a house for 110 francs and took care of the furniture as well as the school supplies. While he was preparing the way, he received a letter from Bro. François. Let him tell us himself the effect this letter had on him: “Father Superior, Never has a letter surprised me more than the one I received yesterday, dated from the Hermitage. It was enough to give me a violent stomachache. However, after having read it and reread it without finding your signature anywhere, I figured that things weren’t so bad as I had first imagined; 10, because Bro. François was not fully aware of the letter which Fr. Rimaud wrote you while I was ill; 20 because Bro. François was not aware either of the conversation I had the honor to have with you about five weeks ago. The letter I received yesterday, makes it sound as if our renting a house for your good brothers was only a possibility, whereas Fr. Rimaud announced very definitely that the house had been rented; in fact the owner gave the tenant who was living in that house notice to leave on 8th August, and rented me the house on the 9th for a hundred and ten francs. “The letter I received yesterday says you would not be pleased to see the brothers in a rented house; but when I had the honor to see you, you did not make any such remark, all the more so since it is only for a few months. I remember very distinctly that after reflecting seriously about the reasons which militated in favor of Saint-Martin, you answered: ‘Rent’. Happy to have heard that consoling word from your own mouth, I returned here and announced to all those who wanted to hear it that we would have brothers at All Saints. That news was fully confirmed: 10, by the lease I signed on the house; 2°, by the steps I have taken and the

prefeng-letter.doc 22 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” furnishings I have acquired; 30, by the visit I made to Lorette with a carpenter who is already working on the desks and benches and has already cut the wood; so there isr not a single person in St-Martin who is not counting on the brothers and who does not have a right to count on them, in view of the steps I have taken to get rid of all the lay teachers who have applied. I gave this bit of news to all the confreres who came to visit me while I was sick; it seemed to me that every time I spoke about this establishment, I felt better. “Could it be possible that after so many steps and sacrifices, I am going to have such a disappointment? I am not even thinking about the rent and the other sacrifices (although it is with borrowed money and not out of any surplus funds that I am working on this establishment), but rather what people are going to think of me. ‘Our parish priest doesn’t know what he is talking about nor what he is doing’: that’s the judgment they will pass on me, and that refrain will fly from mouth to mouth along with sarcastic jokes. I’ve had disappointments before in my life, but never one to equal this. If I am condemned to undergo it, I am not sure I will have the courage to continue the undertaking. Good works always face contradictions, but this is just too much. If I had fully recovered my health, I would have had the honor of seeing you today, and I would have given you a thousand other reasons; but my letter is already too long and I must stop here. “In the hope that the judgment against St-Martin and against your servant will be revoked, please accept the profound respect with which I have the honor to be (AFM: Avit, Annales de Saint-Martin, 213.61, p. 3; 129.23) This letter, written 26th August 1836, must have produced the desired effect, since the school opened that November. But despite all of Fr. Balmon’s good will, the brothers’ salaries were not paid, as can be seen from L. 7, of 7th March 1839. So, when the brothers had not returned from their vacation at the Hermitage by 9th October, he began to fear the worst, and wrote again: “Until this moment I had thought I would be able to find a day to visit you before the arrival of our good brothers, but I can see now that I will not be able to: Father is away for ten days, and I do not dare leave here since several people are sick. “I told Mr. Béthenod what you told me through Bro. Innocent; he told me you could count on the parish salary being allocated this year, and that even the back wages from the previous years would be paid, to settle the incomplete payments. If I had any money, I would sent it right away, but since I had to make many payments this year, I don’t have a cent; even my horse has been sold and eaten. Last week we had a long conversation with Mr. Béthenod, Mr. Ardaillon, and the prefect, about ways and means to finish the establishment of St-Martin, and I hope we shall finally soon arrive at an overall solution.... “I would appreciate it if you would be so kind as to send our good brothers as soon as possible, so that they can be here before All Saints. I am doing the best I can to prepare everything; rest assured that I shall neglect nothing to see that everything goes according to your wishes. Accept “ (AFM, 129.69) Fr. Champagnat, no doubt out of deference to his former classmate, preferred to discuss these difficult questions with the mayor; but behind this official correspondence, one cart easily imagine Fr. Balmon’s distress, since in his zealous pastoral concern, he was determined to have his brothers’ school. According to Bro. Avit, the following note was found among his papers: “To snatch children away from baneful habits of vice; to train them to carry out their duties; to make sentiments of religion, respect for law and authority spring up in their young hearts; that is the common goal which should unite all hearts which love their country and honor virtue. That was the motive which, in 1836, led the parish priest of St-Martin to request the venerated and venerable Fr. Champagnat to give us the benefit of a

prefeng-letter.doc 23 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” brothers’ school. Being totally dedicated to doing good, and out of regard for our long- standing friendship, the inestimable founder of the Marist Brothers was willing to oblige his old friend; the good brothers arrived in St-Martin and were lodged in a rented house. Meanwhile the foundations of the house were laid, I might add, despite the opposition of the town council and even of the parish council. “One major obstacle sprang from the fact that a former schoolteacher, who enjoyed a certain esteem, or rather a certain commiseration, had been sent away. But God, who leads all things to their conclusion, took him out of this world towards the end of 1836, at the time of the foundation of the brothers’ establishment in St-Martin. “The agreement with Fr. Champagnat was entirely verbal.... I bought the classroom furniture in Vienne, from one of their houses which had been closed. Most of the brothers’ furnishings were paid for by your servant, except for a few items given by persons devoted to good works.... Today the brothers enjoy the esteem of the public, seconded and sustained by a mayor full of zeal and enthusiasm for doing good. They give us great consolation, as they continue their work for the good of religion and our society” (AFM 213.61, pp. 8-9). Fr. Balmon had been nearly thirty years in St-Martin when he felt that, in view of his age, he should retire. He was relieved of his duties in 1863, although he kept the title of parish priest, but not for long, since he died on 16th November of that year. (REFERENCES, pp. 063-065).

BARELON, ANTOINE, see FELIX, BROTHER.

BARJET: A landowner in Comas, Ardèche. We could not find any information about this person, not even in Comas itself. All we know is that he was not mayor of the town.

BAROU, JEAN JOSEPH: (1772-1855), vicar general of the archdiocese of Lyons. Born 25th October 1772 in Chalmazel, Loire. Eldest child of “an honorable family in which faith and Christian virtue are hereditarv” (Cattet, obituary of Fr. Barou, in Journal de Montbrison, 20th April and 3rd May 1855). His baptismal certificate tells us that he was the son of Antoine Barou and Marie Fenon, farmers. His godfather was his uncle, Jean Joseph Fenon, parish priest of Lérigneux; his godmother, Jeanneton Bard, his maternal grandmother, from the hamlet of Grossat in the parish of Chalmazel. He thought of the priesthood very early in life, and his family background was well-suited for the development of a vocation. There were a number of clerics on both sides of his family. According to Cattet, besides his uncle, the parish priest of Lérigneux, there was another uncle, Joseph Barou; two great-uncles, Joseph Fenon, who had also been parish priest of Lérigneux, and André Barel, parish priest of Châtelneuf; a cousin, Jean Marie Joseph Fenon, parish priest of ; and a more distant relative, Fr. Piron, parish priest of St- Galmier in 1803. His uncle, Fr. Barou, invited him to live with him in the town of St- Bonnet-le-Courreau where he was curate, so he could teach him some Latin. Jean Joseph was then registered in the secondary school of Montbrison, run by the Oratorians. He was studying the humanities when the Revolution forced the closing of the Oratory school and thus interrupted his studies. He then returned to Chalmazel. The religious persecutions broke out and the clergy remained faithful. While Jean Joseph did not give up his vocation altogether, he could see his vision of the priesthood getting farther and farther away. In his hometown, he spent his spare time teaching catechism to the children, whom he gathered under an old oak tree. In 1794, he and several other young men from Chalmazel enlisted in the army of the republic. He was assigned to the

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Army of the West, which was fighting the insurgents in the Vendée, but he and eleven comrades soon deserted. They crossed the Vienne, hiding by day and traveling by night. When he reached Chalmazel, he hid in the farm buildings and barns in the hills for a few days, then decided it would be more prudent to go to St-Aignan in the Berry region, where one of his uncles was living. He spent several winters there, returning to the family farm during the good months to help with the work in the fields. By then, Jean Joseph’s hopes of becoming a priest had all but faded away. He was even getting ready for a marriage which his family had arranged for him. But suddenly, eight days before the ceremony, he changed his mind and it was called off. A short time later, his uncle, Fr. Barou, who was then a missionary in the district of Tarare, wrote to invite him to come live with him and study philosophy. So Jean Joseph resumed his studies again, first with his uncle, then in Lyons, where Fr. Linsolas had organized secret courses during the Terror. These courses were directed by Fr. Mermet, a Sulpician. The semi- narians lived in private homes, wherever they could find lodging. The professor gave his course to one very bright student, who then repeated it to his companions. Jean Joseph lived at the home of the mother of Dr. Rapou, who later became the lecturer and go- between for the underground seminary. After the Terror, during the Consulate, this seminary emerged from the shadows and took up quarters in the orphanage, under the direction of Fr. Piquet. As a major seminarian, Jean Joseph began his ministry by teaching catechism in the Church of St-Louis, which had just been reopened for worship. Ordained on 9th July 1803 by Archbishop d’Aviau of Vienne, he was immediately entrusted with difficult assignments. In January 1804, we find him in St- Galmier, as assistant to his relative, Fr. Piron. At that time, the parish was a hotbed of Jansenism. In October 1804, a few months after his arrival in St-Galmier, he was named parish priest of St-Médard, to replace Fr. Jacquemont, one of the Jansenist leaders. If the two of them did not exactly admire each other, they at least always maintained their mutual respect. On 7th October 1808 (early 1809 according to J. Barou), at the request of Fr. Recorbet, superior of the seminary in L’Argentière, Fr. Barou became professor of philosophy there. His stay in L’Argentière was a brief one. On 9th August 1809, he was named parish priest of Verrières, replacing Fr. Périer, who had opened a clerical school in his residence. It was probably this school which became the seminary, since in September of that year, he also became head of the latter. The four upper classes of the seminary in Roche were transferred to Verrières in 1811. In November 1812, all the philosophy students of the diocese, among them Marcellin Champagnat and Jean-Marie Vianney, came under Fr. Barou’s direction at Verrières. We may note that this made Fr. Barou the superior of nearly all the aspiring Marists. In 1812-1813, Frs. Pouset and Verrier arrived as professors. In June 1819, Fr. Chevalard, parish priest of St-Pierre in Montbrison, died. According to a report by one prefect, this parish was “the sore-spot of the department, full of persons of note, who were both religious and legitimists”. The new parish priest had to be carefully selected. The prefect, Mr. De Meaux, along with other officials, was able to have the superior of Verrières named in 1819, as a moderate traditionalist. Fr. Barou marked his arrival in the parish by opening two schools, one run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the other by the Sisters of St. Charles. Once Cardinal Fesch went into exile after the collapse of the empire, the archdiocese of Lyons entered upon troubled times. Archbishop Dc Pins (cf. biographical sketch), apostolic administrator and archbishop of Amasia, arrived in Lyons at the end of 1823. Fr. Barou, who had just refused the position of vicar general in Châlon-sur-Marne, was called to the

prefeng-letter.doc 25 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” archdiocesan council, named vicar general, and together with Fr. Courbon, confirmed by a royal ordinance of 31st January 1824. On 17th December 1825, on the death of Fr. Recorbet, he became first vicar general. It was in that position especially that he was able to help the aspiring Marists, to whom he appears to have been sympathetic. Fr. Champagnat was not afraid to have recourse to him in difficult situations. He always found him a helpful and understanding superior. Fr. Barou intervened decisively in the matter of Fr. Courveille’s withdrawal in 1826, assigned Fr. Séon as Fr. Champagnat’s helper the following year, then mediated the proposed fusion of the Viatorians with the Little Brothers of Mary. In 1831, Archbishop Dc Pins put his name forward as auxiliary bishop of Lyons, but the government refused to confirm the appointment. He was skillful enough to save the former Carthusian monastery in 1834, when the government wanted to take it over and turn it into a fort. In 1840, Archbishop De Bonald confirmed him in his functions, which he exercised until his death. During his seventeen years as Archbishop De Pins’ right-hand man, he had the latter’s total confidence, and handled much of his official correspondence. Throughout his life, Fr. Barou remained a modest and unam- bitious man. He refused a diocese which was offered to him, and dreamed of becoming a country priest. Even though he lived in the archbishop’s residence and assumed major responsibilities, poverty was his inseparable companion, so much so that at his death, he had barely enough money to pay for his funeral. Jean Joseph Barou remained healthy and active until his death at the age of 83, on Holy Thursday, 5th April 1855, after a brief illness. Two days previously, he had received the last sacraments in the presence of the cardinal archbishop. On the day of his death, Cardinal De Bonald sent to all the priests of his archdiocese a letter full of affection and admiration for the deceased. As a final note, in 1820, his younger brother and godson, Jean Joseph Barou, became parish priest of St-Pierre in Montbrison, where he remained until his death in 1862. Their nephew, Justin Barou, born in Chalmazel in 1815, was also curate at St-Pierre. (REFERENCES, pp. 066-068).

BARTHELEMY, BROTHER: "I, the undersigned, Brother Barthélemy, born Barthélemy Badard, son of Jean-Marie Badard and Jeanne-Marie Teillard, both living, born in the parish of La Valla, being twenty-five years of age, attest and declare that, by the grace of God, I was admitted, on the first of the month of May, one thousand eight hundred nineteen, to the house of La Valla, the novitiate of the Society of Mary that on the eighth day of September, one thousand eight hundred nineteen, I had the honor of being clothed in the holy religious habit of the brothers of the said society, after having humbly made that request to the Rev. Fr. Superior; and that subsequently, with the permission of the same superior, also undersigned to certify the permission, I have. On the fifth day of October, one thousand eight hundred twenty-eight, in the chapel of Notre-Dame de 'Hermitage, after receiving Communion at Mass, privately but voluntarily and freely, made the three perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the superiors of the said Society of Mary, according to its statutes and its objectives, after having made them for a period of them years, on tenth October, one thousand eight hundred twenty-six, in testimony whereof I have signed this act in the presence of Brother Francis and of Brother Lucien, who have also signed, this 22nd October, one thousand eight hundred twenty-nine, at Notre-Dame de 'Hermitage. (Signed) Champagnat, sup. Of M.B.; Bro. Barthélemy; Bro. Francis; Bro. Lucien" (RAP, 1, p. 10). This is the first document we have on this brother, and it gives us just about all we know concerning his background.

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We do know that he was born on 4th Floreal Year XII (24th April 1804), and that his father, the sacristan of the parish church, is the person of whom Bro. Jean-Baptiste speaks in his Life of the Founder (p. 54), according to the testimony given by his other son, Jean-Francis, in the diocesan phase of the cause of beatification of Marcellin Champagnat. We do not know how long his novitiate lasted, nor what sort of ceremony marked its end. Between 1820 and 1826 he was no doubt bound by promises to the congregation, but since the various registers were kept only from 1829 on, previous ceremonies were not recorded, except for a few of the most recent ones, as circumstances allowed. We meet Bro. Barthélemy Badard for the first time in 1821, as assistant to a certain Brother Etienne, in Saint-Sauveur-en-Rue (AFM, 213.73, p. 10); then in November 1823, Bro. Avit says he was assistant to Brother Jean-Pierre Martinol at the opening of the school in Boulieu (AFM, 213.6, p. 8). The same annalist gives us to understand that during the 1825-26 and 1826-27 school years, he replaced Bro. Louis as director in Bourg-Argental. In October 1827, still according to the same source, Fr. Champagnat sent him as assistant with Bro. Damien, to found the school in Saint- Symphorien d'Ozon, but removed him next year. Where he sent him, we do not know. For the school years 1829 through 1831, we find conflicting assignments. According to a report by Fr. Petitain, parish priest of Ampuis, quoted by Bro. Avit, he was director of the school in that parish during the two years in question; but according to the annals of Bro. Aubin, who later replaced him in Saint-Symphorien d'Ozon, Bro. Barthélemy reappears as director of the latter school at the end of 1830. Since we do not have sufficient documentation to reconcile these two statements, let us simply note that he was assigned to both these schools during this period, without being able to give specific dates. It was almost certainly during his second stay in Saint-Symphorien d'Ozon, which lasted three years, that the question arose of having him named the official "town teacher". Unfortunately, says the annalist, "He had only a third-class certificate, which the Minister had declared insufficient. A skillful hand transformed the 3 into a 2, thus raising the certificate a degree. The ruse succeeded, and the brother was named" (AFM, 214.92, p. 3). He once again slips through our net during 1833-34, when his school in Saint-Symphorien went through three directors in one year. So it is no surprise that it was necessary to reassign him there in November 1834, this time for a period of six years as director, followed by another five as assistant to Bro. Aubin. The school was so poor, so miserable from every point of view, that only Bro. Barthélemy's virtue enabled him to hold out there. On top of that, with the outbreak of the Revolution of 1830, ferocious hostility was unleashed against the brothers, and fueled by a competing school directed by a layman who arrived at just about that time. There was a continual underground war between the two schools over which could snatch students away from the other. In fact, Bro. Barthélemy remained the official director, with the title of town teacher. It is interesting to read what Bro. Aubin thought of that situation on 28th November 1844, when he wrote to Bro. Francis: "I am very unhappy in St-Symphorien; if you could take me out of here, you would be doing me a great favor, because so long as I am with Bro. Barthélemy, I will be only half a director. One might say that my function here is like that of the pronoun of an impersonal verb, which only seems to be its subject: I only seem to be director here: the real director comes afterwards, but people do not realize that he is the real subject of the verb. If Bro. Barthélemy controlled his students the way they control him, and if he did not stick his nose into everything I do, things would go much better. I need a certificate of competence; no matter where it

prefeng-letter.doc 27 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” comes from otherwise I won't stay here any longer". The following year, on 13th September 1845, in another letter to Bro. Francis, Bro. Aubin mentions that the superior had asked Bro. Barthélemy for his resignation, but that the mayor did not want him to resign Then he adds, "So I ask you, my very dear brother, in the best interests of my soul and body, to give me another assignment. It is also in your best interests: Bro. Barthélemy's certificate can be of use to you in St-Symphorien, but nowhere else, and you will have mine besides. You know that the reasons why I asked you for my change during the vacation are serious enough in themselves for me to obtain it. Over and above that, I cannot get along with Bro. Barthélemy". Some forty years later, Bro. Avit saw things in another light, while writing the annals of that establishment: "Thinking he was an obstacle to the success of the school, Bro. Barthélemy resigned as town teacher, and was withdrawn. The two brothers, who had been so united in their poverty, separated tearfully". Then he goes on, transcribing a passage from the annals of Bro. Aubin, who also recalls only his feelings of deep admiration for his fellow-worker: "It could be said," he writes, "that while he was here, Bro. Barthélemy practiced the virtues of a saint. He put up with all sorts of affronts, insults, even outrages, from both the students and some of the townspeople. The authorities fired red-hot shot at him. Once, when he was sick, the doctor who took care of him told the administration and Francon the lay teacher: 'Let's just be patient Badard can't live much longer, and we'll soon be rid of him'. One day, while he was walking through the town square, someone grabbed his cloak and spun him around like a puppet. People wrote obscenities and slogans on the doors of the house. The children were rough on him and played tricks on him. They knew that he absolutely detested garlic and cheese, so they rubbed them all over his books and his chair and when he put his nose through the door connecting the two classrooms, the students shoved garlic under it to make him recoil, so he couldn't see what was going on in that class" (AFM, 214.92, p. 6). It is not unthinkable that he did put up with all that out of virtue, because he was no simpleton, as we can see from his letters. Simply but straightforwardly, he stated very frankly what he thought, and made observations, even unpleasant ones, to the superiors. His letter of 20th April 1843, is a typical example, which is worth quoting: "Very Reverend Brother Director General, Since our brother director is absent for the reason of which you are aware, and since he did not have time to write you himself, he asked me to do so along the following lines, concerning the visit of Brother Visitor, and the decision which his report on the visit has led you to take.... "My very dear brother, we are in no way angry at you, but at Bro. Jean-Baptiste (you understand what I mean when I say angry; it is just an expression), because it is the result of his very proper visit, which could be described as having been very poorly conducted, which is the cause of all this vexation. If, in the future, the only visits he has to make to us are of the same Ape, we would very gladly dispense him from them, since the last one was not beneficial, but rather useless; I would almost say harmful. For my part, l am not grateful to him for it. If the aforementioned Bro. Jean- Baptiste had paid us a visit in keeping with our needs and those of the establishment, he would not have thought what he told you, and above all, he would not have settled on the decision which you and he have transmitted to us." Then he explains at length that on the day of the visit, a good number of students were absent, "to go looking for palms, for either Palm Sunday or the Holy Thursday repository"; consequently, it would not be opportune to suppress one of the three classes, since he himself would have to do the cooking besides teaching his class. In the second place, Brother Visitor rushed through

prefeng-letter.doc 28 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” his visit: he "did not make the children read, he did not question them. How can he judge, on the basis of the very small number w ho took the dictation he gave, that things are going badly from several points of view? ... If he noticed things that weren't going well, he should have mentioned them to us, and discussed with us the means to take to remedy the situation; but he told us nothing. He led like a man who was afraid of being caught. Is that any wax to inspect a school? Then, when he reached you, he pondered, he reflected, he decided, after making you believe what he wanted you to. Surely, if there are things to correct, they must be shared with those who are at fault, and then everyone will do his best to improve in the future. If Bro. Placide had not fortunately gone to see you, we would have known nothing about these decisions and would have been caught like a bird in a net". He respected his superiors, of course, but expected of them the service they were supposed to give, and if they didn't, then why not reproach them? So he left the house which he had made his own, in September-October 1845; he was only 41, but at that time, his age already classified him as old, especially since he had suffered and his health was not the best. For lack of other information, we may presume that, given his state of health, he spent the 1845-46 school year at the Hermitage, to get some rest. What also makes it appear that he was unassigned is a letter from Bro. Jean-Marie Bonnet, director in Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux, asking for Bro. Barthélemy, to help him with his many responsibilities. And in fact, that house did welcome him, in August 1846. At first he took care of the boarders and various work projects, but he seemed to have become exhausted, even worn out, unsociable, and seedy-looking. Despite all that, and out of necessity, Bro. Jean-Marie sent him, in March 1847, to be provisional director of the school in Courthezon, in the Vaucluse, as a replacement for Bro. Jean, who was preparing for his examination for the certificate of competence. It was a lot to ask of "good old Bro. Barthélemy", who was not happy during the year he spent in that house. On 3rd February 1848, he sent the following letter to the "Very dear Brothers Superiors. Knowing that you must not be unaware of how things are going in the establishment in Courthezon, since you hear things from all sides, it is astonishing, distressing, even discouraging, that you will not deign to send two words of consolation or hope in reply to the letters we wrote you two weeks ago, Bro. Galmier and I. "One would say that the information we dutifully give you about the most important items loses all value and force as it crosses the space between us, and once it reaches you, it might as well not even exist. But, do whatever you want. The fate of our poor establishment, no matter how important it is for the society, rests on your shoulders. As for me, I am no longer director, especially in what concerns Bro. Philomene, both personally and in terms of his work: he has too great an intellect to be directed by one so small as mine. I have written just about the same thing to Bro. Jean- Marie. I even wanted to run away to St-Paul and never come back here, unless I was forced to under pain of venous disobedience. I did not do so, for fear of hurting that good brother, who after all, did not put me in this painful position, and also out of hope that you will transfer me as soon as possible, as you promised the mayor. That will make him and an infinite number of other people in Courthezon very happy. According to what you wrote him, I should have been recalled a month ago. You people are never short on promises, but very often, nothing is less urgent than keeping them; you give more than enough proof of that...” On the 27th of that same month, he wrote another letter, which he began by saying, "The republic which exists in your brothers' school in Courthezon has for more than a month now outdone its French counterpart. The trouble among

prefeng-letter.doc 29 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” them has been at its height for several days now: no more rule, no more submission, and what follows naturally, complete disunite. It is hell to live in such company...” Finally, on 10th March, having had all he could take, he wrote his last letter from Courthezon. "The 'soon' you promised me gave me great pleasure, but it is taking too long to happen. I have made my final decision: next Thursday I am going up to St-Paul. My presence in this establishment is doing constantly increasing harm. According to the brothers, everyone who speaks to them about me says only negative things. They are tired of having me around; it is extremely upsetting for them to have to carry out their duties, since their minds are not at peace and their hearts are not happy. So, the best thing to do is for me to put them at their ease by leaving here. They say that everyone in Courthezon wants Bro. Philorome for superior of the establishment: the other brothers want him too. "Send orders immediately to Bro. Jean-Marie to send another brother either to cook or to teach my class.... And send him orders about my destination, too. As for being director, please do not count on me any more, because I am not fit to govern. For the rest, do whatever you want with me. If my co-workers have lost your esteem because of my government, please restore it to them in its entirety, just as they had it before becoming my co-workers. I think they will do better when I am far away. For myself, I willingly forgive them the pain they caused me. I even gave them certain things to prove that I hold nothing against them. I have reason to believe that they will not hold anything against me either. Write them a friendly letter. Your very devoted subject, Bro. Barthélemy". As it turned out, Bro. Avit tells us, "Bro. Jean returned to take over direction of the house towards the end of March (1848), and Bro. Barthélemy returned to St-Paul. This trial no doubt left its mark on him, since on 24th February 1849, Bro. Jean- Marie had this to say about him in writing to Bro. Francis: "Bro. Barthélemy is doing better; he is beginning to rejoin the community, but I am afraid of a relapse. Those sorts of hallucinations seem to be definitely over. But unless I am very mistaken, he will soon have another attack". Still, two weeks later, on 12th March 1849, he suggested him as prefect for the boarders, but notes that, "he becomes clumsier every day...his eating habits are almost unbearable, and children who were aware of his bad manners would despise him". On 20th March, he suggested him as cook in Goudargues: "I do not dare suggest that to this good brother. If you write him a few words, telling him that you are thinking of giving him the retirement he wants, and that it hurts you to have to ask him to go out again like this, I think he will accept. His repugnance for superiorship increases by the day. If he were not led to make this further sacrifice by the hope that his wish and desire will be granted, it might affect his brain again. He is doing fairly well, but I am convinced that if he were even a little bit thwarted, the weakness of the brain might reappear, which would be extremely unfortunate". Still, the following 1 6th April, Bro. Jean-Marie sent him off to Goudargues. We do not know! How long he stayed at that school. The assignment lists put him either in Saint-Symphorien d'Ozon or in Saint- Victor-Lacoste, Gard, but according to Bro. Avit, those were really brothers who did not have their certificates of competence, who were registered under his name. Even though he did not want to be director again, he had to take over La Voulte in September 1850, according to Bro. Avit and one of the assignment lists. But after one year, Bro. Juvenal, who was teaching the upper class, took over the direction of both the school and the community. In 1852, we find him in Meyras, Ardèche. "Good old Bro. Barthélemy," says Bro. Avit in the annals of that establishment, "was its first director. He came here at the very beginning of October, with a companion, to get everything ready...

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Bro. Cecile, who is still director in Meyras, informs us that Fr. Ranc praised the brothers highly in a sermon he gave announcing their arrival, and that he had stated that Bro. Barthélemy was a good singer. There were many singers present, but they all drew back and gave him the honor of intoning. Being very timid, he did poorly, even though he knew the chant perfectly". It seems he did no better in class: "With his weak character," Bro. Avit continues, "he worked very hard but did not get the discipline and the results he would have liked. After two years, Bro. Corebe came to replace Bro. Barthélemy, who returned to take over the direction of the school three years later, for another two years" (211.36, pp. 4-5). In between times, from 1854 to 1857, he acted as bursar in Villeneuve-de-Berg, at least according to the 1854 assignments; we presume he stated there the whole time until 1857, but we have no way of being sure of that. After his second stay in Meyras, from 1857 to 1859, he spent the 1859-60 school year in Nyons. We lose track of him during the next three years, but he was almost certainly in the provincial house in St-Paul; the assignment lists do not specify who resided there. From September 1863 to September 1865, again according to the assignment lists, he was in Saint-Cannat, Bouches-du-Rhône, but Bro. Avit claims that in September 1864 he returned to Saint-Victor-Lacoste, and specifies that the brother director there had been acting until that time under the name of Bro. Barthélemy. We have no documentation to resolve the problem, which is linked on the one hand to the custom of the time of lending one's name to cover someone else, and on the other, to the possibility that Bro. Avit has his dates wrong, although that happens less and less frequently the closer we come to the time when the annals were written. We can follow him step by step during his last years, because we have almost all the assignment fists. By school years, giving always the starting year we find him in: St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (1865); Gordes (1866); teaching at the novitiate in Saint-Paul (1867); we have no list for 1868, and his name is not on the one for 1869; at the Hermitage (1870-76). He died there "on 5th July 1877, at the age of 73 years, 2 months and 11 days, having spent 58 years and I month in community" (RD, 3, n. 810). (REFERENCES, pp. 68-75).

BARTHELEMY, HYACINTHE CLAUDE FELIX: (1787-1868), prefect of the Loire, born 8th March 1787 in Saint-Almin, in the Territory of Belfort. All we know of his private life is that he was married. His public life, on the other hand, though it hardly ever moved outside the limits of his functions as prefect, is spelled out in lights by his successive appointments. He was named prefect of Lunebourg in 1811, of Lille in 1814, of Abbeville in 1815, and of Sainte-Menehould in 1817. He was dismissed in 1822 and held no further official position until 1830 when he resumed his political career. He was successively named prefect of: Maine-et-Loire (6th August 1830), Saône-et-Loire (17th January 1834), Haute-Savoie (20th October 1838), the Loire (10th August 1839), and Finally of Charente Inférieure (23rd November 1841). Fr. Champagnat must have met him during the third trimester o1 1839, at the prefecture in Montbrison, as he states in his letter to Mr. Barthélemy on 4th January 1840 (L. 312), asking him to intervene on behalf of the legal authorization of the congregation. We do not know what action, if any, he took in answer to this request. In any case, the Founder did not want to miss the opportunity to involve him in the matter, since he no doubt knew that Mr. Barthélemy, along with his functions as prefect, also acted as maître des requêtes [i.e., he was in charge of receiving, classifying, distributing and circulating all incoming requests] in the Council of State from 1831 to February 1848. We may presume that as of that date, he

prefeng-letter.doc 31 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” retired permanently to Châlons-sur-Marne, where he died on 22nd December 1868. (REFERENCES, pp. 075-076).

BASILE, BROTHER: Michel Monchalin (1814-1898), born 3rd December 1814 in Pertuis, in the town of Saint-Hostien, Haute-Loire, to Jacques Monchalin and Marie Otin came from a large family and had three brothers and three sisters. He was twenty when he asked Fr. Champagnat to receive him into the congregation. He entered the Hermitage on 24th June 1835; nine months later, on 24th March 1836, he received the religious habit. He made temporary profession on 10th October of that same year, and perpetual profession barely a year later, on 9th October 1837. We have no information about how he spent the five years following his first profession; he must have divided his time between the Hermitage and Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, since we know from L. 95 that he spent some time in the latter house. The 1839 assignments place him in Bourg- Argental with Bro. Hilarion and Bro. Martin. In September 1840, he left France for the missions in Oceania. On 24th May 1841, he reached Sydney, and left there several weeks later for New Zealand; he settled at Kororareka, on the Bay of Islands. From Bro. Claude-Marie we learn that he served simultaneously as shoemaker, cook, butcher, and baker. After five years in that post, he was sent to Opotiki, on the Bay of Plenty, where he carried out the same Functions. When the Marist Fathers had to leave the diocese of Auckland in 1850, to go to Wellington, where Bishop Viard was the ordinary, Bro. Basile went with them, but he did not stay long in that city. He must have left with Fr. Lampila and Bro. Florentin a short while later, since Cardinal Moran’s History of the in Australia mentions that in 1851, Brothers Basile and Florentin were the coadjutors and companions of Fr. Reynier in Rotorua. That was where he was to spend practically all the rest of his life. Bro. Emery of Villa Maria, in a letter to Bro. François in 1859, had this to say of him: “Bro. Basile wrote me recently. He is still with Bro. Florentin in Ahuriri. He tells me he is starting to get old and has rheumatism in his arm”. Together with Bro. Florentin, he was the kingpin of an agricultural project which kept the missionaries alive. When Bro. Florentin left for Sydney he stayed on alone, to take care of the material needs of the mission, until 1870, when other brothers came to his aid and relieved him of the burden. However, he continued to care for the flock of sheep until the year before his death, which occurred in 1898. At about 5 p.m. on Saturday, 23rd April, he wanted to go to church to make his weekly confession, but his confessor dissuaded him, went to his room to hear his confession, and promised to bring him Communion the next morning. At around 6, he had a little soup. Since the brothers wanted to help him into bed, he postponed his retiring until after prayer and rosary at 7:30. Immediately afterwards, one of the brothers found him in his room with his head down, and thought he was asleep. He was dead. He was 84, and had spent 63 years in religious life, 58 of them in the New Zealand mission. His funeral was celebrated on 25th April 1898 in the presence of the priests, brothers and scholastics of the house, many priests from the surrounding area, and many Catholic and Protestant laypeople who had come to pay their last respects to Bro. Basile. (Bibliography: I. Yardin, SM. Biographies, vol. II, pp. 501-509; there is a brief mention in the Bulletin de l’Institut, n° 48, July 1917, but the information given there about him contains a few errors.) (REFERENCES, pp. 076-077).

BASIN, BROTHER: Jean-Claude Monteux, born 8th July 1820, in Fontfroide, in the town of Saint-Genest-Malifaux, Loire, son of Maurice Basin and Marie Bertail. He

prefeng-letter.doc 32 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” entered the Hermitage on 6th June 1838 and received the habit there on 15th August. He made profession for three years on 10th October 1838, renewed it the following year on the same date (RVT, 1, 71 and 73), made the vow of obedience on 9th October 1842 and perpetual vows on 8th September 1847 (RVP, 1, 40, and his personnel file). His long apostolic career began immediately after his first profession, hardly five months after he had entered. According to his file, he spent the 1838-39 school year as cook in Saint-Paul-en-Jarret; this is confirmed by the letter he received from Fr. Champagnat on 23 February 1839 (L 244). The following year he was in Les Roches-de-Condrieu, but only until April 1840, when he was sent as assistant to Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, where he remained until September 1841. However, Bro. Avit names him among the team which went to open the school in Nantua at the end of October 1840. It is possible that both are correct, and that his stay in Saint-Paul lasted only five months, but we have no proof. At the beginning of December 1841, we find him in yet another group, taking over the school in Saint-Germain-Laval, as is confirmed by Bro. Cariton, its director, in his letter of 10th December of that year. Among other things, he asks Bro. François to please “send Bro. Basin’s belongings if they have arrived” (AFM, 661.13). According to the annals of that house, which are not too explicit, we may deduce that Bros. Cariton and Basin were withdrawn in July 1842, in order to prepare for their certificate of competence and take the exam. Bro. Cariton seems to have passed, but not Bro. Basin, if we are to believe his file which specifies: “Ordinary certificate in St-Etienne, April 1858”. In October 1842, both brothers returned to Saint-Germain, but the following year, Bro. Cariton “was replaced by Bro. Eutrope after the retreat”. Nothing is said about Bro. Basin, but his file clearly indicates that he too left Saint-Germain in 1843, as the annals imply when they state that, “Bro. Eutrope was the cook; Bros. Héliodore and Rigobert were the teachers” (AFA, 213.52. p. 12). We catch up with Bro. Basin again in Saint- Pierre-de-Boeuf in October 1843: both his file and Bro. Avit agree on that. He stayed there two years and then, according to his file, went to Saint-Symphonen-d’Ozon. Bro. Aubin, the director there, speaks of him in a letter to Bro. François on 12th February 1846: “You know he can barely read and that he cannot write; I have to do all his penmanship models for him” (AFM, 614). His stay there did not exceed two years either, and then he spent a like period of time in Digoin, from 1847 to 1849, as both his file and the assignment lists indicate. On the other hand, he stayed three years (1849-52) in his next post, Nantua, but then he spent only one year in La Grange-Payre, which he left during the 1853 vacation, to direct the school in Lorette. “After the 1857 retreat,” Bro. Avit reports in the annals of that house, “Bro. Ernand, his assistant, replaced him”. His file confirms that fact, and lists Gueugnon as his next assignment. We know that the brothers did not go there until 1st June 1858, which leaves a gap in Bro. Basin’s curriculum vitae. Since we have no documentary sources, we have no way to fill it. Bro. Avit compensates somewhat for that by dwelling at length on his stay in Gueugnon; in his annals for that house, he mentions several letters which have been preserved, from which we will give substantial extracts. “Once the preparations were finished, Bro. Basin (Jean-Claude Monteux) arrived with two assistants. The school was opened on 1st June 1858, and started out with 130 students. (To be precise, the brothers took it over, since it was already in existence.) Despite this substantial number of students for two classes, Bro. Basin enticed students away from Digoin and drew them into his school. The old folks still remember him and the prizes he offered them. “He returned after the 1859 vacation, despite the complaints of the parish priest, who had written on 10th October

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1859, ‘At vacation time, I asked you to change the brother director of Gueugnon, basing my request on his poor pronunciation and on his accent, which is so different from ours that everyone complains and some people even make fun of him. ... I mentioned that the Brother Director lacked tact and politeness in his dealings with us. ... Moreover, the poor brother seemed to withdraw from me and to be annoyed that I gave him advice. (The mayor) complains that he lacks judgment and even that he is incapable of directing his school”. Bro. Avit adds a clarification: “We can state here that this brother, with little formal education, and a poor speaker, has little judgment, but we must add that he is pious, devoted and does his duty carefully, as he understands it. ... Bro. Basin was replaced in May 1860” (AFA, 212.20, 8-10). His file says September 1859, which is obviously incorrect in view of the letter just quoted. We do not know whether he went immediately to his new assignment or waited until the 1860 vacation. At any rate, he was appointed the official town teacher in Saint-Clair, Isère, with Bro. Jadoc as assis- tant. Everything went well. The visitation report from 1864 mentions that, “Bro. Basin is beginning to wear out here. He accepts dinner invitations without reciprocating, and is considered to be a greedy miser” (AFA 214.72.9). “The visitation of February 1867 found Bros. Basin, Hilarion and Galmier in St-Clair. The Brother Director was tired and did the cooking. The salary wasn’t all that much for three, but the director pulled strings and made ends meet. His assistants weren’t surprised” (AFA, 214.72.10). On 14th February 1867, the visitation report informs us that according to the parish priest, Bro. Basin was very unpopular in St-Clair and that the mayor felt the same way. He was clumsy, not very competent, and liked to boast too much. However, the old priest and his party backed him up to some extent. Since a rumor had gone around that he was going to be changed, the old priest wrote to request that nothing be done. The Reverend Brother answered that he had never even thought of removing him and that everyone would be perfectly happy to leave him in St-Clair, provided that his good intentions were enough to satisfy everyone involved. Bro. Avit tells us that Bro. Basin, thinking he was doing the right thing, sided too much with Fr. Nicoud (the former parish priest) without noticing that the new priest, the mayor and most of the parents were not very happy with him. On 17th February 1868, Brothers Basin, Galmier and Asclépias were in St-Clair. On 20th March 1869, the assistants were Bros. Amet and Josué. The report of 4th February 1871 informs us that Br. Basin kept telling jokes about his parish priest, whom he treated as an equal and visited only when required to, and adds that the latter was only waiting for a less troubled moment to get rid of this good man without credentials (AFA, 214.72.12). In September 1871, Bro. Dosithée replaced Bro. Basin, and the report of 27th January 1872 has this to say: “The château [i.e. the local gentry who lived in the manor-house] seems to miss Bro. Basin, and the parish priest says they replaced a sick old man by a sicker old man with even less good will; he almost misses Bro. Basin” (AFA, 214.72.13). We do not know where he spent the rest of that school year. His file says that in December 1873 he was assistant in Saint-Lattier, but he is not mentioned in the annals of that school. From 12th August 1873 to March 1882, he was a town teacher in St-Forgeux, where he replaced Bro. Leopold. Bro. Avit has this to say about him in that post: “Bro. Basin, who is the official teacher even though he is of limited ability and in poor health, does the cooking. His assistants find that their director expresses himself poorly, talks too much and boasts too much. They are right, but Bro. Basin is an administrator” (AFA, 214.76.12). Even though he was a poor speaker, he was able to win over the radical mayor, who was a simple tailor who had determined to throw the

prefeng-letter.doc 34 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” brothers out. He persuaded him to break the first contract, to recognize the assistant as his deputy, and finally, to raise the salary from 1275 francs to 1900 (AFA, 214.76.12). The elections of January 1881 threw the tailor out of office; the new one and the parish priest made a crime out of Bro. Basin’s dealings with the ousted one, and had him replaced by an official teacher who taught his class. According to Bro. Avit, he was transferred in 1881, but according to his file, he stayed on as cook, which seems plau- sible. It was only at the 1881 vacation that he was replaced as superior of the community by Bro. Auguste. Bro. Avit must be off by a year, since the 188 1-82 assignments list him in Saint-Forgeux. From then on until his retirement, he bounced around from one assignment to another, as either cook or bursar: Saint Lattier, from March 1882 to April 1883; La Frette, until September 1883; Bully, until June 1884; he was made an associate again, in Chatte, until September 1885; Millery, in 1886; the following year at the boarding school in Neuvile, although the assignments list him still at Millery. In September 1887 he retired in Charly until 1893, when he moved to Saint- Genis-Laval, where he died at 2 a.m. on 29th May 1903 “being 82 years, 10 months and 21 days of age, and 64 years, 11 months, and 23 days in community” (RD. 3, n. 2222). (REFERENCES, pp. 077-080).

BEAUVOIR, CHARLES-FRANÇOIS, see DE LA CROIX, BROTHER.

BENETON, JOSEPH: (1801-?), parish priest of Perreux in the archdiocese of Lyons, born 30th July 1801. Ordained in Lyons on 24th July 1825, he was named curate in Bourg-Argental the next day, and reappointed in 1826, 1827 and 1828. On 27th June 1829, he was named curate in , where he remained until 1834. He was named parish priest of Estivareilles on 20th November 1834, but on 19th December, his appointment was changed; Fr. Durand went to Estivareilles and Fr. Beneton to Saint- Romain-Ie-Puy, in the town of Saint-Rambert, Loire, replacing Fr. Roche who was transferred to Saint-Didier-sur-Rochefort. On 21st March 1838, he replaced Fr. Moine, who had died, in Perreux. Although that appointment was not entered in the personnel register, A. Vachet, in his Paroisses du diocese de , confirms it, as does Bro. Avit in the annals of Perreux. This is what the latter has to say about him: “Fr. Beneton always showed himself to be very devoted to the house, although he found the brother director’s (Polycarpe) style too simple”. His letter of 24th August 1848, to Bro. François, shows how he upheld the brothers: “The brother director from Charlieu was here just a moment ago, very upset because he might have made you angry by bringing his boarders to play in our brothers’ competition. He begged me to write to you to explain how it all happened. I do so all the more gladly, since I am happy to be able to exonerate this good brother in the present circumstance. “I had been informed of it in advance by Bro. Polycarpe, and I gave my approval for the free participation of the young musicians from the school in Charlieu. It is true that in the past I had been dis- pleased that musicians from had been invited to this event; but this is a very different situation, and our brothers’ competition today is far more deserving of this added embellishment. So I hope that this little incident will not hurt in any way the good brothers who caused it. Nevertheless, I thank you for the interest you have shown in maintaining harmony between the brothers and us. I dare hope that nothing in the future will be able to alter that. “I will profit by this letter to ask you to take proper care of us in the choice of subjects you send us, if you intend at any time to make any changes in the

prefeng-letter.doc 35 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” personnel of our house. We would prefer above all to keep those we now have, and I dare hope you will go along with our opinion” (AFM, Perreux file). According to Bro. Avit, Fr. Beneton was replaced by Fr. Gorand early in 1854. We have no further information about him. (REFERENCES, pp. 080-081).

BENOIT, PAUL: (?-1852), spiritual director and teacher at the major seminary in Montpellier, Hérault until 1844; we do not know when he began there. Actually, the only information we have about him is fragmentary bits from the clergy files in Montpellier he came from Brassac, Tarn, and died on 8th March 1852. In 1838, he asked Fr. Champagnat for brothers for the parish of his birth. At the same time, Fr. Grasset, rector of the same seminary, had made a similar request, for the foundation of a novitiate, although we do not know exactly where (cf. LL. 199 and 203). Since we do not have these two priests’ letters, it is hard to say if there was any other link between these two requests besides the fact that they were based on mutual awareness of our congregation. In any case, if the rector was able to carry out his plans with the help of another congregation, it would have been rather difficult for the spiritual director to keep asking for ours. (REFERENCES, p. 081).

BERANGER, ADOLPHE, see CHAUMONT, BROTHER.

BERAUD, FRANÇOIS: (1807-1893), curate in Semur-en-Brionnais, Saône-et-Loire, in the diocese of Autun, was born on 21st March 1807 in Montreaux l’Etoile, Saône-et- Loire. Appointed curate in Semur in 1832, he exercised his ministry there until 1838. Since Fr. Bonnardel, the parish priest, was unwell, he asked his curate to obtain brothers to take over the parish school, which a certain Mr. D’Avranches had opened after the Revolution, but age now prevented him from teaching. Fr. Béraud wrote to Fr. Champagnat on 2nd November 1835, then went to the Hermitage, without obtaining what he desired. When he got back to his parish, he wrote to Fr. Cholleton, vicar general of Lyons, who on 18th January 1836, intervened on his behalf. Fr. Béraud was promised the two brothers he had requested. On 12th July 1836, he wrote to Fr. Champagnat, “I have wanted to write to you for a long time now about the brothers you were good enough to promise to Fr. Bonnardel for the parish of Semur, but knowing how busy you are and relying on your promises, I simply wrote and spoke several times to Fr. Cholleton who is also very good to us. “I wrote him specifically that the mayor of Semur, the only member of the council who did not sign the petition I showed you on my trip to St-Chamond (he was afraid of putting himself in an awkward position with the schoolteacher we just let go) offered a long time ago to give me a request for brothers conjointly with his council and to add his voice to that of our whole city to obtain two Marist Brothers for the first year. I will send it to you whenever you wish. I put off sending it because I expected to have the pleasure of seeing you here in Semur; I also have a foundation of a hundred francs income for our future school and I assure you that we will soon be at ease. I began buying furniture and linen and I will now to order tables from the carpenter, like the ones you have made for your other houses. “I would really like to have our two brothers some days, at least two weeks, before All Saints, so that I can announce that they will definitely be our primary teachers. I will soon announce their coming to all our parishioners, but people will be happy when they see them, because I assure you they are very much wanted. The house is all ready. The garden is still not

prefeng-letter.doc 36 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” really as I would like it, but I am planning on another larger and more convenient one, and I will have nothing to fear. “I beg you, Father, do not forget us. Send me a line in reply, to further reassure my worthy and respected parish priest, who is starting to accuse me of neglecting this important parish matter. Please accept, Father Superior, the sincere assurance of my profound respect and of our gratitude for all the interest you have shown in us” (AFM 129.21). Fr. Béraud would not let up until he had his brothers, as Fr. Champagnat remarked in his letter of 12th February 1837 to Mr. Claude Terdon, mayor of Semur (L. 93). In the biography of Bro. De la Croix, we read that Semur was expecting another parish priest, but that Fr. Béraud would certainly remain there “since he takes care of the bishop’s business in Semur”. On 10th October 1837, Fr. Béraud informed Fr. Champagnat that Fr. Milleraud, superior of the minor seminary in Semur, had just been named parish priest to succeed Fr. Bonnardel who had died the previous year. Then he added, “I will always consider it an honor to have been asked by Fr. Bonnardel to work for the opening of such an establishment in the city of Semur” (AFM 129.37). That was his way of hinting that he did not expect to remain in Semur, despite Bro. Dc Ia Croix’s conviction. In fact, the following year he was named parish priest of Cussy-en-Morvan, Saône-etLoire. He stayed there hardly a year, because in 1839 he was named parish priest of Montceau-les-Mines. In 1866, he was appointed chaplain of Mesplier in the parish of Blanzy. He was named a canon in 1878 and died on 11th August 1893. (Archives, diocese of Autun.) (REFERENCES, pp. 081-083).

BERNET, JOSEPH: (1770-1846), archbishop of Aix-en-Provence, born in Saint-Flour on 4th September 1770; in 1791 he was a seminarian at St-Sulpice and had to leave when all the teachers and students scattered to avoid arrest. He was employed as a teacher in Sceaux during the Terror. In 1795 he obtained dimissorial letters from the vicars general of Bishop Ruffo, his ordinary, and received holy orders from Bishop De Mailé in Paris; he was ordained priest at midnight on 4th November, in an oratory in rue des Rats (today rue de l’Hôtel-Colbert), near Notre-Dame. He was first assigned to the parish of Antony, but he had to leave after the coup d’état against the Directory on 18th Fructidor Year V (4th September 1796). He went to Orleans, where he spent the next fourteen years, first as a teacher in a boarding school and then as assistant in Saint- Paterne. In 1816, he was named first chaplain of the royal house of the Legion of Honor at Saint-Denis, and honorary canon of the royal chapter. In 1820 he left the Legion of Honor and became a titular canon of St-Denis, but his zeal and energy demanded a more active ministry. In 1823, the Archbishop of Paris entrusted him with the parish of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, where he put to use all his excellent administrative abilities. He founded there a church school which was soon flourishing but which was closed by the ordinances of 1828; by that time he had already left Paris. Nominated for the diocese of Rochelle on 19th March 1827, he was officially approved on 25th June and consecrated on 12th August in the Church of Saint-Sulpice by Bishop De Quélen. He took possession of his see by proxy on the26th of that month and made his formal entrance on 14th September. Bishop Bernet, assisted by Fr. Jacquement, whom he had called from Bordeaux to be his vicar general and who later became bishop of Nantes, moved the major seminary to the beautiful building he had constructed on the site of the former Capuchin friary; the transfer had been prepared by Bishop Paillou but took place only under Bishop Villecourt, his successor. Bishop Bernet also published a new edition of the liturgical books of the diocese. “Transferred to Aix-en-Provence on 6th October

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1835, he was formally approved on 1st February 1836 and installed on 26th March. He renewed discipline in his diocese, gave it new statutes, reestablished the clergy conferences, and tried to revive provincial councils by gathering his suffragans from 21st to 26th October 1838. With his energetic temperament, Archbishop Bernet is remembered as having been authoritarian but just, a slave to duty and full of zeal for souls” (L’episcopat français, 1802-1905, p. 15). He contacted Fr. Champagnat in 1839, to ask him to send brothers to the parish of Pélisanne, Bouches-du-Rhône, but he did not succeed (cf. L. 241). “On 4th November 1845, after Archbishop Bernet had celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination, he learned that the government had requested a cardinal’s red hat for him. Gregory XVI granted it on 10th December and announced it in the consistory of 19th January 1846. On Sunday, 21st February, Louis- Philippe presented him with his red biretta in the chapel of the Tuileries, and the new cardinal made his solemn re-entry into Aix on 25th March. But the shock caused by fatigue and emotion soon made itself felt. Cardinal Bernet began a pastoral visit which he had to interrupt and return to Aix. He was unable to participate in the conclave which elected Pius IX, and died after a long illness, on 5th July 1846. His funeral was celebrated on the 9th, in the presence of a huge gathering; his body was buried in the Church of Saint-Sauveur” (L’épiscopat francais, 1802-1 905, p. 15). On 14th July 1840, he had been made a Roman count and assistant prelate at the papal throne; he had been named a knight of the Legion of Honor on 29th October 1828, an officer on 30th April 1836, and a commander on 1st March 1846. (REFERENCES, pp. 083-084).

BERTHIER, ANDRÉ: (1793-1855), parish priest of La Côte-SaintAndré, vicar general of Grenoble, born 3rd September 1793 in La Tour-du-Pin, Isère. He was ordained on 1st June 1822, and named curate in Tullins. From 1824 to 1826 he served as parish priest of Gières, and for the following decade as dean in La Côte-Saint-André. On 30th November 1836, his bishop named him vicar general, and Antoine Mollin succeeded him in La Côte. It was just at that moment that Fr. Champagnat wrote to him to update him on his disagreement with Fr. Douillet; if worst came to worst, he was even thinking of withdrawing the brothers (cf. L. 99). Later, on 19th November 1839, Fr. Champagnat would appeal to him to intervene on behalf of the brothers with the director of the minor seminary. He retired in 1853 after seventeen years as vicar general, and died on 16th April 1855. (Information received from Fr. J. Praz, archivist at the chancery in Grenoble). (REFERENCES, p. 084).

BERTHINIER, CLAUDE; see BRUNO, BROTHER.

BERTHOLEY, ANTOINE: (1782-?), mayor of Mornant, born 1782 in Mornant, landowner, resident in Mornant, Rhône. Married, three children, elector and member of the town council, with an income of 1600 francs (ADR 3 M tr 795). He was named mayor of Mornant on 20th April 1820 by a prefectorial decree (letter to Rambaud, the notary), and remained in office until 1824. He was reappointed in 1838, replacing Jacques Théodose Perret, and remained in office until 1846. One of his children, called Antoine although his name was really Etienne, served as notary in Mornant. He succeeded his father as mayor and held office from 1848 to 1855 (municipal archives of Mornant). It was therefore to Antoine, Sr., that Fr. Champagnat wrote on 4th December 1838 (L. 230), when the school had been in existence for several years already. He reminded

prefeng-letter.doc 38 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” him that the brothers were not being paid sufficiently, since they had received only 900 francs instead of 1200. In his letter, the Founder, while asking him to come to some agreement with his council, seems to be warning him of the eventual withdrawal of the brothers, by telling him that he will await his answer before making a decision. (REFERENCES, pp. 084-085).

BERTRAND, JEAN-CLAUDE; see CLAUDE-MARIE, BROTHER.

BESSON, CLAUDE: (1802-1883), Marist Father, chaplain at the Hermitage. Born 18th December 1802, he made profession in the Society of Mary on 17th December 1838 after two years of parish ministry. After becoming a Marist, he spent thirty years of his religious life as chaplain to the Little Brothers of Mary: ten years at the novitiate at the Hermitage, and twenty at the novitiate in La Bégude. All the brothers, who loved him and were attached to him, were unanimous in praising him. He was a simple, upright, unaffected man, without malice or bitterness. He lived quietly, was calm and obliging, and totally dedicated to his duty. He paid no attention to what was happening in the world, accepted all privations, and was devoted to the brothers to whom he dedicated his whole heart, all his time, and all his prayers. He lived like one of them and shared their joys and their sorrows with admirable sincerity (Annales Europe Amérique 117). He went into retirement at La Neylière to prepare for his death, which came peacefully on 15th April 1883. (REFERENCES, p. 085).

BETHENOD, JOSEPH ANTOINE: (1788-1874), mayor of St-Martin-laPlaine, Loire; born in 1788, probably in St-Martin-la-Plaine. His father was Claude Bethenod, a lawyer. He was married and had two boys and two girls. The preceding information is found in a prefectorial register under date of 6th January 1811 (ADL, 1M6-21). Antoine married Jeanne Honorine Giappa. Under Louis XVIII, he operated mines in St-Martin-la-Plaine. During the Revolution, certain outstanding citizens of St-Martin: Messrs. Dugas de la Caritonière, Bethenod and Montiller allowed Fr. Bonnard, a missionary from Narbonne, to carry on his ministry amid dangerous and secret plots (Jean Combe, HLctoire d’un village en Jarret, p. 110). In 1837, Mr. Bethenod was named mayor of Saint-Mat-tin. On 7th March 1839, after writing to the parish priest, Fr. Champagnat wrote to the mayor to remind him of a 1000-franc deficit spread over two years (L. 236). He asked if there was any hope of improvement, and said he would make a final decision on the basis of the reply. In October 1839, the Founder, apparently having received no answer to his first letter, once again asked the mayor what he intended to do for the school year which was about to begin, and reminded him of what he had said in his first letter (L. 291). Finally, on 28th November 1839, still having had no reply, the Founder profited by the fact that the brothers, who had returned to St-Martin, had been recognized as town teachers; he reminded the mayor for the third time of his obligations regarding the brothers’ salary (L. 303). Mr. Bethenod was reconfirmed in office by ministerial decree on 19th August 1840, and again in 1843. His term of office ended in 1846 with the appointment of Jean Antoine Besson. He died in 1874, perhaps in St-Joseph (AM St-Martin). (REFERENCES, pp. 085-086).

BEURRIER, LAURENT: Priest, born 16th July 1803 in Saint-Julien de Civry, Saône et Loire. The only information we could find about him in the diocesan archives of Autun is

prefeng-letter.doc 39 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” a list of dates: 1828, curate in his native parish; 1834, in Mussy-sous-Dun (Saône et Loire); 1835, in Chauffailles; 1838, parish priest of Saint-Germain-des-Bois (Nièvre); died 10th December 1868. There is no mention of Vauban, but we know that in 1839, a Fr. Berrier, a priest of the diocese of Autun, was living in the house that Bishop Du Trousset d’Héricourt gave Fr. Champagnat for a novitiate. Perhaps they are the same person. He could not have been parish priest of Saint-Germain and at the same time bursar of the minor seminary in Semur, as Bro. Avit states when he quotes a letter from the brother director in Semur (AFA, 212.48, p. 10). In any case, it was the bursar whom the bishop asked to guard the house in Vauban until the brothers came to take over. In the Abregd des Annales, Bro. Avit mentions him thus in writing about Vauban: “The bishop left Fr. Beurrier, one of his best priests, there, as chaplain and bursar.... Unfortunately for the new novitiate, Fr. Beurrier did not stay there very long” (p. 300). But he was still there on 14th February 1840 when the Founder wrote to him to ask him to take delivery of the beds and to thank him for everything he had done for the house in Vauban. And it is again Bro. Avit who informs us, in the annals of that house, that Fr. Beurrier, “was soon replaced by Fr. Ducharme, who was a holy priest, interested only in what concerned his ministry” (AFA, 212.54, p. 5), This Fr. Ducharme was a Marist: our Founder had asked Fr. Colin to send him a confrere to be chaplain of the future novitiate in Vauban. As for Fr. Beumer, he continued as bursar of the seminary in Semur. In fact, on 9th June 1843, the director of Semur wrote that the house occupied by the brothers, which was a wing of the seminary, was in such a state “that it rained in the rooms, and that Fr. Beurrier, the seminary bursar, didn’t seem concerned about it” (AFA, 212.48, pp. 9-10). On 15th October 1844, Bro. Vincent, the new director of Semur, wrote that the mayor absolutely wanted a class for adults, and that he and his assistant intended to take it on, “if it will be possible for him [Bro. Vincent] to live in the seminary. Fr. Beurrier is offering to feed both of us for 50 centimes apiece per day” (ibid., p. 10). We also have a letter, dated 4th September 1851, which Bro. Jean-Marie wrote to Fr. Beurrier, “bursar of the seminary in Semur-en-Brionnais”, in reply to a recommendation given by the latter on behalf of the parish priest of Brandon, Saône et Loire, who was asking for brothers (RCLA. vol. 3, n. 1707). After that date, we have no further information of any kind about Fr. Beurrier which we could clearly identify with him as the one of whom we spoke at the beginning of this article. (REFERENCES, pp. 086-087).

BILON, HENRI; see AVIT, BROTHER.

BLACHON, CLAUDE; see HENRI-MARIE, BROTHER.

BLANC, ANNET; see ANDÉOL, BROTHER.

BLANC, GEORGES: Curate in St-Galmier, Loire, archdiocese of Lyons, born 30th November 1799 in Sury-le-Comtal. Loire. He was the son of Gaspard Blanc and Catherine Rolan. His brother Annet entered the Institute under the name of Bro. Andéol. On 14th April 1827, Georges was ordained in Lyons, and on the 19th, appointed curate in Coutouvre, where he remained until January 1834. Then he was named curate in , and on 24th October 1835, in St-Galmier, where he was reappointed in 1836 and 1837. After that year, he no longer appears on the personnel lists. There are two possibilities: either he left the priesthood, or he entered a religious institute. He does not

prefeng-letter.doc 40 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” appear on the list of deceased priests. On 13th July 1837, Fr. Champagnat wrote to him to tell him the conditions under which postulants were admitted. He also spoke of his brother, whom he had sent to La Côte at his own request, because he was afraid that frequent contact with those who thought differently from him might endanger his vocation. Finally, he mentioned that his brother was happy, and showed great enthusiasm for doing his task as a religious educator in fitting fashion (L. 108). (REFERENCES, p. 087).

BOIRON, CLAUDE: (1759-1844), farmer in La Rivoire, in the town of La Valla-en-Gier, Loire. He was born in La Valla on 26th October 1759, to Jean Boiron and Marie Jabouley. He was baptized the same day, in the parish church, by Fr. Proton, the curate; his godfather was Claude Jabouley, and his godmother was Marguerite Ginot, wife of Jean-Baptiste Chapart (Reg. La chrétienté de La Valla). Like many other country boys, he looked forward to being a farmer, although he seems to have had a certain degree of ambition, as can be seen from the way he gradually enlarged the property deeded to him by his father, which act was notarized before Messrs. Perraud and Boteille under date of 9th September 1790 (Cf. Jabouley file). On 3rd Ventose Year V (2 1st February 1797) he married Angélique Ferriol, daughter of Claude Férriol and Benoîte Ducoin, who were farmers in Les Egaux in the town of Izieux. His two sisters eventually gave him the property they had inherited. The First, Elisabeth, did so by means of a deed notarized on 12th January 1815. The second doubtless did the same. Even though we do not have the deed in question, we can deduce its existence from the bill of sale by which, on 15th April 1835, in the office of Maximiien Finaz, Esq., a lawyer in Saint-Chamond, Claude Boiron sold to Fr. Champagnat his property in La Rivoire. This document informs us that Claude Boiron had enlarged the property in La Rivoire through the acquisition of land from François Edouard Boilevin on 25th August 1830, in the office of Mr. Thiaud, a lawyer in La Valla. It also stipulates the continuation of the payment of a life-annuity to Gabrielle Boiron. In the second article, the buyer binds himself “to receive in the refuge which the said Fr. Champagnat has established in the above-mentioned place called l’Hermitage, the above named Claude Boiron, the seller, to house, feed and care for him during his life, in sickness and in health, and to give him proper burial after his death”. This deed does not mention the reason for the sale, which Bro. Avit indicates took place because Claude Boiron was “a widower and childless” (Abrege des Annales, p. 189). He may have been disappointed, but thanks to his solid Christian faith, he was not bitter. Not only that but, as Bro. Avit implies, far from being a burden to the Hermitage com- munity, he was its benefactor, and ultimately left them everything he owned. He no doubt agreed to the Founder’s sale of that same property on 4th August 1839, to Jean Jacques Debouley, in the office of the same Louis Maximilien Finaz. This latter deed stipulated “that Fr. Champagnat alone remains obligated to continue the payments due, 10 to Miss Gabrielle Boiron, and 2° to Mr. Claude Boiron, on the property sold Thus, Claude Boiron could die without regrets “on 1st March 1844, at four p.m., at the age of eighty-three” (AFM, Registre des décès, p. 1) (We would like to thank here Mr. Cartier, a lawyer in SaintChamond, for the photocopies of the various documents cited; Mr. Jabouley, for lending us his family papers for our research; and Br. André Bardyn of La Valla for the excellent help he gave us). (REFERENCES, pp. 087-088).

BOIS, FRANÇOIS: (1799-1847), parish priest and dean of Saint-Symphorien d’Ozon,

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Isère, in the archdiocese of Grenoble. He was apparently born in 1799, but apart from that, we know practically nothing about him, except that he was parish priest and dean of Saint-Symphorien d’Ozon from 1835 to 1838, and that in the latter year he was named a titular canon of Grenoble, which function he fulfilled until his death in 1847. In July 1837, Fr. Champagnat asked him to find another house for the brothers’ school (L. 125). The following 12th October, perhaps in reply to that letter, Fr. Bois wrote: “Our brother has finally recovered from his illness. Both are leaving tomorrow for the Hermitage. We could not be more satisfied with the literary examination which closed the school year: at first Bro. Barthélemy thought it might be better to do nothing, and I must admit I agreed with him. But in fact, we would both have been wrong to carry through with that idea; we were very pleased with our little children’s behavior and self- assurance. Even those present who are less in favor of this work gave them credit for that. “Bro. Barthélemy will speak to you about an inheritance of one thousand francs, left to the school by Miss Lombard, who died a few weeks ago; he will also tell you that it has been firmly decided that during the year which is about to begin, we will have a new building. Mr. Lombard, who was recently named a peer of France, promised that he would also get us something from the ministers towards that project. We ask you, Fr. Superior, to rely on our zeal. I am, Father, with the greatest respect, your most humble and obedient servant, F. Bois, parish priest and dean” (AFM, 129.38). (REFERENCES, pp. 088-089).

BOISSET, JEAN-MARIE; see JEAN-FRANÇOIS, BROTHER.

BOITON, CLAUDE; see FRANÇOIS-REGIS, BROTHER.

BONAVENTURE, BROTHER: (1804-1865), Antoine Pascal, born 12th February 1804 in Pélussin, Loire, to Jean-Baptiste Pascal and Marie Champailler. According to Our Models in Religion (OMR), he was “servant to a rich landowner of Ampuis” (p. 82) when he was entered in the Registre des Entrées of the Hermitage on 31st May 1830 (RE, 1, p. 35). But in the register of those receiving the habit, he himself states that he was “admitted on the twenty-seventh day of June, one thousand eight hundred thirty, in the house of Noire-Dame de l’Hermitage, the novitiate of the brothers of the Society of Mary” (RV, 1, p. VIII). One possible explanation for the discrepancy of dates is that he may have come on 31st March, but not to stay permanently, which he did only on 27th June. Bro. Avit is even less precise in the Abrégé des Annales: “Bro. Bonaventure, born Antoine Pascal in Pélussin in 1804, was a servant in Ampuis, when an ex-brother, Photin, who came from there, left the institute and tried to justify his action by criticizing the brothers and everything that went on in the congregation. That made A. Pascal indignant and made him decide to go to the Hermitage on 30th June, to replace the man who had left. He received the habit in October and was sent to Sorbier where he edified Bro. Cassien, whom no previous assistant had been able to please. He made profession in October 1831, and replaced Bro. Louis as master of novices. He fulfilled this difficult assignment perfectly for nearly twenty years” (AFA, p. 100). In any case, Bro. Bonaventure did receive the habit on 20th October 1830, according to his signed statement; he made his first temporary vows for three years on 2nd June 1831 (RVT, 1, p. 22), but on 12th October of that same year, he made perpetual profession privately (RVP, 1, p. 14). It seems impossible that he could have gone during this period,

prefeng-letter.doc 42 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” specifically during his novitiate, to assist Bro. Cassien in Sorbiers, as both Bro. Avit and OMR (p. 122) give us to understand. Bro. Cassien did not receive the habit until the 1832 retreat, and it was only after that that the Founder gave him as assistants two young brothers whom he did not find sufficiently virtuous and whom the Founder had to replace (OMR, pp. 207-208). Therefore, Bro. Bonaventure could not have been in Sorbiers before late 1832 or sometime in 1833. Besides, in spite of his age, it is hard to believe he could have been given his formation in such a short time. Consequently, it is even less plausible that he was named master of novices after his profession in October 1831, as Bro. Avit states both in the passage quoted above and in the annals of Charlieu, where he says that “Bro. Louis returned to take over the direction of this house in 1831” (AFM, 213.8, p. 11). We can confirm our thesis by working backwards: Bro. Bonaventure died in 1865, after spending twelve years at Saint-Genis as farmer, and nearly twenty years before that as master of novices, which brings us to 1833. Therefore, he left his position as master of novices around 1853, to take over the farm in Saint-Genis-Laval, where he got up at 3:30 a.m. to milk the cows and feed all the animals, so as to be free later to attend to his spiritual exercises (cf. OMR, 134-135). After having faithfully acquitted himself of this task for twelve years, he died at Saint- Genis “on 20th October 1865, being 61 years and 8 months of age and 35 years and 4 months in community” (RD, 1, supplement). (REFERENCES, pp. 089-090).

BONCHE, JEAN-GENEST; see SISOÈS, BROTHER.

BONNEL DE LA BRAGERESSE, ABDON PIERRE FRANÇOIS: (1757-1844), bishop of Viviers, born in Mende, Lozère, 27th January 1757, was vicar general of Bishop De Castellane. His colleagues named him administrator of the diocese when the bishop was executed in Versailles, 9th September 1792. During the Revolution, he remained in hiding, and was listed among the émigrés. During the constitutional episcopacy of Etierine Nogaret, he continued his delicate operations as administrator. The bishops who succeeded Bishop Mende after the Concordat unfailingly included him in their administration in the post of vicar general. In 1802, he refused to become bishop of Nantes, and a few years later, of Montpellier. He was made a knight of the Legion of Honor in 1821. Nominated by the king as bishop of Viviers, he was approved on 19th December 1825 and ordained on 19th February 1826 in Avignon, in the former metropolitan cathedral of Notre-Dame des Doms. With the agreement of the town of Bourg-Saint-Andeol, Bishop Bonnel took over its minor seminary and its secondary school on 25th July 1826. On 14th December 1828, he obtained a royal ordinance recognizing the minor seminary of Vernoux. To replace the missionaries of La Louvesc, he established the Jesuit residence there on 1st October 1832; he promoted devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in La Blachère, and established a Carmelite monastery there in 1839. On 1st November 1837, Fr. Champagnat wrote to him, after receiving the letter which Fr. Vernet, vicar general of Viviers, had written to Fr. Cattet, vicar general of Lyons, asking the latter to forbid the Marist Brothers to work in the Vivarais region. The Founder stated, among other things, that he had ordered the brothers in Boulieu and Peaugres not to reopen their schools until the bishop had expressed his own opinion on the matter. On 13th November 1837, the bishop wrote to Fr. Champagnat to say that the establishment of the Marist Brothers in La Voulte had been decided on before Fr. Vernet had written to Fr. Cattet. He told Fr. Champagnat to send the brothers to La Voulte, as

prefeng-letter.doc 43 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” he had promised Fr. Génissieux. We also know that the brothers did not leave either Boulieu or Peaugres. Toward the end of Bishop Bonnel’s episcopate, the question of the “immovability of parish priests” arose, and made a great deal of noise in the diocese and throughout France. He submitted his resignation, which was accepted in Rome on 26th June 1841 and in Paris on 2nd August. He lived in retirement in Viviers until his death on 24th June 1844. (Adapted from L’Episcopat francais, pp. 687-688.) (REFERENCES, pp. 090-091).

BONNET, CLAUDE; see JEAN-MARIE, BROTHER.

BOURDIN, JEAN-ANTOINE: (1803-1883), Marist Father. Born in Vernaison, Rhône, 16th Ventóse Year XI (7th March 1803), to Jean-Pierre Bourdin, a landowner, and Anne Bouillon. He studied at l’Argentière, where he was in the fourth class in 1819-1820 and where he remained until 1824. He did his philosophy in Alix in 1824-25, and was exempted from military service on 9th March 1825 1, In the autumn of 1825 he entered the major seminary of Saint-Irénée, where he did his three years of theology. He received the tonsure on 23rd July 1826, minor orders on 23 December 1826, the subdiaconate on 9th June 1827 and the diaconate on 31st May 1828. Sometime between the two latter dates, perhaps around the resumption of classes in the autumn of 1827, Etienne Séon went to see him at the seminary and convinced him to join the nascent Society of Mary. At the end of that academic year, and after overcoming his parents’ objections, Bourdin entered the Hermitage during the summer of 1828; he is mentioned as being there on 18th December of that year, two days before his priestly ordination 2• At the Hermitage he was director of studies for the novices; in that capacity, he came to know two young brothers who died there during 1829, and whose biographical notices he wrote the following year (OM. II, pp. 729, 734-735). Around that same time, this ambitious priest announced in a promising preface a history of the foundation of the Society of Mary; with that in mind, he obtained a number of precious details from Fr. Champagnat. In January 1830, he preached a much-appreciated retreat at the minor seminary in Belley. In December of that year, he participated in the meeting at the Hermitage during which the Summarium regularum of the priests of the Lyons- based group was drawn up, and Fr. Champagnat was elected “provincial of Lyons”. In early September, 1831, he took part in the general retreat in Belley for all the Marist aspirants, and a few days Later, he was officially authorized by the archdiocese of Lyons to teach in the minor seminary of Belley. That would be his home for the next nine years, until the summer of 1840; he taught humanities there from 1831 to 1833, and rhetoric from 1833 to 1840. During the six years preceding the approbation of the Society, he was one of the most constant Marist aspirants, and signed all the documents indicating his commitment to the projected congregation. During the summer of 1833, he was chosen to accompany Jean-Claude Colin to Rome, no doubt as the representative of the Lyons group, that of Belley being represented by Pierre Chanel. As such, he signed the petition of 26 August 1833 to the Holy Father. Two of his letters from Rome to Fr. Convers have been preserved (Cf. OM, I, p. 625). We are indebted to him for various details about the trip and the audience with the Holy Father, which he communicated orally to Fr. Maîtrepierre (OM, H, p. 689); later he presented his own notes and memories of the journey as extracts from a travel journal of Fr. Chanel’. After the meeting of September 1836, at which he acted as secretary, he overcame some

prefeng-letter.doc 44 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” hesitations about his vocation and made his vows in the Society of Mary (OM, II, p. 605, n. 1). When the Society withdrew from the school in Belley, he remained the only Marist there, under Fr. Bertrand, which seems to have put the new vice-rector in a difficult position, from which he had to withdraw during the summer of 1838. After the Society took over the school again, Bourdin spent two more years there, and then in the summer of 1840, he was assigned as a missionary to Puylata, where he stayed for three years, preaching especially in Saint-Paul de Lyon, Saint-Christophe and Saint-Agnan. During the summer of 1843, Fr. Colin assigned him to do preliminary research in the diocese of Belley in view of writing a life of Pierre Chanel. Fr. Mayet had already gathered some material for that purpose, but the Superior General wanted the life written by the martyr’s former colleague and old friend. In October 1843, the future author was transferred to the residence in Paris as one of its founding members; there, among his other responsibilities, he was supposed to write the requested biography. The work progressed slowly, and on 15th October 1844, Fr. Colin was ready to bring Bourdin back to Lyons if that would help him to finish more quickly (Colin to Bourdin, same date, Durand archives). He apparently worked at it during the first months of 1845 (Colin- Bourdin, 5 February 1845, Durand archives), but still nothing was ready by November, and Fr. Colin set Christmas 1845 as the final deadline. In February 1846, Bourdin presented the Superior General a biography of Fr. Chanel divided into several books. Fr. Colin had it examined, but found the beginning too pompous; still more, he realized that the references to people still living made its publication premature, so he stopped it (Mayet, 4, 428m and 429; 7, 281sh; S2, 109m). As for Bourdin, he stayed in Paris until the summer of 1848, despite his mounting repugnance for the preaching apostolate, which led to his confrontation with his superior, Fr. Morcel, and threats by Fr. Colin to expel him. In 1848-49 and 1849-50 he was back in Puylata, training young Marists in public speaking (APM, Registre des retraites, p. 34); except for a brief stay in La Seyne in 185 1-52, he stayed there until the end of Fr. Colin’s superiorship. Fr. Favre sent him to the secondary school in Brioude in 1854; he stayed there only one year and then returned to Paris, where he once again was assigned to write the life of Peter Chanel. In September 1855, he felt that he was “held captive” by that project (Bourdin to Morel, 17th September 1855, APM, Brioude papers), but ten years later, nothing had yet appeared, since in the meantime Bourdin had taken over as headmaster of a school in Paris which was not doing well, to get it back on its feet 2 and had also become the collaborator of the historian Amadée Gabourd. The annoyance of the Society at the end- less delay in the publication of a work so long awaited is evident in a letter from Fr. Favre on 8th September 1865, followed by a reprimand from the General Chapter of 1866, which gave him an ultimatum to “finish by next All Saints, or the documentation will be taken away from him” (Minutes. 19th session, 21st June, p. 42). Bourdin symboli- cally signed his preface on All Saints 1866; on 8th December he dedicated the book to Fr. Colin (Bourdin, pp. V and Ill-N). It was finally printed by Lecoffre in 1867. Since autumn 1865. Bourdin had been superior of the house in Saint-Cvr-1’Ecole, the retirement house of the Society. When the uprising of the Commune took place in the autumn of 1870, he took shelter at his brother’s home in Chassclay, Rhône, where he stayed for a year. In October 1871 he was assigned to Sainte-Foy, where he lived in the room which had been the founder’s until 1864 lb He remained there, acting as chaplain of the neighboring convent of Marist Sisters, until the 1880 expulsions. He then moved into the convent, where he died on 12th December 1883. An active search was

prefeng-letter.doc 45 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” immediately begun in Sainte-Foy and Chassselay for his papers, first by Fr. Poupinel and then by Bro. Eubert, Secretary General of the Little Brothers of Mary. Both were disappointed to find that the historian did not, in fact, have certain documents about Chanel and Champagnat which he was thought to possess. (REFERENCES, pp. 091- 094).

BOUVARD, JEAN-PIERRE; see FABIEN, BROTHER

BOUVET, JACQUES FRANÇOIS : (1751-1829), parish priest of Saint-Maurice d’Annecy, Savoie, born in Blot, Haute-Savoie. All we know of the first half of his life is that he obtained doctorates in theology and law at the University of Turin. Later, he served as prefect of studies and spiritual director at the secondary school in Rumily. In 1791, he was seated as a deputy in the Assembly of the Allobroges [from Dauphiné and Haute-Savoie, and on 3rd December 1799 he was incarcerated in the prison of Thonon, from which the crowd liberated him. He was entrusted with the parish of Saint-Maurice d’Annecy in 1803. His renown, and perhaps also the affection in which he was held, won him the nickname of “Uncle Jacques”. He was one of the three parish priests of Annecy, who along with Claude Marie Gavan and François Piccolet, wrote to Fr. Champagnat asking for brothers. The latter answered sometime in 1828 (L. 9), with a promise which was never kept. Fr. Bouvet died the following year, on 22nd November. (REFERENCES, p. 095).

BRET, CLAUDE: (1808-1837), Marist Father. Born 29th July 1808, at 108, rue Grenette, Lyons, to Jacques Bret and Alexandrine-Simone Rive. His birth certificate lists Claude as his only name; at confirmation, he added those of Xavier and Marie. His father was a shoemaker, who later plied his trade for the first missionaries to Oceania (EC, doc. 36, note 5). He first studied at the clerical juniorate in the parish of Saint- François-de-Sales, where Pompallier preceded him; according to Fr. Bourdin, the latter was Claude’s teacher there (Bourdin, 57, note 1). He then went to Mexirnieux, perhaps in 1821 (EC, p. 58, note 2). He studied rhetoric there in 1823-24 (honors list of 17th August 1824), then philosophy in the school in Belley in 1824-25, and mathematics in the same establishment (archives of the Lamartine school, student register) until 1st March 1826, when he began his first year of theology in the major seminary in Brou (Archives of the major seminary of Belley, register of entrants). He did his second year of theology in 1826-1827, and was tonsured on 15th July of the latter year. In 1827-28, and perhaps the following year as well, Bret was director of the cathedral music-school in Ambérieu (Bourdin 108, 114). In 1829-30, he was a teacher in the clerical juniorate in Marboz (Belley clergy directory); on 27th March 1830 he received minor orders and the subdiaconate. In 1830-31 he was back in Marboz, where according to the school- inspector’s report, he taught the fourth and third classes (Clergy directory of Belley, and ADR, TVU, File XIX-2). At the end of that school year he joined the projected Society of Mary. He made the annual retreat of the Marist aspirants in September 1831, together with his friends Chanel and Maîtrepierre, with whom he had thought about going to America to join Fr. Loras, their former superior in Meximieux. Like them, he had apparently signed an act of candidacy at least several months previously (OM, I, p. 513, note 2; OM, II, p. 599, note 2). In October 1831, he went to the secondary school in Belley as teacher of the fourth class; he stayed there two years (Directory of the Am),

prefeng-letter.doc 46 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” and was ordained to the diaconate on 21st April 1832 and to the priesthood on 22nd December of the same year. In 1833-34 he was promoted to teacher of the third class (OM, I, p. 649, note 1), but in the fall of 1834, in the context of exchanges of personnel between the groups in Lyons and Belley, he became curate in Valbenoite. His signature appears for the first time in the parish registers on 9th November 1834, and for the last on 27th May 1836. By the latter date, the Society of Mary had already been approved by the Holy See, and Bret, who was very much appreciated in his parish, was one of the first to respond to Bishop Pompallier’s request for volunteers for the mission of Western Oceania. He made his decision sometime before Lent, in February 1836, and he held to it in spite of the strong opposition and tears of his mother, whose only son he was. He spent the months from May to September preparing himself in solitude in Belley; he was one of the two secretaries at the gathering there for the election of the Superior General and the first profession of vows. Having overcome some last-minute doubts with the help of Fr. Colin, he made his religious profession with the nineteen other first Marists on 24th September 1836 (Doc. 727, note 2; 425, note 7; 752, note 22). Shortly after, Fr. Colin-sent him to Lyons to rent a house (Mayet, Memoirs, 3, 407). On 12th October he was in Paris, where he began a journal, which gives us, among other things, the dates of his departure from Paris (11th November), his arrival in Le Havre (13th November), his sailing (24th December) and other events until 18th January 1837. Two months later, on 20th March 1837, at seven p.m., he died at sea, at 0040k north latitude and 24°30’ west longitude, after a nineteen-day illness (EC, p. 162, note 4). The news of his death reached Lyons on 13th November 1837, in a letter of 17th July from Bishop Pompallier to Fr. Colin (cf. the account of his death given by Fr. Servant, in L. 164). From then on the Society of Mary took care of the parents of their deceased confrere (Lagniet, F 56). A few years later his mother went to live with the Marist Sisters on Montée de Ia Boucle, Lyons, where she died on 1st August 1850 (Mayet, VB, 1, 43-44, and death certificate). As of that date, her husband had been living for a short time with the Marist Fathers at Puylata, where he in turn died on 31st October 1851 (Ibid., and Lagniet-Chavas, 11th November 1851, APM, Verdelais papers; for further references, cf. OM, op. cit.). (REFERENCES, pp. 095-097).

BREUIL, JEAN: (1792-1872), parish priest of Boen-sur-Lignon, Loire, in the archdiocese of Lyons, born 14th February 1792 in Roche, Loire. Ordained in Grenoble on 12th November 1815 with Jean-Marie Vianney, the future Curé of Ars, he was named curate in Fleury on the 23rd. On 5th May 1824, he was assigned to take over the parish of Moingt, near Montbrison, as successor to Denis Paul Favier, who had just retired. When Mathieu Chaine, parish priest of Boën, died, Jean Breuil was named to replace him on 17th November 1832, approved the following 31st December, and took possession of the parish on 25th January 1833. Three years later, he wrote to ask Fr. Champagnat for brothers. The latter answered on 27th April 1839 that he could not possibly promise him any for the following year, but that he would do all he could to fill his request as soon as possible (cf. L. 250). The foundation did not take place until long after the Founder’s death. am 1844”, Bro. Avit writes in the annals of Boën, “the local authorities replaced the lay teacher in that school with our brothers. Fr. Breuil, a very eccentric character, was pastor and dean of Boën at the time. ... The Reverend Brother sent Bro. Appolinaire to look everything over. ... His manner of acting did not at all please the parish priest, who for several years, referred to him only as “the big white

prefeng-letter.doc 47 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” horse”. “It is a matter of record that Fr. Breuil gave everyone extremely sarcastic nicknames. Words like “scoundrel”, “animal” and others of the sort tripped readily off his tongue no matter whom he was speaking of, even one of his confreres or the mayor. That trait did not prevent him from being an excellent priest and a great friend of the poor, even though he called them scoundrels when he gave them alms” (p. 8). While administering the Sacrament of the Sick to Bro. Come, who died there, “Fr. Breuil asked him if he believed in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The vehement affirmative reply of the invalid took him by surprise, and he exclaimed, ‘You scoundrel, what faith you have!” (p. 11). When Bro. Ruffin, who had just been named director of that school, made his first visit to the parish priest, “The latter invited him to play checkers. Bro. Ruffin accepted and won several games. Fr. Breuil got angry, stood up suddenly, and said, ‘You scoundrel, you have no manners at all; you should know better than to beat your parish priest all the time!’ That was the last time they played checkers together.... “We have mentioned that the brothers’ house and the priest’s house faced each other. Fr. Breuil had to go into the street to get to his wine cellar. Bro. Clair, who often saw him, immediately went over and offered his services. Fr. Breuil yelled, ‘what are you doing around here, you scoundrel?’ ‘Father,’ the brother replied, ‘I just thought you had a big barrel to move and I came to help you.’ ‘You big animal,’ Fr. Breuil shot back. ‘you didn’t come over here to help me; you just want a drink.’ And he handed him a big glass of wine, which the brother gulped down without having to be asked a second time. “One day Bro. Clair was digging in a corner of the garden which he had generously covered with the by-product of the outhouse. The parish priest came there to say his breviary, and immediately yelled at him, ‘You old animal, you fat pig, who gave you permission to poison my garden like that?’ ‘But Father, I want to sow spinach seed’ ‘And you’re going to be able to eat that spinach, you dirty old man? You can sow spinach on my side too, but I forbid you to put your stinking stuff there, do you hear?’ ‘Yes, Father.’ “Next spring, both men were in the garden again, and Fr. Breuil said to the brother, ‘How come your spinach has leaves as big as cabbage leaves, and mine are so puny and yellowish? ‘You know why, Father,’ I do not, you scoundrel!’ ‘Remember what you forbade me to do last year’? ‘Ah! You mean it was your dirty stuff’ that did it?’ ‘Absolutely!’ ‘Well then, animal, put some on my side too”(pp. 11-12), Bro. Avit then gives an account of’ his own first visit to Fr. Breuil. In spite of its length, we have reproduced the text in its entirety, since it shows the originality, even the eccentricity. of’ the man. “We came to see this school in 1848. When we went to visit Fr. Breuil that evening, we found him in his kitchen, candle in hand. We greeted him as best we could. He looked us up and down, from head to toe, without saying a word, and having lit his candle, he went up to his room. We had been told what he was like, so we followed him in silence. Once we were in his room, where there was a fine fire, he set his candlestick on a table, took a chair, pointed at another one for us, and sat down with his back to the fire and to us. Since he kept silence, we started speaking, and the following dialogue took place: ‘Father, since I have come to visit our school, I came to ask you if you are satisfied with the brothers’. ‘I don’t have anything to do with the brothers, you scoundrel; that’s none of my business, do you understand, animal? The brothers are smarter than I am.’ ‘I don’t agree with you, Father, and I would like you to tell me if you are pleased with them.’ ‘And I’m telling you again that it’s none of my business, animal. Did you come here to bore me to death like your big white horse did a few years ago? Go ask the mayor.’ ‘I’m going to see the mayor, but I still want to know

prefeng-letter.doc 48 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” first if you are satisfied.’ ‘You scoundrel, I told you that’s none of my business. Go ask the directo; he’s a very smart man, since they named him director.’ ‘Father, I asked brother director if he is satisfied with his students and his brothers, and I am asking you if you are satisfied with him.’ ‘You scoundrel, are you trying to bore me to death like that animal of a cardinal who wrote the other day to tell me to go reprimand a parish priest of my district because he often goes hunting. Animal! Come reprimand him yourself; he’s your parish priest. I don’t get involved. I have enough to do just keeping an eye on myself without getting involved with other people. The brothers are wiser than I am.’ “Seeing that we held our ground, Fr. Breuil finally turned toward us and we had a cold but fairly free conversation. He told us everything we wanted to know. We were told later that everyone who goes to see him for the first time gets the same treatment. We visited him several times the following years, he was always very proper and satisfied. When he told us to go ask the mayor and the director, he was teaching us a lesson. It seems that the superiors never wrote to him before the school was established, which is what he wanted to let us know by saying that the brothers were none of his business. Bro. Anastase appeared much younger than he was, and Father was telling us that he thought him too young, by saying that he must be very smart since he had been named director. All told, he was pleased with the brothers, even though his caustic manner would never let him praise them. He sometimes invited them to dinner and often enough had them over for a cup of coffee. “Beggars flocked to his door. He had about thirty regular customers every day, and he personally gave each of them a “sou” [5 centimes, one-twentieth of a franc]. Their continual coming and going finally got on his nerves. One day, he told each of them, ‘Scoundrel, animal! You come bother me every day let’s make a package deal: you come just once a month, and I’ll give you 30 sous every time’. “None of the beggars missed the appointed day. The good priest gave each of them one and a half francs” (pp. 12-14). A few pages further on, speaking of Fr. Veyron, who replaced Fr. Breuil, Bro. Avit mentions in passing that “the latter was found uncon- scious in his vineyard. He was carried back to his house, where he died” (pp. 26-27). That was 22nd November 1827. And the annalist ends by saying, “With his death, eccentricity lost one of its classic exemplars” (ibid.). (REFERENCES, pp. 097-100).

BREUIL, JEAN-LOUIS; see MARIE-GONZAGUE, BROTHER.

BREUIL, LOUIS, FARMER IN ; see MARIE-GONZAGUE, BROTHER.

BRON, JOSEPH; see DENIS, BROTHER.

BROSSIER, BENOIT; see THEODORE, BROTHER.

BRUNO, BROTHER: Pierre Berthinier, born in 1824 or 1825 in Saint-Jean-la-Bussière, to Claude Berthinier and Jeanne Appercelle. He was admitted to the Hermitage on 13th February 1828 at the age of 23, and received the habit on 8th September. On 24th September 1829, he made temporary vows for three years, and renewed them on 2nd October 1831 for three more years. At the end of that period, on 12th October 1834, he made private perpetual vows (RVP, 1, p. 21) which he renewed publicly on 10th October 1836. We do not know what he did during the years between 1829 and 1835, when he replaced Bro. Jean-Baptiste as director of the school in Neuville-sur-Sâone. He very

prefeng-letter.doc 49 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” quickly announced his intention of turning his establishment into a large boarding school. Mr. Tripier, the benefactor of that school, gave him a house for that purpose, but the Sisters of St-Charles, who had the adjoining property, wanted the same building for their school. Fr. Cattet, vicar general of Lyons, gave it to them, but Mr. Tripier reacted strongly and the transaction never took place. The brothers and sisters, however, were never really reconciled, to the point where the director’s transfer was requested. On 10th November 1837, Mr. Tripier wrote to Fr. Champagnat, “In the context of what I told you about my impression of the difficulties raised with regard to Bro. Bruno — an impression which you accepted by sending him back to me — why and how does it happen that at the moment when I thought everything was settled and we were going to have peace, we find ourselves once again attacked and disturbed by Fr. Vicar General Cattet? “He came to see me the 7th of this month in La Morelle where I am right now, to urge me first of all to have breakfast with him next day. I would have liked to be able to get out of it, but I accepted his invitation. Fr. Vicar General began by telling me that I was perhaps unaware that the parish priest of Neuville was against me, and wanted Bro. Bruno changed, and that consequently it was not proper for me to stand up against my parish priest. I told him that it was clear to me that human nature was seeking revenge. “But, Fr. Champagnat, you know the strong and weak points of this whole problem, which at bottom is not a problem at all, because you have seen, as I have, that Bro. Bruno is not at fault at all. But some people want to believe that he persuaded me not to give the Sisters of St-Charles what I was thinking of giving them; that is, half of my storehouse which fronts on my garden. But the fact is, that it wasn’t he at all who spoke to me, but rather the head mason and the head carpenter who gave me their opinion, with which I immediately agreed, since critics would have taken advantage of the situation to hurt my school. “What are we supposed to think when we see problems being created by those who should be doing everything to support this school and encourage the brothers? How can anyone be dissatisfied with Bro. Bruno this year, since on the contrary he has improved and is getting better all the time? But Fr. Vicar General answers my complaints with, ‘I do not want to hurt Bro. Bruno; God forbid. But I cannot tolerate anyone abusing my authority’. “I could tell him, ‘But one should not abuse his own authority if he does not want to risk losing it; besides, the only reason it is at risk is be- cause people are trying to blame someone who is not in the wrong’. No one has anything against the brothers, but still they want him changed. “Father, I declare that I am formally opposed to this so-called change, because it would become very detrimental and create great confusion in this establishment. I am not naive enough to act with such prejudice to my own interests, and if people continue to bother the brothers of my school, I will soon be driven to the extreme of rejecting the Marist Brothers” (AFM, 129.42). Bro. Bruno must occasionally have taken advantage of Mr. Tri- pier’s support. “One day,” says Bro. Avit, “when he asked him for 200 francs, Mr. Tripier became impatient and gave him a kick in the rear end. Bro. Bruno answered, ‘I’ll accept that for a starter, but you’re going to pay for it. Instead of 200 francs, give me 400’. And Mr. Tripier, without a word, gave him 400 francs” (AFA 214.60, p. 9). These incidents would be of minor import if they did not indicate that this brother already had attitudes not in conformity with religious spirit and which would eventually lead to his departure. Bro. Avit, in the same annals, points out: “We learn from a letter written by Bro. Bruno on 9th September 1841 that he had received a sharp reprimand from Bro. François for having had the refectory carpeted. He apologized but stated that Fr. Colin had

prefeng-letter.doc 50 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” authorized him to put down some paper in the brothers’ dormitory to keep out the lizards” (ibid.). Fr. Chirat, the parish priest, had already spoken to him about his worldly manners and his lack of simplicity, especially in the way he organized school festivals featuring theatrical performances and fire- works (cf. biographical sketch of Chirat). In the above-mentioned annals, Bro. Avit strongly agrees with his opinion. We quote here two passages which give a good description of Bro. Bruno: “In his letter of 23rd August 1843, Fr. Chirat complained vehemently about Bro. Bruno. He accused him. and not without justification, of lacking sincerity, uprightness, piety and religious spirit. He considered this brother’s presence in Neuville a detriment to his parish” (p. 12). Bro. Bruno left the Institute in 1849, “upset at having been replaced in spite of himself, and even though he did not have his certificate of competence, he went off to become a town teacher, first in Ozolles (Saône-et-Loire) and then in Châteauneuf (Saône-et- Loire). His leaving created a great sensation, except among those who knew him better, and who had realized for some time already that the motivation behind his zeal for his boarding school was his own glory, not God’s. He was convinced that the school would collapse after he left, and had said so to many people. “When he came back to Neuville some time later, he refused to appear in public, so as not to stir up the people against the brothers, or so he said. He was told he had nothing to fear on that score, so he walked the streets, everyone saw him in secular dress, and nobody gave him any sympathy. His unjustified self-confidence, and his lack of piety and religious spirit, were harmful to him, to the school, and to a number of his assistants (seven of whom left the Institute as he did). “We asked the opinion of Bro. Pémen, the Institute’s lithographer, who had spent ten years in Neuville under the ex-Bruno and Bro. Apollinaire. He told us, ‘What I remember most is that the house was a noisy place where the brothers acted like imbeciles and everyone did just as he pleased” (p. 14). Towards the end of his life, ex-brother Bruno regretted his departure and asked several times to be readmitted to the Institute, but in vain. He returned to his native village, where he died on 19th March 1882. (REFERENCES, pp. 100-102).

BRUT, JEAN-PIERRE: (1782-1875), headmaster of the secondary school in Saint- Chamond, parish priest of Ampuis, born 26th February in Condrieu, Rhône. He was ordained on 26th July 1805. We do not know where he was stationed for the three years after that. On 28th October 1808, he was approved for Saint-Jodard (OM, IV, p. 125), but we do not know how long he stayed there. It may have been after the suspension of that minor seminary in 1812 (cf. ibid.) that he was 4 named curate in Ampuis. - “On 1st January 1816, (Jacques Nicolas Poncet, parish priest of Noire-Dame in Saint-Chamond) received as curates Frs. Brut and Durbise, who remained there until their successive appointments as parish priest of Saint-Martin-en-Coailleux. Jean-Pierre Brut was named to that parish on 10th January 1819, and was replaced on 1st October 1823 by. Jean- Louis Durbise” (OMI, IV, pp. 416,422). That replacement was perhaps occasioned by Fr. Brut’s appointment as director of the secondary school in Saint-Chamond, as Bro. Avit affirms in the Abrégé des Annales, when he says that he signed Bro. François’ certifi- cate of competence in 1825. On 18th October 1831, Fr. Brut was named parish priest of Sainte-Madeleine in Tarare, but he stayed there only a little more than two years, since on 22nd January 1834 he was named parish priest of Ampuis, to replace Fr. Petitain who had resigned. He himself was replaced by Fr. Bard in 1840, but he remained in the parish as headmaster or teacher at the clerical juniorate there (J.M. Chausse, Vie de

prefeng-letter.doc 51 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” f.M. Duplay, vol. II, p. 107). He died there on July 5th (according to Chausse) or 8th (according to the personnel file) 1875, at the age of 93. (REFERENCES, pp. 102-103).

BUY, MARIE: Sister Sainte-Scolastique of the Society of Mary, born 18th December 1810 in Saint-Laurent-d’Agny, Rhône, to Pierre Buy and Reine Condamin. Recommended to Mother Saint-Joseph as a postulant by Marcellin Champagnat (L. 25), she received the religious habit at Bon-Repos on 5th February 1833. “After her profession, on 28th June 1834, she remained at Bon-Repos for six years, then succeeded Mother Sainte-Elisabeth as superior in Meximieux in 1840, and as supenor of the La Boucle house in 1844. She was one of the three ‘principal superiors’ convoked by Fr. Colin in 1849 to discuss the fundamental points of the Rule” (Correspondance de Mère Saint-Joseph, doc. 5, note 8, p. 77). She died on 30th May 1874 à Sainte-Foy-lès- Lyon (ASM, Registre des Professes). (REFERENCES, p. 103). CADILLON, AMABLE: (1794-1861), mayor of Saint-Didler-sur-Rochefort, Loire, was born in that town on 10th August 1794. He married Maianne Roche on 16th August 1818; they had six children. He owned the land he farmed, and was appointed mayor by prefectorial decree on 31st January 1835, took office on 8th February. It was he who in 1835 welcomed the brothers requested by the parish priest. Bro. Avit mentions him without comment in the annals of that establishment, which was probably a good sign, indicating that he got along well with the brothers (AFM, 213.46), He was reappointed mayor on 9th September 1837; his deputy was Mathieu Bertholin, who succeeded him on 11th August 1840. Mr. Cadillon died 21 years later, on 6th December 1861 (AM de Saint-Didier; cf. ADL, 4 M 55). (REFERENCES, p. 103).

CAILLOT, ANDRÉ; see GABRIEL, BROTHER.

CARTIER, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see JOSEPH-EUGENE, BROTHER.

CASSIEN, BROTHER: Louis Chomat, was born 22nd February 1788 in Sorbiers, Loire, to Jean-Baptiste Chomat and Marie Grataloup. Our Models in Religion, pp. 197-231, speaks of his spiritual life, while Bro. Avit, in the Abrégé des Annales pp. 124-125, and in the annals of Sorbiers, gives us more biographical details. We reproduce here a large portion of the latter text, which has never been published. His parish priest, "an unappointed usurper, led him into schism, out of which he was drawn in 1800, by a priest who was living in hiding with his uncle. He made his first communion in 1801. An orphan, with no one to look after him, he let himself be taken in by bad companions. He was converted and made a general confession to Fr. Dervieux, parish priest of St-Pierre in Saint-Chamond in 1812. He then began to teach the children of Sorbiers. "In 1815, Cesaire Fayolle came to join him. They lived together in perfect harmony. Then Chomat wanted to join the brothers of Fr. De La Salle, but his poor health made that impossible. Fr. Rouchon tried to attract him to his group of young men in Valbenoîte in 1820. In 1822, he and his companion visited Fr. Champagnat in La Valla. They returned often to ask Father's advice and go to confession. Father directed them without trying to anticipate the workings of grace. Finally, Louis Chomat and Cesaire Fayolle, without giving up their property in Sorbiers, decided to enter the congregation and received the religious habit under the names of Bros. Cassien and Arsène, (on 7th October) 1832. "Fr. Champagnat gave them two young brothers to help them in their school, and thus

prefeng-letter.doc 52 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” the establishment of Sorbiers was founded. In no time, Bro. Cassien was finding nothing but faults in the young brothers he had been given. He complained bitterly about them to Fr. Champagnat who answered him during the summer of 1834 (L. 42). Bro. Cassien was well-intentioned, but his lively imagination sometimes played unpleasant tricks on him and often got him very confused. However, he was satisfied with Bro. Bonaventure, whom Father had sent him. "Even though the house was small and not well laid-out, the brothers took in boarders to augment their income. Either to insure the future of their work, or because of their impending profession, Bros. Cassien and Arsène sold Fr. Champagnat, by private deed, the house, its outbuildings, and the furniture they owned in common, in exchange for 10,000 francs of which they acknowledged receipt, viz., Bro. Cassien, 3500 francs, and Bro. Arsène, 6500 francs. We have reason to believe that this sale was merely a legal fiction. We do not know the motives which led the two brothers to request, and Fr. Champagnat to accept, the following arrangement: 'On 12th June 1834, before Mr. Berger and his partner, lawyers in St-Chamond, the aforementioned Chomat and Fayolle give to Fr. Champagnat, who accepts, a lifetime payment of 15,000 francs, in return for: 1" a yearly payment of 10,000 francs, in a single payment; 2° suitable lodging for the two donors in the buildings of La Grange-Payre; 3º rights to have a garden and to walk in the property of La Grange-Payre; 4º a mortgage for the said 15,000 francs on the said property'. "What was the purpose of those two legal documents? Did they agree on the latter act as a way of legally transferring their 15,000 francs of joint savings to the Institute, with no intention of demanding payment of the rent? Did the two brothers agree to this plan, in order to put something aside for a rainy day? Did Fr. Champagnat go along with it to humor the two brothers and strengthen their vocation? We have no clear answer to those questions. All we know is that Bros. Cassien and Arsène made profession after the 1834 retreat, and that they continued to be good religious. "Later on, the town of Sorbiers gave them all sorts of problems. Things reached such a point that the brothers were no longer able to live there, and the school was closed in 1837. The parish priest, who had not been involved up to that point, seems not to have given any sign of life at this juncture, unless he did so only verbally. The mayor protested strongly against the closing. Bro. Cassien himself replied at the urging of Fr. Champagnat. We quote the full text of his letter, despite its length, because it describes very clearly the position into which the brothers had been put. 'Mister Mayor: In the letter with which you honored me, under date of 1 8th October, you appear to be completely surprised at my intention of leaving the town of Sorbiers: you say you do not know any reason why I should be obliged to do so. Frankly, Mr. Mayor, your surprise astonishes me. One would say you have been completely ignorant of the inconveniences under which we have labored in recent times, inconveniences which have finally become unbearable. Apparently no one has ever spoken to you about our rooms, much too low and too small by half, in which both teachers and students are continually breathing unhealthy and polluted air, and where the health of both is increasingly endangered day by day. It is also a fact that this year, I could not even sit down, and that to leave a bit of room for my students, I had to teach them while leaning against a small chest of drawers. 'Perhaps some people will tell you that we should have sent away the boarders, but then what would we have lived on? The children's payments, added to the 200 francs from the town, barely added up to 600 francs. How could we feed ourselves, take care of the furniture, make repairs, and pay our taxes, on that amount? People say that we gave too much attention to the boarders. We certainly

prefeng-letter.doc 53 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” would not have taken them in if we had not intended to take care of them, but the small amount of money they gave us at least made it possible for us to double the number of teachers and spread them out in proportion to the number of children. 'Mr. Mayor, all we asked of you was the completion of a construction which was begun a long time ago, and then stopped for whatever reason; we would provide the furniture; we would ask only the 200 francs granted by the law; we would be responsible for giving the town, not just two teachers, but four, and perhaps even five. It seems to me that that plan offered the town nothing but advantages. You were not willing to go along, and I hope you will be able to do better elsewhere. 'And then you tell me that I should have informed the administration. Mr. Mayor, I told you a year ago, in the presence of the parish priest and of your deputy, that it was impossible for us to continue in the situation in which we found ourselves. Not only that, but I told the sub-prefect everything. I also informed the school district, so I do not think I am in any way behind time on that score. 'Then you talk about my commitment to the town of Sorbiers; Mr. Major, I think you have good reason to do so. I do not recall one occasion, in nearly thirty years, when I recoiled before any sacrifice, or shrank from any difficulty, when it was question of my being useful to the town. When my strength began to diminish, fearing that the work might not be able to continue, I joined a group of teachers who could carry it on after me. It seems to me that I have done enough to show the local inhabitants how devoted I was to them. 'After speaking about my replacement, you hint that you might like to have me in your town. As for my replacement, Mr. Mayor, if you insist on having one, you will not find me putting any obstacle in your way, and I do not think you will have to wait long. As for my returning to your town, if obedience sends me back there, my heart will always lead me back; for if among the citizens of this town and among the children I have, as you say, a large number of people who are attached to me, I for my part will never forget them. 'Mr. Mayor, setting aside many other difficulties I have experienced, especially in recent times, I have given you the main explanations you asked for. I very much hope you can continue to give the young people of Sorbiers a good education. I have done as much good as I could in this town. May those who come after me do better than I and for a longer time.' "It is hard to see how the mayor could have answered that letter, all the more so since, the year before, he had written an official and very laudatory report on the brothers of Sorbiers and their school, in view of the legal authorization of the Institute. So it remained closed. Bros. Cassien and Arsène went first to La Grange- Payre. In December 1839, the former was put in charge of the new novitiate in Vauban, where he remained for a number of years. The latter lived peacefully in La Grange- Payre, and then at the Hermitage, for many years. In 1839, the building which they had sold to Fr. Champagnat, being totally unsuitable for a school, was sold to the sisters for 6000 francs (AFM, 213.75, pp. 2-7). We believe that Bro. Cassien lived at St-Genis- Laval from 1855 to 1858, although we have no documentary proof of that. In any case, he died there on 18th February 1858, at the age of 70, having lived 26 years in community. (REFERENCES, pp. 104-106).

CATTET, SIMON: (1788-1858), vicar general of Lyons. “Born on 4th October 1788 in Neuville-sur-Saône, son of Antoine Cattet, a haberdasher, and Gasparde Perrin, who distinguished themselves during the Revolution by their attachment to the Catholic cause. “Another son, Jean-François, preceded Simon into the clerical state. He entered the seminary of St-Irénée on 3rd November 1806, and spent three years there; he

prefeng-letter.doc 54 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” received the tonsure on 23rd May 1807 and minor orders on 22nd July 1809. The following autumn, he and Jean Cholleton went to St-Sulpice in Paris for a more advanced theology course; both were recalled to Lyons on 12th November 1811 and or- dained in Grenoble the following 21st December. They both also went back to St- Sulpice in the summer of 1814, although Simon did not join the Sulpicians. “He was professor of dogma at Saint-lrénée from December 1811 to 17th December 1816, at which time he became simply spiritual director and master of ceremonies, until the summer of 1818. Between the fall of 1818 and the summer of 1820, he must have had private employment, such as tutoring, since he does not appear on any of the personnel lists. On 12th September 1820, he was named parish priest of Saint-André in Tarare, where he remained for three years; as of 21st March 1823, we find him as deputy professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Lyons. “On 2nd September 1823 he resigned from his parish to become vicar general of Viviers under Bishop Molin, who had taken possession of that diocese the preceding 6th August. Bishop Molin died on 25th July 1825; when a vicar general’s post fell vacant in Lyons at the death of Fr. Recobert the following 16th December, Fr. Cattet was named third vicar general of that see on 28th December 1825 and approved on 2nd April 1826. He was responsible for religious communities, and in that capacity, he took care not only of the Marists but also the Viatorians and the many communities of religious women in the archdiocese. His powers as vicar general expired on 2nd July 1840 when Archbishop De Bonald took possession of the see; the next day, the latter named him a canon of the primatial church (AAL, personnel register, 1, p. 241). “From then on, he began to think of writing something about the administration of the archdiocese (APM, De Pins papers, letter from Cholleton to De Pins, 30th May 1840). This is probably the text that appeared in 1842, after the publication of Lyonnet’s life of Cardinal Fesch, under the title “La vérité sur le cardinal Fesch”, which was followed that same year by “Défense de la verité sur le cardinal Fesch et sur l’administration apostolique de Lyon” (Lyon-Paris, 1842, 494 pp. in-8°). Cattet continued to publish, indirectly defending Bishop de Pins in his "Notice historique sur les ordonnances du 16 juin 1828 d’après les pièces oflicielles jusqu’ici inédites" (Lyon, 1846, 227 pp. in-8°). At the same time, he became more and more embroiled in the antiprotestant controversy. In 1852, he devoted a short biographical notice to his friend Fr. Cholleton. He died six years later, on 30th June 1858. “Relations with the Society of Mary. Having been the dogma professor of the first Marist aspirants at Saint-Irénee, Cattet later referred to the birth of plans for the Society of Mary, both in his biography of Fr. Cholleton and on other occasions. “From 1820 to 1823, when he was parish priest of Saint-André in Tarare, he was the neighbor of Fr. Jean-Antoine Gillibert, who was parish priest of the church of La Madeleine in that city. In the spring of 1826, shortly after he was appointed vicar general, he was sent to make a canonical visitation of the Hermitage, an assignment in which he showed exaggerated zeal (Chronologie, PP. 43-44). The situation righted itself by the end of 1827, and a regular correspondence sprang up between him and Fr. Champagnat, about matters pertaining to both the brothers and the priest aspirants in the archdiocese of Lyons. “Fr. Colin was also in contact with Cattet, and during their 1832 retreat, the Marist aspirants went to see him. A few weeks later, he solemnly installed Etienne Séon as superior in Valbenoîte. However, not long after, responsibility for the Society of Mary was transferred from him to Fr. Cholleton; he was not offended by the change. There continued to be mutual esteem between the Marists and Fr. Cattet.” The

prefeng-letter.doc 55 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” correspondence between the vicar general and the Founder was always purely administrative. Fr. Champagnat had recourse to him as an authority of the archdiocese, and accepted his advice and recommendations in that spirit. Their relationship never reached the level of simple and trusting friendship which the Founder expressed, for example, in his letters to Fr. Gardette. This does not imply that he did not find in Fr. Cattet the solid and friendly support he so often needed. (We have reproduced here, with the kind permission of the authors, the biographical notice on Fr. Cattet which appears in OM, IV, pp. 216-218. We have replaced the last few lines, which deal only with the Marist Fathers, with a few comments about his relations with Fr. Champagnat. Cf. LL; 5, 11, 13, 15, 124, 131, 148, 149, 150, 301, 302.) (REFERENCES, pp. 106-108).

CAUMETTE, BARTHÉLEMY: (1806-1833), born 30th October 1806 in Bédarieux, Hérault. He was assigned as curate, first in Mèze, on 20th February 1832 (cf. L. 37) and then in Lunel, on 15th February 1835: Between 1839 and 1853, he was a diocesan missionary. On 18th May 1853, he was named parish priest of Ganges, succeeding Fr. Martin who had been named to the deanery of Bédarieux. In a work entitled, “L’abbé B. Caumette, ancien missionaire et curé-doyen de Ganges, par un de ses vicaires” (Montpellier, 1884), we find the following evaluation: “A zealous priest, remarkable for his piety, his great spirit of faith, his apostolic zeal, his great modesty and ardent charity. Three principal accomplishments mark his presence in Ganges: the foundation of the Third Order and monastery of St. Dominic; the construction of a parish church; the creation of an establishment for schools for boys conducted by religious”. He paid 15,000 francs out of his own modest patrimony, to settle the Marist Brothers up in their new school building in Ganges on 23rd May 1882. He died the following year, on 7th July 1883. (REFERENCES, p. 108).

CELLE, ETIENNE-ANDRÉ: (1787-1863), curate in Saint-Julien-Mohlesabate in the archdiocese of Le Puy, was born in L’Hermet, to Antoine Celle and Marie-Anne Mutuon, on 19th October 1787, according to his death certificate. This document does not mention a parish, but only a locality, which was probably part of the parish of Riobord, Haute-Loire. He was ordained in 1818, on the eve of the Pentecost Ember-Days, in Clermont-Ferrand. The fact that he was not ordained in his own diocese is due to two fortuitous circumstances. From 1802 until July 1823, the two departments of the Cantal and the Haute-Loire formed one diocese, with Saint-Flour as the episcopal see. In 1818, the see was vacant, and its seminarians had to go to the neighboring diocese for or- dination. Right after his ordination, Fr. Celle was named curate in Saint-Julien- Mohlesabate, to help Fr. Besson, who was then 55. The latter’s health must not have been the best, since in 1837, Fr. Celle became first curate when a second one, by the name of Souvignet, was appointed. This explains why Fr. Champagnat never dealt with the parish priest but always with his curate. Fr. Celle became parish priest there after the death of Fr. Besson on 1st December 1846 at the age of 84. He died there in his turn on 1st March 1863, at the age of 75 years, 4 months and 10 days, having spent his entire forty-five years as a priest in Saint-Julien-Mohlesabate. Fr. G. Masseboeuf, the Le Puy archivist, who graciously furnished the above information, points out that, “His native village was on the shortcut between Saint-Juljen-Mohlesabate and Riotord, but closer to St-Julien. When the roads were walkable, the people of L’Hermet went to church in the latter town rather than in Riotord; this explains why the priest who wrote

prefeng-letter.doc 56 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” out the death certificate thought it better not to specify to which parish L’Hermet belonged. Therefore, Fr. Celle spent almost his entire life, apart from his seminary years, in his home town, which was very close to Marlhes” (G. Masseboeuf, letter of 26 May l982;cf. also L. 279). (REFERENCES, p. 109).

CHABERT, JOSEPH BENJAMIN: Curate in Vans, Ardèche, in the diocese of Viviers. This was the parish where he had been born on 27th April 1807. He was ordained 5th June 1829, taught for ten years, was named curate first in Vans in 1839, then in Vallon on 15th June 1842. On 1st March 1843, he was named parish priest of Malbosc, where he remained for the next forty-two years, until his death on 23rd August 1885 (Cf. Semaine religieuse du Vivarais, 1885, pp. 350-362, diocesan archives of Viviers; cf. also L. 300). (REFERENCES, p. 109).

CHAMPAGNAT, JEAN-BAPTISTE ; see THEODORET, BROTHER.

CHAMPALLIER, PIERRE ; see JUSTIN, BROTHER.

CHANEL, PIERRE MARIE LOUIS (SAINT): (1802-1841), Marist Father, missionary and first martyr of Oceania. The son of Claude-François Chanel, landowner, and Marie-Anne Sibellas, he was born on 14th July 1802 in the hamlet of La Potière in the parish of Montrevel, where he was baptized two days later on the feast of O.L. of Mt. Carmel. During the winter months, since there was no teacher in his village, he went to the primary school in Cras; in bad weather, he stayed with one of his aunts who lived in the area. One day while he was walking through the countryside he met Fr. Trompier, the parish priest of Cras, who asked him where he was going; they became acquainted, and the priest lost no time in visiting the Chanel family to suggest that he take charge of young Pierre’s education for the priesthood. He had, in fact, opened a small clerical juniorate in his residence, which Pierre began to attend on 12th November 1811. He became attached to Fr. Trompier, following him to Monsols in 1815 and back to Cras in 1816, where he stayed in the rectory as a boarder until 31st October 1816, at which time he entered the fourth class in Meximieux. During his seven years of secondary schooling, he made his first communion on 23rd March 1817 and was confirmed by Bishop Devie on 9th August 1823. That same year, he entered the minor seminary in Belley to study philosophy along with Claude Bret and Denis Maîtrepierre. The following year, in October 1824, he entered the major seminary in Belley for his three years of theology, during which time he received from Bishop Devie, in the church in Brou, tonsure and the four minor orders on 28th May 1825, and the subdiaconate on 20th May 1826, during the Pentecost Ember Days. He was ordained by the same bishop, at the major seminary of Saint-Martin in Brou, on 15th July 1827. At the request of Fr. Trompier, he celebrated his first Mass in Cras, at the altar where he had received his first communion. He was named curate in Ambérieux, but he was so exhausted that his parish priest allowed him to spend a month with his family; he began his assignment only on 13th August. He stayed there only one year; on 1st September 1828, he took over the parish of Crozet, at the far end of the department of the Am, near Geneva. He was named there mainly because of his health, over the objections of the parish priest of Ambérieux, who wanted to keep him. In his new parish, he started two schools, entrusting the boys to a very religious young man, and the girls first to a certain Miss

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Clement, and then to a Sister of Providence of Portieux. His sister, Marie Françoise, who wanted to become a religious, asked to come live with him until such time as she could act on her desire. She moved to Crozet, where she taught catechism, as well as sewing and singing to the girls. Mr. Jean Marie Girod, a doctor from Lespeneux, had great influence over the parishioners. His charity toward the unfortunate was widely known; but he was not on good terms with Fr. Chuit, the former parish priest, who had said a few things which had hurt him. Fr. Chanel realized how much he had to gain from the situation, in terms of how much good could be done. His gentleness and his tactful maneu vers finally won over the doctor, who gave him gifts and helped the poor people he recommended. For his part, Girod admired his parish priest so much that he thanked the bishop of Belley for bringing back to life (in this region) the zeal and gentleness of St. Francis de Sales”. After three years there, Chanel went to Belley on 1st September 1831, to make his retreat with the Marist aspirants, while his sister entered the convent at Bon Repos that 10th November. Fr. Colin kept him in Belley as teacher for the sixth class, and then in the autumn of 1832, named him spiritual director there; two years later he named him vice-rector, and finally took him with him to Rome, had him participate in all the events of the trip, and kept him with him as far as Loreto. In the spring of 1836, he volunteered for the missions of Oceania, participated in the meeting in Belley the following September, and was entrusted with the delicate task of asking Bishop Devie not to be present at it. He made his religious profession on 24th September 1836, and left Belley on the 30th to say goodbye to his hometown. On 5th October he went to Lyons; on the 15th he took part in the consecration of the mission of Western Oceania to O.L of Fourvière. The next day he left for Paris, then for Le Havre on the 25th; two months later, on 24th December, he sailed with Bishop Pompallier, Fathers Claude Bret, Pierre Marie Bataillon and Louis Cathérin Servant, and Brothers Joseph-Xavier (Luzy), Marie-Nizier (Delorme) and Michel (Colomban). On 8th November 1837, Fr. Chanel disembarked on the island of Futuna with Bro. Marie-Nizier Delorme. He never left that island, where he shed his blood as a martyr on 28th April 1841, as Bro. Marie-Nizier described in his letter of 14th June 1846 to the brothers at the Hermitage: “On 26th April 1841, Fr. Chanel sent me to the other side of the island from where we lived, to visit and assist a sick person, and then to go up and down the different valleys in that part of the island, to see if there were any children in danger of death, for whom I could open heaven through baptism. “Having completed my little mission, I came back on the appointed day, which was the 28th. On the way back, as I was climbing the steep slope of a mountain (I was only about an hour from home) I met a native coming down the same path; he had a spear on his shoulder, around his head a large sheet of white paper which had been used in Fr. Chanel’s house to wrap holy pictures, and in his hand, a roll of those pictures. It didn’t take me long to realize to whom those things belonged, but I feigned ignorance. The native’s name is Matala, and he saved my life. He described with great emotion the death of Fr. Chanel, which had just happened that very morning. He urged me to go back through the valleys from whence I had come, and offered to accompany me” (AFM, notebook of “48 lettres”, pp. 158-159.) (Cf. L. 164.) (REFERENCES, pp. 110-111).

CHANUT, JEAN-BAPTISTE-JUSTIN: (1807-1875), Marist Father, was born 13th April 1807 in Saint-Bonnet-Ic-Château (Loire), to Louis Chanut, an ironmonger, and Marguerite Château. He studied philosophy in Aix in 1827-28 and was exempted from

prefeng-letter.doc 58 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” military service on 31st July 1828 (AAL, register Séminaires 1811, at the end). He did his first year of theology at Saint-Irénée in 1828-29, his second in 1829-30, received tonsure on 19th December 1829, minor orders on 4th April 1830 and subdiaconate on 5th June 1830. During the following academic year, he is listed on 20th February 1813 as a “pascasien” (a seminarian who studied at home and returned to the seminary to take his examinations); he received the diaconate on 28th May. The following summer, he spent some time at the Hermitage, and believing himself called to the Society of Mary, had Fr. Champagnat request his admission from the archbishop, who agreed. He staved at the Hermitage while he finished his theology and was ordained on 17th March 1832. That autumn, he went to Valbenoîte as curate when the group of Marist aspirants in the archdiocese of Lyons took charge there; he signed the registers for the first time on 17th December 1832 and wrote Fr. Champagnat from there on 24th January 1833. In the autumn of 1834 he went to Belley to teach theology in an embryonic scholasticate; a small boarding school was begun in the former Capuchin friary with two children he had brought with him. He arrived two days late at the September 1836 gathering, but still made his vows with the others on 24th September. Shortly after he was named chaplain of the boarding school at La Favorite. He received faculties for the archdiocese of Lyons on 27th October 1836 (AAL, register of permissions granted). He had been at the Hermitage on the 10th for the vow ceremony of the Little Brothers of Mary (document in the Hermitage museum). He created problems at La Favorite, and the directors asked for his transfer. He was in residence at the Hermitage during the 1837-38 school year, but went to Paris with Fr. Champagnat during the first three months of 1833, to help him in his attempts to obtain legal authorization for the congregation of the Little Brothers of Mary. It was he who kept the journal of their stay in Paris, which we have reproduced in Volume 1 (cf. introductions to LL. 170, 171, 173, 174, 175). During the summer of 1838, Fr. Colin had him approved by Cardinal Donnet as superior of the pilgrimage center which the Society had just accepted in Verdelais. He went there on 8th August and came to be very much appreciated by the diocesan administration, which even offered him a canon’s mantle. However, he was so independent that Fr. Colin gave him several serious warnings, then sent Fr. Maîtrepierre, the provincial, to speak with him, and finally expelled him from the Society. Fr. Chanut left Verdelais between 10th and 17th July 1843, and on the 27th, Archbishop de Bonald appointed him to the staff of Saint-Louis- des-Français, the French national church in Rome, whose priests were appointed by the Archbishop of Lyons (AFM, de Bonald to Cholleton, 27th July 1843). Chanut took over this position on 8th October 1843 and remained there until 10th May 1846 (archives of St-Louis-des-Francais, register of chaplains); hence he was there in June 1844 when Bishop Jean-Baptiste Epalle passed through Rome. When he returned to the archdiocese of Lyons he was named parish priest of Cours on 7th January 1847, and stayed there until his transfer to Saint-Cyr-au-Mont-d’Or in April 1853. Having been replaced there in October 1856, he began a new novitiate in the Society of Mary on the 11th of that month, in Chaintré, and made his new religious profession on 8th December. After two years at Puylata, he was named superior of the Bon-Encontre residence in the autumn of 1859; there he was with Fr. Terraillon and Fr. Mayet. It was inevitable that their conversation should turn to the origins of the Society, and the pre- sence of Chanut can be considered one of the elements which led to the writing of Terraillon’s second version. It was most probably Chanut who alluded to a mysterious document in which Fr. Courveille had supposedly found the plan for the Society of Mazy;

prefeng-letter.doc 59 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” this provoked Fr. Mayet’s letter to Dom Courveille and the latter’s reply. Finally, it is also possible that it was Chanut who gave Courveille the title of Founder, which Fr. Mayet set out to refute in document 800 of OM. In the autumn of 1865, after six years as superior at Bon-Encontre, Chanut was named superior of the residence in Nevers, but after three years, various problems made it necessary to change him. Chanut then asked to leave the Society, and on 15th September 1868, the Council agreed to his withdrawal. However, nothing definitive was done at the moment. During the 1868-69 school year, Chanut, who was no longer listed in the Society’s books, resided in Rome, from which he returned on 24th June 1869. On 14th August, he wrote to Fr. Favre; after an ex- change of letters, the latter dispensed him from his vows on the 3 1st, but the settlement of financial matters took until 22nd December. As of that date, Chanut was in the department of the Loire-et-Garonne, and the archdiocese of Lyons did not give him any further assignments. We do not know what became of him between then and 6th April 1873, when he was named parish priest of Sainte-Anne in Roanne, where he died on 8th January 1875. (With the kind permission of the authors, we have reprinted here the biographical information from OM, P1, pp. 223-225, with the exception of the internal references to documents contained in that series.) (REFERENCES, pp. 111-113).

CHAPELON, JEAN-LOUIS ; see PASCAL, BROTHER.

CHARBONNIER, CÉSAR: (1787-1839), parish priest of Grignan, Drôme, in the diocese of Valence, born 18th November 1787 in Montélimar. Tonsured 18th April 1805, ordained 21st December 1811, named curate in Buis-les-Baronnies, Drôme. He was appointed parish priest of Châteauneuf d’Isère, Drôme, on 1st August 1814, and of Menée and Les Nonières, Ardèche, on 1st November 1820; the latter is no longer a parish. He did not stay there very long, since we find him listed as a diocesan missionary with Fr. Enfantin, specifically for a mission in Grenoble in 1822. In 1825 he took over the Congregation of the Nativity, which had been called the Congregation of the Sacred Heart and which no longer exists. On 6th October 1827 he was named parish priest of the cathedral of Valence, and three years later, on 15th October 1830, of Grignan, Drôme. It was from there that he wrote to Fr. Champagnat in 1838, asking for brothers for his parish. He did not live to see his request answered, since he died shortly afterwards, in Grignan, on 26th March 1838 (Archives of the diocese of Valence; cf. also L. 224). (REFERENCES, pp. 113-114).

CHAUMONT, BROTHER: “Adolphe Béranger, born in Dieppe, Seine Inférieure, on 3rd July 1809, son of Jean-Baptiste Chaumont and Marie-Anne Bréchet, entered as a novice” on 5th January 1838 (RE, 1, p. 97). He put on the habit of the Little Brothers of Mary barely a month later, on 2nd February (RV, 1, p. 102; AA, p. 275). On 13th October, that same year, he made perpetual profession (RVP, 1, p. 32; AA, p. 292). Sometime before the latter date, he must have been sent to Marlhes, since we find a disbursement for the Marlhes account on 29th September (AFM, 132.2, p. 117). Given his birthplace and the fact that he had made perpetual vows, it is easy to understand why Fr. Champagnat lost no time in sending him to the North, to Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, as we see from the account book (RC, 1, p. 135) which contains an entry for 28th October 1839: “To Bro. Chaumont, for travel to St Pol, 125 fr”. We do not know how long he remained there, but in any event, during the latter half of 1843, he was sent to Lyons

prefeng-letter.doc 60 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” to open the house of La Province Caille, where he stayed until 1859. “Bro. Chaumont’s manners became unbearable for everyone. He realized it himself, so he changed clothes and went to Paris. One of his acquaintances there expressed surprise at his new style of dress. He answered, ‘Being a brother was boring, so I resigned’. He became sacristan at the church of St-Germain l’Auxerrois; they say he is still there” (Avit, annals of Lyon-Caille, entry for 15th May 1883). From these annals and Bro. Chaumont’s letters, we can get the broad outline of his moral portrait. He was “an old soldier’, and there was still a lot of that about him, including certain habits like shaving every morning before getting out of bed. To do that, he filled his mouth with water and let it dribble out little by little as he passed the razor over his skin...” (ibid., p. 10). His military manners, uncouth and blunt, come through in all his letters. The first is undated, but must have been written between September and December 1842, shortly after he arrived at his post: “Dear Brother François, I have not heard from you since I left the Hermitage. However, I like to believe or hope that nothing has changed in regards to your health, which we are all concerned about. ... I think you will do me a favor by sending me the cook you think it best to give me, all the more so as his stove will soon be repaired and he will be able to cook for us. That will mean that Bro. Athénodore will no longer have to remain alone, and we will really feel at home. I want him to be in every way just like Bro. Athénodore, with whom I am (and hope I will continue to be) very pleased. I need saints to sanctify me, because I am hardly a saint and not much inclined to become one. ... In the hope that you will please send us as soon as possible the brother who will do us a great service in helping us to make this house suitable for receiving the dozen poor little wretches who are going to put us through our purgatory on earth, I ask you, dear brother, and also Bro. Jean-Baptiste, to accept my embraces and most respectful greetings”. Two months had not passed before he was writing again: “You were not unaware, my very dear brother, that by sending me as director to an orphanage you are placing a heavy cross on my shoulders, but one which I hope to carry with the help of Jesus and Mary and the aid of your fervent prayers. But when you sent me Bro. Eucher, you burdened me with another cross which I cannot possibly carry any longer. We have been together seven or eight weeks and we still cannot get along together. ... So I beg you, dear brother, to send me a brother who isn’t educated, or who doesn’t think he is, but who is pious, regular and obedient....” Bro. Eucher was apparently replaced by a young brother who, according to Bro. Chaumont, was “a novice in all respects. I say ‘in all respects’, because he can’t even read his Office. So we let him say it by himself, and I say it with the other brother, among the children who keep great silence during that time. A few even answer the ‘Gloria Patri’; they also listen to the reading” (Letter of 2nd January 1844). The orphanage was under the authority of a committee made up of the pastors of the neighboring parishes of Lyons, plus some laymen. Bro. Chaumont’s brusqueness and lack of ceremony did not sit well with these gentlemen, so there was plenty of friction. On 22nd September 1845, “Fr. Rosier requested Bro. Chaumont’s transfer, because of his bluntness and insupportable personality; his request was not granted (Annals, p. 11). “On 5th January 1847, Bro. Director complained about Bros. Godescabe, Adelfère and Crescent, his assistants. They could just as well have complained about him” (ibid., p. 12). On 28th May 1848, Bro. Chaumont wrote to Bro. François, among others: “You are not unaware that they wanted to take teaching out of the hands of the brothers; it is true that they did not succeed. But it is also true that if the wicked succeed in their plans, it will sooner or later come to that, from what I can see. in

prefeng-letter.doc 61 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” the opinion of our administrators and a number of the clergy, things are getting worse and worse, and they expect a complete upheaval: everyone is alarmed. Please do me a favor and search carefully again for my papers and send them to me. I insist strongly on this request; I want to have them with me. You may take it for granted that everyone thinks that if there is another revolution, we will have to hide, just as in ‘93, and there will be barely enough time to escape without having to look for one’s papers”. It was no revolution which drove him away, but his unbearable manners over a long period of time, which alienated him from those around him, from the administrators, from his superiors and his community, and which finally led to his leaving the congregation three years later. (REFERENCES, pp. 114-116).

CHAUMONT, JEAN-BAPTISTE: (1800-1883), parish priest of Tournus, Saône-et-Loire, in the diocese of Autun, born 27th October 1800 in Chalon-sur-Saône, Saône-et-Loire. We do not know the date of his ordination, but we know that he taught in Autun from 1823 to 1826. Then he was named parish priest of Amengny, of La Chapelle-de-Bragny, and finally, in 1838. of Saint-Philibert in Tournus. It was from there that he wrote to Fr. Champagnat to ask for brothers, but he never succeeded during his long stay in that parish. He was named an honorary canon in 1844 and died on 28th March 1883 (Archives of the diocese of Autun; cf. L. 331). (REFERENCES, p. 116).

CHAVERONDIER, ETIENNE ; see ANACLET, BROTHER.

CHAVOIN, JEANNE-MARIE (MOTHER SAINT-JOSEPH): (1786-1858), Foundress of the Marist Sisters. Born 29th August 1786 in Coutouvre, Loire, to Theodore Chavoin, a tailor, and Jeanne Verchère. We know very little of her childhood, but at about sixteen, we find her helping her parish priest, Fr. Guillermet. With her friend and companion, Marie Jotillon, she belonged to an “Association of Divine Love” which had been founded by a young seminarian, Mr. Lefranc. In 1810, she became acquainted with the new curate, Pierre Colin, who spent four years in Coutouvre. She and Marie Jotillon made retreats at Les Chartreux in Lyons and frequently visited the nearby convent in Pradines, which Madame De Bavoz was orienting toward the Benedictine way of life. Cardinal Fesch, who was a benefactor of that convent, insisted that Jeanne-Marie should choose an existing order, but she decided to wait in hope. She was also pressured to join the group of teachers living in a house in Belleville under the direction of Fr. Captier, but she refused, even though she let Marie Jotillon go there. In 1816, Fr. Lefranc, who was still her director from a distance, told her something which was to prove prophetic: “You are not destined for a community which has already been founded, but one which still remains to be founded”. In fact, toward the end of 1817, she was called to Cerdon by Pierre Colin to begin the women’s branch of the Society of Mary. She went there with Marie Jotillon, lived for a while with the Sisters of St. Joseph, and then, after Marie Jotillon had been sent to Saint-Clair, went to the rectory as housekeeper and there became involved with the plans of both Colins for the projected Society of Mary. She herself took several steps to further the Society, going to see Fr. Courbon in Lyons and Fr. Richard in Le Puy. She also brought her nephews, the Millots, to live in the rectory. When Bishop Devie was appointed, she obtained permission to rejoin Marie Jotillon, whom she went to bring back from Saint-Clair, soon after, the two of them and Marie Gardet began to live together in Cerdon, in a house in the Tâche neighborhood, where

prefeng-letter.doc 62 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” she remained until June 1824. At that time she and her community moved to the Balme neighborhood, where, on 6th June 1824, their first provisional habit was blessed, and on 8th December, the first clothing ceremony was held, along with the election of Chavoin as superior general, under the name of Mother Saint-Joseph. After a year and a half in Cerdon, the community left for Belley during the night of 27th-28th June 1825; they moved into the bishop’s country home, called Bon Repos. It remained the only house of the congregation until 1835, and Mother Saint-Joseph was its superior, while arranging for other foundations. The first was made in November 1835, in Meximieux; after 1836, others followed in Lyons and Sainte-Foy. From then on, she had to deal with the needs of an expanding congregation with houses in two dioceses, and that at a moment when Fr. Colin, realizing that there was no hope of Rome’s approving a Society of Mary with several branches, was leaning toward making the Marist Sisters a diocesan congregation. There followed a period of mounting misunderstanding between founder and foundress, amply documented in another volume of this series (Correspondance de Mère Saint-Joseph, pp. 13 1-268; this volume has also been translated into English), which ended with the resignation of Mother Saint-Joseph and the election of Mother Saint-Ambroise as second superior general on 29th April 1853 (ibid., pp. 271-285, 371- 390). Mother Saint-Joseph first lived in Meximieux until July 1855 (ibid., pp. 286-322), and then in the village of Jarnosse, near Coutouvre, where she initiated various parish ministries (ibid., pp. 323-370). She died there on 30th June 1858 (Cf. L 25; OM, IV, pp. 228-229; Jessica Leonard, S.M., Triumph of a Failure; Marie de Ia Croix, S.M., By a Gracious Choice). (REFERENCES, pp. 116-117).

CHILLET, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see JEAN-JOSEPH, BROTHER.

CHIRAT, CHARLES: (1793-1849), parish priest of Neuville-sur-Saône, Rhône, in the archdiocese of Lyons. Born on 16th September 1793 in Lyons, he was ordained with Marcellin Champagnat on 22nd July 1816. We do not know how long he was curate at Saint-Polycarpe in Lyons, hut he was transferred from there on 26th August 1831, to be parish priest of Millery, where he stayed for hardly a year. Gilbert Durand, parish priest of Neuville, having died on 31st October 1832, Chirat was named on 9th November to replace him; he was approved on 31st December and installed on 27th January 1833. When he arrived, he met our brothers, whom his predecessor had obtained six years previously. The very least that can be said is that he was not indifferent to that religious community; if anything, he looked after it perhaps too protectively at times. In September 1834, Fr. Champagnat had to remind him not to prevent the brothers from coming to the Hermitage for their vacation and retreat (L. 47). In 1839, he wrote three letters to Fr. Champagnat, who asked Bro. François to reply. They dealt with the foundation of a brothers’ school in Fleurieu, the neighboring parish. On 9th July 1839, Bro. François answered, “We cannot thank you enough for your interest in the Society of Mary. We very much regret that we are unable to further your zeal by opening as many establishments as you would like in your district. Up to now, the civil authorities in the department of the Rhône have not shown themselves to be so favorable towards our brothers as the authorities in the Loire. Consequently, over and above the fact that we have many establishments in the latter department, we have also made many promises there. Our Father Superior intends to see the prefect of the Rhône, who in the past showed him great kindness, and to whom he promised not to open any establishment in

prefeng-letter.doc 63 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” his department without first discussing it with him. “As for the conditions you speak of, they do not appear to us to be entirely acceptable. In the towns where we have only two brothers, their salary is 500 francs apiece; but we could not send only one brother at that rate. The collection of the monthly fees should not be this brother’s responsibility. You are also aware that the towns should provide 500 francs’ worth of furnishings for each brother and 400 francs for initial expenses of the foundation. Respectfully (RCLA, 1, p. 126, n° 162). Fr. Chirat replied that he was sure he could meet those conditions, and Bro. François answered him on 14th October 1839: ‘in view of your repeated urgings and your esteemed requests, we are prepared to provide one brother for the boys’ school in the town of Fleurieu, in which so many generous people are interested. We informed you of our conditions in our last letter. You will surely not be displeased if we insist that they be fully carried out before we send the requested brother. To do otherwise would create problems and lead to endless discussions concerning other establishments of this same type which might be offered us in the future. We very sincerely wish to further your generous zeal, which has such salutary effects on Neuville and the neighboring parishes” (RCLA, 1, p. 136, n° 170). On 2nd November, Bro. François had to repeat what he had written in his two previous letters, since Fr. Chirat had misplaced them. He made use of the occasion to tell him that, after due reflection, the fees had been raised by 100 francs each, but in view of the promises already made, the former fees would be maintained in this case, by way of exception (RCLA, 1, p. 146, n° 187). We do not know if the brother was in fact sent, because, since he was to be a member of the Neuville community, he is not identified with Fleurieu in any way; in any case, Fr. Chirat did not write again about the matter. A few years later, he raised objections against the brothers in Neuvile, and especially against the director, as we see from his letter of 30th June 1842 to Bro. François: “When I had the honor of seeing you a few days ago, you asked me if I had any remarks to make about the brothers in Neuville. I kept silence because of Bro. Bruno’s promises. Today, being convinced that I cannot depend on him to keep his word, I will open my soul to you fully. “For several years I have been telling Bro. Bruno that it is not proper for a religious to announce a feastday by means of cherry bombs, firecrackers and skyrockets. The noise disturbed people, complaints were raised, the authorities were on the point of intervening. Nothing could change his mind. “A week ago, I learned that this year, he intended to add a fireworks display. I called the brother, made what I felt were justifiable remarks about his state of life, his house which should be noted for its modesty, the useless expense involved, the danger to which he was exposing the children, and the bad example which all this uproar gave to a parish which is already too much inclined toward dissipation. An older priest took my part, but we could not budge him. So I took the tack of absolutely forbidding what I could not obtain by persuasion. I thought a religious would listen to the voice of his parish priest; I was mistaken. “Yesterday, at 10 p.m., with the brothers and children on the wharf, the fireworks began. Fortunately, neither the mayor nor the townspeople knew of my prohibition; otherwise there would have been a scandal: an act of rebellion against the parish priest and an incitement to the noisy pleasures of the world. “Last year, I forbade them to put on plays; no need to give the children a taste for such dangerous things. In spite of what I said, they put on a play by Molière, ‘The Hypochondriac’; they went to the theaters in Lyons to rent costumes to disguise themselves. Some people in Lyons told me how surprised they were. The brother knows my thoughts on the matter, he knows that I absolutely do not want my children to be

prefeng-letter.doc 64 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” taught that there is nothing wrong with being an actor, with playing the clown on stage, with wearing costumes. “Yesterday’s disobedience makes me fear he will also disobey at the end of the year. I am writing to ask you to reestablish order. In your prudence, see what you ought to do. I dare hope that God’s glory will be the outcome of these steps which I find imposed upon me by my love for my parish. I have the honor to be (AFM, Neuville file, no 5). A week later, on 7th July, Bro. François received the following letter from Mr. Tnpier. “For many years now, I have often heard various complaints from my brothers in Neuville, often enough about the domineering and even unapproachable manner of the parish priest of Neuville, in his obdurately wanting to take over temporarily; he seems extremely jealous of their progress and is doing all he can to make them slow down the pace they have set to the satisfaction of both parents and children; at all costs he wants them to slacken their enthusiasm and courage! ... What must they think when they find themselves dishonored and detested by a man who should praise and encourage them! “I myself am very displeased by such bizarre conduct, which leads me to have very negative thoughts about father’s behavior towards the brothers; selfishness seems to be his only motive: if he were not legally obliged to support the secondary school in Neuville, he would not be doing everything he is doing to upset the brothers (AFA, 214.60, p. 10). This letter, which in the original is more vehement than grammatically correct, defended the brothers so vigorously that it put the superior general in a predicament. We do not know how he got out of it, but when the Fr. Chirat wrote again the following year, on 23 August 1843, he did not mention the theater, but rather the ambitious projects of the director who wanted to have a large secondary school built. “What I need in Neuville,” he says, “is something simple and solid, lessons and virtues for the children, not luxuries to attract outsiders” (AFM, Neu- vile file, n° 8). On 26th August 1846, he wrote again, to condemn the worldly activities of the school even more strongly: “1 will not speak to you, brother, about the time the children waste learning, repeating, spouting roles, of which the least dangerous have no artistic value; about the distaste which their attraction for these trifles gives them for serious things, especially for the catechism; about the love of the world which they are being given; and about the desire which is being planted in their hearts, to go to the theater to make sure that they resemble the actors to some degree. “I am responsible for a good but flighty parish, which needs solid instruction and especially holy models. Are these plays and costumes likely to edify a people who are avid for pleasure and who are so hard to keep in line? When we condemn the follies of the Carnival, don’t they have a right to tell us, ‘But they wear costumes at the brothers’ school!’? “Let me tell you, brother, that our enemies set snares for us, they push us down the wrong track, they want to destroy us. Will they be able to, if we walk in the simplicity of the Christian spirit? Certainly not. So then, they spread among us worldly tastes, attraction for its diversions, the desire to show off, and soon they will take advantage of our weakness to make their foul plans succeed. “I speak to you this way because I love the brothers of Neuville. I know how difficult it was for me to strengthen them. It is still a daily struggle to get them to back me up. They ought to know that my only aim is the glory of God, their sanctification, and the salvation of my parish (AFM, Neuville file, n° 14). Three years later, in 1849, Fr. Chirat died and Bro. Bruno left the Institute. (REFERENCES, pp. 117- 120).

CHOL, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see RAPHAEL, BROTHER.

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CHOL, MARIE-PIERRETTE: Marist Sister, born around 1811 in Saint-Laurent d’Agny, to François Chol and Pierrette Deyoud. She was the sister of Jean-Baptiste Chol, Bro. Raphael, even though their mother’s name is different in the respective registers of the Sisters and Brothers. In the latter (RE, 1, 48), Fr. Champagnat wrote “Dupont” rather than “Deyoud”, in a very firm, clear hand. In any case, we know that the Founder sent about ten postulants to Bon Repos. His letter of August 1832 (L. 25) mentions three, in- cluding Marie-Pierrette Chol. She received the habit at Bon Repos on 5th February 1833, under the name of Sister Sainte-Angèle, and made profession on 28th June 1834. “In the register of candidates, after her date of profession, a different hand added: ‘died at home after her dismissal from the Congregation’. It is hard to know what to make of the mention of ‘dismissal’, since the account book has this entry for 20th November 1844: ‘Received from Mr. Chol, father of Sister Sainte-Angèle, deceased, 100 fr.” (Correspondance de Mère Saint-Joseph, doc. 5, note 7, p. 77). (REFERENCES, pp. 120-121).

CHOLLETON, JEAN: (1788-1852), vicar general of Lyons, subsequently a Marist Father. Born 18th June 1788 in Sarnt-Marcel-de-Félines, Loire, to Jacques Cholleton, a farmer and landowner, and Jeanne Dubreuil. He did his secondary schooling in Saint- Jodard. He entered the seminary of Saint-Irenée on All Saints Day, 1806; he spent three years there, receiving the tonsure on 28th March 1807, minor orders that 23rd May and the subdiaconate on 23rd July 1809. At All Saints 1809, he was sent to the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, where he spent two years following aq advanced course in theology and Oriental languages under Father de Sacy. He was recalled to Lyons by Cardinal Fesch on 12th November 1811, after the dissolution of the Sulpicians, and ordained in Grenoble the following 21st December. He was immediately assigned to the seminary, which the Sulpicians left on the 26th. As a professor of moral theology, he held to the ngonst opinions which were then traditional in France, but he soon found himself the most well-liked and heavily-burdened spiritual director in the seminary. In the summer of 1814, during the first Restoration, he went to Saint-Sulpice with Frs. Cattet and Mioland, but did not join the Society. In 18 15-16, he protected and directed the group of Marist aspirants. On 10th December 1817, he stopped teaching moral theology in order to replace Fr. de la Croix as rector of the seminary. A few weeks previously, he had received his appointment as vicar general from Bishop Dubourg of New Orleans (Cattet, notice 15), and began to gather money for the missions in America. This led to his playing a major role in the negotiations which led to the official establishment of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith on 3rd May 1822. After the arrival of Bishop De Pins, he participated in the archdiocesan council from its very first meeting. On 1st April 1824, he was named third vicar general; his nomination was approved by the govern- ment on the 26th (AAL, personnel register 1, p. 188). As such, he was in charge of religious communities. it was he whom Fr. Champagnat asked to come bless the cornerstone of the Hermitage in May 1824. “Since he had nothing to give him for dinner, Father took him to the home of Mr. Basson, a Friend of the brothers” (AA, p. 56; Chronologie, p. 39). On 17th December 1825, he became second vicar general, and handed over his responsibility for religious communities to Fr. Cattet. He enrolled in the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin in Lyons on 2nd February 1826, and immediately became its spiritual director, which he remained until 1846 (archives of the Sodality in Lyons,

prefeng-letter.doc 66 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” enrollment register). However, “from March 1833 to September 1836, he once again handled the affairs of the Society of Mary in the archdiocese of Lyons”. Fr. Colin so informed Fr. Champagnat in his letter of 12th March 1833 (OM. I, doc, 266, p. 577). From then on, his pastoral concern led him to agree with Fr. Terraillon’s proposal to merge the Marist Brothers with the Viatorians. He suggested it to Fr. Querbes, whose reply on 10th August set forth his conditions for the move (OM, I, doc. 277, pp. 599- 600). In September, Fr. Champagnat drafted a letter expressing his personal reticences about the fusion, which the brothers themselves did not want (cf. L. 30). On 10th October, Fr. Cholleton informed Fr. Querbes “that Fr. Champagnat is now perfectly agreeable to going along with our plans for the merger” (OM, I, doc. 291, pp. 635-636). We know that Bishop De Pins himself at first supported his vicar general, then changed his mind, recognized that our Founder’s attitude was wise, and was very pleased that the affair had fallen through (Life, p. 188; AA, p. 156). Fr. Cholleton’s powers as vicar general expired on 2nd July 1840, when Archbishop de Bonald took possession of the see, but he had already left the archdiocese several months earlier. In the spring he had gone to Rome, where he had an audience with Pope Gregory XVI and felt confirmed in his decision to join the Marist Fathers, to whose foundation he had contributed so much. When he returned to Lyons at the beginning of August 1840, he refused the canonry to which Archbishop de Bonald had appointed him on 8th July (ADR, series V. folder 5); he was officially entered in the register of the Puylata novitiate under date of 1st August 1840. After making profession on 25th September 1841, he was named superior of the novitiate, which was also transferred at that moment to La Favorite. He taught several courses, including sacred scripture, and continued in charge of many religious communities, especially the one in La Rochette, of which his sister was abbess (cf. copy of the annals of the abbey of La Rochette in APM). Even though he felt affection and gratitude toward him, Fr. Colin wanted the members of the Society to learn more liberal opinions in moral theology than the ones Fr. Cholleton held (Mayet 5, 294-296; SI, 128 m), and since he was not very satisfied with the way the latter was running the novitiate, he removed him from that post in the autumn of 1844 (ibid., 1, 719 m. 3, 217-219), just as he later relieved him of the responsibility he had exercised from 1841 to 1845 over the branch of Marist Brothers (ibid., 1,495,496 m; 2,293; 4,362 m; 6, 112, 755). From then on, Fr. Cholleton remained at La Favorite as a simple religious. He attended the Provincial Council of Lyons in 1850 as Cardinal De Bonald’s theologian, and died at Puylata on 9th February 1852. (Taken from OM IV, pp. 230-231, with the addition of a few details of particular interest to the Marist Brothers.) (REFERENCES, pp. 121-123).

CHOMAS, JEAN-PIERRE; see FLAVIEN, BROTHER.

CHOMAT, LOUIS; see CASSIEN, BROTHER.

CHOSSAT, JEAN-FRANÇOIS: (1788-1883), member of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians or Lazarists), rector of the major seminary in Albi, Tam; born 25th November 1788 in Marboz, Am, in the diocese of Belley. He was ordained in Lyons in 1812 or 1813, then successively appointed curate in Chalamont, parish priest of Marlieux on 1st July 1814, and parish priest of Dortan on 31st October 1815. On 8th October 1818, he joined the Congregation of the Mission in Paris; six years later, on 15th November 1824, he made profession in the presence of Fr. Boujard. During the

prefeng-letter.doc 67 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” intervening years, he had been director of a group of four missionaries, first in Meaux (182 1-22), then in Amiens (1822-24). By an apostolic brief of 11th March 1823, he was named vicar apostolic in Algiers, where he worked from March 1824 to June 1825, at which time he asked to return to France, since he was suffering from ophthalmia. He was named superior in Carcassonne, Aude; then in , Loire, in 1829, at the major seminary in Albi in 1835 or 1836, and then at the major seminary in Evreux, Eure. It was from Albi that he wrote to Fr. Champagnat to suggest the opening of a novitiate in that diocese (cf. L. 82). He died on 8th July 1883, while preaching a pastoral retreat in Boisy, Pas-de-Calais. (Congregation of the Mission, Dictionnaire du personnel de 1800 a 1850, 2nd series; information provided by Bro. Joseph Cazafy, archivist.). (REFERENCES, p. 123).

CLAUDE-MARIE, BROTHER: (1814-1893), Jean-Claude Bertrand, born in 1814 in Saint-Sauveur-en-Rue, Loire, to Claude Bertrand and Jeanne-Marie Chirat. Admitted to the Hermitage on 11th May 1835, he received the habit there on 27th July and made temporary vows two months later, on 24th September. The following year, he was among the seventy brothers who made perpetual profession publicly for the First time, on 10th October 1836. We have no information about the first four years after his novi- tiate. On 19th October 1839, he was part of the group that went to take over the orphanage in Saint-Chamond, as we know from the Founder’s letter of 19th October 1839 (L. 281) to Fr. Victor Dugas, in which he says, “Bro. Augustin is very much afraid of being named director. He likes Bro. Claude-Marie and is delighted to be with him”. In point of fact, he did not finish out the year, since he was among those named for the mission of Oceania, as we learn from Fr. Champagnat’s recommendation in his circular of 4th February 1840 (L. 318): “We recommend to you especially Fathers Pezant and Tripe, and Brothers Claude-Marie and Ammon, who are sailing from Brest to New Zealand at the beginning of this month”. We have several letters which permit us to catch up with him at ever greater intervals. In the first, written in Brest on 25th January 1840, he expresses his gratitude for having been chosen “to be among the number of happy persons who are leaving for New Zealand. ... I left St-Chamond on the 6th, as you had told me. ... I stayed three days in Lyons to put our affairs in order and then left on the 10th, with Bro. Ammon, for Paris, where we arrived on the 13th. We went to the seminary of the Foreign Mission Society, where we found Frs. Pezant and Tripe, who had arrived a few days before us. After spending three days in Paris to take care of various errands, we took the stagecoach and arrived in Brest on the 19th”. On 25th March 1840, he wrote from Gorée, Senegal, saying that he had expected the boat to sail a few days after the date of his preceding letter, but that contrary winds kept them in Brest until 19th February. “The wind finally became favorable, and on 19th February, around 8 o’clock, we weighed anchor and got under way. Brother and I then met in the Fathers’ room, and together we asked the Lord, through the intercession of the best of mothers, for a safe and pleasant voyage; we prayed for France, our dear fatherland, for those we were leaving behind there who are dear to us, and finally for the crew of the ship. When we finished, we went on deck and then onto the poop-deck, for one more sight of the beautiful soil of France; but we were astonished to see, not that beloved land, but only a few rocks, sky and water. That made us sad in spite of ourselves; we shed a few tears and renewed our sacrifice to God”. They were well aware that they were leaving with no hope of ever returning. On 4th March, Ash Wednesday, they cast

prefeng-letter.doc 68 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” anchor in the harbor of Santa Cruz; they left the next day, stopped in Saint-Louis on the 12th, and arrived in the harbor of Gorée on the 14th, According to his next letter, dated 18th July from the Bay of Islands, they left Gorée on 25th March. In this letter, he gives a long description of their “baptism at sea” or “Crossing the Line”. From his letter of 26th July 1842, we learn that they reached Kororareka on 11th July 1840 (Circulaires, I, pp. 358-366). He describes how he finally reached his assignment in Hokianga where the greatest disappointment of his life was waiting for him. “My assignment is not what I expected before I left, but may God’s holy will be done. Cooking and manual work are my lot. To my very great regret, I had to take off Mary’s simple habit and put on that of the world; that was a very painful trial for me. Neither was I accustomed, as you know well, to using pick and shovel, much less oars; but I submit willingly to these pains for the expiation of my many sins. Even though I talk like this, please don’t think that I regret having come to these distant shores; far from it! Even if I don’t have the joy of catechizing these good savages and teaching them to love Jesus and most holy Mother Mary, I at least have the happiness of working for those who do teach them. “My heart rejoices when I see these good New Zealanders coming in their canoes to participate in the divine mysteries of our holy religion, to pray and to sing the hymns which the fathers have composed in their language. When the fathers returning from their missions describe the success which the master of the vineyard has deigned to grant to their work, the number of natives they have baptized, etc....Oh, how happy I am then! It more than makes up for the little pains I suffer!” In this same letter, he describes his feelings on learning, only on 6th July 1841, of the death of Fr. Champagnat, “news which inflicted on my heart a wound which will bleed for a long time”. His letter of 18th October 1843 gives a long description of a pastoral visit by Fr. Sampila, whom he accompanied for a month over almost impassable roads, sleeping on the ground, but healing the sick and baptizing adults and especially children. Towards the end of his letter, he asks prayers for the poor sinner that he is: “Alas, here there are physical trials, but even more spiritual ones! We are often tossed about by the waves of the storms which the evil spirit stirs up against us. Pray, I repeat, that we may not give in, but on the contrary, by triumphing over the demons of the world and the flesh, that we may have the sweet delight of all being reunited in a happy eternity, like our good Father Superior and the other dear brothers who are now with our loving mother before the face of God. “Let me ask you two more things; that you be good enough to write me a long letter with news of the society, particularly the brothers’ branch. Yes, write to me, all of you whom I have had the pleasure of knowing...don’t be silent forever. It’s been two years now since I heard anything; are you alive? Are you dead? I have no way of knowing. Ah, if you knew what a pleasure it is to receive your letters, with what joy and haste I read them and reread them! ... You would have to be in our place to be able to understand how much we desire your letters His letter of 6th January 1846 (Circulaires, I, pp. 409-4 17) is another appeal for news from France, but he also recounts two significant personal experiences. “This Feast of the Kings has been a memorable one for me. I am sending you these few lines to thank you for the really beautiful letter with which you were kind enough to honor us. This Epiphany...was the day on which I had the joy of hearing from our venerable and holy founder, Fr. Champagnat, these sweet words: ‘You have just been chosen for the mission of Oceania; get ready to leave (for Lyons) as soon as possible’. Yes, I assure you, I was glad and sad at the same time; glad, because I was going to a mission for which I had been longing for some time; sad, because I was leaving,

prefeng-letter.doc 69 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” probably forever, so many good confreres and a house (the Hermitage) which was so dear to me, as well as France, my native land.... “On 9th February 1845, I was named by His Grandeur to replace Bro. Justin at Opotiki. That order upset me a great deal, for a number of reasons, because I was perfectly happy among the brothers on the bay. But I had to obey, and once again sacrifice my will to God....” He could not have stayed very long at that mission, since on 6th June 1849, he wrote from Hokianga, on the Bay of Islands. In 1850, he went to Nelson with Fr. Garim; they became a team which was broken up only by death, more than forty years later. But his morale seems not to have been the best. Bro. Emery, in a letter of 19th April, says, “Bro. Claude-Marie still has it in his head that he wants to return to France. I wrote to him when I arrived, which led him to open up to me like an old friend. So I wrote him two long letters, using all my zeal and eloquence to urge him to persevere until death in the missions. Apparently I have succeeded for the moment, since he asked me for work clothes, seeing that I did not want to let him leave; he is stifi in Nelson He wrote to Bro. François from Nelson, on 1st November 1859: “Thank you, dear brother, for the paternal advice you were good enough to give me; it fits my situation very accurately, I must admit. I will try to behave accordingly, as far as I can. But to do that, brother, I need, I very much need, your good and fervent prayers, and those of all the members of the society, because I am a wretch who greatly fear for his eternal salvation. I no longer dare ask for anything or say any more about my return among you, for fear of doing my own will too much, and going against the plans of Divine Providence for me. So I am waiting, and I will wait patiently, until such time as it may please the divine will to manifest itself to me in one way or another. May the holy will of God be done, not mine!” At the end of the letter, he returns to the same subject: “As for me, I think this is the last letter I will be writing you; my physical strength is fading every day. Last year I could dig and work in the garden; this year I can hardly do anything.... Formerly, I urgently wanted to end my life at the Hermitage, so as to have the consolation of preparing myself better for that terrible passage. Today, I make no request at all; I leave everything in the hands of Divine Providence, which can do with me whatever it wants. But, you, my very dear brother, raise your hands in petition to the refuge of sinners, the consoler of the afflicted, our gentle and loving Mary, our Good Mother, so that she may deign to obtain mercy for me, a happy death and a favorable judgment. Oh, Very Reverend Brother, hurry — who knows what might happen to me — and do not stop until you are sure that I am in heaven, our happy goal!” But that was just a passing crisis; he lived another thirty-four years, and died in Nelson, New Zealand, on 5th November 1893. (Circulaires, VIII, pp. 418-419, 502). (REFERENCES, pp. 123-126).

CLAVEL, ANTOINE: (1794-1871). parish priest of Jallieu, Isère, in the diocese of Grenoble. We know nothing about him apart from a few bits of information supplied by the diocesan archives, and we chose not to pursue our research on him any further. He was born in 1794, named parish priest of Jallieu in 1828, and remained there until his death in 1871. Despite his long stay in the same parish, he wrote only one letter (L. 226) to Fr. Champagnat, and it had no follow-up. (REFERENCES, p. 127).

COIGNET, ETIENNE: (1765-1842), parish priest of Sorbiers, Loire, in the archdiocese of Lyons. Born 13th June 1765 in Saint-Chamond, Loire, he received the tonsure on 1st April 1786, the diaconate on 20th December 1788, and was ordained in Lyons on 20th

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March 1790. In the ordination register, his name is written “Coignet”, but Fr. Courbon wrote it “Cognet” (J. Camelin, Prétre de Ia Revolution, p. 127). His entry in the Courbon Table (a list of all the priests of the diocese, with a personal evaluation of each, compiled by Fr. Courbon while vicar-general) reads as follows: “Cognet, Etienne, former curate in Tarantaise, native of St-Chamond, 37, average ability, zeal, piety”. He was named curate in immediately after his ordination in 1790, but his name no longer appears in the parish registers after 10th September 1791. However, at the funeral of the parish priest of Longes, on 22nd June 1792, he is listed as curate in Pavezin, and the account book indicates that he remained in that assignment until 1792 (idem.). In any case, the personnel register lists his nomination as parish priest of Sorbierson 6th July 1803, and mentions that he was formerly curate in Tarentaise, which agrees with the Courbon Table, as we have seen. Since the personnel register was begun only in 1804, it is understandable that it would not contain all previous assignments. Fr. Coignet lived through all the vicissitudes of the school in Sorbiers, which occasioned the letters Fr. Champagnat wrote him (LL. 76, 294). In fact, he remained in that parish until his death on 23rd October 1842. (REFERENCES, p. 127).

COLIN, JEAN-CLAUDE: (1790-1875), Marist priest, founder of the Marist Fathers and (with Jeanne-Marie Chavoin) of the Marist Sisters. Born in the hamlet of Les Barberies in the parish of Saint-Bonnet-le-Troncy, Rhône, on 7th August 1790, to Jacques Colin, a farmer and weaver, and Marie Gonnet. At the age of four he lost both parents, who had suffered during the Reign of Terror for their attachment to the Catholic cause. He was then placed under the guardianship of his paternal uncle Sébastien, and the latter’s housekeeper, Marie Echallier. After the persecution under the Directory, which affected him deeply, he moved into the town of Saint-Bonnet itself at the age of ten, and began his schooling there under the direction of kindly schoolteacher, Sister Marthe. Being of delicate health and scrupulous temperament, he longed for a sheltered life, and after his first communion, he agreed to follow his older brother Pierre into the minor seminary in Saint-Jodard. He entered the beginners’ class at All Saints, 1804; he then did his eighth and sixth classes, and had to repeat his fifth class there. A serious illness in the spring of 1809 forced him to return to Saint-Bonnet, where he nearly died. At All Saints, 1809, he entered the seminary in Alix, where he had to repeat his third class and then did his humanities, and received the tonsure on 23rd May 1812. In 18 12-13 he studied logic in Verrières, and then at All Saints 1813, he entered Saint-Irénée, where he did the three standard years of theology there. From the outset, he chose Fr. Cholleton as his director. The latter persuaded him, despite his reluctance, to present himself for early ordination on 6th January 1814, when he received minor orders and the subdiaconate. He was ordained deacon on 23rd June 1815, and priest on 22nd July 1816. Being often sick and little inclined to put himself forward, he felt no real attraction for the different projects of which the seminary was a hotbed, but as soon as he heard about it, he joined that of the Society of Mary, which enabled him to resolve certain personal contradictions, and corresponded with various ideas he had had for a long time. After his ordination and the Fourvière promise, he was appointed curate to his brother Pierre in Cerdon, where be ministered until June 1825. A period of spiritual consolations confirmed his certitude that the Society of Mary was willed from on high, and led him almost in spite of himself to become involved in it. He won his brother Pierre over to the project and drew up a rule, to whose fundamental principles he would never stop

prefeng-letter.doc 71 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” referring afterwards. Involved from the very beginning, no doubt, in the correspondence with Rome, he was certainly the main author of a letter written to Pius VII on 25th January 1822; he seems to have played a preponderant role in developments subse- quent to the reception of the papal reply. It was he who went to Paris in November 1822 to discuss the question of the Society with the nuncio, Macchi, and to give him the rule. It was he who returned there in the spring of 1823, and once the nuncio sent the file on the Society to Bishop Devie, it was he again who contacted the latter shortly after his arrival in Belley in the summer of 1823. During the winter of 1824-25, he began to preach missions with Etienne Déclas, and in June 1825 he left Cerdon for Belley with his brother and Déclas; they lived in the minor seminary there. For four years he gave missions in the Bugey, with Frs. Déclas and Jallon; Jean-Marie Humbert joined them in 1828. Colin very quickly was given the title of superior of the missionaries. At Easter 1829 he was named rector of the minor seminary of Belley, which he directed all alone until the summer of 1831. Being the virtual center of unity after the departure of Courveille in 1826, he was secretly elected central superior in the autumn of 1830, by the Marist aspirants of both Lyons and Belley, 3 after his firmness with Bishop Devie had preserved the priest-aspirants of the latter diocese from becoming simply diocesan missionaries. In the autumn of 1831, he was given a vice-rector to assist him in running the minor seminary; he then renewed contact with the Holy See, and in 1833 succeeded in getting permission to go to Rome. He went there that summer and presented to the Holy See a file on the Society. However, his contacts with the cardinals of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars led him to limit himself to a few basic requests which were accepted by the congregation on 31st January 1834, although the plan for a Society of Mary with several branches was rejected. On his return to France, Colin resided in the former Capuchin friary and continued negotiations with the Holy See. When the latter was looking for volunteers for Western Oceania, Colin encouraged Fr. Pompallier to accept, and he himself accepted the mission in the name of the Society of Mary, once it was officially offered to him by the Holy See. That acceptance won for the Society of Mary its pontifical approval, and in the papal brief to that effect, Colin was mentioned by name. On 24th September 1836, he was unanimously elected superior general; for the next 18 years, he continued to govern the congregation he had founded. (In that capacity, and according to the express will of the founder of the brothers, Fr. Colin’s authority extended to them as well. But, after having requested Fr. Champagnat’s resignation, which was immediately forthcoming, he reappointed him to that responsibility and left him great freedom to govern, without however ceasing to uphold and advise him in his undertakings. But when he foresaw Champagnat’s approaching death, the superior general felt it necessary to exercise his authority on behalf of the brothers to ensure their survival. As early as 1839 he took the initiative of suggesting that they elect a Brother Director General, and towards the beginning of 1841, he provided them with an opportunity to finalize the union which the Founder had already suggested, with the brothers of Fr. Mazeier. Bro. François, far from being offended by this interference, accepted it as the natural order of things, and acted under his authority, which seemed to weigh less and less. Besides, Fr. Colin, finding his responsibility a heavy burden, tried several times to resign. His confreres accepted on 9th May 1854, and next day elected Fr. Julien Favre to succeed him. At the moment of his resignation, Colin reserved for himself the superiorship of the house in La Neylière, where he had begun a Eucharistic ministry in 1852; but in view of the difficulties which

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Fr. Favre raised, he gave it up. Soon afterwards, Fr. Favre, at the urging of his council, drew up the Regulae fundamentales. Colin expressed his disapproval and lapsed into silence, refusing to participate any longer in retreats or chapters. However, in July 1863, at the prodding of Fr. Dupont, he made known his opposition to his successor’s Rule, and the Chapter of 1866, which he consented to attend, commissioned him to complete the Rule of the Society. On the strength of that mandate, Colin began to try to touch up Fr. Favre s Rule with the help of an ad hoc commission, but that approach accomplished nothing, so in the spring of 1868, he decided to return to his original manuscript. That decision encountered opposition from the general administration, which on that occasion, raised doubts about Colin the origin of the founder’s Rule, and let float various rumors, mingling truths and half-truths, about Fr. Courveille’s role in the beginnings of the society. Colin then decided to answer those rumors: he drew up an historical memorandum, and when that was not circulated, he finally sent out, on 6th May 1870, along with his printed Rule, a circular letter in which he presented his own version of the origins. This letter provoked a violent reaction from Fr. Maîtrepierre, and Colin wanted the matter settled, and his reputation restored, by a impartial jury. The chapter of 1879 served as that jury, and at the same time as it accepted the founder’s Rule, it officially put an end to the historical controversy. During his last years, Colin involved himself with the constitutions of the Marist Sisters and the Third Order. He died at La Neylière on 15th November 1875. The decree introducing the cause of his beatification was signed by Pope St. Pius X on 9th December 1908. (From OM, IV, pp. 236-238, except for the text in parentheses.) (REFERENCES, pp. 127-130).

COLIN, PIERRE: (1786-1856), Marist Father. Born 18th November 1786 in Saint- Bonnet-le-Troncy, Rhône, to Jacques Colin and Marie Gonnet. He began his studies under his parish priest, Fr. Cabuchet, who then sent him to the seminary in Saint- Jodard, in the autumn of either 1802 or 1803, i.e., in fifth or fourth class. Pierre remained there until his 1806-07 year of philosophy; he attracted his brother Jean-Claude in 1804, and thereafter paid for the latter’s studies, at least in part. He entered Saint-Irénée at All Saints, 1807, did his three years of theology there, received tonsure and minor orders on 24th July 1808, subdiaconate on 1st June 1810, and diaconate on 22 July 1810. On 15th November 1810, he was ordained along with Jean-Philibert Lefranc and Jean-Felix Pichat, by Bishop Simon, in the chapel of the major seminary in Grenoble. Assigned to Coutouvre, he received faculties on 19th November and signed the parish register for the first time on 4th December 1810. He stayed there for four years without salary, his only income being his Mass stipends. It was during this time that he became acquainted with Jeanne-Marie Chavoin and Marie Jotillon. He signed the Coutouvre parish register for the last time on 14th October 1814; on the 31st he was appointed assistant in Salles, Beaujolais, where he continued to live poorly. Shortly before his brother’s priestly ordination, he went to Saint-Irénée; it was no doubt on that occasion that he was able to obtain the services of his brother as his curate. In any case, on 27th July 1816, he was appointed parish priest of Cerdon, with Jean-Claude as curate. After a few weeks in Salles, where they still were on 3rd September (Jean Colin archives in Coutouvre, sale deed of that date), and a brief stay at St-Irénée before 8th September, the two brothers went to their new parish, where Pierre signed the register for the first time on 17th September. No disagreements marred their relationship, based on mutual respect and affection; after a year, Jean-Claude told Pierre about the Marist project, and he quickly

prefeng-letter.doc 73 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” joined the group. From then on, the older brother, who seems to have met Fr. Courveille in February 1818, was involved in proceedings for the Society, perhaps even (although remotely) in the composition of the Rule, and certainly in the correspondence with Rome. Pierre also seems to have gone in person to the Grenoble chancery, sometime around 1821, and to that of Le Puy in the spring of 1823. When Bishop Devie took over the see of Belley, Pierre, as parish priest, became the official spokesman for the parish of Cerdon in its dealings with the chancery, including the affairs of the Society, par- ticularly those of the Sisters, for whom he was responsible and to whom he had given the habit on 8th December 1824, as delegate of the bishop. On 22nd June 1825, he and Jean-Claude left Cerdon and went to Belley as missionaries. In point of fact, he did not take part in the missions properly speaking, but remained at the minor seminary, where he had to put up with inconveniences and practical jokes; he also ministered to the small parish of Bons. At All Saints 1827, he became spiritual director of the minor seminary, and Bishop Devie also asked him to take care of several religious communities, especially the Marist Sisters, whose director he had been since the Cerdon days. In November 1832 Fr. Chanel replaced him as spiritual director at the seminary; he moved to La Capucinière and served as chaplain for Bon-Repos, where he gathered a few Third Order members. Fr. Champagnat asked him to come to La Grange-Payre as director of the Marist priest-aspirants in the archdiocese of Lyons; after Fr. Champa- gnat’s plans for that house fell through, he was sent to Valbenoîte at the end of 1834, and apparently stayed there until 1836. At the gathering of 24th September 1836, he was elected assistant general, but refused the office, simply at his brother’s request. He made his religious profession that same day, along with the nineteen other first Marists. After preaching a retreat at the Hermitage from 2nd to 10th October, at which time the brothers made public religious profession, he spent some time in the neighborhood of Fourvière. On 15th November 1836, he became superior and master of novices, in the house at 24, Montée Saint-Barthélemy (Colin to Champagnat, 16th November 1836). He was also in charge of the Third Order for two years, then handed it over to Fr. Claude Girard. On 9th May 1838, he was co-signer of the purchase deed for Puylata; the following 16th October he took possession of that house and remained there for two years as its superior. After the September 1839 retreat, he was also its confessor, a ministry he exercised until his death. He was also given other more or less clearly defined responsibilities, such as “superior of the sisters and assistant” in September 1839, and “provincial of the Marist Sisters” (APM, registre des retraites, pp. 12, 15). In virtue of these various titles, he took part in council meetings, and more than once had a say in the affairs of the sisters. On 8th June 1840, he and other fathers participated in Fr. Champagnat’s funeral (RI), 1, burial certificate). He also seems to have acted at least temporarily as econome, and was responsible in Lyons, as he had been in Belley, for a number of communities of sisters. We should also note that during his years at Puylata, Pierre Colin often had opportunities to share with Fr. Mayet his memories of the early years, and thus became a good witness of that period for posterity. He died at Puylata on 13th July 1856. (OM, IV, pp. 241-244.) (REFERENCES, pp. 130-132).

COLLARD, CLAUDE; see EUTHYME, BROTHER.

COLOMB DE GAST, PIERRE FRANÇOIS: (1754-1831), mayor of Saint-Sauveur-en- Rue, Loire, was born in 1754 in Le Coin, in the parish of Marlhes, Loire, to Jean-Baptiste

prefeng-letter.doc 74 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” de Colomb and Marie Anne Chovet de ha Chance. His father shared the title of Lord of La Maronnéee de la Faye and of Marlhes. The family first lived in Lyons, then moved to Saint-Etienne, to Saint-Pierre-de-Boeuf, and finally to the hamlet of Le Coin, Marlhes. Pierre François was the second of five children. He married Marie-Antoinette Guérin, daughter of Lord Joseph Marie Guérin and Antoinette Angénieux. Pierre François de Colomb, Squire and Lord of Hauteville et Gaste, was very active during the Revolution of 1789 and especially during the Reign of Terror. He was a legal counsel to the Parliament and was elected Justice of the Peace for St-Chamond. On 14th March 1789, he participated in the assembly of the nobility to prepare for the Estates-General. Then he was president of the electoral assembly of the Rhône and of the Loire, which appointed those departments’ representatives to the Legislative Assembly. His activity was particularly important at the moment when the former currency was replaced by the assignats, for whose printing in Annonay he was responsible. On 13th June 1790, he was among the twenty persons named by a decree of the National Assembly, with the knowledge of King Louis XVI, to sign the assignats as their printer. The document lists, “For 300-pound assignats, François Gast”. In 1791-1792, he was deputy from the Rhône and the Loire in the Legislative Assembly. On 24th October 1791, he intervened in the assembly to state “that it was necessary to avoid fanaticism and persecution, to grant freedom of worship for priests who took the oath as well as for those who refused to do so, and for those who followed either group.... He also defended the property of the coal mines against their creditors and share-holders” (Pierre Piat). After Danton ordered the invasion of the Tuileries and the deposition of the king on 10th August 1792, Colomb de Gast submitted his resignation, which resulted in his being declared an outlaw. For the next two years, he had to remain in hiding in order to avoid arrest and execution. At first he thought the family estate would be a safe refuge, but on 12th Prairial, Year II (1st June 1794), a revolutionary order signed by Robespierre, Carnot and Billaud-Varenne demanded that he be brought to Paris. Thirteen days later, on 25th Prairial/l3th June, Laforêt, the government agent, in the name of the Committee of Public Safety of the National Convention, ordered the municipality of Déome (the name given to the town of Saint-Sauveur-en-Rue under the Revolution): “l” to use every possible means to arrest Colomb de Gast; 2° to confiscate all his property and other assets; to take inventory of all the furnishings in his manor of Dunerette in the hamlet of Le Coin; to put everything which his wife and children do not absolutely need into one room, under lock and seal; to send immediately the minutes of these proceedings to the Administration, with a copy to the officer in charge of the arrondissement of Bourg-Argental, making him responsible for whatever delay or waste may occur through his fault”. Pierre Piat, who cites this text, adds: “Pierre François Colomb hid in the convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Saint- Sauveur, and in the home of Fr. Robert the parish priest, a martyr of the Revolution. When he returned to his manor in Le Coin, Javogues’ emissaries came in the dead of night to carry out the arrest warrant. The only thing that saved him was the courage and presence of mind of his wife, who pretended to have misplaced the door-keys, then welcomed the ruffians and gave them plenty to drink. After that, they weren’t thinking very much about carrying out their mission. The fugitive, who knew every way out of his large estate, which was surrounded by farms, made good his escape. He reached the surrounding woods and hid for a good while at a farm owned by two old ladies in a place called ‘La Barge’ in the town of Saint-Regis; they had an underground hideout dug for him behind the manger in the stable. His family needed a great deal of patience and

prefeng-letter.doc 75 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” heroism, because the search continued. To avoid any careless slips, his children were never told where he was hiding, although he was less than a kilometer away. He could not relax at all until after the fall of Robespierre on 9th Thermidor/27th July”. After that, he lived most of the time in Saint-Sauveur-en-Rue, where he was appointed mayor much later, around 1810. It was in that capacity that he asked Fr. Champagnat for brothers like those he had seen teaching in Marlhes. We know that his request was answered without delay. He was mayor for nearly twenty years, until 1830. The following year, Pierre François De Colomb de Hauteville and his wife died within six months of each other they were buried in Saint-Sauveur. They had six children, one of whom, Antoinette Jocelyne Colomb de Gaste, born on 12th May 1787 in the château of Plaisance in the parish of Izieux, married Benoît Coste, co-founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, on 12th July 1807. (Cf. L. 1) (REFERENCES, pp. 132-133).

COLOMBAN, BROTHER: Jean Mourgue, born 1817 in Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid, Haute- Loire, to Antoine Mourgue and Eulalie Monteau. On 24th January 1836, he entered the Hermitage, where he received the habit on 23rd October. He apparently did not make his first temporary vows until 10th October 1838, at which time he did so for three years. According to the register, he made perpetual profession on 13th September 1843 (RVP, 1, 35), and there is no indication that he renewed his temporary vows in the meantime. After his novitiate, he studied at the Hermitage, and must have been among the group whom the Founder sent to Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux in February, since he was part of the next draft lottery. This First stay in Saint-Paul is confirmed by L.116 of June 1837, since in his letter of 4th May 1838 to Fr. Mazelier, Bro. François says, “The novice Mourgue for whom you did such a great favor should consider himself fortunate that you wanted to keep him with you. We ourselves are very pleased at that, and unless you think it better to let him follow his first vocation, he should consider himself as legally belonging to you. If he returns to our society, we will gladly receive him, provided you have been satisfied with his conduct” (Letter from Bro. François to Fr. Mazelier, 4th May 1838, AFM 603.P, Mazelier file: Lettres, p. 35). At the foot of the page, Fr. Mazelier noted: “Mr. Mourgue, Bro. Colomban, will leave tomorrow, 8th May 1838”, which proves that he did in fact return to the Hermitage. We have no accurate information about him after his return from St-Paul until 1845; the documents we have give conflicting data. We know that he was at Saint-Paul from 1836 to 1838; his file says he stayed at the Hermitage from 1838 to 1843, but we have no further proof of that. The same file puts him in St-Geoire from 1843 to 1845, but his name does not appear on Bro. Avit’s list of the brothers who founded St-Geoire in 1843 (AFA, 214.81). From 1845 to 1859, accord- ing to his file, he was in Firminy, and that is confirmed by the assignment lists. From 1859 to 1867, his file puts him in Valbenoîte, and the assignment lists we have from 1863 on confirm that fact (HER-LP, 1863 if.) The same assignment lists show him in Périgneux from 1867 to 1871, back in Valbenoîte in 1872-73, and then in Crémeaux, Loire, from 1873 to 1881, when he returned to Valbenoîte (HER-LP). He could not have stayed there very long, since he died at the Hermitage on 2nd February 1882. He was 65, and had lived in community 46 years and 1 day (RD. 2.944). (Cf. Fr. Mazelier’s letters of 3rd April 1838, AFM, 124.3; and 26th February 1841, Mazelier file, 531.13.18.) (REFERENCES, pp. 133-134).

COLOMBON, ANTOINE; see MICHEL, BROTHER.

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COLOMBON, PIERRE; see NILAMON, BROTHER.

COMBE, JEAN-PIERRE: (1798-1857), parish priest of Ganges, Hérault, in the diocese of Montpellier, born 3rd May 1798 in Montpellier, Hérault. He was curate in Lund at the time he was named parish priest of Frontignan on 21st May 1829. Two years later, on 1st July 1831, he was named parish priest of Ganges. He began corresponding with Fr. Champagnat in 1837, asking for brothers (cf. LL 87, 96). It was impossible to grant his request immediately, and nothing was done about it until much later, since Fr. Combe was transferred on 1st March 1838, to Castries, where he died on 1st October 1857. (Information from the diocesan archives in Montpellier, furnished by Fr. Gerard Aizien, archivist.) (REFERENCES, pp. 134-135).

COURBON, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see JEAN, BROTHER.

COURBON, JOSEPH: (1748-1824), vicar general of Lyons, born on 3rd April 1784 in La Seuve in the town of Saint-Genest-Malifaux, Loire. He was the third child and third son of Joseph Courbon and Marguerite Sovignet de la Bouche. He was baptized a few hours after his birth, by Fr. Arsac, curate to Fr. Albaret, the parish priest. His godfather was his older brother Barthélemy, and his godmother was Jeanne Sovignet, one of his first cousins. When he was barely two years old, his father died, and the young orphan was sent to study at a very early age. First he was entrusted to Fr. Brun, parish priest of Tarentaise, who had begun a little boarding school in his country home, where he taught Latin. Joseph made his First Communion in June 1760 and completed his somewhat sketchy study of the humanities in Saint-Etienne, under a boarding school teacher named Gautier. In November 1766 he entered the seminary of St.Irénée in Lyons; Antoine Denavit was then rector, and Fr. Marion taught dogma. He received all the orders during his stay there: tonsure on 4th April 1767; the four minor orders that 13th June: the subdiaconate from Bishop De Montazet on 9th June 1770, in the church of St- Nizier the diaconate on 21st December 1771; and the priesthood on 4th April 1772, in the chapel of St-Charles seminary, from the hands of the suffragan bishop of Egée (J.B. Vanel, Bulletin historique du diocese de Lyon,Jan.-Feb. 1914,n. 85,pp. 4-12). On 3rd April 1773, he was named superior of the major seminary. In 1783, he was appointed custodian of Sainte-Croix, which post he held until the Revolution. On 26th November 1786, after the death of Bishop de Montazet, Bishop de Marbeuf chose him as vicar general, on the recommendation of Fr. Emery. Having refused to take the oath to the constitution, he was forced to flee on 2nd July 1792. He took refuge first in Pont-de- Beauvoisin, Isère-Savoie; when General de Montesquiou invaded Savoy, he crossed the border, went to Turin, then to Bologna, and finally settled in Verona (Monternot, 52, 169-170). He did not return to Lyons until around 1802, at the time of the concordat; he became a member of the council of Bishop de Mérinyule, the apostolic administrator, and was parish priest of the primatial church of Saint-Jean. In the beginning of October 1802, he was asked to come to Paris, to work with the Constitutional priest Renaud and several others at establishing the basis of an agreement (Latreille, Napoleon et le St- Siege, p. 97). In January 1803, when the new archbishop, Joseph Fesch, took possession of his see, he named Courbon second vicar general (OM, IV, p. 282). He became first vicar on 20th February 1805, after the departure of Jaufret, and retained

prefeng-letter.doc 77 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” that position until his death. He was the principal architect of the reorganization of the archdiocese, and drew up a famous catalogue of notes on its clergy. He sent priests around the parishes to recruit priestly vocations. Marcellin Champagnat owed his vocation to one of these recruiters (Life, pp. 8-9). “After the permanent exile of Cardinal Fesch in 1815, Fr. Courbon governed the archdiocese with the two other vicars general, although no one could prove he had been given the powers of an apostolic ad- ministrator. When Bishop De Pins was given those powers, by a brief of 22nd December 1823, he chose Courbon as his vicar general, and the latter’s nomination was confirmed by royal ordinance of 31st January 1824” (AAL, De Pins papers, S.J. file, vol. 61). But even before the new bishop took possession of his see, Courbon died at the chancery on 8th February 1824 (OM, IV, pp. 252-253). Bro. Avit may possibly be speaking of one of his brothers when he remarks in the annals of St-Julien-Molhesabate: “The Courbon family was one of the best in the country at the time of which we are going to speak. Its head, an excellent Christian, did the singing at Mass every day. Even though he had a number of children, this good man wanted to do something else which would be pleasing to God and useful to his compatriots, by founding a religious school here” (AFM, 213.85, p. 14). (Cf. L. 168). (REFERENCES, pp. 135-136).

COURVEILLE, JEAN-CLAUDE: (1787-1866), promoter of the projected Society of Mary and Benedictine monk. Born 15th March 1787 in Usson-en-Forez (Loire), to Claude Courveille and Marguerite Beynieux. During the Revolution, his parents hid the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Chambriac in their home, and he used to pray before it. At the age of ten, he contracted smallpox, which affected the corneas of both eyes and made it impossible for him to study normally. He lost his father at the age of eighteen, on 26th April 1805. In 1809, he was cured of his blindness in the cathedral of Le Puy, and the following year he decided to consecrate himself to Mary’s service. He apparently tried the minor seminary of Verrières during the 1810-11 school year, then probably continued his studies at the home of his uncle, Fr. Mathieu Beynieux, parish priest of . On 15th August 1812, again in the cathedral of Le Puy, he acquired a deep certitude that the Blessed Virgin wanted a society bearing her name; this “revelation of Le Puy” was to be the starting point of the history of the Society of Mary. At All Saints, 1812, he began his philosophy at the major seminary of Le Puy; the next year, he began his theology there, but in the spring of 1814, when he requested dimissorial letters for tonsure, he was reclaimed by the archdiocese of Lyons, to which the parish of his birth had belonged since the concordat. He entered St-Irénée at All Saints, 1814, did his second and third year of theology there, received tonsure and minor orders on 6th April 1816, subdiaconate the next day, diaconate on 21st July, and the priesthood on the 22nd. During the 18 14-15 academic year, he twice shared his idea for the Society with Etienne Déclas, and won him over. The following year, others were persuaded to join them. Courveille maintained their fervor through frequent meetings, mingling the idea of the society with a certain number of mysterious assertions which did not necessarily have anything to do with the revelation at Le Puy. Before the end of the 18 15-16 academic year, he had them sign a written commitment, and on 23rd July, during his first Mass at Fourvière, he gave communion to his companions. Appointed curate in Verrières in the fall of 1816, he brought his mother there, but she died shortly after. It seems he was already making plans for a Marist Third Order. Fr. Bochard gave up on trying to win him over to his own project, and he was

prefeng-letter.doc 78 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” transferred on 20th August 1817 to Rive-de-Gier, a previous assignment to Bourg- Argental never took effect. Courveille remained in Rive-de-Gier for two years, and immediately became involved in the different branches of the Marist project, staying in touch with the Colin brothers in Cerdon, becoming co-purchaser with Fr. Champagnat of the brothers’ first house in La Valla, and persuading a number of lay teachers who had been gathered together by Fr. Lancelot, the parish priest of Rive-de-Gier, to become Marist Sisters. Another group of lay teachers in Saint-Clair likewise attached themselves to him. On 1st October 1819, he was assigned to Epercieux, near , where he remained for nearly five years. He continued to direct his religious from there, even sending Marie Jotillon from Cerdon to Saint-Clair to get the school out of difficulty, establishing two brothers in Epercieux and opening with them a school in Feurs. He told the clergy of the area that he was the superior general of the so-called Brothers of La Valla, with deputies in Cerdon, in Dauphiny, and in other places. Just what role he actually played in the development of the Society is not well known and is much controverted, especially in relation to the letters to Rome; but it is certain that at least the letter of 25th January 1822 was signed by him and the two Colins. The papal reply was consequently addressed to him; he kept it and made copies of it, until the Colins took it away from him because of the imprudent way he was using it. After Bishop de Pins arrived in Lyons, he was authorized on 12th May 1824 to join Fr. Champagnat, at the latter’s request, to help him with the foundation of the brothers. The next day, the two of them became co-owners of the property on which the Hermitage was to be built. From then on, he called himself the superior general of the brothers, gave them a rule, drew up a printed prospectus, and began negotiations for the opening of a school in Charlieu. However, the chancery, which always considered Fr. Champagnat as the “main founder” of the brothers, tried to restrain Courveille’s enthusiasm. During the summer of 1825, he tried in vain to get the brothers to elect him officially as their superior, but once Fr. Champagnat fell ill at Christmas 1825, he took over the direction of the house. When Champagnat recovered, Courveille provoked a canonical visitation by Fr. Cattet, but shortly afterwards, sometime between 18th and 24th May 1826, after an episode of immorality, he had to make a retreat at the Trappist abbey of Aiguebelle. While there, he tried to get himself recalled to the Hermitage with the title of superior. When that attempt failed, and since the chancery now considered him persona non grata, he had to leave the archdiocese of Lyons, although he first spent some time in Condrieu. He did not succeed in gaining acceptance in Belley, but after receiving a celebret from Bishop Bigex in Chambéry, he settled in the diocese of Grenoble. He stayed for a while in Saint- Clair, traveling from there to Chavanay to meet Fr. Champagnat and settle financial matters with him. Then he settled in the abbey of Saint-Antoine, one part of which was bought the following year by his Sisters, who remained there until their dispersion in 1903. Courveille had less success with his attempt to found a group of brothers in the same abbey. A few brothers from the Hermitage joined him there, but they did not stay, and an attempt at opening a novitiate or normal school financed by the department fell through after two years. Since he could not meet his commitments, Courveille withdrew; after a long period of wandering around France, he settled in Apinac, where he owned property and where the chancery tolerated him as a priest who often helped out in the area. After another and more serious episode of immorality, he had to leave the area in a hurry, and went to the diocese of Bourges, where he had already been accepted in principle in 1829, and where he was named chaplain of the hospital in Châteauroux; In

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September 1835, another scandal forced him to leave, with official permission, and move to the diocese of Rheims, where he served as parish priest of Witry-lès-Reims until April 1836. There were further incidents like the preceding ones, and he may have had to appear in court over them. On 9th July 1836, Bishop Bouvier of Mans gave him a celebret and a letter of recommendation for Solesmes, where as early as 27th August 1836, he received the Benedictine habit. He made profession on 21st March 1838 and remained at Solesmes until his death, performing various ministries, including that of itinerant preacher between 1847 and 1852 (cf. OM, H, pp. 954-955). Within the Society of Mary, Fr. Colin said nothing about him, and his former companions believed he had died or disappeared; but in 1846, a parish missionary, almost certainly Fr. Touche, told Fr. Mayet that Courveille was still alive, and where he was living. In July 1851, and February and May 1852, Fr. Mayet obtained information from him about the origins of the Society of Mary (OM, II, pp. 557-558); he wrote to him again in 1860, to ask him to clarify a certain point. Courveille died at Solesmes on 25th September 1866. (OM, IV, pp. 253-256; cf. also Bro. Louis-Laurent [Pierre Zind, Bulletin de 1’lnstitut, n° 161, Jan. 1956, PP. 89-99; n° 162, Apr. 1956, pp. 161-171;n° 163,Jul. l950,pp. 215-230.) (Cf. LL. 2, 4, 7, 30). (REFERENCES, pp. 136-139).

CROZIER, JEAN-BAPTISTE: (1800-1878), parish priest of Coutouvre, Rhône, in the archdiocese of Lyons, born 20th April 1800 in St-Martin-en-Haut, Loire, was ordained 24th July 1825. On 23rd July 1825 he was named curate in St-Germain-Laval, and on 1st November 1829 he succeeded Fr. Joseph Barou as parish priest of . From there he was transferred on 24th February 1837 to Coutouvre (Perreux) to replace Fr. Jacques Gabriel Giroud, who had died. On 15th November 1849 he was named parish priest of St-Christo-en-Jarrez. He retired in 1860 and died eighteen years later, on 20th December 1878. Shortly after his appointment to Coutouvre, he had asked Fr. Champagnat for brothers for his parish. The latter replied on 30th July 1837, telling him that he could not meet his request that year, since all available subjects had already been assigned, but that he might hope to have brothers in the foreseeable future (L. 123). (REFERENCES, p. 139).

CUSSIER, JEAN-PIERRE: (1782-1847), parish priest of Viriville, Isère, in the diocese of Grenoble. The diocesan archives mention only his birth in 1782 and his years in Viriville, from 1829 until his death in 1847. Bro. Avit gives the following information about him: “Fr. Cussier was parish priest at the time; a holy priest, very zealous, extremely simple in his way of acting. Sometimes his zeal led him to deliver inordinately long sermons” (AFA, 2 14.106.6). In 1832, he and the mayor decided to ask for brothers. Fr. Cussier probably met Fr. Champagnat on one of the latter’s visits to La Côte-Saint-André, which had just been founded. On 14th March 1834, Fr. Champagnat wrote him a warning letter, telling him that if the brothers’ financial situation and living conditions did riot improve, he would order them to leave at the time of the next visit, which would be made around the feast of St. John the Baptist (L. 39). In 1838, Bro. Avit tells us, Fr. Champagnat decided to withdraw the brothers, in the face of such minimal financing, and so informed Fr. Cussier. The letter he wrote on 26th October 1838 may well be in relation to the Founder’s warning. Since he had not seen the brothers returning: he wondered if they were really being withdrawn for good. Fr. Cussier pleaded his case as best he could, but with a great deal of humility, as one can see from his text: “Father

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Superior, our brothers have not arrived; I am worried; are you really going to withdraw them? That would really be unfortunate for me and for my parish. I know you have not been pleased with us since you gave them to us, and especially this year but we will make up the deficit. I will take care of it and the salary will not be delayed any longer: ‘patientiam habe in me et omnia reddam tibi’. “I will tell you that I owe 150 fr. to Mr. Menuel, who asks me for them almost every week: so I will have to pay him that amount, which I borrowed two years ago to make up the brothers’ salary. So please have pity on my present situation; things won’t always be this bad. If we no longer have brothers, the wicked will laugh and will triumph. The money I spent and the other sacrifices I made will have been wasted. If they give us one of those teachers whom I will refrain from describing, what will become of the poor young people of Viriville? The very thought already gives me the shivers. Please, preserve us from that calamity. How sorry you will be, Father, you who work only for the good of religion, when you learn of our sad fate! “I hope that the Grégoire boy will become a good subject (Pierre Grégoire, who entered the Hermitage on 28th September 1838 (RE. 1, p. 92) and received the habit on 8th December, under the name of Bro. Bérille (RV, 1, p. 101; AA, p. 268). Since his name does not appear in the vow register, he presumably left during his novitiate. Two other young men from Viriville had preceded him that year: Bros. Bajule (Jean- Baptiste Favier) and Barsanuphe (Joseph Perenon); he comes from a very solid family, which is so important! They will certainly be able to pay for his novitiate. In hopes that my fears will be dispelled, I remain, with respect...” (AFM 129.56). Once again, Fr. Cussier won his case. (REFERENCES, pp. 139-140).

CUZIN, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see Cyprien, BROTHER.

CUZIN, MARIE-MARTHE: (1789-1875), born in 1789 in La Côte-SajntAndre, Lsère, to Paul Benoît Cuzin and Rose Viricendon, died 8th January 1875 at the old-age home in La Côte at the age of 86. Her death certificate, which we have just quoted, describes her as “unmarried”. It was believed she was a former religious driven from her convent by the Revolution; some people even called her “Sister Marthe”. But none of that is true, because the death certificate would have mentioned it, as was habitually done in similar cases. She went to work for Fr. Douillet as his housekeeper. The abnegation required of such persons, together with a certain degree of piety, often earned them the nickname “Sister”. On the other hand, it was not unusual for them to have a certain influence over the apostolate of the priest whom they served. This was the case with Miss Cuzin. In the annals of La Côte-Saint-André, Bro. Avit tells us that Fr. Douillet “had established, in 1820, a sort of boarding house where certain students from the seminary were lodged and fed for 168 Er. a year. They were under the supervision of a maiden lady named Marthe Cuzin. ..whom Fr. Douillet had hired” (AFM, 214.43, p. 8). When the brothers arrived in La Côte in 1831. they found her in the house. Her doings disrupted community life; one could go so far as to say that she took certain initiatives which exceeded her authority. In October 1836, Fr. Champagnat wrote to Fr. Douillet to spell out certain things, including Miss Marthe’s place: “Sister is to have no right of supervision over the brothers, nor over their food. She is not to enter the house at all. The little shop will continue to be, as from the beginning, in the hands of the brothers. In his letter of 11th March to Fr. Mollin, parish priest of La Côte, the Founder mentioned her again: “AS for my arrangement with Fr. Douillet, we agreed to await the bishop’s visit to La Côte-Saint-

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André, and to leave everything on the same footing, provided, however, that Sister Marthe be removed from the scene” (L. 101). When Fr. Douillet suggested an arrangement, he did not forget his housekeeper. We read in paragraph 7: “In any case, Marthe Cuzin will continue, until the end of the lease, to enjoy the use of the kitchen and her room in the Bon house. Moreover, if she remains at the service of the house, she is to receive the sum of 100 francs as salary. If on the contrary, she withdraws, she will receive 200 francs annually, payable in equal amounts every three months” (L 213). After having recopied Fr. Douillet’s propositions, the Founder informed the bishop that the school in La Côte could not continue under those conditions. An understanding was eventually reached, but Bro. Avit tells us later that “since Fr. Douillet continued to control the finances, and wanted to reinstall Sister Marthe in the kitchen, there was discord once again. Fr. Champagnat threatened to withdraw the brothers and Fr. Douillet wanted to hire lay teachers” (AFA, 2 14.43.17). We will conclude with this bizarre incident reported by Bro. Avit: Bro. Castule (Buttin) did the housework for the brothers at La Côte, and he gave free rein to his sense of fun. One day, he took a very long cord, and tied one of Sister Marthe’s arms to the neck of a cow, and the other to the neck of a goat. Then he goaded on the two animals and burst out laughing at Sister Marthe’s screams (AA, p. 276). (REFERENCES, pp. 140-141).

CYPRIEN, BROTHER: Jean-Baptiste Cuzin, born 1814 in Belmont, in the district of Grand-Lemps, Isère, to Jean-Baptiste Cuzin and Anne Servet. He was admitted to the Hermitage on 16th September 1833, and received the religious habit there the following 8th December. There is no mention of him in the register of temporary professions, but we find his perpetual profession listed under date of 9th October 1837. We may presume he remained at the Hermitage to study after his novitiate. On 13th June 1835, he was sent to St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to avoid military service and to prepare for his teaching certificate. But on 10th October 1836, he went to Bourg-Argental to teach (cf. AFM 22 1.155), as Bro. Avit also states in his annals of that establishment (AFM 213.85, p. 6). He did not stay there very long, because on 23 February 1837, Fr. Champagnat wrote to Fr. Mazelier to announce his return, saying that “he has recovered his health, taken care of family matters, so he will not have to leave until he has obtained the document he wants” (L. 95-B). But two months later, on 24th April, he added a P.S.: “Perhaps Bro. Cyprien could return here; we could really use him” (L. 106). For lack of further details, it is hard to understand the implication of that remark, especially since Fr. Mazelier seems to have taken no note of it, in view of the fact that Bro. Cyprien obtained his certificate that year. Immediately after his return to the Hermitage, he was sent to teach in Semur, where he became director after the departure of Bro. de Ia Croix (cf. LL. 179, 198). Bro. Avit says he went there around the beginning of 1840 (212.48, p. 8). but he is obviously wrong because both the Founder’s letters and the account books confirm his presence in Semur in 1838. The 1839 assignments also list him in Semur, where he stayed until the 1842 vacation. From then on, his field of apostolate was to be the north of France. He started out as director of the school in Beaucamps. Thanks to his considerable correspondence with his superiors — he wrote at least 23 letters between 1843 and 1847 — we can follow him step by step. His request to be recognized as town teacher and to be allowed to receive boarders went unanswered for two years. That was also the time it took to establish a novitiate in the area. The latter opened finally in 1845, in Beaucamps, under the direction of Bro. Cyprien himself. But on 13th February 1844

prefeng-letter.doc 82 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” he had already confided to Bro. François, “For nearly two months now I have been suffering interior and exterior pains. I find myself quite upset in my present situation. I find that the children are making very little progress. I am disgusted, sad and anxious. I think the children are feeling the effects of my illness. The school has a good reputation, but I don’t think that will last long; another brother should be the head of this house. “I will soon have to do some art work; if I work at it even a little bit, I become ill. How many things run through my poor head! I am not capable of directing an establishment; I lack everything that is needed for that job: piety, education and courage. I really need to be directed by others, and to be someone’s assistant. “In one word, things are not going well. Some days feel as long as years. I am afraid to do anything, or as they often say, to lose my head. I was so happy in the beginning, as I wrote to Bro. Jean-Baptiste; I thought the children were making a great deal of progress. In my affliction, I often tell God, ‘May your will be done’. I often ask myself, ‘What good does it do to worry so much?’ I cannot begin to describe to you how much I am suffering...” On 5th May, among other things, he wrote about himself: “My left eye hurts since 5th March. It is red, and even though it often gets better. the pain always comes back. At the same time, I often have headaches. Since then, I have abandoned the books, so to speak, and my teaching is suffering a bit because of that. As for the troubles about which I already told you, they have diminished a bit. Thank you very much for the advice you gave me and for your goodness in being with me to console me....” On 16th December of that same year, 1844, he inserts this sentence in his letter: “Since the beginning of the school year, I have experienced great afflictions, just as last year; it seems to me that things are not going well, that I am not fit to be director, and that Bro. Pascal would do better than I”. Bro. Jean-Baptiste, his habitual confidant, was able to direct him effectively because he always obeyed. Bro. Cyprien acknowledged that fact with unfeigned joy, as for example in his letter of 16th February 1845: “Thank you very much for the very consoling advice you were good enough to give me when you wrote. How gentle and strengthening those words were for me! Heaven, dear brother, yes, heaven and nothing less; often, when I am in difficulty, I re-read your letter and it gives me great consolation. My sufferings are somewhat alleviated”. However, his letter to Bro. François on 7th May 1845 contains the same complaint: “I find the burden of directorship very heavy. I often experience great suffering. What consoles me a bit is the thought that the saints walked the same path”. But around that same time, according to his letters from Carvin, Bro. Cyprien found himself involved in a ploy in which the stakes were nothing less than his replacing Bro. Théodose, the director of that establishment. The latter definitely seemed to be no longer able, despite his good will, to direct his school effectively. But Bro. Cvprien’s attitude, as he maneuvered to take his place, was no less blameworthy for all that. At least that is what emerges from some of the letters of Bro. Théodose, who of course is careful to give his own view of things, which is perhaps not lacking in subjectivity. On 12th September 1844, he wrote: “Bro. Cyprien, who was in contact from Beaucamps with the mayor, who urged on by my enemies, expects me to be changed without fail at Easter, as you gave him reason Lo hope, is entirely acceptable to those gentlemen, and he has every possibility of succeeding in Carvin. Consequently, with the general consent of both the civil and ecclesiastical authorities and a good number of brothers, he is going to become director in Carvin. The dean of the local clergy has drawn up a request for him. These changes, about which I said nothing,...will be arranged as follows: Bro. Cyprien will come to Carvin as director with Bro. Pascal, and I will go to take his place in

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Beaucamps with Bro. Martin”. On 7th November, he wrote to complain about two members of his community, Bros. Odilon and Nizier, who were trying to get him to leave: “During the vacation, I was surprised to see in what high repute Bio. Odilon and Bro. Nizier are held by Bro. Andronic, and even more so by Bro. Cyprien and Bro. Abrosime.... These brothers, and especially Bro. Cyprien, went several times, without my being aware of it, to see the mayor and the dean of Carvin, and I was certainly not spared during those visits, so that my transfer was known even before I spoke to Bro. Jean-Baptiste about it. To them, it was so definite that they were just waiting for me to receive my obedience and pack my bags It is hard to say just how much these reports are exaggerated. it is a fact that Bro. Cyprien wanted a change of assignment; it is also a fact that the superiors did not grant his request, and that it was not Bro. Théodose who was put in charge of the projected novitiate. The latter opened in Beaucamps in October 1845, very quietly and in very modest circumstances. We will let Bro. Cyprien tell us how that foundation was made. On 25th October, he wrote to Bro. Jean-Baptiste: “Pierre François Crespel (the novice still at the secondary school in Tourcoing) has been with us since 18th October. I think this young man will be of great service to the House. The one from Vendegies will arrive soon. A third, twenty-one years of age (he went through the draft lottery this year), a native of Tourcoing, arrived on 22nd October to swell the number. He seems to be a young man capable of becoming a Brother of Mary; I even think he is better than the other two. He can give only two hundred and fifty francs for his clothing and a hundred francs for the rest; may we accept him? I have received five hundred francs for the furnishings of the fifth brother, and two hundred francs for the novices’ bedding”. Since Bro. Jean-Baptiste’s reply was long in coming, he wrote to Bro. François on 3rd December: “Bro. Jean-Baptiste told me to write to him every time a young man asked to become a Brother of Mary but was unable to pay for his novitiate in whole or in part. I wrote to him about a twenty-year-old young man from Tourcoing, who has three hundred fifty francs including his wardrobe. He has been waiting a long time for an answer, but it never comes. I wrote him a second time about another matter, but still no reply. We think the delay is due to the brothers who are coming to Quenoy; no brothers come, and therefore no letter. “I would appreciate it, brother, if you think it proper, that you be good enough to tell us what to do when novices come like those Bro. Andronic wrote to us about. Here is what he said: ‘Let me tell you about the two young men who want to enlist under Mary’s banner, but who are poor: one of them can give barely 150 francs and a small wardrobe.... That young man is seventeen, can read and write, and has a letter of recommendation from his parish priest. I should also tell you that he is a bit heavy, but he will lose enough weight. The other is fifteen, according to what I have been told by a parish priest who is requesting his admission to our society; he has many good dispositions for religious life: intelligence, piety, etc., but all he has is his clothing. How sad! Please answer me immediately about these two cases....’ “So, you see, brother, if another young man like these two appears tomorrow, I wifi have to write again tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. So I ask you to be so good as to tell me what to do; I am ready to obey. We are very satisfied with the novice who has been with us for two months. He has asked to receive the holy habit; he is twenty-five years old. On the eighth of this month we are supposed to receive a young man of twenty-four, who can pay for his entire novitiate, seems fairly pious and well-educated....” Bro. François certainly must have answered quickly, but we have been unable to find any trace of that reply. With regard to these various letters, it is worth pointing out two details

prefeng-letter.doc 84 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” which may shed some light on further developments. The first is Bro. Cyprien’s habit of putting a paragraph about himself at the end of his letters, but always in the third person. For example, on 14th November 1845, he writes: “When Bro. Cyprien examines his conscience with regard to his responsibilities, he can still often say ‘mea culpa’. Bro. Cyprien, you need piety, regularity, zeal, and a more cheerful face when you speak to your confreres and students and correct them”. Then he adds, changing his handwriting, “I remain, with profound respect, Reverend Brother Jean-Baptiste...”. He does the same thing at the end of his letter to Bro. François the following 3rd December and on the 24th, writing to Bro. Jean-Baptiste, he says, “Bro. Cyprien often thinks he is just a phantom director, he is often prey to sad thoughts; in any case, may God’s will be done”. On 3rd March 1846, he says pretty much the same thing in the same words; on 6th June, he changes it a bit: “The spiritual and temporal conduct of Bro. Cyprien is not improving; perhaps it is just the opposite. That is why I strongly recommend myself to your fervent prayers”. Finally, towards the end of 1846, he becomes more poetic and employs this comparison: “Bro. Cyprien is still very much as he was in the past, sometimes joyful, sometimes sad. He often builds a paper castle, and when the building is finished, the rain falls heavily on his fragile construction which quickly collapses. Of course you know his story The second point is the way he insists on mentioning, in many of his letters, the trips he has to make, and on giving reasons why he has to travel alone: “I went to Lille twice by myself, for a young boarder, and once to our baker, (and I think another time, too, to visit the countess). I was alone because no one could go with me because of school, and I did not want to postpone the trips and visits. “Reverend Brother, do not think that my predominant passion is traveling, especially traveling alone, because I think it is very unfortunate that one is occasionally obliged to make contact with people in the world. It seems to me that I would be much happier if I could live like the Trappists; I also think that I do my best to keep our holy rule, and especially the holy advice you are kind enough to give me” (28th October 1845). We have only one further letter from him, dated November 1847. In the interval, his health, especially his mental health, must have failed dangerously, so much so that around October the situation became dramatic. On 8th September, the Countess de la Grandville wrote to Bro. François: “It pains me very much to have to write to you again, as I have done before, about the director, Bro. Cyprien. This time I will not go into details. I have just returned from a long, interesting, but sad trip. I am very much behind in my work, and I have time only to beg you to recall Bro. Cyprien as soon as possible; hasten his recall so as to avoid the sensation and scandal which his hurt pride could create here. Suffice it to tell you that this brother, who seemed to have regained his religious spirit and his spirit of humility and obedience in the wake of your letter, and who seemed to have strengthened his virtue during the blessed retreat before the Assumption, that this poor brother has resumed his agitated and irregular life, going out half the time to buy useless things which accumulate in the house, neglecting his duties as superior, annoying Fr. Mainil with his unreasonable and abusive demands... Bro. Cyprien is really mentally ill; that is the only thing which could explain and excuse his behavior.... Poor brother! May God have pity on him!” On 9th November, Bro. Cyprien himself wrote this brief letter to Bro. François: “The new director of our house arrived in good health. You may count on my prudence, especially with the help of the grace of the Great Master as far as my departure is concerned. As for the neighboring establishments, I will say goodbye to them in my heart, not otherwise. When I arrive at the Hermitage, you may do with me

prefeng-letter.doc 85 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” what you wish; as long as it is reasonable, that is enough for Bro. Cyprien; God will do the rest. I love Beaucamps and I hope to leave here without shedding a single tear. Finally, may God’s holy will be done, not mine, even though it seemed that I wanted to do what you understand very well, besides you will be told everything. You would make me very happy by having prayers said for me that I may reach port in good dispositions Bro. Sulpice, the new director who went to replace Bro. Cyprien, clarified the situation when he wrote to Bro. François on 14th November “At this moment, I could not possibly describe the apprehension and anxiety I am feeling. How can I tell you that at 7 a.m. tomorrow, a coach will come to take Bro. Cyprien to Lille, and from there either to the Brothers (of St. John of God) at l’Homme, or to the Hermitage, whichever the royal prosecutor decides.... Bro. Cyprien is totally lost. Everyone says he is going to lead us a merry chase, and in fact, he has 1000 francs on deposit in a bank in Lille since 2nd November. We have no idea if he has any more elsewhere. All I can tell you is that he has lost his mind. He has just admitted to me the 1000 francs I just mentioned The next day, after coming back from accompanying Bro. Cyprien to Lille, he finished his letter: “I am happy, very happy, to be able to tell you that everything went better today than I had expected. A kind gentleman in Lille took care of everything, and made Bro. Cyprien admit the 1000 Francs I told you about. We decided therefore to let him leave by himself.... They spoke to the royal prosecutor about it, but that was all done in secret. Ultimately, I can tell you that he is to leave from Lille tomorrow morning to go to the Hermitage.... The excuse he gave me was that he did it because you lacked confidence in him, and then because I did not act with sufficient prudence.... I left him in Lille in a room he had rented, where we have two mattresses, three straw mattresses, a table, etc., etc....” One final letter, from Fr. Mainil to Bro. Jean-Baptiste on 5th April 1848, gives us a bit more information: “I will not go into detail about poor Bro. Cyprien, a very regrettable affair. I always blamed his head more than his heart. The patience I used with him is beyond description. I always hoped he would accept the evidence of his reason, but far from it; he had entirely lost the use of his reason. I am being more than moderate in expressing myself like that. I will even say that I was very wrong not to have warned you sooner. And I will also add that there was danger in delay, and that if we had waited just two more days before taking the steps we did, we would have had many other problems to clear up.... “Personally, I pardoned the poor brother from the bottom of my heart and embraced him with all my heart. I was happy to learn that he had regained a healthier attitude. His stay in Paris must have calmed him down and done him good. In all justice, dear brother, I entreat you to judge gently and in favor of the brothers who were with him at the last moment....” We know nothing more about Bro. Cyprien, nor do we know the exact meaning of Fr. Mainil’s last sentence. Presumably, Bro. Cyprien stopped in Paris on his way to the Hermitage, and his illness went into some sort of remission. We do not know if he ultimately died in Paris, but in any event, there is no mention of his death in any of our registers, which leads us to think he did not die at the Hermitage, and that perhaps he never reached there. Bro. Avit simply states, “A novi- tiate was opened in the North in 1845; he was its first director; he went out of his mind and later returned to his family...” (Annales de Semur, 212.48). We find that remark a bit curt, even a bit flippant; a case like this seems to deserve a bit more compassion. (REFERENCES, pp. 141-147).

DARNOND, ANDRÉ: (1791-1873), parish priest of Saint-Pierre-de-Boeuf, Loire, in the

prefeng-letter.doc 86 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” archdiocese of Lyons, born 8th October 1791 in Véranne, Loire. He was ordained in Lyons on 27th July 1817. The personnel register does not list the parishes where he served as curate during the first three years of his ministry. On 11th November 1820, he was named curate in Saint-Julien-Molin-Molette, and on 6th September 1823, parish priest of , in the district of Bourg-Argental, where he stayed only a year. Contrary to custom, he became a curate again: the personnel register specifies that on 6th February 1828, he was transferred from curate in Chavanay, Loire, to parish priest of Bouthéon, replacing Andre Ronchon who had just retired. He did not stay there long either, since on 1st January 1829 he was named parish priest of Saint-Pierre-de-Boeuf, replacing Matthieu Coignet who had been transferred to a parish in Lyons. But that was to be his last move. Bro. Avit speaks of him at length in the annals of that school, and reveals several of his personality traits. “He had decided to entrust the school to our brothers, and had been asking for them for several years. He returned to the attack on 30th November 1841, in these terms: ‘Mr. Director, I have been making my request for six years now, and I am beginning to lose heart. With your evasive answers, there is no way we can succeed in getting brothers. Our benefactors want some positive action. Without letting on that I asked you, please send me a letter which can serve as a contract for you and for us. if you wish, you can say that the house you saw is not suitable; that you will draw up the dimensions and layout of the kind of house you need, that there must be privies next to the house, an open space or yard, and a small garden. in addition, 1000 francs salary for two brothers, 800 francs, etc.... But add: Under these conditions, you can count on having two good brothers next All Saints: 1842. Then we will no longer be drinking cloudy water; we will have something we can depend on, and we will act accordingly.’ “He won the match, the brothers were sent, no doubt for the suggested date, but for all that, harmony did not reign between the brothers and the parish priest. The brothers, overworked and underpaid, threatened the following year to leave the school. Fr. Darnond wrote on 8th April 1843: ‘if you had wanted to act, your Council and the benefactors of our school, you should have informed them of the change taking place right now. If you had told them the reasons, and for how long..., they could have calmed the emotions of our people and shut the mouths of evil-minded people. That is how our bishop acts when he transfers our curates. For the rest, I presume that this absence of our brother, which is very awkward since we will be having first communion within three weeks, will be only a brief one, and that you are going to send him back to us very quickly. The success of the school, the good behavior of the children, the prayers of our parishioners, I would even say the miracles that have been worked, all make it your duty to do so.’ “The brother director did return, but at vacation time the superiors very clearly expressed their hesitation. The parish priest answered as follows on 25th September: ‘Our lay teacher is staying; therefore the brothers will not be named town teachers. As for their benefactors, they can do nothing more than what they are already doing. Let me know quickly if, under these conditions, clearly stipulated, clearly accepted by you, you would not be willing to send back the brothers. Otherwise, I will not only withdraw my donations, but I will resign from my parish. This is no way to make a fool of someone. ‘I would be amazed to see you pull back because you succeeded too well. I admit that the young brother may be tired, since it was he, so to speak, who carried the entire heat of the battle; but to say that the brother director wore himself out in Boeuf with 20 to 25 children during three or four months, no matter how zealous he was, I simply cannot...; but to tell you that two robust and courageous

prefeng-letter.doc 87 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” brothers, well fed, cannot direct a hundred well-divided children, the average number they have this year and may have, without ruining themselves, I simply cannot.... ‘Besides, you have all the means of organization in your own hands. Can’t you charge each child 2 fr. for the heating they can spare the money. Can’t you have an adult class? They will come in great numbers from all over, and you will soon have more than enough for a third brother. That’s what I would have done if I were in charge of the school. It’s up to you. I will expect your reply, yes or no, by return mail’. “Obviously, Fr. Darnond was not in the least embarrassed. Advice cost him nothing, but his purse- strings were as tight as his style” (AFM 213.68, p. 6). Almost ten years later, Bro. Avit adds this personal note: “The parish priest, who does not understand why our Institute, if it wants to do good, does not open adult classes everywhere, and who has been pushed to the wall by me, told me: ‘Even if the vast majority of your subjects ruined their health that way, that shouldn’t prevent you from doing it, since: 10 new ones come to you every day, 2° one shouldn’t look at things too closely when it comes to doing good; 3° parish priests have many other burdens. I was tempted to nail him on that third point, but I restrained myself. It’s a waste of time discussing things with men possessed of so little intelligence and so much selfishness” (idem). Everything must have been worked out somehow, because our annalist hardly mentions the parish priest again, except to note that, “Fr. Darnond died on 16th February 1873, and was succeeded by Fr. Melin, who had been his curate since 1862” (idem.). (Cf. L. 251). (REFERENCES, pp. 147-149).

DE BASTARD D’ESTANG, DOMINIQUE FRANÇOIS MARIE, (VISCOUNT): (1783- 1844), president of the General Council of the Loire, president of the Court of Appeals, president of the Court of Lyons, president of the electoral college of the Loire, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor. Born 30th October 1783 in Nogaro, Gers, he began his education in Toulouse and came to Paris to finish his studies only in 1797. He followed courses at the University of Jurisprudence and obtained the degrees required for admission to the newly-reorganized magistracy. By a decree of 19th May 1808, he was called as a member of the Paris Court of Appeals in the capacity of judge auditor. On 10th December 1810, when that appeals court was reorganized into an imperial court, he was named one of its counselors, even though he had barely reached the legal age of twenty-seven. For three years, until the, fall of the Empire, he was outstanding for his grasp of legal matters. In 18 13-1814, he commanded one of the companies of the Seventh Legion. When Louis XVIII restored the monarchy, he continued to serve as counselor while presiding over the Court of Assizes of the Seine. On 29th July 1815, the king, having been informed of the honesty of his administration, notably his refusal to sign the law banishing the members of the royal family from France, named him president of the electoral college of the arrondissement of Lectoure, Gers. He had hardly been installed as president of the chamber in the Court of Paris when he was named first president of the Royal Court of Lyons on 25th October 1815. Before taking possession of that office, he swore an oath into the hands of the king. On 5th September 1816, he presided over the electoral college of the department of the Haute-Garonne. By royal ordinance of 5th March 1819, he was named a peer of France, and on 15th July 1820, a Knight of the Legion of Honor. On 23rd December 1824, one of his sons died at the age of sixteen. Twice, on 24th April 1828 and 12th January 1829, he was named to preside over the electoral council of the Loire, in which he exercised his own political rights. During the latter session, he gave a speech whose text was recorded

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(Diana-Brell, Document du Forez). From 1828 to 1841, he was a member of the general council of the Loire, over which he presided from 1831 to 1840. It was no doubt in that capacity, or through his friendship with the director of the St.Etienne School for Deaf- Mutes, that he became interested in the foundation of that institution, as Fr. Champagnat implies in his letter of 14th February 1840 (L. 321). He used the occasion also to interest the count in the matter of the legal authorization of the congregation, all the more so since the latter normally resided in Paris, at 13, rue des Saints-Pères, where he died, on 23 January 1844. Bibliography: “Vicomte De Bastard d’Estang, ancien Procureur général”, in Notice historique de François de Bastard d’Estang, Paris, Sélucides et Langrand, 1, rue d’Erfurt; Baucau, Agnès, researcher, Travaux de l’UER de Droit, vol. 3, p. 78, Paris 1979. (REFERENCES, pp. 149-150).

DE BAUDE, JEAN-JACQUES (BARON): Sub-prefect of Saint-Etienne, deputy for the Loire, state counselor, commissioner of police. He was born 19th February 1792 in Valence, Drôme. His father was attorney-general. On 8th April 1813, toward the end of the reign of Napoleon I, Jean-Jacques entered the administration as sub-prefect of Confolens. On 2nd November 1814, Roanne had the strange privilege of having the emperor give it a 22-year-old sub-prefect: Jean-Jacques de Baude. After the Hundred Days, Marshal Ney took refuge in Saint-Marc, in the vicinity of Roanne. It was there that Mr. De Baude and General Chabert, who were carrying a passport for the famous outcast, went to meet him. When Mr. de Baude greeted him with the customary title, ‘My Lord’, the marshal gently replied, “Drop the title; it hardly fits the present situation. Say ‘Marshal’ or ‘General’. And if you want to give me the title I was most proud of and which I think I most deserved, go higher in the scale and call me ‘Citizen” (V.A. Malte-Brun, La Loire, p. 46). As for Mr. De Baude, he maneuvered to obtain the position of sub-prefect of St-Etienne, which in fact he got, on 4th June 1815 (ADL, Pers. 328.91). Actually, according to the royal ordinance of 7th July 1815, he should have returned to Roanne, but the prefect of Nonneville suspended it and replaced him in Roanne with the Marquis de Tardy (ibid.). He suddenly abandoned his career and entered the School of Mines in St-Etienne. In his new position, he was able to organize anticlerical demonstrations, complete with non-conformist songs, against the parish missions, processions and erections of crosses. In 1820, De Baude was one of the buyers of the Roche-la-Moliere mines, and headed that company until 1827. It was he who had the channel of the Loire marked, from La Noierie, near Pertuiset, as far as Saint-Just, to make it safe for navigation and thus facilitate the shipping of the coal. Just as he had formerly been openly anti-clerical, he later fought the government of the Restoration, in a pamphlet entitled, “Le lundi gras et Ie mercredi des cendres”, which led to his condemnation by the court of Grenoble. He went under cover by moving to Paris, which was a more favorable setting in which to carry on his struggle. He wrote for the liberal papers, and as editor-in-chief of Le Temps, he signed the journalists’ protest against the “Ordinances” of Charles X. He appears to have been named prefect of La Manche, but he certainly hardly had time to exercise that function. On 29th July 1830, he became secretary of the city commission of Paris. The following 11th August, when the new Lafitte Cabinet took office, he was named secretary general of the Ministry of the Interior, and even replaced the minister for a few days, until Guizot assumed his position. His appointment as Director Genera! of Bridges, Roads and Mines, and also as Councilor of State for Ordinary Affairs, seems to date from this same period. On 28th October 1830, the

prefeng-letter.doc 89 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” electoral college of the Loire elected him as deputy to replace Viscount De Champagny. At the time of the cabinet shakeup on 2nd November, when Count de Montalivet replaced Guizot, De Baude became Secretary of State in the same Ministry of the Interior. On 26th December 1830, he replaced Freilhard at the prefecture of police, which he headed until 25th February 1831. As deputy, de Baude, after the affair at the archdiocesan chancery, thought 15th March 1831 an opportune moment to put before the Chamber a proposal concerning the fate of Charles X. It was adopted, but with amendments which so watered it down that he withdrew it. It was only after Benjamin Lassert re-introduced it that it was passed. The general elections of 5th July 1831 were bad news for De Baude in the first electoral college of the Loire, that of St-Etienne, but he was back in the Chamber on 1st March of the following year, this time as delegate of the college of Roanne, replacing Mr. Alcoch, who had resigned. During this period, he most often sided with the majority. His term as deputy was renewed on 20th June 1834, but he lost his position as councilor of state. Either because he felt more free, or per- haps out of a desire for revenge, he more often showed up in the ranks of the opposition in the Chamber during the next two years. He was renamed councilor of state on 4th November 1837, at the same time as his parliamentary term was renewed. On 24th August 1838, Fr. Champagnat happened to meet Mr. De Baude in the office of the prefect in Montbrison, and told him how concerned he was about the authorization of his congregation, and especially about the opinion of the general council, which the minister had requested. Mr. De Baude, who had no doubt come from Paris for that very meeting of the general council, which had just taken place, calmed the Founder and told him “he would now make it his business” (Cf. L. 227). The promise was certainly sincere, but produced little tangible result. It is true that the legislative elections of 1839 removed Mr. De Baude from Parliament. He returned on 9th July 1842, but he seems to have run out of steam and lost his taste for opposition; he allied himself fully with the policy of resistance to the “Reform”. He invariably voted with the cabinet in office. In 1842, Baron de Baude, Knight of the Legion of Honor, was elected general councilor of the Loire: retirement closed his parliamentary career on 1st August 1846. He died in 1862 at his Paris residence, 8, rue de 1’Université, leaving behind him many technical works for posterity. (Bibliography: Robert and Cougny, Dictionnaire des Parlementaires, 1889.) (REFERENCES, pp. 150-152).

DE BONALD, LOUIS JACQUES MAURICE: (1787-1870), bishop of Le Puy, cardinal archbishop of Lyons, born in Millau, Aveyron, on 30th October 1787. He was the youngest child of Vicount De Bonald, an illustrious Catholic philosopher. Maurice made his First Communion in Vigan in 1797, when the family returned from exile; the vicount enrolled his son in a school in La Croix-Rousse in Lyons, and then in Amiens, in one directed by the Fathers of the Faith. Having completed his studies, he entered Saint- Sulpice, which had just reopened under Fr. Emery. He received ton-sure from Bishop Jauffret of Metz, minor orders from Bishop André, former bishop of Quimper, the subdiaconate from Cardinal Fesch in 1810, the diaconate from Cardinal Maury, and the priesthood from Bishop Demandoix of Amiens in 1811. After his ordination, Fr. De Bonald was assigned to the corps of chaplains, and attached to the imperial chapel, where one of his companions was Fr. De Quelen. He was also chaplain of La Salpêtrière hospital, and one of the most zealous catechists at Saint-Sulpice and Saint- Thomas-d’Aquin. He nearly died from typhus, which he contracted while hearing the

prefeng-letter.doc 90 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” confession of a soldier in the military hospital. In 1816, he went to Rome as secretary to Bishop Cortois de Pressigny, former bishop of Saint-Malo, who was sent as ambassador to Pope Pius VU by the government of the Restoration. In 1817, Bishop De Latil of Chartres named him his vicar-general. It was during this period that he devoted several years to preaching; in 1822, he was named to preach the Lenten sermons in the cathedral of Chartres. The king named him to the diocese of La Puy by royal ordinance of 13th March 1823; he was consecrated on 27th April by Bishop De Latil in the Church of Saint-Sulpice. The general council of the Loire offered Bishop de Bonald, as a token of their respect and affection, the magmficent château of Monistrol (Monistrol-1’Evêque, Monistrol-sur-Loire), which had been built by his predecessors in the see. He declined the offer because of the expense involved in repairs and in completing the construction. One of his major preoccupations during his time in La Puy was the well-being of the patients in the city hospital. He went to the hospital chapel every Friday and Saturday to hear the confessions of the poor and the employees. In 1825, he asked diocesan missionaries to give a mission which became famous. He was also present in the cathe- dral of Rheims for the coronation of Charles X, whose chaplain he had been. In 1826, he wrote to the minister to announce his refusal to allow the four articles Qf 1682, the basic document of Gallicanism, asserting the rights of the Church in France vis-à-vis the Holy See, to be taught in his seminary. When the Jesuits were expelled, he offered them shelter in the country house which became the residence of Vals. On 13th May 1839, while Bishop de Bonald was in Rome on his ad limina visit, Cardinal Fesch died. de Bonald was destined to succeed him as archbishop of Lyons. His name was proposed by the government on 5th December 1839, and sanctioned by the pope on 27th April 1840. He had inspired such veneration in La Puy that mothers used to bring their sick children for him to bless; several cures were attributed to his blessing. Lass than eight months after his arrival in Lyons on 2nd July 1840, he was created a cardinal in the consistory of 1st March 1841, and assigned the titular church of the Holy Trinity on the Pincian Hill (at the head of the Spanish Steps). Not long after his installation, a terrible flood, which swept away several neighborhoods of Lyons and left many victims in its wake, gave him an opportunity to demonstrate the scope of his dedication and charity. His palace became a shelter for the homeless. The goodness of his heart, which was manifest during this catastrophe, produced his best works and his most touching pastoral letters. He often pleaded the cause of the unfortunate; in 1848, 1851, 1855, 1857, and 1865, he wrote letters on behalf of the unemployed workers; he took up collections for the flood-victims of the Loire; he spoke out on behalf of the Christians in Syria who were being massacred by the Muslims. And in discussions about freedom of education, his viewpoint and statements did not go unnoticed; his letter to the rector of the University of Lyons and his observations to the Minister of Public Instruction received honorable mention. Fr. Des Garets, a member of his cathedral chapter, was not disowned for writing the famous pamphlet, Monopole universitaire. Far more resounding were his statements against the Manuel du droit ecclesiastique français, by Dupin, in 1844, and his reply to the notification of the appeal by writ of error, brought by the Council of State, of which he was informed by Mr. Martin du Nord, Minister of Public Worship. However, works of apostolic zeal absorbed much more of Cardinal de Bonald’s time and energy than even the most necessary and legitimate controversies. It would be nearly impossible to list all the good works begun under his administration, and encouraged and supported by his words, his authority and his funds. He established the

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Perpetual Adoration Society; he organized the Peter’s Pence and the Association of St. Francis de Sales; he helped in the foundation of Calvary Hospital, which takes in incurables, to whose care many widows devote themselves; he was especially interested in establishing the Trappistines and the Soeurs de l’Adoration Réparatrice; he was behind the founding of the retirement home for sick priests in Vernaison, and the rebuilding of the major seminary (perhaps the most magnificent monument to his episcopate) near the old Roman baths, at the end of the hill of Saint-Just. His devotion to Mary led him to reestablish the Confraternity of Fourvière, the vow taken by the city aldermen, and the blessing of the city on the evening of 8th September. His administration, which was so involved in so many good deeds, and which regulated the religious movement with gentleness rather than firmness and daring, was deeply troubled by the reform of the liturgy. Pius LX had expressed his formal wish that it be undertaken, but the cardinal’s immediate entourage did not have the knack of preparing the people for it, and announced it in a roundabout way which turned necessary and reasonable changes into a poorly-timed and painful surprise. Theologians and journalists all over France got involved; what appeared in print about historical and canonical errors, devout nonsense and pretentious buffoonery, was unprecedented. Cardinal de Bonald’s rather sensitive and timid soul was badly shaken by it all; twenty years before, when he had installed the first organ and a faux-bourdon in his cathedral, and corrected a few antiphons and lessons in the Office, he had already noticed that his chapter and his clergy all too readily confused blind attachment to the past with healthy respect for tradition. In 1861, there was no question of stopping at platonic complaints; laypeople joined the clergy in demanding the retention of the rites then in force and the Montazet edition of the breviary: they circulated petitions, they took their complaints to the Vatican, and, I think, to the royal palace as well. The pope’s decision put an end to all the agitation; his brief of 17th March 1864 imposed the gradual introduction of the Roman breviary and missal in the archdiocese. The primatial see adopted them for public worship on 8th December 1869. The venerated cardinal then had only a few more weeks to live; his advanced age had gradually deprived him of the use of his legs, his eyesight and his hearing. He breathed his last on 25th January 1870, and as he had requested, he was buried in the Lady Chapel in the cathedral of Saint-Jean, under the very simple epitaph he had composed himself. (Adapted from L’épiscopat francais, pp. 314-315, 487.) (Cf. LL 192, 314, 319, 330). (REFERENCES, pp. 154-157).

DE BRUILLARD, PHILIBERT: (1765-1879), bishop of Grenoble Born in Dijon, 11th or 12th September 1765. He was presented to Louis XV at the age of seven, and was an honors student at the secondary school in Navarre. He entered Saint-Sulpice at sixteen, was ordained in 1789, and was immediately assigned to teach philosophy and then theology. Forcibly expelled from St-Sulpice in 1791, he stayed in Paris, secretly ministering to the faithful day and night, under various disguises During the Reign of Terror, he and six others were appointed to give absolution from a distance to the condemned persons being led to the scaffold; his day was Wednesday After freedom of religion was reestablished he was put in charge of the "catechism of perseverance" (religious education following solemn first communion). He was also St Madeleine Sophie Barat's first spiritual director. Having been named an honorary canoe of Notre- Dame in Pans, he preached several series of sermons there. He later became parish priest of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet (1810) and then of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont (1821)

prefeng-letter.doc 92 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” where he had made his first communion. Named bishop of Grenoble on 28th December 1825, he received from the chapter the powers of a capitular vicar on 19th January 1826; he was formally approved on 3rd July and ordained on 6th August in Saint- Etienne-du-Mont by Bishop Frayssinous, his fellow-student at Saint-Sulpice He took possession of his see by proxy on 18th August and made his solemn entrance on the 25th In one of his first ordinances, in 1826, Bishop de Bruillard stressed a number of points of ecclesiastical discipline, for which he was vex zealous. He convoked two synods, in 1828 and 1851, whose statutes he had published, and also had himself represented at the Provincial Council of Lyons in 1850 He bought the Rondeau estate, to which he transferred the minor seminary of Grenoble between 1828 and 1832 In 1829, there were 175 theology students in the major seminary. Bishop De Bruillard opened a retirement home for his aged and infirm priests Besides his two-volume catechism (1836 and 1837), he had new editions of various liturgical books published the Bréviaire néo-viennais (1830, 1835, 1839) and Missel (1840), the Cantus paroissial (1845-1851), the Cérémonial diocésain complet ( 1835), an abridged version of same for small parishes (1853), a Manuel des Ecclésiastiques pour la liturgie (1841), and a two- volume hymnal. During his episcopate, 107 new parishes and 34 vicariates were established. (The government paid salaries for only a certain number of parish priests; any beyond that number received only a curate's or "vicar's" salary). Bishop De Bruillard set up a diocesan archeological commission for religious monuments (1842) and had each parish record its history and archeology and its memoirs of the Revolution. With his encouragement, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul was founded in Grenoble in 1840 by Pierre Olivaint, the future martyr, who was at that time a teacher in the secondary school. He began May devotions at the cathedral) in 1835, and a Confraternity of the Perpetual Sacrifice in 1852. He established throughout the diocese an association of separation for blasphemies and the profanation of Sundays and holidays (1847). He welcomed into the diocese the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, at Notre-Dame-de-l'Osier (1837), the Capuchins (1838), the Jesuits, in Grenoble (1840), the Dominicans, in Chalais (1844), the Little Brothers of Mary (1831), the Sisters of the Holy Rosary, founded in Le Pont-de-Beauvoisin (1830), the Sisters of Notre-Dame de la Croix, founded in Murinais (1832), the Carmelites (1840), the Dominican Sisters, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, who opened a refuge in La Plaine (1833), the Sisters of Notre- Dame de Vienne, of the Blessed Sacrament, of Saint Charles, of Saint Joseph, of Saint Philomena, of the Trinity, etc.... He was named a knight of the Legion of honor in 1837, and an officer in 1840. It was October 1830 when he first thought about an establishment of the Marist Brothers and even the Marist Fathers in the diocese of Grenoble Jean-Claude Colin encouraged Marcellin Champagnat to go to see the bishop of Grenoble and tell him about the Society’s plans. The brothers were established in La Côte-Saint-André toward the end of f 831 (OM, IV, 209). In February 1837, Fr. Champagnat wrote to update him about Fr. Douillet's maneuvers, a few days after the latter had moved in with the brothers. That letter (L. 94) precedes the one he sent to Fr. Mollin, the parish priest in La Côte, for the same reason. On 13th August 1838, the Founder answered the bishop in connection with the foundation in St-Lattier and also submitted to him his plans for Crolle. He profited by the occasion to remind the bishop about the difficulties which were keeping him at loggerheads with Fr. Douillel at La Côte- Saint-André (L. 207). On 19th September 1838, over a year after his first complaints things had still not been worked out at La Cole and the Founder once again told the

prefeng-letter.doc 93 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” bishop the facts of the case and described Fr. Douillet's manner of acting (L. 213). On 23rd March 1840, Bishop De Bruillard asked Fr. Champagnat for information about our orphanage in Lyons, since he wanted to open one in Grenoble. The Founder sent him a copy of the contract to serve as a basis for negotiations (L. 329). The foundation never took place. The later years of Bishop De Bruillard s episcopate were taken up with a major event: on 19th September 1846, the Blessed Virgin appeared on the mountain of La Saleltte, to two young shepherds. Mélanie Mathieu and Maximin Giraud. The bishop, after announcing that it was forbidden to publicize miraculous events which had not been recognized as such, had the matter investigated by a commission of sixteen members which discussed in great detail the report of the inquiry (1847). He submitted everything to Pius IX and on 19th September 1851, with the express permission of the Holy See, Bishop De Bruillard gave n positive judgment on the event and announced that a church would soon be built on the mountain. The first stone was laid on 25th May 1852, by the bishop himself, who despite his 87 years. had himself carried to that height of more than 1800 meters. At the same time, he established the diocesan missionaries of Our Lady of La Palette to serve at the sanctuary. Bishop De Bruillard loyally accepted the venous governments which followed one another during his episcopates On ] 8th April 1848, he blessed a Liberty Tree which had been planted at the entrance to the municipal gardens. On 22nd September 1852. he complimented Prince Louis-Napoleon in Grenoble; he had already sent him his felicitations the preceding 6th January. During his life he was always edifying, regular and hard-working: he began work before daybreak and continued long into the night. His charity was inexhaustible: it is said that his contributions to seminaries, churches, communities and good works added up to nearly a motion and a half francs. There was hardly enough left to pay for his funeral. He was also very devoted to Pius IX and the Holy See. His great age and a painful infirmity led to his decision to retire. After having chosen his successor, he submitted his resignation to the pope on 2nd July 1852 and to the government on the 4th. It was accepted in October, but he continued to administer the diocese until 23rd April 1853. Having been named a canon of Saint-Denis, he retired on 6th May to Sacré-Coeur de Montfleury, near Grenoble. There he continued his life of prayer, work and good works, until the very end he continued to observe ail the days of fast and abstinence. In 1856 at the age of 91, he made another pilgrimage to La Salette. His last public appearance in Grenoble was on 5th September 1860, at a reception for the emperor and the empress, where he was given a public ovation. He died peacefully on 15th December 1870, at the age of 95 years and three months; he had been the dean of the French hierarchy. He was buried in his cathedral on 20th December, and his heart was placed in the sanctuary of La Salette. (Adapted from L'épiscopat français, pp. 260-262,) (REFERENCES, pp. 157-158).

DE CLERIMBERT, ETIENNE FRANÇOIS: (1778-?), mayor of Saint-Symphorien-le- Château (today Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise), Rhône. He was born in 1778, probably in Saint-Symphorien, since he came from an old local family. A prefectorial decree of 13th July 1821 named him mayor of his town, as we read in his personal file: “Mr. de Clérim- bert, mayor of St-Symphorien on 25th July 1821, landowner, 43 years old, residing in the said place, married, one child, with an income of 5000 francs” (ADR 3 M.795). We may suppose he exercised that function uninterruptedly until 1830, according to Bro. Avit’s account (AFA, 214.93). On 15th September 1823, he wrote to Fr. Champagnat:

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“For a long time I have wanted to open a primary school in Saint-Symphorien-le- Château. The prefect willingly gave me his permission to open one. Having heard of the institution you direct, the good things we are told about it make us want your institution to establish itself in our town, and I assure you that people will be pleased to see the primary school directed by your brothers. The town is authorized to give 400 francs, plus the lodging and necessary furnishings for two brothers. I regret that the amount is so very small, but we hope that many young people will be able to pay, which will increase the salary, if you will be good enough to be of service to the inhabitants of St- Symphorien by being willing to grant them two brothers for the first year. We hope that next year we will be able to have a third. We will do all we can to keep them, and the town will make whatever sacrifices are necessary. If one of the two were capable of starting a class for well-to-do children, that would please the town very much. “For the rest, Father, we will go along with you and our parish priest, who will surely write you to tell you what we need. It will be essential, if there is no inconvenience, to send us a brother to tell us what they need in terms of furnishings, as well as what sort of tables are suitable for the students, and then they will be able to make a judgment about the locality. I have total confidence in you, and you may be sure, Father, that we will be really pleased to see the primary school under your direction. I will await your reply before taking any further steps. Please accept (AFM, 129.1). We do not know if the Founder sent a written reply, but he did send two visitors before accepting the school. As for Mr. De Clérimbert, Mr. Merlat succeeded him as mayor in 1830, and we lose all trace of him after that. (REFERENCES, pp. 159-160).

DE GASPARIN, (COUNT) ADRIEN ETIENNE PIERRE: (1783-1862), born 29th June 1783 in Orange, Vaucluse, son of Thomas Augustin de Gasparin and Marie Marguerite De Serre. At first he embraced a military career. In 1806 he was attached to Murat’s general staff, as a cavalry officer. As such, he participated in the Prussian campaign, and was wounded during the battle of Eylau, which forced him to leave the army. He returned to his family and contentedly enough, began to study agronomy. The letters he sent to various departmental societies and to the academy of sciences earned him a certain reputation as an agronomist and economist. His works on cross-breeding (1810) and on the strangles in horses (1811) received awards, as did his Guide des proprié- laires des bien ruraux, which was crowned by the Royal Agricultural Society in 1829. In the field of politics, it appears he remained faithful to his first leader, since he was part of the opposition during the Restoration, but after 1830, he sided with the government of Louis-Philippe. On 6th November 1830 he was elected by the second electoral “college” of the Vaucluse in Carpentras, but he almost immediately became involved in administration, which prevented him from participating in the debates in the Chamber. From 1830 to 1835 he was prefect successively in the departments of the Loire, the Isère and the Rhône. He stayed in the Loire barely more than a month, from 19th August to 23rd September 1830, and was replaced by Mr. Scipion Mourgues. He stayed in the Isère from September 1830 to 21st December 1831. It was in the Rhône, where he suceeded Baron Desrautours de Chaulieu, that he finally had a chance to distinguish himself, since he stayed there until 4th April 1835. He was in Lyons when the workers of that city rioted in 1834. His many reports showed that he was not inactive during those events. On 19th April 1834, a royal ordinance raised him to the dignity of a peer of France, in recognition of the active role he had just taken in putting down the revolt and

prefeng-letter.doc 95 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” restoring calm. In 1835, another royal ordinance appointed him Sub-secretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior. The accession of the Mole Cabinet (6th September 1836) returned him to the ranks of the ordinary citizenry, but did not reduce him to silence. In the Chamber of Peers, his voice and his vote continued to support his successors in the cabinet. When the coalition finally overthrew the long Mole ministry on 8th March 1839, the resulting crisis dragged on for more than three weeks; on 31st March, the king formed a transitional cabinet in which De Gasparin became Minister of the Interior, and interim Minister of Commerce and Public Works. But the following 12th May, Marshal Soult formed a new government which did not include De Gasparin. On 29th June 1840, he entered the rural economy section of the Academy of Sciences. In 1843, his highly- acclaimed work, Cours d’agriculture, appeared, and contributed greatly to the progress of that industry (J. Chantrel, Histoire contemporaine, p. 451; Histoire de la France rurale, p. 117). The Revolution of 1848 marked his definitive return to rural life. He was offered the direction of the National Institute of Agronomy; at first he refused, but after repeated urgings he accepted, and headed the Institute until it was suppressed on 29th Sep- tember 1852. Emperor Louis-Napoleon had included him in his government, but after the decree of 23rd January 1852 on the confiscation of the goods of the Orleans family, de Gasparin definitively left the political scene. He died on 7th September 1862, in his hometown of Orange. (Cf. L. 52). (REFERENCES, pp. 161-162).

DE GERANDO, (BARON) JOSEPH MARIE: (1772-1842), was born on 29th February 1772 in Lyons, Rhône. His first career choice was the Congregation of the Oratory, but the Revolution which had just broken out, and the military draft decreed by the Legislative Assembly for the defense of the country, prevented him from carrying out his plans. So he joined the army, and when the city of Lyons rose up against the Jacobins towards the end of 1793, De Gérando sided with the former against the regular army sent by the Convention to restore order. Wounded in combat, captured and condemned to death, he managed to escape, and sought refuge first in Savoy, then in Naples. He returned to France under the Directory, but had to flee again when the coup d’etat of 18th Fructidor (4th September 1797) rekindled the Reign of Terror. He had nothing more to fear after the takeover by Napoleon, who appointed him to the Council of Arts and Commerce. For de Gérando, this was the beginning of a long career in administration. Without delay, he founded the Society for the Encouragement of Home Industries (1800). With the return of national stability, he married Marie Anne de Rathsamhausen, whose letters were published in 1880. In 1804, de Gérando became secretary general in the Ministry of the Interior, and in 1810, a state councilor, a position he held until 1830. During that period (in 1812), he was given the post of intendant du catalogue and made a baron at the same time. But it was primary schools, which were to some degree neglected by Napoleon, which were to become one of his major concerns, out of his concern for the education of children disadvantaged by the lack of financial resources of their towns and parents. “On 27th April (1815) there appeared a decree establishing an experimental school of primary education in Pans.... A study commission was set up; its members were Cuvier, De Gérando and Fr. Gaultier” (E. Gossot, Essai critique p. 18). From that year (1815) forward, “Some men devoted to the education of the deprived classes united to form an association which took and kept the title, without, unfortunately, keeping the spirit, of ‘Society for the Encouragement of Elementary Instruction” (Ibid., p. 23). This society, to which De Gérando belonged, “put into practice

prefeng-letter.doc 96 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” and continued to spread the mutual method of teaching”, because it was more economical, “since a single teacher, assisted by student monitors, could handle a school of three hundred children” (idem.). That situated De Gérando in the liberal camp, against the teaching congregations which accepted only the simultaneous method. However, the strength of his intention to help the poor seems to have kept him above this struggle. The above-mentioned society, “founded a real normal school for both sexes, in the rue Saint-Jean-de-Beauvais. But in 1819, the school was divided into two separate courses with the same aim: one was for teacher training, of which Baron de Gérando wanted to take charge. His colleagues in the Society for Elementary Instruction had chosen him unanimously, as being the most capable of fulfilling that delicate role with distinction; it was primarily a course in ethics for young male teachers.... At his request. ..Miss Sauvan took on a course for female student-teachers” (ibid., p. 84). The fact of becoming a member of the Academy of Ethical and Political Sciences in 1832 did not affect his dedication to education, especially of the underprivileged, as we know from the letter which Fr. Champagnat sent him (L. 320) to request the free admission of two brothers to the school for deaf-mutes in Paris. However, we do not know de Gérando’s attitude toward that school, although as early as 1824, he had published a work on the education of the deaf and dumb. The periodical, l’Institut catholique, published his funeral eulogy in these words, “The Baron De Gérando, peer of France, state councilor, member of the Institute and author of a great many works on philosophy, social management, etc.... has just ended his long and distinguished career. In him, France has lost one of its most outstanding men, and Lyons one of its illustrious citizens. To great modesty, Mr. de Gérando joined all the qualities of a true Christian, and he always used learning as an adjunct to charity. He leaves a worthy heir to his name, his virtues and his talents (Gaston De Gérando, 1803-1884, magistrate and author). In his last moments, Mr. De Gérando received the sacraments of the Church with fervor. He expressed his strong regret at not having given more prominence in his works to the salutar influence of the Catholic religion. (He died in Lyons in 1842.) Mr. Bonnassier, the talented sculptor, was engaged by the city of Lyons to create a bust of Mr. De Gérando” (op.cit., vol. 11, August 1842, p. 345). (REFERENCES, pp. 162-164).

DE GIROD, (BARON) LOUIS GASPARD AMÉDÉE: (1781-1847), was born in Gex, Ain, on 18th October 1781, to Jean Louis De Girod and Louise Claudine Arrnande Fabry. Once he had finished his studies, he set out on the road to the magistracy which quickly led him to Paris. In 1805, he was appointed deputy imperial prosecutor in Turin. The following year, he became imperial prosecutor in the court of first instance in Alexandria. He then served successively as deputy prosecutor general for the appeals court of Lyons (1809), counselor for the Council of State (1810), and attorney general for the imperial court in Paris (1811). In 1814, he was still in the latter post, and his defection helped precipitate Napoleon’s fall. His enthusiasm for the monarchy helped him keep his job during the first restoration, but that did not prevent him from accepting from the Emperor the presidency of the tribunal of the Seine during the Hundred Days. He also carried out the legislative mandate conferred on him on 14th May 1815, by the electors of the arrondissement of Gex. It was around that time that he married Miss Sivard de Beaulieu, grand-niece of the first arch-treasurer Lebrun, Duke of Plaisance. The second restoration cost him his job, and he returned to private life momentarily. It was he who went to meet General Drouot, Napoleon’s faithful follower, who had been indicted under

prefeng-letter.doc 97 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” the ordinance of 24th July 1815, which accused before the Council of War all those military men who had favored the return of the emperor. Girod de l’Ain defended him and was able to have him acquitted. He was in political disgrace no more than four years, because he returned to the magistracy in 1819, as counselor for the court of Paris; he presided successively over the courts of assizes of Paris and Versailles. On 17th November, 1827, the second arrondissement of Indre et Loire elected him as deputy. His political opinions put him on the left among the constitutional party. He took an active part in the work of the parliament. In 1829, he was vice-president of the Chamber. The following year he was re-elected, first on 12th July under Charles X, and again on 21st October under Louis-Philippe, who also named him police commissioner. Since he was not firm enough for that position, the king transferred him two months later, to the Council of State. On 1st August 1831, with the backing of prime minister Casimir Périer, he was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies, over Jacques Lafitte, the former prime minister, who was the opposition candidate. He moved in 1832 from the presidency to the inner circle of the king, as Minister and Secretary of State of Public Instruction and Worship. He kept that portfolio only a few months, then exchanged it for the presidency of the Council of State, which he headed until his death, and a seat in the Chamber of Peers. He died as a Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor on 27th December 1847, in Paris. The Biographie universelle has this to say about him: “We see this fortunate man rise year after year to the highest positions in the govern- ment; cabinets fall, but nothing stops his surprising ascent. Never a fall, never a faux- pas; he keeps going up as if by magic, although no one can figure out why.... No signs of a struggle; he has not written a single book, or even given a speech anyone remembers. Girod (de l’Ain) was, they say, like his father, a generous man. As magistrate, he had the wisdom which comes from experience. But one could list, in the courtrooms, among the magistrates, in the chambers, a hundred orators and a hundred attorneys at least as skillful as he, even though they did not follow the same road. Despite his lack of exceptional talents, he had good manners, made a good appearance, and knew how to get things done: (Vol. 16, p. 585). (REFERENCES, pp. 164-165).

DE JUSSIEU, LAURENT PIERRE: (1792-1866), was born in Villeurbanne, Rhône; several members of his family were renowned as botanists. Laurent Pierre, on the contrary, took up a literary career, as an ethicist and politician at the same time. In 1818 he published Simon de Nantua, ou le marchand brain (The Traveling Salesman), which achieved a certain success; then in 1820, Le village de Valdore, ou sagesse et prospérité (Wisdom and Prosperity), followed the next year by Antoine et Maurice, in 1825 by Histoire tie Pierre Giberne and in 1829 by Oeuvres posthumes de Simon tie Nantua. Les petits livres du Père Lami appeared between 1830 and 1832 In 1831, Mr. De Jussieu was named Secretary General of the Seine and maître des requêtes (responsible for receiving, classifying, and forwarding all documents received) for the Council of State. It was in that capacity that Fr. Champagnat wrote to him (L. 104). We do not know whether he knew him personally, or whether Mr. Ginot had perhaps spoken to him about him. In any case, the Founder was certainly aware of everyone from the region of Lyons and St-Etienne who was directly connected with the government. Besides, he would certainly have known about Mr. de Jussieu through his role in the diffusion of primary education, and through his educational books. While he was

prefeng-letter.doc 98 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” secretary general, with residence at 14, rue du Regard in Paris (Almanach royal et national, 1837) he also entered the Chamber of Deputies in 1839. In 1844, he published Fables et contes, which was followed by other less noteworthy writings. He died in Passyin 1855. (REFERENCES, pp. 165-166).

DE LA CROIX d’AZOLETTE, NICOLAS AUGUSTIN: (1779-1861), Archbishop of Auch, born 15th July 1779 in Propières, Rhône, to a noble family from the Beaujolais. He studied at the secondary school of Saint-Rambert-l’lle-Barbe near Lyons, then after the Revolution, in Lyons itself, before beginning to study medicine in Paris. He entered the seminary of Saint-Sulpice but left because of illness. He continued his studies for the priesthood in Azolette, at the home of his uncle, the parish priest (Odin, Les chartreux de Lyon, Lyon: Audin, 1937, p. 214). He was ordained subdeacon on 13th April 1805, did his last year of theology at Saint-Irénée in 1805-06, and was ordained in Lyons on 3rd August 1806. He was first appointed curate in Belleville, and then on 26th October 1807, parish priest of Fareins. On 20th September 1810, he was named superior of the minor seminary in Alix (AAL, Registre des délibérations); on 18th April 1811, Fr. Bochard’s patronage earned him the post of rector of the minor seminary of l’Argentière. At All Saints 1811 he became spiritual director of the major seminary of Saint-Irénée, which position he held until the end of 1817. Chosen by Fr. Bochard from the time of his first inspiration to found the Society of the Cross of Jesus, he was named its superior general on 11th June 1816 (Odin, 284) while remaining director of the seminary for one more year. He was named parish priest of Saint-Bruno in Lyons on 26th November 1817. When the diocese of Belley was reestablished, Fr. Bochard recommended him to Bishop Devie as vicar general, and he was appointed to that position on 23rd July 1823. As such, he accompanied Bishop Devie on his pastoral visits, and drew up a careful itinerary in which, alongside some archeological notes, he added many valuable historical details about the bishop’s travels and about missions in the diocese. It was also during this period that he had to go to Paris with Fr. Depéry, and Bishop Devie asked him to find out also what was happening with the request which Fr. Champagnat had submitted for the authorization of his congregation (L. 95). He must have carried out his mission effectively, since the Founder thanked Bishop Devie for it in his letter of February 1837 (L. 90). He was named bishop of Gap on 30th December 1836, approved on 19th May 1837, ordained in Brou by Bishop Devie on 25th July, and enthroned on 14th December 1837. On 4th December 1839, the king transferred him to Auch. “His appointment was sanctioned on 27th April 1840, and he was enthroned that 14th August. Through his yearly pastoral visits, he gave great impetus to the restoration or reconstruction of religious buildings. In 1851, he held a provincial council in Auch from 20th August to 2nd September; its decrees were approved by the Holy See. He brought the Brothers of Ploermel (Brothers of Christian Instruction) into his diocese, where they opened a large school. In 1856, realizing that his health and strength were fading, he submitted his resignation, was named a canon of Saint-Denis, and retired to the Chartreux residence in Lyons, where he died on 6th June 1861. His heart was brought back to Auch and placed in the Purgatory chapel of the cathedral” (L’épiscopat français, p. 79). (Taken from OM, IV, pp. 191-192.) (REFERENCES, pp. 167-168).

DE LA CROIX, BROTHER: Charles François Beauvoir, born around 1811 in Vienne, Isère, to Jean-Marie Beauvoir and Jeanne Vermond. On 12th November 1835, at the

prefeng-letter.doc 99 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” age of 24, he entered the Hermitage, where he received the habit on 25th March 1836. He made temporary profession on 22nd May, for three years (RVT, 1, p. 63), but as of 10th October, we find him on the list of those who made perpetual profession by public vows for the first time (RVP, 1, p. 26). Six weeks later, on 24th November 1836, he opened the school in Semur-en-Brionnais, as its director. His draft status was still tenuous, since he had done only a short time in the army and could be recalled. Fr. Champagnat thought it better to warn the mayor of that fact, which he did in his letter of 12th February 1837 (L. 93). As it turned out, he was never bothered during his stay in Semur. He wrote to Fr. Champagnat on 26th May 1837, most likely in reply to some advice the latter had given him: “You may be sure I will never do on my own anything which I should do only on your advice. Even though the bishop of Autun urged me to let him know what we needed, and offered to do all he could to help us, I did not write to him, since I could tell him everything I wanted through Fr. Béraud, and since he will be coming back here next August. So I will still be on time to express my gratitude with all possible respect. He has just given us proof of his benevolence by offering the town council of Semur one of his houses as our residence, on condition that the town pay for the repairs (his proposition was accepted). (In a footnote:) “The house in question is between the seminary and the parish residence; in front there is the church, and behind an open field; the rooms are well laid out, etc. We have reason to believe that everything will go well in the future; however, since the former owner of said house has the right to live there one more year, we may perhaps be obliged to teach our classes in the same place again next year. “This good bishop is very interested in the establishment of our brothers in his diocese; he will be asking you for subjects to open two endowed establishments. I would have liked to have been able to thank him while he was here, for everything he has done, but the only testimonial of our gratitude I could give him was half of our supply of copies of our prospectus, promising to give him the rest when they come (he can distribute them better than I). If you think I should write to him, I will go to my tutor in Charlieu and ask him to do me that favor. “We still have 78 children, all of whom give us a great deal of satisfaction; they were well-behaved during May devotions. May God be blessed for that, since all good things come from him. We are awaiting a parish priest; they say he will be a holy old man who really has the prosperity of religious houses at heart. I think Fr. Béraud will stay on as curate, since be takes care of the bishop’s business in Semur. I am very pleased with Bro. Odillon; but please write him a note of encouragement to calm his imagination, because he is so scrupulous that the merest shadow is enough to keep him from receiving the sacraments. “Dear Father, before I dose, permit me to express my deep gratitude for all your goodness towards me, and especially for the good lesson you had Bro. François give me in his last letter. Please do not spare me, and keep giving me the lessons I need. A Dieu. If a religious were permitted to have any preferences, I would tell you that I would prefer writing you from the retreat house rather than from here; in any case, may God’s will be done. If! do not become a catechist some day, I will try to be a good teacher. I Ain, with respect...” (AFM, 121.7). His last sentence, terse as it is, raises a few questions in the light of later developments. As for the new parish priest, that was Fr. Sébastien Millerand who took over the parish of Semur on Sunday, 7th January 1838, according to the letter he wrote to Fr. Champagnat two days later. His first visit, he says, “was to the good brothers you sent us. I was very satisfied with that visit; I found everything in perfect order. The whole parish speaks highly of the brothers and appreciates them as much as I do...” (AFM,

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128.48). In a second Jetter, written two months later on 9th March, having received no other reply than the information that Fr. Champagnat was in Paris on business, Fr. Millerand tells us that there were now three brothers in Semur (AFM, 129.49), but he makes no special mention of the director. The fact is that the latter was soon to leave the Institute. When Bro. Avit speaks of his replacement by Bro. Cyprien in October 1840, he is certainly in error, because a letter from the Founder to Fr. Mazelier, dated 16th July 1838, informs us that “Bro. Cyprien has been definitively authorized and appointed by the ministry, to Semur, department of Saône-et-Loire” (L. 198). Besides, Bro. de la Croix does not appear on the 1839 assignment list (AFM, 137.5). We believe he left Semur and the congregation before the middle of 1838; we do not know what became of him after that. (REFERENCES, pp. 166-167).

DE LA MENNAIS, JEAN-MARIE: (1780-1860), was born in Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine) on 8th September 1780, and ordained in 1804. After a brief ministry as curate and teacher, he withdrew because of poor health to his family’s country home where he collaborated with his brother Hugues Félicité in the latter’s research and writing. In 1814, Bishop Caffarelli of Saint-Brieuc appointed him as his secretary, and later vicar-general. In that capacity he organized and preached parish missions and founded various confraternities. In 1819, he founded a group of teaching brothers, which merged the following year with a similar group also founded in Brittany, in 1816, by Gabriel Deshayes. The combined congregation was known as the Brothers of Christian Instruction of Ploërmel. de la Mennais continued to direct this congregation as well as the Daughters of Providence, which he had founded in Saint-Brieuc in 1818, with Marie- Anne Cartel. In 1822, he was called to Paris to be vicar-general of the grand almoner of France. His position involved him in the nomination or transfer of some forty bishops, but he consistently refused to accept an episcopal appointment for himself. In 1824 he returned to Brittany, where that same year he founded the Priests of St Méen (the Congregation of St. Peter). He was also adviser to François Mazelier in his direction of the Brothers of St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, and to Jacques Dujarié and Basile Moreau in their founding of the Holy Cross Brothers. He carried on his educational and other apostolic activities from Ploermel (Morbihan), where he died on 26th December 1860. Bibliography:S. Ropartz, La vie et les oeuvres de M. Jean-Marie Robert de La Mennais, 1780-1860 ; Laveille, Jean-Marie de La Mennais (1780-1860), Paris, 1903, 2 vols.; André Merlaud, Jean-Marie de La Mennais, la renaissance d’une chrétienté, Bonne Presse, Paris, 1960; cf. also The New Catholic Encyclopedia, VIII, 349-350. (REFERENCES, pp. 168-169).

DE LA TOUR D’AUVERGNE, (CARDINAL) HUGUES ROBERT JEAN CHARLES: Archbishop of Arras (1768-1851), was born on 14th August 1768 in the Château d’Auzeville in Toulouse. The property is on Route 113 between Toulouse and Carcassonne, and is presently the center for agronomic research in the former county of Le Laraguais, which is today the district of Castanet, Haute-Garonne. He received the tonsure at the age of 15, entered Saint-Sulpice just before the Revolution, received minor orders in 1789, became a subdeacon during the Lenten Ember-Days of 1792, a deacon on the second Sunday after Easter and a priest on 24th June of that same year, even as the clergy faithful to Rome were going into exile. After the September massacres, which he managed to escape, he hid in the Château de Vergies, near

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Amiens, with his aunt, the Countess d’Aumale, former governess to the children of the royal family. He was arrested for the double crime of being both a nobleman and a priest, but was liberated after the execution of Robespierre; as a security measure, he joined the army service corps. As soon as things had calmed down, he did not hesitate to resume his cassock. His name was put forward for the diocese of An-as, recently created by a papal bull of 10th April 1802, by Fr. Emery, who had just refused it; and so Fr. de La Tour d’Auvergne, with absolutely no parish experience, found himself a bishop. He was nominated on 30th April 1802, approved on 6th May and ordained on the 16th; he took possession of his see on 5th June. He had to face many difficult situations which required great tact and would brook no delay: the organization of a new diocese, establishing uniformity among a variety of rites and ecclesiastical disciplines, welcoming the priests returning from exile and integrating them among the constitutional clergy. The new bishop set to work, organized his chapter, and divided his diocese into three archdeaconries, each of which included two deaneries established in the main cities of the arrondissements (sub-prefectures); then he set about providing parishes, vicariates and mission stations. He lost no time in opening seminaries, since he had to think not only of the present, but also of the future. In 1806. he made the Perpetual Adoration Society obligatory throughout the diocese, fostered the beginnings of the Conference of St. Vincent de Paul, of the Propagation of the Faith, and of May devotions. He also wanted the people of every parish to gather on Sunday evenings for night prayer, and the bells to be rung every Friday at the hour when Our Lord died on the cross. He brought in many contemplative, nursing and teaching communities for the cities and even the rural areas. We can therefore understand why he was not insensitive to the establishment of our school in Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise. Fr. Champagnat was right on target in asking him, on the occasion of his elevation to the cardinalate on 23rd December 1839, to use his influence in favor of the authorization of the Institute (cf. LL. 319, 330). Despite many urgings and the most tempting offers, Archbishop De La Tour d’Auvergne would never leave his flock; he refused in turn the archdioceses of Avignon (1830), Lyons (1839), Paris (1840), and Cambrai (1841), and the title of dean of the royal chapter of Saint-Denis. He received the Cross of the Legion of Honor at the camp in Bologna, after blessing the eagles of the Grande-Armée in 1804; he became an of- ficer of the Legion in 1823, commander in 1833, and grand officer in 1837; he received the cord of the Grand-Croix in 1843. He died in Arras on 20th July 1851, at the age of 83. Cardinal de La Tour d’Auvergne believed in dignity and good breeding; he was always careful not to offend the government. He was inclined toward personal power and absolute authority; he was very much, to use Napoleon’s phrase, “king of the bishops”. (From L’episcopat francais depuis le concordat jusqu’à lii separation, 1802-1 905, pp. 69-70.) Bibliography: “Un demi-siècle d’épiscopat concordataire: Ic cardinal de Latour d’Auvergne”, Journal des débats, 10 January 1928; Emile Lesueur, Le cardinal de Latour d’Auvergne Laraguais, 1768-1851, Paris: Payot, 255 pp. (REFERENCES, pp. 169-170).

DE PINS, JEAN PAUL GASTON: (1766- 1850), apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Lyons. Born 8th February 1766 in Castres, Tarn, to a noble family from the Languedoc region, third son of Marc-Claude De Pins and Marguerite Cabrol. He received the tonsure in Angers on 18th May 1780, and studied in Paris, where he obtained his licenciate in utroque iure (canon and civil law), received minor orders on

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21st May 1785, the subdiaconate on 24th March 1787, and the diaconate on 8th March 1788. There is no record of the exact date of his ordination, but it was certainly before 18th August 1789, when he was named vicar general of Bourges. During the dark hours of the Revolution, he exercised his ministry in the Tarn, and on 11th July 1795, he received the powers of vicar general of Castres from Bishop Jean-Marc de Royère, bishop of that diocese. On 13th March 1810, he was named an honorary canon of Montpellier, and on 8th August 1817, a royal ordinance appointed him to the episcopal see of Beziers, which the recent concordat had just reestablished. He was approved in the consistory of 1st October 1817, but could not take possession of his see because the concordat had not been ratified. On 15th February 1822, the king appointed him to succeed Bishop Dubourg in the see of Limoges. Approved on 27th September 1822, he received episcopal ordination on 10th November; that same year, at an unknown date, he also enrolled in the Congregation of Paris. (This was an organization of influential persons which strove to promote religious values in France. They were often accused of meddling in politics). Once installed in Limoges, on 12th January 1823, he was very soon asked by his friend Besson, a member of the band of royal court chaplains, to accept the see of Lyons. The proposition did not displease him, but he hoped that the see would be declared vacant and that he would be archbishop of the metropolitan see of the Gauls. As it turned out, he received the title only of apostolic administrator, by a papal brief of 22nd December 1823, registered in the Council of State on 28th January 1824. Three days later, a royal ordinance approved his choice of Frs. Courbon and Barou as vicars general. However, the former died on 8th February, and was replaced by Fr. Recorbet. On 17th February 1824, Fr. Besson took possession of the see in the name of De Pins, which provoked a protest on the part of Fr. Bochard. The next day, De Pins made his solemn entrance into Lyons; he convoked his episcopal council for the first time on the 25th, and on 1st April completed its ranks by appointing Fr. Jean Cholleton as third vicar general. On 3rd May, he was named titular archbishop of Amasia One of his first acts was to recall the Sulpicians to his major seminary. After the death of Fr. Recorbet and the appointment of Fr. Simon Cattet on 28th December 1825, there were no more changes in the archdiocesan administration. De Pins could administer the archdiocese of Lyons with a team deeply attached to him; he met regularly with his council, matters were discussed in detail, and minutes were accurately kept. In 1827 he convoked a diocesan synod and published its statutes. Many religious congregations in Lyons owed him their approval, but a painful disagreement put him at odds for a long time with a group of Visitation nuns in the archdiocese. Politically, at the time of the June 1828 ordinances (which imposed restrictions on seminaries and secondary schools), he demonstrated an intransigence that the Holy See was careful not to approve. After the Revolution of 1830, his legitimist opinions would not allow him to sympathize with the "July Regime", so much so that when Cardinal Fesch died on 13th May 1839. the government simply could not give serious consideration to his hopes of becoming the real holder of a see he had so long occupied as administrator. On 13th June 1839 a royal ordinance named Cardinal D'lsoard archbishop of Lyons, on 1st July De Pins published a long and apologetic circular letter on the end of the apostolic administration, in which he gave an account of his stewardship and gave the faithful his "last blessing". Shortly afterwards, he spent about a month in the Carthusian monastery of "Grande Chartreuse", where he had decided to retire, but he returned before the end of August-the time for him to rest had not yet arrived. On 7th October, Cardinal D'lsoard

prefeng-letter.doc 103 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” died unexpectedly before taking possession of his see, and the late of the latter was once more up in the air. However, on 5th December 1839, Archbishop De Bonald of Le Puy, whose resistance had been hard to wear down, was named by the king as archbishop of Lyons. On 27th April 1840, Gregory XVI approved the appointment; the next day he sent De Pins a "brief of praise" together with a special mission of prayers for the archdiocese of Lyons (cf. Cattet, Vérité, pp. 268-271). From that point on, the administrator had no further reason to remain in Lyons. On 6th May, he returned to "La Grande Chartreuse", from which he maintained correspondence with his former vicars general. It appears that he created many problems for his hosts, so much so that he left the Charterhouse in October 1843, and went to live in the residence of the diocesan missionaries of Lyons. In October 1848, he moved from there to a villa called "La Paix", belonging to the Marquise de Harenc, in the Rue du Juge de Paix, near Fourvière. He died there on 30th November 1850, and Cardinal De Bonald, that same day, ordered that a special service be held for the repose of his soul (OM, IV, pp. 330-333). For the role played by Archbishop De Pins in the development of our congregation, cf. Life, pp. 116-117. (REFERENCES, pp.175-176).

DE POMEY, JEAN: (1774-1852), born 17th February 1774 in the Château de Rochefort in Amplepuis, Rhône. In 1802 he married Eugéme-Jeanne-Marie de Mussey; they had nine children. He was mayor of his hometown on two different occasions. The first time was from 1813 to 1830. During that period he was also appointed general councilor by royal ordinance in 1816. A biographical notice dated 25th July 1821 notes, among other things, that he lived in Amplepuis, that he was a landowner whose property gave hun an estimated income of 7000 francs a year (ADR, 3M, tr. 795, Amplepuis, 1815-1829). !.n 1825 he was a counselor for the arrondissement of Vilefranche (Histoire politique du département du Rhône, p. 140). Since his term as mayor ended in 1830, it was only in an unofficial capacity that he wrote to Fr. Champagnat in 1837 to ask him for brothers, and the reply was couched in similar terms (L 117). He was reappointed mayor in 1847, and maintained in office the following year by universal suffrage. He continued as mayor until his death on 2nd February 1852. (REFERENCES, pp. 176-177).

DE SALVANDY, (COUNT) ANTOINE NICOLAS NARCISSE: (1795-1856), was born on 11th June 1795 in Condom, Gers, to Pierre Salvandy (1748-1828), an ex-priest, and Jeanne-Marie Goudin (1757-?), an ex-nun, who were married on 9th September 1794. “The child was not baptised until 11th December 1795; he was given the Christian names Antoine-Nicolas-Narcisse and the family name Salvandy Lagravère.... The name Achifie, which Salvandy used, does not appear in either the civil register or the baptismal register of the church of Saint-Michelin Condom.... At the beginning of the Directory, leaving the child with a wet-nurse, the Salvandy household moved to Paris in the hopes of making money. Having used their own belongings to furnish a hotel in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, which had been built by the Carmelites in the 18th century, they opened a boarding house at 18 rue Cassette... This middle-class boarding house received at its table a number of ruined nobles. Since it was well located, the house was purchased by Narcisse Salvandy, who never left it, even when he was minister” (L. Trénard, Salvandy en son temps, pp. 39-41). He began his studies at the secondary school in Condom, then went to join his parents. On the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Cannel in 1806, he made his solemn first communion in the church of Saint-Etienne du Mont.

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“The father then took over the education of his son, but proved to be excessively lenient in the face of the boy’s impertinent remarks, playfulness and pranks. The young southerner spoke boldly about anything and everything. He read and retained a great deal” (ibid., p. 42). His father was able to obtain a scholarship and had Narcisse enrolled at the Lycée Napoleon, the present Lycée Henri IV. Reportedly gifted in literature, “it seems that the young student had difficulty at first submitting himself to the restrictions imposed by the regulations. But when he began the study of rhetoric in 1812, he decided to go ahead with preparations for the Ecole Polytechnique, to which he devoted all his free time, and his classical studies, since his parents had decided he should be a teacher, which was something of a family tradition.... Drawing up his curriculum vitae in 1818, Salvandy states that he had taken courses in the humanities, rhetoric, philosophy, and the First year of mathematics; he obtained “some success in the final examinations” (ibid., pp. 43-44). In 1813, when he learned of Napoleon’s disaster in Russia, our young student, being sure of an immediate commission, enlisted in the army. As an officer in the Imperial Guard, and then in the cavalry, Salvandy took part in the campaigns in Saxony and France. Despite his bravado and sang-froid, which earned him three wounds, he saw the enemy advance on the capital, and lived through the fall of the Empire without having received the Legion of Honor which he craved. He requested it of King Louis XVIII, to whom he rallied as soon as he came to power. He got what he wanted on 29th December 1815. By then, he had already left the army, and was dreaming of becoming “a Councifior of State, an ambassador, a minister”. “In his attempts to fulfill that dream, he returned to his philosophy classes at the Henri IV school, and on 15th April 1814, enrolled in the School of Law” (ibid., p. 50). As of 1815, Salvandy began to publish various works, one of which, La coalition et la France, which appeared early in 1817, created a sensation. “It was a pamphlet which was to make Salvandy known..., open for him the doors of Parisian salons, and launch his administrative career” (ibid., p. 69) “(In it) he hoped for the union of the white banner [of the House of Bourbon] and the tricolor [of the French Republic] against foreign domination. His forceful tone and his civ of resistance aroused the partisans of both the Revolution and the monarchy. His contemporaries were struck by his bravado” (ibid., pp. 73-74). For his part, Salvandy, who had begun to keep a personal journal, noted on 18th April 1817 that, “I have no choice, I have launched out because I am alive; my mind has been developed by education and work, and turned since childhood, by force of circumstances and its unending work upon itself, towards things higher than my first horizons. I will accept any struggle, I will overcome all hostilities, I will be seen as an ambitious man” (ibid., p. 77). Feeling his way, while continuing to write, he began by frequenting the salons (at which the ladies of high society entertained the “leading lights” of the day), became more and more involved in politics alongside (Guizot’s right-wing party), and on 20th January 1819 was given a position as “reporter in extraordinary service to the Council of State”. As such, he was one of the most enthusiastic co- workers of Prime Minister Decazes. In 1821, when the royalist Vilèle became head of government, Salvandy resigned, then fought against the Cabinet, which he considered to be “an instrument of tyranny and counter-revolution” (idem.). It was a good moment for him to set up his own household. That December, he married Miss Julie Feray, a Protestant, the grand-daughter of (the manufacturer and philanthropist) Oberkampf. On 12th November 1828, he joined the Martignac cabinet as Councilor of State, but fifteen months later, when Prince Jules de Polignac was named to head another cabinet,

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Salvandy resigned again. “Despite his lack of faith in the royal democracy which had just been set up (after the Revolution of 1830) Salvandy did not at all want to separate himself from his political friends. He accepted a position as Councilor of State. once that body was reorganized by the ordinance of 20th August 1830. The following October, when the age-level was lowered, he was elected deputy for the arrondissement of La Flèche; he thus swelled the ranks of that segment of the resistance which held, with good reason, that in the face of the popular revolution which had just taken place, the first duty of those in charge was to strengthen the principle of authority and postpone any extension of public liberty.... (In 1831) he was not reelected and spent the next two years working on his most important political work, Seize mois, ou la Revolution de 1830 et k-s révolutionnaires. He returned to the Chamber in 1833, as deputy from the electoral district of Evreux...”(ibid., p. 565). On 19th Febniary 1834, he was elected to the Académie Française, on the first ballot. On 6th September 1836, when Mold replaced Thiers and formed a new cabinet, he offered the Navy portfolio to Salvandy, who refused; but on 15th April 1837, he joined the government none the less, taking Guizot’s place as Minister of Public Instruction, after the latter resigned since he could not get along with Mole. When he became a minister, he lost his seat as a deputy, but he could have regained it through a new election. The voters of Evreux, however, prefer- red his opponent, so he offered himself to that of Nogent-le-Retrou, whose seat was then vacant. He obtained it, they say, by such pressure tactics as making the rounds of the sub-prefects and mayors to talk politics with them, obtaining allocations for the Brothers of the Christian Schools, offering scholarships... (Trénart, op.cit., p. 333). By so doing, he barely escaped the humiliation of being a minister rejected by his own constituency. But he gained nothing in the process, because the Chamber was dissolved on 3rd October, and he had to undertake another electoral campaign to obtain a seat. “Even though- he had not kept all the promises he made during his spring campaign, Nogent-le-Rotrou once again expressed its confidence in Salvandy” (ibid., p. 339). “After the seven campaigns in which he had been involved from April to October, (he) still risked his career. During the turbulent discussion of the draft of the address of the Assembly [to the government], he upheld Mold’s policies towards Spain.... The text of the address was approved.... But Mole won only” by a narrow margin which saved his government. During this time, Salvandy installed himself in the offices of Public Instruction, which he first had to put in order and organize. As he proved to be vely independent in doing so, Mold complained to the king. “Mr. De Salvandy,” he said, “has no doubts about anything, and I’m afraid he’s going to shake things up terribly in his ministry. He follows no one’s advice but his own, and he’s totally new to this sort of business” (quoted by Trénard, op.cit., p. 338). His next concern was the application of the Guizot Law of 1833 on primary education, keeping an eye especially on the religious teachers and the private schools, which the State, never yet having had the initiative in that area, approved. But since, on the one hand, these schools were mostly run by religious orders, and on the other hand, public opinion was becoming more and more hostile to the Church’s control over education, the minister found himself in an uncomfortable position. It was under these circumstances that he found himself face to face with Marcellin Champagnat, who asked him to grant legal authorization for his congregation of teaching brothers. Through the latter’s correspondence, especially in 1838, we can follow the whole affair, which the minister’s ill-will had already doomed to failure. Since he was too much concerned about saving his job, and not being overly

prefeng-letter.doc 1 06 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” broad-minded, we can hardly imagine Salvandy having the courage to make a decision which was certainly not of major importance, but which he certainly must have thought would give his opponents that much more ammunition. So he let the matter drag on and fade away, without his having to make a final decision one way or the other. In March 1839, the Mole cabinet collapsed. “On his withdrawal, Salvandv was invested as a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, but he refused to return to a seat on the Council of State. The 1839 elections returned him to the Chamber as deputy for Nogent-le- Rotrou.... At the end of the parliamentary session, during which Salvandy, having been elected vice-president, acquitted himself honorably in the chair during the debate on the law concerning fortifications, he accepted, on 14th September 1841, after much hesitation, the post of ambassador to Spain, amid difficult circumstances. (But) the new ambassador, on whom the king had conferred the title of count, was not admitted to pre- sent his credentials.... (After fruitless requests, he) left Madrid in the early days of January 1842.... In the general elections in June (of that year), de Salvandy was elected as deputy for both Nogent-le-Rotrou and Lectoure. He chose the latter arrondissement” (Biographie universelle, vol. 37, p. 566). When Spain was ready to accept a French ambassador, de Salvandy was not the one sent. All the cabinet did to make it up to him was to give him the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, and to name him ambassador to Turin on 6th November 1843. He stayed there only briefly. On 1st February 1845, at the personal urging of the king, de Salvandy again took up the portfolio of Minister of Public Instruction. In the 1846 elections, he was elected deputy from Evreux, but the Revolution of 1848, which proscribed him for a while, definitively removed him from all official participation in public affairs. He spent the last years of his life as he had begun it, i.e., publishing literary works. On the political scene, he campaigned for the return of the constitutional monarchy as France’s only hope, according to him, of avoiding either anarchy or tyranny. The Academy, of which he had been a member since 1835, made him its president several times. “He died on 15th December 1856, in his Château of Graveron in Normandy, after receiving the Last Sacraments From the bishop of Evreux. He was survived by his wife and two children: a son who distinguished himself by his success at the university, and a daughter who married the Marquis D’Aux” (Biog.univ.. p. 567). (Cf. LL. 113, 159, 171, 172, 173, 184, 186, 273, 312). (REFERENCES, pp. 177- 181).

DE SERS, (BARON) JEAN ANDRÉ: (1786-1862), was born 3rd October 1786 in Bordeaux, Gironde, to Jean-Pierre, Count de Sers, who was a deputy in 1791, and Dame Suzanne Barthes. He entered the government under the First Empire as bureau chief in the Prefecture of Mont-Tonnerre, one of the four departments on the left bank of the Rhine which the Treaty of Campo-Formio (1798) had given to France, and whose administrative center was Mayence. He became an attorney with the Council of State, then returned to the department of Mont-Tonnerre as sub-prefect of Spire, to which post he was appointed on 14th January 1811. He remained there until August 1814; the following year he was transferred to four different sub-prefectures in succession: Wissembourg, on 22nd August 1814; Saverne, on 13th April 1815; Lille, on 10th June; Nancy on 2nd August; and back to Wissembourg on 22nd February 1816. After three years there, he was appointed prefect of the Haut-Rhin on 19th February 1818, and on 18th July 1820, prefect of Le Cantal. The records show that he was appointed prefect of Le Puy-de-Dome on 30th March 1828. but it seems unlikely that he had remained

prefeng-letter.doc 107 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” prefect of Le Cantal for eight consecutive years. Under the government o Louis-Philippe, he was prefect of La Moselle and of La Gironde, but no mention is made of La Loire, where we know from other sources he was prefect from 1833 until 24th July 1837, when Mr. Jayr was appointed prefect of Montbrison. On 18th May 1845 he became a peer of France, but his official career ended three years later with the Revolution of 1848, when he returned once and for all to private life. He must have appreciated the fourteen years of sedentary life which lay ahead of him, until his death in Paris on 10th March 1862 (Cf. Robert and Cogny, DPAN, Paris, 1889;andL. 51). (REFERENCES, p. 181).

DE VIRIEU, STEPHANIE: (1785-1873), born in St-Mandé, near Paris, on 14th July 1785, was the daughter of FRANÇOIS-Henn de Virieu, who at the age of 24 was a colonel in the Royal Limousin regiment, and Elisabeth de Digeon, a descendant of an old Protestant family from Gascony. They had two other children: Emiie, born in December 1786, later the Countess De Quinzonas; and Aymon, born in May 1789, a future friend of Lamartine. The family was scattered during the first three years of the Revolution, but managed to regroup in Lyons in the spring of 1793. The siege of that city cost Colonel De Virieu his life. Stephanie had a passion for drawing; since she had neither paper nor pencils, she drew in charcoal on the wall of the kitchen. The painter Gerard, a refugee himself, saw her work one day and said, “If only I had her gift of composition!” After Robespierre’s death the family found shelter in Lyon-La-Croix- .Rousse for more than two years. In 1798 they returned to Paris. Stephanie worked in the studio of Lavoipierre, a pupil of David. In 1801, back in Lyons, Stephanie learned mineralogy and archaeology from a Mr. Tabard, an archeologist and librarian of that city. Two years later, her mother bought the château of Lemps, with money she received from the sale of her diamonds and from her brother. “It was the most wonderful and delightful thing imaginable” when Stephanie could say, for the first time, “We’re home!” She was 18. Among their visitors were Lamartine [a poet and politician] and Vignet, Aymon’s friends from the Belley secondary school. Although Stephanie kept saying, “Marriage is not my vocation”, her sister Emilie married the Count de Quizonas in 1805, in the chapel of the château of Lemps. Under the Restoration, Madame de Virieu and her daughter spent time in the Vendée, in Gascony, and in Piedmont, where Aymon had been named secretary at the embassy in Turin, and Stephanie kept filling her albums with drawings and sketches. In Turin, she painted the portrait of Joseph de Maistre in his chancellor’s uniform; it was the last time he wore it. In 1824, she took a long trip to Italy, during which she met Madame Swetchine in Rome; they continued their friendship by correspondence over the next twenty-five years. But a decade of grief was just about to open for her. Her sister Emilie died in 1831, her mother in 1837, and her brother Aymon in 1841. It was also during that period that she collaborated with the parish priest of Grand-Lemps for the establishment of a brothers’ school in his parish (L. 263). But after her mother’s death, she spent most of her time at the château of Pondenas, Lot-et- Garonne, filling her days with painting and sculpture. That is how her grand-niece, Countess Xavier De Gontaut-Biron, née Virieu, remembers seeing her at the age of 88, sculpting her final work, a Way of the Cross for her parish in Pondenas. She died there on 9th May 1873. (Adapted from information supplied by Madame De Virieu.) (REFERENCES, pp. 186-187).

DE VOGUÉ, (COUNT) EUGENE JACQUES JOSEPH INNOCENT: (1777-1854), was

prefeng-letter.doc 108 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” born on 7th February 1777, in Tresques, Gard, to the “high and powerful lord Florirnond Innocent Annet de Vogue, Lord of Tresques, Marquis of Mouclut and other places, maestre-de-camp (riding master) in the cavalry” and the noble Lady Marie Anne de Cadole. A landowner and general councilor for the Ardèche, he was elected by the “grand college” of that department and sat with the majority in the “Chambre introuvable” (which had an unexpected majority of royalists; hence it was said that the king had “found the unfindable”). On 13th November 1820 and 6th March 1824 he kept his seat among the royalists of the right. Sometime in 1823, according to the account of Fr. Dumas, parish priest of Boulieu, Mr. de Vogue lost his oldest son at the age of nine. Io perpetuate his memory, he wanted to help establish a school where boys would be instructed in the Christian religion. Thus it was that in November of that year, the brothers opened their school in Boulieu. On 5th November 1827, Mr. de Vogue was named a peer of France by King Charles X, but after the revolution of July 1830, in virtue of article 68 of the new charter, he was excluded from the High Chamber. This is what Bro. Avit has to say about that, in the annals of Boulieu: “Count Eugene de Vogue was an absolutely respectable man, whom the July Revolution was able to violently deprive of the seat which King Charles X had given him in the Chamber of Peers, but it could not take from him the esteem and affectionate gratitude which are the sweet reward of those who, like Mr. De Vogue, devote their fortune and their life to the exercise of the most noble of all virtues: charity” (213.6, p. 2). The count had committed himself to paying for one brother from the school in Boulieu, on condition that the boys from St-Clair, where he lived, be admitted to that school. He must have considered that that obligation expired when a similar school was opened in his parish. That is the burden of an undated letter from Bro. Flavien, which Bro. Avit says was written on 9th November 1845: “1 am profiting by the occasion of the trip of the brother from Quintenas who is going to Bourg (Argental) to give you some news about our establishment. Thank you, brother, for offering to send us a cook: we do not need one, since we have hardly any children, only 53 between the two of us, divided half and half. Saint-Clair has opened its school and we no longer have the children from that parish. Nor have I received the 400 fr. from the count, and our salary is going to drop to 600 fr. at most. I think that from now on there will be only about 60 children (at most) in the Boulieu schools. I don’t think the school in Boulieu will go very far; it is coming to an end like the one in St-Désirat. It has no resources. “I just received about two weeks ago my authorization from the ministry, which will be worthless. I am in a bit of a rush; the brother is about to leave. No other interesting news from Boulieu. They are putting up a beautiful clock in the parish, but the tower isn’t tall enough so they have to postpone the work. They have money for everything except their school. They had better find some if they want to keep us. I am your most humble and most obedient brother Flavien. Boulieu” (AA, 216.3). All the inconvenience he thus caused took nothing away from Mr. De Vogue’s merits; he died in the château of Gourdan, Ardèche, on 16th March 1854. (Cf. L. 1). (REFERENCES, pp. 187-188).

DEBELAY, JEAN-MARIE MATHIAS: (1800-1863). What follows is the biographical sketch given in L’Episcopat francais, pp. 96-97, 646-647. We have simply fleshed out the part which concerns us directly, during the time when he was in contact with Fr. Champagnat and the Marist Brothers. “He was born in Vinat, Ain, 20th February 1800. Since the department of the Am belonged to the archdiocese of Lyons after the concor-

prefeng-letter.doc 109 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” dat, he did his studies, and brilliantly so, in the seminaries of l’Argentière, Alix, and Saint-Irénée. He thought about joining the Foreign Missions Society, but Bishop Devie, who had just been appointed to Belley, wanted to keep him, and named him professor of rhetoric in Meximieux, where one of his students was Fr. Martin, his future vicar general in Troyes and Avignon (he was a prothonotary apostolic when he died in 1904 at the age of 99). Two years later, he was named curate in Nantua, then principal of the secondary school, and finally, at 28, parish priest of that city, where he restored the church. He did a great deal of good there.” It was as parish priest that he wrote to Fr. Champagnat on 18th April 1838, to ask for three of his brothers who would be capable of competing with the private teachers and a town teacher. Since the bishop himself had been told, on the occasion of a prior request, that there could be no promise of brothers for 1837, Fr. Debelay felt sure he could have them for 1838. The Founder replied on 11th May that he would like to have some additional information before setting a specific date when he could count on the brothers (cf. L. 189, introduction and text). “It seems,” says Bro. Avit in the annals of Nantua, “that this reply rather jolted Fr. Debelay. He shared his perplexity with his bishop. Bishop Devie wrote again to Fr. Champagnat in January 1839, urging him to accept the school. The Founder replied that, because of the opposition on the part of the town and the various lay teachers, it appeared that the struggle would simply be too difficult unless the school were free. He admitted that he did not have any subjects capable enough to win out over that competition, and he asked the bishop to be patient” (AFA, 214.58, p. 10). On 22nd April 1840, the priest returned to the attack with renewed confidence, because in the meantime, he had met Fr. Champagnat while in Lyons, and had taken pains to get everything ready. “Fr. Champagnat accepted the establishment for All Saints (1840), on condition that the school would be free and a town school.... The parish priest found a suitable job for the town teacher, and the town council accepted the brothers as his replacements. On 3rd October, the priest announced that he was sending 1300 francs; we presume that was a down-payment. He was impatiently awaiting the brothers, and asked that the director come within two weeks. Like his bishop, he involved himself in the affair of the legal authorization of the Institute, and put pressure on the Girod brothers, one of whom was a deputy, the other president of the Council of State. The three brothers...arrived at the end of October. The parish priest gave them room and board for 15 days, at which time they were installed in the buildings attached to the church” (ibid., pp. 11-12). “Fr. Debelay was named bishop of Troyes in December 1843 (actually, on 19th November). His brother Denis succeeded him here: he was as flighty and superficial as his brother was serious. The brothers made no profit on that exchange” (ibid., p. 14). “Approved on 22nd January 1844, ordained in Paris by Bishop Affre on 10th March, he entered Troyes on the 28th of that month. At the end of 1844, he created a band of diocesan missionaries under the title of ‘Priest Auxiliaries’. In 1846, he set up an archeological commission to preserve the religious monuments of the diocese, and sent every parish priest a very detailed archeological questionnaire. “His great accomplishment was the reestablishment of the Roman liturgy. First, he had a diocesan Proper drawn up; it was approved by the Holy See on 8th December 1846. Pius IX, in a brief of 7th January I S47, congratulated him on his project of restoring the Roman liturgy, which was accomplished by an episcopal letter of the following 14th June. That same year, Bishop Debelay had a Roman Ritual printed, with notes and appendices, for the use of the Diocese of Troyes (p. 647). “He was transferred to the archdiocese of Avignon on 16th

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October 1848, approved on 11th December, and installed the following 7th February; he made his solemn entry on the 27th of that month. In December 1849, he opened and presided at the Provincial Council of Avignon, in which his four suffragans participated. In 1850 and 1851, .ti the end of the pastoral retreat, he held a diocesan synod. At the end of these synods, new statutes were published, substantially different from those which had been given by Archbishop Du Pont. He had a new diocesan Proper drawn up and approved, and had the hymnals and books of liturgical music reprinted. “During this time, the archbishop had visited his entire diocese and had become aware of the condition of the different parishes. Full of zeal for the house of God and for the Christian education of his people, he furthered the rebuilding or restoration of many churches, and opened 26 houses of brothers and 60 of sisters. Under his administration, the Jesuits reopened their first secondary school in Avignon, the Recollects returned, the Brothers of the Christian Schools opened a large boarding school, the Missionary Priests of Sainte-Garde were re-established, the Dominicans opened a novitiate and a residence in Carpentras, the Cistercians returned to the abbey of Sénanque, many communities of women were founded or developed, various penitential confraternities were encouraged and reorganized, the seminaries received a new thrust, and the Sainte-Garde residence was partly rebuilt. “Archbishop Debelay also established in his diocese the Perpetual Adoration Society, as well as ‘The Work of the Immaculate Conception for the Propagation of Good Books’; he also founded free parish libraries. In 1856, to commemorate the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, he had erected the monumental statue which dominates the city of Avignon and the valley of the Rhône from the top of the tower of Notre-Dame-des-Doms. He asked Napoleon III to have the former papal palace restored. When he visited Avignon in 1859, the emperor promised him financial aid, but the project was never carried out. He wanted to oblige his parish priests to live in community, but his efforts did not meet with long-term success. After a long illness borne with courage, he died on 27th September 1863. He had been an officer of the Legion of Honor since 29th December 1855” (pp. 96-97). Bibliography:L’Episcopat francais depuis le Concordat jusqu’a la Separation (1802- 1905), published under the direction of the Société Bibliographique, Paris: Librairie des Saints-Pères, 1907. (REFERENCES, pp. 152-154).

DECULTIEUX, JEAN PIERRE MARIE: (1801-1892), was born 16th July 1801 in Panissières, Loire, to Jean-Baptiste Décultieux, farmer and landowner, and Louise Plassard. In 1819, he did his year of rhetoric in the seminary in Argentière; he studied philosophy and mathematics from 1820 to 1822. On 1st November 1822, he entered Saint-Irénée for his first year of theology; he began his second year there on 26th July 1823, but he left on 24th February 1824 to return to Argentière. The register of the latter institution does not specify his class. We lose track of him between 1824 and 1826; on 1st November 1826 he reappears at Saint-Irénée to start his second year of theology over again, but on 15th October 1827 he enters the third year. During that year, he received the subdiaconate on 22nd December 1827, the diaconate on 5th April 1828, and the priesthood that 31st May. Six weeks later, on 10th July, he was named curate in Anse, and then in Pélussin on 18th July 1832. It was in the latter place that he became interested in Fr. Champagnat’s congregation, even recruiting some young men for the novitiate. More than that, he even hinted to the Founder that he would be glad to work with him at the Hermitage on behalf of the brothers. Fr. Champagnat did not fail to

prefeng-letter.doc 111 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” suggest this to Bishop De Pins during Lent 1835 (Cf. L 56). There was no follow-up to the suggestion; at the end of the year, on 16th December 1835, he was transferred to Ste-Mane in St-Etienne, while awaiting his appointment as parish priest of Charly on 5th October 1836. On 1st October 1840, he was named parish priest of Curis; in September 1852, professor at Verrières; and two years later, superior of that house. On 26th February 1868, he was named parish priest of , Loire; another priest took over the functions of parish priest in 1878, although he retained the title. He died in Moingt, Loire, on 31st March 1892. (Cf. J. Coste, OM, IV, 262-263). (REFERENCES, pp. 100-100).

DEFOUR, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see THÉODOSE, BROTHER.

DELEBECQUE, (REFERENCES, pp. 100-100).Germain Joseph: (1795-1875), was born 5th December 1795 in Gondecourt, Nord. He went into teaching early in his life, particularly at the secondary school in St-Omer. In 1818 he went to Paris to study law, and also worked as a private teacher, no doubt to cover his expenses. The doors of the Ministry of Public Instruction soon opened before him for what was to be a long career. In 1830, he became head of the first division of that ministry, and maître de requêtes (responsible for receiving, classifying and forwarding all documents received) for the Council of State. On 21st June 1834, the third electoral “college” of the Pas-de-Calais chose him as deputy. As such, he was a centrist and voted consistently with the majority, in that legislature as well as in those which followed. He was repeatedly reelected: 4th November 1837, 2nd March 1839, 9th July 1842, and 1st August 1846. The 1848 Revolution removed him from Parliament for a while. He then became administrator of railways in the North, and must certainly have left the Ministry of Public Instruction. During much of this period he found himself face to face with the Founder of the Marist Brothers, who was seeking the legal authorization of his Institute. Even though the latter, to the best of our knowledge, sent him only one letter (L. 224), he mentions him in fourteen others, always in connection with that matter (LL. 75, 90, 97, 170, 176, 178, 193, 197, 198, 220, 230, 274, 275, 373). He must have dealt with him most of the time in person, during his stay in Paris. There can be no doubt that he was behind the request made to Fr. Champagnat to send brothers to St-Pol-sur-Ternoise, despite the inconsistency involved in asking for the services of a congregation which his ministry did not want to recognize. Without questioning his good faith, one must still wonder how he harmonized his political life with his Christian life. Did he want a Catholic school because he wanted to perform a good work, or to prove to the voters that he was an effective politician? Whatever, he waited more than ten years before again seeking election, on 21st October 1860; on that occasion, the second electoral “college” gave him the seat of Mr. Lequen in the Chamber of Deputies. Until the fall of the empire, he sat with the majority and voted faithfully with them. He was reelected on 4th June 1863 and 24th May 1869. The revolution of 4th September 1870 returned him permanently to private life. He died five years later, on 11th December 1875, at his Paris residence, 20, rue de Ia Paix. (Cf. DPAN, Paris, 316.3 17.) (REFERENCES, pp. 170-171).

DELON, ALEXANDRE LOUIS MATHIEU: (1791-?), born in Paris on 11th January 1791, married in 1830, no children. A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, he joined the Imperial Guard and quickly became an artillery captain. As such, he took part in the Russian campaign ‘in 1812, the campaign of 1813 — during which he was made a

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Knight of the Legion of Honor — and also the campaigns of 1814 and 1815. He was wounded in the left shoulder at Montmirail in February 1814, and placed on non-active duty sometime in 1815. After leaving the army in 1817, he went to South America, where he made money from copper mines in Chile until 1832. Once back in France, he began his career in administration. He was successively appointed sub-prefect of Largentière on 26th July 1834, sub-prefect of Saint-Etienne on 24th September 1836, prefect of la Lozère on 20th October 1838, and finally prefect of the Ardennes on 1st August 1841. Since he was then 50, we may presume that as of that date he retired to private life. We do not know how much longer he lived, since we were unable to discover the date of his death. (National Archives: Personnel administratif; cf. also LL. 160, 191.) (REFERENCES, pp. 171-172).

DELORME, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see ALYPIUS, BROTHER.

DELORME, JEAN-MARIE; see MARIE-NIZIER, BROTHER.

DENIS, BROTHER: Born Joseph Bron, sometime in 1812, in St-Jean-de-Bournay, Isère, to Jean-Baptiste Bron and Marianne Brouchond, was admitted to the Hermitage on 26th August 1832 at the age of 20. Six weeks later, on 7th October, he received the religious habit, and on 8th December he made temporary profession, which he renewed for three years on 29th September 1833. On 15th August 1834 he made private perpetual vows, which he professed publicly on 10th October 1836, when they were authorized for the Institute. We can trace his whereabouts from 1834 on; between the end of his novitiate and that date, he was presumably studying at the Hermitage. In 1834, most probably after the October retreat, he was sent to help Bro. Cassien, who had become a Marist Brother and was again taking over his school in Sorbiers, this time as an establishment of the Institute. The latter, however, for subjective reasons and perhaps some objective ones as well, was very dissatisfied with Bro. Denis, whom Fr. Champagnat quickly removed from there. We do not know the date when it happened, nor — if it was before the end of the school year —where he went next. We meet him again in November 1835, at the head of the team sent to found the school in St-Didier- sur-Rochefort. He “directed this school for three years, but we have no information at all about those three years” (AFA, 213.46, p. 4). It was there that he received the first (L. 118) and second (L. 168) of the three letters which we know the Founder sent him. As can be seen, the second already hints at personal problems which time would not resolve; but we should not therefore see a cause-and-effect relationship in the fact that that same year, 1838, the Founder transferred him to Boulieu to replace Bro. Hilarion, who then went to direct the school in Bourg-Argental. Under the stimulus of more and more urgent necessity, and perhaps also of favorable circumstances, Bro. Denis, even though he was the new director of that school, prepared for the examination for his certificate of competence, which he must have passed in November in Grenoble. Bro. Avit has got to be incorrect in situating this incident in March 1839, because that would date it a year later than the letter of 10th December 1838 (L. 223) in which Fr. Champagnat congratulates Bro. Denis for having received his certificate. Perhaps the only letter Bro. Avit had was the one to Bro. Laurent of 8th April 1839 (L. 249) which states, “We obtained five certificates in Grenoble: Bro. Denis, Bro. Antoine-Regis, Bro. Gabriel, Bro. Prosper, Bro. Sylvestre...”. However, Bro. Denis stayed only two years at

prefeng-letter.doc 113 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” that post. “A letter from Bro. Hilarion (who as director of Bourg-Argental acted as director-general for the area), dated 23rd August 1840, says in passing...that Bro. Denis often suffered from stitches in his side: was this already the illness which carried him off four or five years later? Bro. Flavien came here to replace him after the retreat” (AFA, 213.6, pp. 13-14). And in the annals of Millery, Bro. Avit notes his arrival there at that time. “This newcomer, with his inflexible character,” he adds, “could not get along with either the children, nor the parents, nor Fr. Mathon (the parish priest); he stayed only one year” (AFA, 214.50, pp. 3-4). The annals of Bouge-Chambalud report that Bro. Siméon fell ill and was replaced sometime after school reopened in 1842, “by Bro.Denis, who had just been director of the house in Millery where he was a failure. He held the title here under Bro. Etienne, who did the cooking and taught the lower class. We do not know if he was already here. On 29th December, Bro. Etienne announced that there were more than 100 children in the classes, that Bro. Denis made the children get as much as they could out of them, and that he had handed over to Bro. Denis the sale of textbooks because the sales distracted him during prayers. Bro. Siméon died a saintly death at the Hermitage in February 1843. Bro. Denis wrote six or seven letters to the Hermitage to ask for his secular clothing or something else, but got no reply. He finally got angry and had himself replaced in September 1843” (AFA, 214.14, p. 7). Although we can trust that date, on the grounds that Bro. Avit himself replaced him, we still have doubts about what he wrote later in the annals of Sorbiers: “We thought the difficulties had been smoothed over, and that Bro. Denis and one other had come to reopen this school in November 1844. Bro. Denis was then replaced by Bro. Agricole” (AFA, 213.75, p. 8). Actually, in the Abrégé des Annales, he noted for 1844: “The school in Sorbiers had been reopened the previous year, by two brothers, after a six-year hiatus” (AA, notebook n° 3, p. 284). In Bro. Agricole’s ifie we read that he was “town teacher in Sorbiers from September 1843 to September 1850”. Since there are two statements against one, we presume that the school in Sorbiers was reopened by the brothers in September 1843, that Bro. Denis was the first director during that second period, and that he stayed there only briefly. It was no doubt from there that he left the Institute, hence at the end of 1843. He became guardian of a shrine in the department of the Var, where he died not long after, which confirms Bro. Avit’s question in 1840, quoted above: “Was this already the illness which carried him off four or live years later?” (REFERENCES, pp. 172-174).

DEPERY, JEAN-IRÉNÉE: (1796-1861), born 6th March 1796 in Chalex, Mn, to Claude Depéry and Claudine Dubuisson. He received his primary education in a boarding school which Mr. Crouzet, an attorney-notary in St-Jean-de..Gouvjlle, had opened after the Revolution. He attended the secondary school in Mélan, Basses-Alpes, in 1810, and then that of La-Roche.sur..Foron Hautes-Alpes. He did his humanities and rhetoric at the minor seminary in Chambery, philosophy at the one in Argentière in 18 16-17, and his theology at Saint-Sulpice in Paris. As early as 1819, Bishop de Solles, archbishop of Chambery, called him to teach rhetoric in the minor seminary of Saint-Louis-du-Mont in Chambery. It was from there that he was taken by Fr. De Varicourt, parish priest of Gex, who had been named bishop of Orleans, to be his secretary in his see city, where he was enthroned on 5th January 1820. It was there, during that year, that Depéry received major orders: subdiaconate on 18th March, diaconate on 27th May, and priesthood on 23rd December. After the death of Bishop de Vancourt on 9th December 1822, Bishop

prefeng-letter.doc 114 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” de Solks recalled him to Chambéry as vicar of the see city, but the bull “Paternae charitatis” had just reestablished the diocese of Belley, and Depéry, being a native of Gex, fell under the jurisdiction of the bishop who had just been named for the new diocese. On 15th July 1823, Bishop Devje officially appointed him secretary of the Belley chancery (AEB. registre des ordonnances). It was the new secretary who, immediately after the bishop had taken possession of his see on 23rd July 1823. began the registre des ordonnances. He was made a titular Canon in 1829; on 1st April 1833, he was appointed vicar general, and on 1st April 1836, he was replaced as secretary by Fr. Guillemin. During this period, he frequently had to go to Paris for negotiations about the reconstruction of the cathedral of Belley, and then to help Fr. de la Croix d’Azolette, who had been named bishop of Gap. It was on one of those trips to Paris that Bishop Devie also asked the two priests to look into the legal recognition of the Institute of the Little Brothers of Mary (cf. LL. 97 and 100). In 1838. Depéry accompanied Bishop De Ia Croix d’Azolette on his first pastoral visit of his diocese. Two years later, when he was trans- ferred to Auch. Archbishop De la Croix tried in vain to have Fr. Depéry named his Successor in Gap. It was only four years later, after the death of Bishop Rossat, that the government thought of him for Gap. He was named on 1st April 1844, approved on 17th June, ordained in Belley by Bishop Devie on 1st September, and enthroned in Gap on 14th September 1844. He occupied that see until his death; he is noted for having reestablished :he pilgrimage to N.-D. du Laus, whose statue was crowned on 23rd May 1855, and also for his literary activity; on 29th July 1857, he founded the Flosalpine Academy in Embrun. He died in Gap on 9th December 1861. (Cf. J. Coste, OMI, IV, pp. 263-264). (REFERENCES, pp. 174-175).

DESCHAL, JULIEN: Parish priest of Virelade, Gironde, in the diocese of Bordeaux, remains unidentifiable, for lack of documentation. Msgr. Laroza, the diocesan archivist of Bordeaux, wrote on 24th May 1982, in reply to our request for information: “We have no file on the Fr. Deschal who was parish priest of Virelade in 1839”. Consequently, his two letters of 15th September and 21st October 1839 (cf. LL. 270, 284) are our only proof that he existed, but they offer us no information whatever on the man or his life. (REFERENCES, p. 181).

DESRAUTOURS DE CHAULIEU, (BARON) RAOUL GABRIEL JUDE: (1802-1876), was born 20th April 1802 in Vive, Calvados, to Jules Desrautours, Baron de Chaulieu, captain in the royal army of Normandy under the orders of the Count de Frotté, and Adelaide Antoinette Du Buisson de Courson. All we know about his youth is that he studied law and wanted to become an attorney. The “La Diana” society, in its XIII volume, entitled Recueil et Mémoires sur le Forez, pp. 127 if., has an article on “Limestone as fertilizer in greenhouses”, by Baron de Chaulieu (Montbrison, 1824). The yearbook of the Loire for 1834 gives the following listing for the prefects of the department: “2nd January 1823, Baron Desrautours de Chaulieu; 19th August 1830, Count de Gasparin”. Strangely enough, the dictionary of members of parliament makes no mention of his term as prefect. What makes it stranger still is the fact that no other prefect ever remained in office in the same prefecture for seven consecutive years. Bro. Avit testifies that at that time he was definitely prefect of the Loire: “The reader will recall that Mr. de Chaulieu, prefect of the Loire, had visited the Hermitage in 1826, and that he had authorized the creation of a small cemetery. Shortly afterwards, he had the general

prefeng-letter.doc 115 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” council of the Loire vote 1500 francs to help the Founder in the formation of his teaching brothers. From then on, that amount was voted and paid each year” (AA, p. 89). It was in that context that Fr. Champagnat wrote the letter of 11th April 1829 (L. 12) to inform him of the financial situation of the Institute and thank him for his generosity. On 14th February 1830, Mr. De Chaulieu was named secretary general of the prefecture of the Ardennes. Being of a royalist bent, he declared himself a candidate for the Legislative Assembly, but we do not know when he left his previous office and began his parliamentary career. He was elected to represent the Calvados on 13th May 1849, and took his seat on the right, among the conservative majority. Given his age and political stance, the coup d’etat of 2nd December 1871 forced him to return to private life. He died in his hometown five years later, on 10th July 1876. (REFERENCES, pp. 181-182).

DESROZIERS, BENOIT: (1791-1861), born 4th September 1791 in Ainay (Lyons), Rhône, was the son of Jean Desroziers and François Catin. He was a fellow-student of Marcellin Champagnat, and ordained with him to the diaconate in Grenoble in 1815, and to the priesthood in Lyons on 22nd July 1816. Immediately after his ordination, he was named curate in his home parish of Ainay. On 19th October 1828, he replaced Fr. Jean- Baptiste Panage as parish priest of Millery. Since he was dissatisfied with the schoolteachers he found in his parish, he and Mr. Thibaudier, the mayor, quickly requested brothers, who took over the school in 1829. Fr. Desroziers stayed in that parish less than three years; on 6th July 1831, he returned to Lyons, as parish priest of Saint-Pierre. He remained there until February 1855, at which date, according to Fr. Vachet in Les prêtres du diocese de Lyon, he was transferred to the parish of Saint- Nizier. (However, that appointment does not appear in the personnel register.) There he replaced Fr. Menaide, who had died towards the end of 1854. In that connection, Bro. Avit makes a glaring mistake when he states that Fr. Menaide “died in 1849 and was replaced by Fr. Desroziers, for whom the brothers had nothing but praise” (AFA, 214.48, P. 7). If he had looked carefully at the date on the two simultaneous letters of Fathers Trévoux and Menaide which he copied into his text, he would have seen “Lyons, 1st September 1854”. Fr. Desroziers died as parish priest of Saint-Nizier in Lyons, on 6th June 1861 (AAL, registre des décès). (REFERENCES, pp. 182-183).

DEVAUX DE PLEYNE, ALEXANDRE LOUIS: (1774-?), was born 29th April 1774, probably in Bourg-Argental, although we have no certitude on that. Actually, the only information we have on his life is that furnished by the departmental archives. We know he was married but childless, that he was appointed mayor of Bourg-Argental in 1820 and reappointed on 12th January 1826. and that he was replaced in that function by Eugene Julien De Vileneuve on 1st September 1827 (ADL, 7M, 54). In his work, Bourg- Argental, Porte du Forez, Jean Badon mentions the Chevalier de Villeneuve’s succession in 1827, but seems unaware of the prefectorial document. In speaking of his predecessor’s accomplishments he says, “At the request of the mayor of Bourg-Argen- tal, Alexandre Devawt de Pleyné, the founder of the Marist Brothers, Blessed Marcellin Champagnat. opened a school there. Here is what we read in a book on his life: ‘The success of the school of Saint-Sauveur was the talk of the town at Bourg-Argental.... Mr. de Pleyné, who was its mayor, inquired of Mr. Colomb where he had secured those teachers whom the public praised so highly’ (Life, p. 88). The latter gave him a full explanation and encouraged his colleague to ask for Marist Brothers for his own school.

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Mr. de Pleyné immediately wrote to Fr. Champagnat to ask him for three brothers, whom he was given. They arrived at the end of 1821, and opened their school, the present presbytery, on 2nd January 1822.... They stayed in our town until 1880, at which time they were expelled from their buildings” (Badon, op.cit., p. 49). However, it would appear that Mr. de Pleyné was not all that generous. In fact, in his letter of 1st December 1823, Fr. Champagnat confided to Bro. Jean-Marie that the brothers in Bourg-Argental “are still poorly housed” and that “the building is not suitable for a school” (cf. L. 1). In 1827, the mayor requested a reduction in the brothers’ salary, which Fr. Champagnat refused to grant (cf. L. 8). On the other hand, we must acknowledge all that he did do for his school, which Bro. Avit mentions in the annals: “Since the fees were not sufficient, Mr. de Pleyné took it on himself to provide 1000 francs instead of 600 in 1824.... In 1827, since the first building was too small, another house was bought, towards which Mr. de Pleyné contributed 1000 fr.” (AFA, 213.85, p. 4). We do not know what became of Mr. de Pleyne after his term as mayor, nor even the date of his death. 214.74,p. 20). Now, Bro. Marie was director of that establishment only during the 1838-39 school year. But before all that, the bishop had obtained brothers for Thoissey and Nantua. He had above all advised the Founder and had supported him in his steps to obtain the authorization of the Institute, as we know from the numerous letters they exchanged(cf. LL. 97, 149, 153,317). Fr. Champagnat’s successor, Bro. François, wrote twice to Bishop Devie in 1841, as he did to the other bishops in whose dioceses the brothers were established, to request their backing for his request for authorization. The next contact was in September 1846, when there were unsuccessful negotiations over the foundation of a school in the parish of Echallon. However, even if Bishop Devie distanced himself somewhat from the Marist Brothers, as Bro Avit says, they cannot deny all the help he gave them — in his authoritarian way, no doubt, but loyally. He stood out among the bishops of his time by his broad education. “Intellectuals like Bishop Devie of BeIlev are rare” (P. Christophe, p. 15). “A man of doctrine and a voluminous writer, he published a great many books besides his numerous letters and circulars, among them the Rituel de Belley in three volumes, a real compendium of church discipline and pastoral activity (OM, I, p. 750, note 1; OM II, pp. 309, note 3, 500, note I). and a Méthode pratique pour faire le catéchisme. In the political realm, he held a position both prudent and firm.... His independence from the civil government did not prevent the king from naming him, by an ordinance of 4th December 1839, to the archdiocese of Rheims, which he refused; he even sounded him out, with no greater success, about the see of Paris. Bishop Devie spent his remaining years in Belley; in 1850, at the age of 83, he had requested and been given a coadjutor with right of succession: Bishop Chalandon. He died on 25th July 1852, after several months illness”. (Cf. J. Coste, OM, lv, p. 269.) (REFERENCES, pp. 183-184).

DEVIE, ALEXANDRE RAYMOND: (1767-1852), was born into a family of modest means on 23rd January 1767, in Montélimar, Drôme. After beginning his education in his hometown, he began his philosophy in 1783 at the seminary in Viviers, and two veers later his theology in Bourg-Saint-Andéol. Both seminaries were directed by Sulpicians, and the second was affiliated to the University of Valence. Since both were highly reputed in the neighboring dioceses, they generally sent their most gifted students there. After two years at the latter institution, Mr. Devie received his M.A.: even though he was stills only in minor orders, his bishop quickly named him professor of philosophy

prefeng-letter.doc 117 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” at the seminary, on 31st July 1787. He was ordained subdeacon on 23rd March 1790, then deacon on 20th May by Bishop De Savines. Since the latter subsequently took the oath to the Constitution, Mr. Devie had to find another "non-juring" bishop to ordain him to the priesthood. That was Bishop Fallot de Beaupré, of Vaison, who ordained him in Valreas in October 1791. Since he also refused to take the oath, he had to exercise his ministry clandestinely, being hidden first by a family in Thueyts, and then by one in Montélimar itself, until Napoleon's coup d'état on 18th Brumaire Year VIII (9th November 1799). After that he served openly as curate in the parish and as chaplain to the local Visitation nuns. In January 1812, he became professor of moral theology at the seminary in Viviers, and at the beginning of the next school year, its rector. On 31st May 1813, Bishop Bécherel of Valence simultaneously appointed him first vicar general and rector of the major seminary in Valence. He took over his new positions on 19th August, after receiving the necessary approbation. He was one of the four vicars general named by the chapter after Bishop Bécherel's death on 26th June 1815. When the new ordinary, Bishop De la Tourelle, took possession of his see, he confirmed Fr. Devie as vicar general. On 13th January 1823, the king appointed him Bishop of Belley, which had been reestablished as a diocese by the bull "Paternae charitatis" of 6th October 1822. He was approved on 10th March, ordained by Bishop Frayssinous on 15th June in the chapel of Issy-les-Moulineaux in Paris, and made his solemn entry into Belley on 23rd July (AE Belley, registre des ordonnances, pp. 9-10; J. Coste, OM, IV, pp. 267- 272). From the very beginning, Bishop Devie found himself in contact with the Society of Mary which was forming in his diocese, especially the branches of priests and sisters. He very quickly became acquainted with Marcellin Champagnat, because schools, as well as religious congregations, were a high priority in his plans for his diocese. But it was mainly during the decade from 1830 to 1840 that our Founder and the bishop of Belley were in direct contact. On 16th July 1832, they met to discuss an agricultural school which the bishop wanted to open in Bresse. Without rejecting the idea, the Founder, after discussing it with Fr. Gardette, one of his advisers, managed to obtain a delay. The following year, Bishop Devie tried again, this time via Fr. Colin, who on 24th June reminded Fr. Champagnat of the project and invited him to go look over the situation. We do not know if he followed that suggestion, but in any case, towards the end of July (cf. L. 28) he seemed willing to take on the project. However, other obstacles must have arisen in the meantime, since the plans fell through, from the brothers' side. In the interim, as Bro. Avit recounts, "Bishop Alexandre Raymond Devie of Belley, who had always shown great kindness to the Society of the Marist Fathers and Brothers, honored us with his esteemed visit to N.-D. de l'Hermitage during the brothers' general retreat that year, 1832.... Fr. Champagnat brought the bishop into the prayer room There the brothers were gathered. His Grandeur encouraged them, cave them his blessing and withdrew. The retreat timetable was not in the least modified by this much- appreciated visit..."(AA, pp. 121-122). A few years later, there arose the matter of St- Didier-sur-Chalaronne in connection with which Bishop Devie was again not very pleased with Fr. Champagnat. A certain Miss De la Poype write to Bishop Devie in 1835, saving she wanted to found a school for the children of the parishes of St-Didier-sur- Chalaronne and Thoissey, and presenting him with a gift in the amount of 72,000 fr. The bishop saw to the carrying out of the project, had a school building put up in St-Didier, but first to Thoissey, then asked Fr. Colin for Brothers of the Hermitage, informing him that he intended to add to the school a novitiate for the brothers. Fr. Champagnat, out of

prefeng-letter.doc 118 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” obedience to his superiors, agreed to the request, but showed himself very reticent about the foundation of a novitiate, because, according to Bro. Avit, it would be "too close to the one at the Hermitage" (AA, p. 193). Besides, Fr. Madinier, parish priest of St-Didier, who had the house built, had not foreseen additional Space for the novitiate. Towards the end of 1836. "being unaware that the brothers had arrived in St-Didier, Bishop Devie wrote to the venerated Father and urged him to send them as soon as possible.... Fr. Champagnat replied that..."The Brothers have already left for St-Didier .and have been there for a week...." (ibid., p. 195). "Immediately after the school opened, the bishop requested that novitiate be opened as well. The Founder replied that there were no rooms for it in the building. The bishop went there himself, saw that the rooms were indeed lacking, and wrote to Fr. Champagnat that he had just given orders to raise the house. So the house was raised a meter and a half; a boarding school and a novitiate were established there, but the former killed the latter. The bishop was displeased, turned his back on the Institute, and supported the Brothers of the Holy Family, as well as those of the Cross, for his diocese. None of this unpleasantness would have happened if the Founder had had a free hand”. (ibid., p. 194). According to the annals of St-Didier, this break must have taken place in 1839, for we read that under the direction of Bro. Marie, "a novitiate was begun; but it quickly became obvious that it was incompatible with the school, especially with the boarding school which was already being planned and in which they were more interested" (AFA, 214.74, p. 20). Now, Bro. Marie was director of that establishment only during the 1838-39 school year. But before all that, the bishop had obtained brothers for Thoissey and Nantua. He had above all ado iced the Founder and had supported him in his steps to obtain the authorization of the Institute, as we know from the numerous letters they exchanged (cf. LL. 97, 149, 153,317). Fr. Champagnat’s successor, Bro. François, wrote twice to Bishop Devie in 1841, as he did to the other bishops in whose dioceses the brothels were established. to request their backing for his request for authorization. The next contact was in September 1846, when there were unsuccessful negotiations over the foundation of a school in the parish of Echallon. However, even if Bishop Devie distanced himself somewhat from the Marist Brothers, as Bro Avit says, they cannot deny all the help he gave them in his authoritarian way, no doubt, but loyally. He stood out among the bishops of his time by his broad education. "Intellectuals like Bishop Devie of Belley are rare" (P. Christopher p. 15). "A man of doctrine and a voluminous writer, he published a great many books besides his numerous letters and circulars, among them the Rituel de Belley in three volumes, a real compendium of church discipline and pastoral activity (OM, I, p. 750, note 1; OM II, pp. 309, note 3, 500, note I ), and a “Méthode pratique pour faire le catéchisme”. In the political realm, he held a position both prudent and firm.... His independence from the civil government did not prevent the king from naming him, by an ordinance of 4th December 1839, to the archdiocese of Rheims, which he refused: he even sounded him out, with no greater success about the see of Paris. Bishop Devie spent his remaining years in Belley; in 1850, at the age of 83, he had requested and been given a coadjutor with right of succession: Bishop Chalandon. He died on 25th July 1852, after several months illness. (Cfr. J. Coste, OM, IV, p. 269.). (REFERENCES, pp. 184-186).

DEVILLE, JEAN; see JEAN-PIERRE, BROTHER.

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DIDIER, BROTHER: Born Jean Durand, in the parish of Saint-Hostien, in the district of Saint-Julien-Chapteuil, Haute-Loire, to André Durand and Jeanne Chalendar, entered N.-D. de l’Hermitage as a novice on 2nd December 1835 at the age of 17, “not knowing how to read or write” (RE, 1, p. 68). On 23rd October 1836, he received the religious habit (RV, 1, p. LVII) and on 9th October 1837, after having spent the year in Didier Millery as cook, he made temporary vows for three years (RVT, 1, p. 68; cf. L 74). According to his file, he remained there as cook until January 1840, which seems rather astonishing. We prefer to follow Bro. Avit who places him in Valbenoîte after the 1838 vacation; that appears to be confirmed by the 1839 assignments which maintain him in that post. The list names him immediately after Bro. Liguori, the director, he was therefore subdirector, which leads one to think he must have made considerable progress since 1836. His name appears in the minutes of the conference of the Valbenofte district held on 26th April 1841, although admittedly he is marked as “absent”. In addition, again according to Bro. Avit, he complained in 1842 about the irregular goings-out of the director (of Valbenoîte), which would again indicate that he was subdirector. His file next assigns him, from September 1843 to September 1845, to St-Genest-Malifaux, as associate teacher, and specifies that he obtained his certificate of competence in May 1845. In fact, from that September on, his file invariably indicates that he was the town teacher, first of all in Saint-Martin-Lestra, a school which he founded in September 1845 with two other brothers. “With very little formal education, “ Bro. Avit tells us, “he was typical of the first brothers and... succeeded quite well” (AFA, 213.62, p. 6). The annals also specify that he was still there in 1850, but that Bro. Sabin replaced him in 1853. According to his file, he took over the school in Marlhes in September 1852. We attribute Bro. Avit’s later dating of his arrival in the latter establishment to an error on his part. But both sources agree on the end of his stay there: September 1856. But then Bro. Avit has him arriving in Monsols in 1857, and states that he stayed there two years, without realizing that in the annals of Ecoche he had quoted a note from Bro. Didier himself, stating expressly, “I arrived in 1858” (AFA 213.17, p. 6). His File, on the other hand, puts him in Monsols for the 1856-57school year, and then in Pélussin the following year, 1857-58. In the annals of Ecoche, Bro. Avit does list Bro. Dither on the first page among the directors, after Bro. Barsanuphe, but in the text he says that, “Bro. Modeste replaced Bro. Barsanuphe in September 1858” (AFA, 213.36, p. 17). So we hold with the data in his file, which Bro. Avit does not completely contradict. The latter also records in the annals of Ecoche “a note without date or signature”, but whose style he recognizes as that of Bro. Didier. “We have copied it here,” he says, “not to show the lack of education of this brother, who was a model of simplicity, piety and devotedness, but because of the rather verbose clarifications it contains; it appears to have been written in 1862” (AFA, ?i3.l’l,p. 5). We will reproduce here oniy one passage from this note, which is enough to illustrate Bro. Didier’s style and personality (his grammar and spelling cannot be reproduced in translation): “5°I arrived in 1858; I found few in the classes: 10 in the 1st. in the month of Nov., in Dec. I received 5 or 6; the lower was also few in number. Our rooms are low and dark. The lower class lacks height and windows. All the brothers who passed through there fell sick in a short time. For a long time we asked the mayor to have the different apartments raised, for example a bedroom which would gather the BB. in a single dormitory over the upper class. That and the well will be had when they are forced. Everyone refuses water, to us and to our children who often complain about

prefeng-letter.doc 120 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” enduring thirst. “Our house is surrounded by cabarets; no one can sleep at night, the dirty slobs make so much noise. Besides the narrow street which separates our classrooms and bedrooms from the neighbors was often the reason for the transfer of brothers who got too close to the looms of the young ladies who worked across the way. To overcome that inconvenience, it would be better to build elsewhere in open country, where we could make a garden, without having to go 10 mm. away” (ibid., p. 6). A bit further, the chronicler also records something which typified the brother director: “As an economy measure, here and in all the posts he occupied, Bro. Didier raised a pig each year. The animal’s pen was next to the outhouses, which it could enter freely. He was given practically nothing else, but that was more than enough. When it was time to slaughter the animal, it was usually big and fat. The nearby brothers were invited to that ceremony, which Bro. Didier called the Feast of ‘Monsieur’ (the pig). “We were at the feast that year. Bro. Didier, who did not expect us. seemed very embarrassed by our presence. He expected a severe reprimand, even though his celebration was extremely simple. We ended our visit without even referring to it, which got him even more upset: ‘I won’t lose anything because of the delay,’ he told his friends, ‘I’ll get it all back at retreat time, with interest!’ He didn’t get anything, which led him to say that Bro. Visitor was a ‘good chap’. But really, there was nothing to tell him. “We stayed here two more years.... Just as he was about to move to the new house and be compensated for what he had suffered in the old one. Bro. Didier was replaced by Bro. Audry. It is probable that Mr. Galatard, the mayor, had asked that he be replaced, since he felt he was too weak a teacher” (ibid., p. 8). That was in September 1863; Bro. Didier had to go direct the school in Saint-Pierre-du-Champ, Haute-Loire. He directed that house for five years. In 1868 there was a fire, caused by the imprudence of the young brother cook, who had climbed up into the attic, which was full of dry pine branches, and brought his lamp too close to them. The brothers lost nearly everything. “The villagers were very helpful on that occasion.... It was they who brought them food, and who gave or at least lent them some furniture. None the less, that accident had so shaken Bro. Didier that he had to be replaced” (AFA, 213.69, pp. 17-18) during the 1869 vacation. He stayed at Saint-Genis- Laval until September 1872, if we can rely on his file. He was then supposed to go cook in Beaujeu, but he died there two months later. The way the register of deaths records the fact is interesting; we transcribe it literally: “B. Didier, professed, born Durand Jean, in St-Hostien (Haute-Loire), 29th September 1823, died in Beaujeu (Rhône), the 27th November 1872, being 49 years, I month, 28 days old and 36 years, 10 months, 25 days in community. (This Brother should be 56 or 57 years old.)” (RD, 3, n. 670). (REFERENCES, pp. 188-191).

DOCHE, JEAN; see JEAN-CHRYSOSTOME, BROTHER.

DOMINIQUE, BROTHER: (1803-1865), Benolt Exquis, born on 1st Floréal, Year XI (2 1st April 1803), in Estivareille, district of Saint-Benoit-le-Château, Loire, to Pierre Exquis and Claudine Fléchat. On 12th October 1824, he entered the Hermitage, where he received the habit on 3rd April 1825. He pronounced his first temporary vows on 18th October 1826, for four years (RVT, 1, pp. 4, 24), but does not appear to have renewed them until 9th October 1837, again for four years. He did not make perpetual vows until 9th October 1837 (RVP, 1, p. 29). Immediately after his novitiate, around October- November 1826, “when Fr. Courveille, after giving our Founder so much trouble, left him

prefeng-letter.doc 121 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” to go to Saint-Antoine to found what he called a more austere congregation, Bro. Dominique was one of those who let themselves be won over and followed him. But this brother did not wait for Fr. Courveille’s total fiasco before returning to the Hermitage” (AFA, 212.5, p. 5; cf. AA, p. 73). How long he was away, we do not know. Bro. Avit, whom we have just quoted, gives no further details. According to Bro. Jean-Baptiste (OM, III, doc. 819, p. 226), the whole affair could not have lasted more than two years, while according to Fr. Jean Coste, the “fiasco” took place towards the summer of 1829. It may even have been before the summer of 1829, according to a letter from Fr. Poncet, rector of Saint-Antoine, to Fr. Mazelier, on 17th July of that year “I have been rector of St-Antoine for five months now. It is true that when I arrived here, I found in St- Antoine a community of brothers named after Mary, who were preparing to teach country children, but reasons known to His Lordship alone led to the dismissal of the Reverend Father who was the leader of that community, which therefore found itself without a head, a pressing factor which forced the members of the said community to provide as each saw best for his future means of livelihood” (AFM, 53 1.129, p. 2). Since Bro. Dominique, and it seems Bro. Antoine as well, who had accompanied him (OM, III, doc. 859), did not wait until the “fiasco”, their return is generally situated around the autumn of 1827; in any case, their absence does not seem to have lasted more than a year. According to Bro. Théodose, when Bro. Dominique returned from Saint-Antoine, he “went to see Fr. Champagnat at the Hermitage and asked to be readmitted. Fr. Champagnat pushed him toward the dining room: ‘Yes, come in,’ he told him, smiling as if to say, ‘Poor prodigal! Yes, you may come back in. You were deceived; you acted rashly; well, come back in, and let that be the end of it” (OM, III, doc. 861.8). If we are to believe what Bro. Avit wrote in the annals of Mornant, Fr. Champagnat did not hesitate to entrust the direction of that school to him that very year. It “was opened, we believe,” he says, “on 2nd November 1826.... The first director was an ex-brother Michel.... It appears that Bro. Dominique next directed that house for some time, according to what good old Bro. Xavier tells us.... In l828...good old Bro. Laurent succeeded Bro. Dominique” (AFA 214.56, p. 7). But it is hard to accept that statement, and the annalist himself is no help in the matter. In the Abrége des Annales, he even contradicts himself by saying that “Bro. Laurent first directed the school in Mornant” (AA. p. 78). Would the Founder have wanted to show his confidence in him after his flight, to the point of naming him director almost immediately after his return? It is true that he was already 24, but as we shall see below, his education was not all that far advanced. We prefer to think, although we cannot prove it, that he spent that first year studying at the Hermitage. In November 1829, he went with Bro. Antoine to open the school in Millery, as we know from L. 17 of 10th September 1830. He stayed there only one year; in November 1830 he replaced Bro. Etienne as director of the school in Chavanay. It was there that he locked little Bro. Sylvestre in a closet because he had disrupted his class, and didn’t let him out until Fr. Champagnat arrived some time later. But he did not accompany the young brother, who was en route to Ampuis, because “he did not like young brothers”. He was still in Chavanay on 2nd January 1832 when Fr. Champagnat stopped there with Bro. Louis-Marie, on their way to La Côte-Saint-André (cf. AA, p. 108). Letter 41, of April 1834, to the parish priest of Chavanay, informs us that Bro. Dominique left that city at the end of 1833. That was no doubt when he was named associate to Bro. Liguori in Charlieu, as we learn from L. 36, of 6th March 1834, which informs us, among other things, that good penmanship did not come easily to him, no

prefeng-letter.doc 122 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” more than the ability to be satisfied with whatever fate brought him. In September 1837, apparently to satisfy one of his secret desires, Bro. Dominique was offered the direction of that school, where he had been champing at the bit for four years. In the annals of Charlieu (AFA, 213.8, p. 15), Bro. Avit reports that, “Despite his very average education, Bro. Dominique did well here, teaching the second class. He was given a certified brother for the first class, which was considered to be superior. He often used the cane on his students, and even a stick. The parents let him get away with it, but if the teacher of the first or the third class gave their students even the slightest tap, their complaints and outcries became menacing.... “This brother was typical of the Founder’s first disciples, who were all devotees of a very frugal lifestyle.... He sometimes pushed economy to excess. He was big and strong, and not afraid of long hikes. He often went to Roanne, always on foot. He even went to the Hermitage a few times, stopping off at Saint-Symphorien-le-Château. Returning home rather late one day, he met two suspicious looking types below the bridge over the Sornin. When he came up to them, one said to the other, ‘This one’s just a poor slob; let’s let him go’. The brother passed them at a brisk pace, and overcome by fear, began to run as fast as he could. When they saw that, the two pursued him as far as the outskirts of the city. Were they really evil-doers or just jokers having a good laugh over their victim’s fright? He was always convinced they were robbers”. However, Bro. Dominique’s style of administration seems not to have been of the best. The number of students in the school had gone down. The grinding of teeth could be heard in the community. On one of his visits, Fr. Champagnat noted that “the associates did not like their director”. “After that visit, Father sent Bro. Louis to cook there. After a month, he replaced him by fat Bro. Emile, who did not like the director and played dirty tricks on him” (ibid., p. 16). The latter kept a tight hand on the purse-strings: in order to save on crockery, the food was served in the wrought-iron casserole in which it had been cooked. So as not to dirty the table, the casserole was placed on the floor, and each one pulled it toward him by the handle in order to serve himself. They drank a thin wine made from sorb-apples, which often enough acted as a laxative. To multiply it, he simply replaced what he had taken from the cask with an equal amount of water. Thus, the cask was always full. “Needless to say, everything else was catch-as-catch-can. Since the school had no bell, we bought one with the money an aunt had given us. Bro. Director haggled about it, so the parish priest had to pay the workman who installed the bell on the roof. At the beginning of August, Bro. Louis-Marie stopped off here on his way to Vauban. He wanted to name us as Bro. Dominique’s successor, but the latter seemed very attached to his position. We thought it best to refuse such a burden. A few days later, Bro. Marie-Jubin arrived to replace us.... He thought it his duty to write to the Reverend Brother to complain about the exaggerated economy of the brother director, about the boarders who upset everything, and the disunity which reigned in the house. The Reverend, after reprimanding Bro. Dominique, received from him, on 24th December, the following reply, which is a good indication of his style (which loses something in translation, along with his unique spelling). ‘My very dear brother, I thank you very much for being so kind as to give me some news about yourself, and for showing me what I had to do for the upkeep of the brothers who are with me. I believe you are not unaware that Bro. Marie-Jubin is more and more eager to govern, and I want to give way to him, being more capable than I, things will go better for it. I have been in Charlieu such a long time, it is only right that I leave. I will not go into any detail, I will tell you in person, but all I ask of you is my

prefeng-letter.doc 123 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” change I hope you will not refuse me I expect that from your kindness. Have a little compassion on my unhappiness, I am unburdening myself of all business matters. For there is no more submission now. My very dear brother while awaiting a favorable reply, and a man to teach my class I have the honor to be for life your most obedient servant Bro. Dominique. We have 135 children, id. 8 boarders. My dear brother you know that the brother cook never helps out in class he tells me that you do not require that of him I do not know what he does because our kitchen is not too clean. He has used nearly 40 pounds of butter; for we always take 8 or 8 1/2 pounds of meat; every week he cooks II pounds for the boarders or for us. See if you think that is right, judge the other things just as you do that. Be so kind, please, as to forbid me to buy any books or anything without your permission because they always ask me to’. “Bro. Dominique’s policy was always to ask for the exact opposite of what he really wanted. For four years he had been complaining about his assistants, who returned the favor; he had often requested that either they or he be changed. He got the latter, which was not what he wanted, in September” (ibid., p. 20). He went to direct the house in Pélussin. The annals of that establishment inform us that the first year, Bro. Dominique took over the first class, and that Bro. Jean-Marie Bonnet was the official teacher recognized by the academy, even though he never set foot in the place. But complaints soon came from the authorities “against the too frequent changes and the illegal situation of the Brothers Directors.... During the 1845 vacation, Bro. Gamaliel came to teach the first class and Bro. Dominique taught the second” (ibid., pp. 8-9). On the community level, “the brother director admitted to irregularities and his incapacity, and promised to do better.... “He had been withdrawn after the 1850 retreat to go found the school in Monsols, and his assistant, Bro. Gamaliel, took over as director of the house” (ibid., p. 11). Two other brothers went with him, one of them being Bro. Procule, who was to be subdirector and official teacher of the school. The annals of that establishment report that he rode a horse, and demanded so much from the poor beast that one day, as it was reentering the stable, it collapsed and never got up again. Bro. Dominque directed that school until 1857. After the vacation that year, the Superior General asked him to go found the school in Blanzy, seconded by Bro. Bertoul who would be the official teacher. Bro. Avit’s last comments about this brother are found in the annals of Blanzy: “Bro. Dominque was typical of the first brothers of the Institute. He was a powerful walker, something of a runner, a hard worker, a serious, simple, sober and economical religious. When he wanted to give his associates a treat after they had done hard physical work, the extra consisted entirely in a pile of potatoes fried in oil. The young brothers of today would never put up with him. He always wanted to die with his boots on. God heard him. He died after being unconscious for two days following a stroke in December 1865. His death affected many people and there was quite a crowd at his funeral. During the eight years and five months of his administration, the classes had done well...” (212.5, p.5). To be precise, he died in Blanzy on 9th December 1865, at the age of 62, having spent 41 years, 1 month and 25 days in community. (REFERENCES, pp. 191-195).

DOROTHÉE, BROTHER: (1810-1837), "Jean Villelonge, son of Jacques Villelonge, living, and Catherine Celarier, deceased, born in the parish of St-Genest-Malifaux, age 19, testifies and declares: that he was admitted on twenty-sixth December eighteen twenty-three to the house of La Valla; that on the third day of April eighteen twenty-five, he had the honor of being clothed with the holy religious habit: and that later, on 12th

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October eighteen twenty-six, he privately, but voluntarily and freely, made the three vows of poverty, of chastity and of obedience for a period of five years. Thirteenth October eighteen twenty-nine, at Notre-Dame de L'Hermitage" (RVT, 1, p. 1). We can find no indication that he renewed his vows in 1831, when they expired, but we do have his declaration dated 1st November 1833, that "on the sixth day of October eighteen thirty-three, (he) made the three perpetual vows, privately" (RVP, 1, p. IS), vows which he renewed publicly on l 0th October 1836 (ibid., p. 26). We know little about his very beef religious life, all of which he probably spent doing manual work at the Hermitage. Bro. Jean-Baptiste, in Our Models in Religion, says of Bro. Dorothée: "His humility made him solicit as a favor the post of cattle keeper and the care of the stable at N.-D. de L'Hermitage. His request was granted and he spent nearly the whole of his life in this lowly employment" (p. 67). According to Bro. Avit, "The Hermitage had one cow, to provide milk for the sick. Bro. Dorothée took care of it. He was a religious with little education, but very pious, very obedient, and endowed with great simplicity" (AA, p. 190). His death deeply affected those around him, so much so that Fr. Champagnat thought he should write a circular to give all the brothers, on the day of the funeral itself, the details of his death (cf. L. 135), which occurred on 2nd September 1837. Bro. Dorothée was only 27 years old. (REFERENCES, p. 195).

DORRIELLE, LOUIS FRANÇOIS: (1792-1857) practiced medicine in Pélussin, but certainly was not a native of that city because he is the only one among its inhabitants with that name. The first time we come across him is at his installation as mayor of Pélussin. The few traces we find of him unfortunately do not permit us to uncover his ori- gins. From his death certificate, we learn that he was born in l792. “On 25th September 1830, Mr. Dorrielle, physician; resident of Pélussin, installed as mayor by Mr. Jean Lions, mayor of Chavanay, in virtue of a prefectorial decree of Mr. De Gasparin, prefect of the Loire” (Municipal archives of Pélussin, Registre des délibérations, 1820-1837). It was in his capacity as mayor that he wrote Fr. Champagnat the following letter on 5th October 1835: “The mayor of the town of Pélussin to the Father Superior of the Brothers of the Hermitage in La Valla, Loire. Father, the parish priest of Pélussin and Fr. Décultieux, one of his curates, has just informed me of your intention of sending several of your brothers to my town, to dedicate themselves to teaching there. That news pleased me, all the more so since I was going to do something about the state of primary instruction, which is very much in abeyance here. I will do all I can to favor the projected establishment, if you will please send us, as I hope you will, subjects who will be the equals, at least in knowledge, of the lay teachers we have lost. If you have available a brother who can teach line drawing and elementary geometry you will be doing something which will make me very happy and be very useful in this town where there are many workmen. “After hearing all the good things the parish priest and his curate have told me about your institution, I have no hesitation in urging you, Father, to send us as soon as possible, brothers worthy of the importance of the district seat, at the head of which I have the honor to be placed. I have the honor to be, Father Superior, your most humble servant, François Dorrielle, mayor of Pélussin and Councilor of the arrondissement. “P.S. Once your brothers are installed, I will urge the town council to allocate them an item in the budget” (AFM, 129.17). On 19th July 1837, Mr. Dorrielle signed the register of deliberations for the last time. He was replaced by François Jean, an attorney and notary (Municipal archives, reg. délib.). In 1841, he is mentioned in the

prefeng-letter.doc 125 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” census report for the town: “Dorriel Louis FRANÇOIS, doctor, single” (ADL, 49 M 20). He must have married after that date, because his death certificate states that he is the spouse of Rose Marie Fromage. There was no trace of the marriage certificate in Pélussin, so they must have been married in another town. They probably had no children. Mr. Dorrielle died at the main hospital in Lyons on 27th May 1857 at the age of 65. His death certificate was filed in Pélussin on 1st June. His wife died less than five years later, on 28th January 1862. (REFERENCES, pp. 195-196).

DORZAT, FRANÇOIS CHARLES: (1806-1873), parish priest of Les Roches-de- Condrieu from 1834 until his death in 1873. That is all the information we could find on him in the diocesan archives of Grenoble. Fortunately, Bro. Avit comes to our rescue in his annals of the establishment in Les Roches. We have quoted large extracts from them here, and occasionally filled in the blanks with the few letters from Fr. Dorzat which are in our archives. “Fr. Dorzat was named (to the parish of Les Roches) in 1834 and served it for 39 years. With 200,000 francs, he was thought to be rich. He and Fr. Revol, the parish priest of Bouge-Chambalud, were the outstanding cantors of the diocese. They had been much admired in the cathedral of Vienne, at the ordination of Bishop Chartrousse, parish priest of St-Maurice in Vienne, who had been named bishop of Valence. Fr. Dorzat was a handsome man, very simple in his ways, and fond of good living. He had influential friends in Vienne and Grenoble. One of his first concerns was to enlarge his church. He also had his residence built, at his own expense; he lived there until he died, and his heir, knowing his intentions, gave it to the nursing sisters who had been established in the area. “Then Fr. Dorzat turned his attention to the school. Les Roches in those days had two lay teachers, one of whom, Mr. Benoît Lay, was the town teacher. We presume that the parish priest made his request in person to Fr. Champagnat, who held off for lack of an available certified brother. Then Fr. Dorzat promised to use his influence with the members of the Grenoble commission. In his two letters of 27th and 31st October, 1838, he told Fr. Champagnat that the primary inspector was well-disposed towards our brothers, and that he was going to Grenoble to ask the rector to convoke an extraordinary examining board. He advised him to write to the rector himself to explain to him that he was receiving a great number of requests for brothers from his department, and that he was obliged to refuse for lack of certified men. (For the outcome, cf. L. 249.) “In December 1838, Fr. Dorzat wrote: ‘I very impatiently awaited the brothers you promised me. I just had a joyful experience (and these aren’t even the ones who will be staying here) and I still cannot tell when I will have brothers. The furniture is just about ready. I will wait until after they arrive to buy the rest; it won’t take more than an hour. ‘Now there is a very special reason why your brothers should begin school next Monday, 31st October. The sub-prefect has twice done all he could to postpone a decision as to whether the school would be authorized to take in boarders. Since the brothers were not in Les Roches they could not be authorized. The council is meeting on 2nd January; he assured me that if the school has not opened by then, he will no longer be able to put off authorizing one of the lay teachers. The council does not think there should be several boarding schools in Les Roches. ‘I definitely do not have on hand the twelve hundred francs of foundation fees to give to the brothers. A parish priest never has that much money in his drawer. However, I commit myself by this present letter to pay you on demand after fifteen days advance notice. From my explanation you can see that it is important for your brothers to arrive in Les Roches

prefeng-letter.doc 126 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” next Saturday, the 29th, so that they can register the children on Sunday, begin school on Monday, and on 2nd January, present the documentation establishing their existence and their status. I hope, Father, that you will do me this favor, and I Am, with respect, Father, your most humble servant, Dorzat’. “The brothers arrived and opened their school...at the end of 1838. From the outset it was in the present house, whose second storey was then just an attic. Fr. Dorzat had bought it; we do not know if he used his own money or parish funds. Around 1848, Fr. Dorzat rented the adjoining house from the Germ family, as well as the little building facing the square, at 100 francs a year, to enlarge the boarding division” (214.45, P. 8). Twenty years later, things apparently had come full circle. Fr. Dorzat, nearing the end of his career, showed his weak side: “The Reverend Brother, finding that the finances of the school were minimal, stretched too thin, and too uncertain; that the parish priest was too easy-going a protector for the brothers; and that he never wrote about any irregularities that existed among them, told Fr. Dorzat that he was thinking of withdrawing them. He received the following reply: ‘Les Roches, 17th February 1870. Reverend Brother, this week I received a letter bearing your signature but written by someone else. I would like to believe you did not read it. I began to answer it point by point. In reply to the annoyances which the house in Les Roches has given you, I began a report on the annoyances which your brothers, professed and otherwise, have given me since the establishment began. I read at the head of your letter that it hurts you to have to express complaints; it hurts me also to have to tell you a lot of things of which you are perhaps unaware. Please inform me whether your letter is serious; if so, I will reply and act seriously. ‘I begin by telling you that I regard the withdrawal of the brothers from Les Roches as of grave significance, not for myself, since I am at the end of my pastoral career, but for the Institute; so grave that I would never dare assume responsibility for it. But as soon as the weather improves, I will take your letter and my report to the chancery, and I will leave it up to the diocesan authorities to decide. However, you must remember that anything concerning a town school must be settled, not with the parish priest, but with the mayor and the town council. Dorzat’. “As one can see, Fr. Dorzat got on his high horse, took all the credit, and eliminated the hopes we had had in him for thirty years, that he would guarantee the future of his school. Any complaints he might have raised were often the result of his own silence, his too good nature and his inexplicable patience. Some of his expenditures for the house or for the school were useless, even repudiated by the superiors. When the Reverend answered him in order to set right certain exaggerations, he replied, the following 24th February: ‘Reverend Brother, when I asked Rev. Fr. Champagnat for brothers, he asked me for 400 fr. for each brother with all his acces- sories. I promised that and paid that. Later, I was asked for 500 fr. per brother; I committed myself to pay that much, I paid it and I will pay it. Now you ask for the future, which I cannot foresee. Please tell me what you are demanding, and what guarantees you can give against foreseen and unforeseen events, to protect the material and moral interests of the establishment of Les Roches. If you have to give me brothers like some I have seen in Les Roches, I will not be much encouraged to make any financial sacrifices. I do not want to talk about sacrifices made for the establishment of Les Roches; I do not have time for that. I will declare, however, that I had a quarter of the adjoining house given to the establishment, and I hope someday to have the whole house, whose income will be used to support the work begun. ‘I think you are wrong when you say that the professed brothers lost their vocation in Les Roches; in my

prefeng-letter.doc 127 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” opinion, when they left they were worth as much as when they came. I will give you just one example. When Bro. Nicandre, about whom I had plenty of reason to complain, left Les Roches, he filled higher and higher positions. I Ain, with respect, Dorzai’. “What the parish priest wrote concerning the quarter of the neighboring house, his exactitude in paying the brothers’ salary, and the promotions given to ex-brother Nicandre, is not exact...” (ibid., pp. 18-20). On 13th August 1871, the brother director wrote to the brother assistant to inform him that the parish priest still owed 265.90 francs in back wages, but was offering 150, “without counting what we also had a right to demand for the singing and for taking care of the sacristy, for which he had been giving 200 francs but hasn’t given anything for two years now” (ibid, p. 21). It does appear that Fr. Dorzat finally settled matters, “since on 17th July 1872, he owed only 95 francs to balance the entire account” (ibid., p. 22). The following year, 1873, he died in the parish he had served for 39 years. (REFERENCES, pp. 196-199).

DORZAT, ROMAIN: (1760-1843), parish priest and dean of Saint-Symphorien d’Ozon from 1801 to 1831, then honorary canon. He died in 1843 at the age of 83. Those are the laconic details we find in the diocesan archives of Grenoble. But strangely enough, in the annals of St-Symphorien d’Ozon, Bro. Avit presents Fr. Dorzat, the pastor of that parish, as though he were composing a portrait with two totally different faces. “In 1814,” he writes, “while a student at the major seminary in Lyons, Fr. Dorzat, later canon, parish priest and dean in St-Symphorien d’Ozon, had met Fr. Champagnat, founder of the Institute of the Little Brothers of Mary: they became intimately linked in mind and heart; they shared sympathetically in each other’s pains, tribulations, difficulties with studies, as well as their plans for the future. It was in one of these moments of sharing that Fr. Champagnat told Fr. Dorzat that he intended to found a congregation of teaching brothers. The latter was excited by the idea, and promised him that if he ever became parish priest in a parish of any size, he would quickly open a school with those teaching brothers. God heard the prayers of both these pious clerics. “Fr. Dorzat, like Fr. Champagnat, was simple, pious, modest and self-sacrificing, desiring and seeking in all things only the glory of God and the salvation of souls. He gave proof of that during his thirty-year ministry in St-Symphorien, where he did a great deal of good, giving many proofs of sanctity. Before retiring from active ministry, he founded two religious establishments: one with the Ursuline Sisters and one with the Little Brothers of Mary. The brothers found in him a true father, to whom they could go with complete confidence on every occasion. This venerable priest died in 1843 at the age of 83” (AFA, 214.92. pp. 1-2). If he had done a bit of subtraction, Bro. Avit would have seen that in 1814, this Romain Dorzat would have been 53 at the time he supposedly was a fellow-seminarian with Marcellin Champagnat! Apart from this discrepancy, the testimony he gives about the parish priest of St-Symphorien d’Ozon in the second half of his text can be considered valid, even though we have no idea about the identity of the individual he is speaking about in the first. (REFERENCES, pp. 199-200).

DOUILLET, FERRÉOL: (1786-1855), was born on 25th August 1786 in Belmont, district of Le Grand-Lemps, department of the Isère. He was ordained on 13th June 1813; some years later, although we do not know the precise date, he was named director of the minor seminary in La Côte-Saint-André, Isère. Since he was eager both to offer a Christian education to the children of the parish, and to attract young men to the minor

prefeng-letter.doc 128 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” seminary, he opened a school, which also accepted day-boarders, in 1820. For this purpose he had rented a house near the seminary; by the following year it was already too small, so he rented another in the center of town. Finally, in 1824, he bought one, which he owned until his death. He hired Miss Marthe Cuzin as cook and housekeeper; she soon took over the entire management and material direction of the house. Some of the students supervised the others, and the teaching was done by students from the minor seminary. Encouraged by the success of his venture, Fr. Douillet first had the building enlarged, and later bought several others with the help of benefactors. On his return from Italy, Fr. Rocher put up, next to Fr. Douillet’s building, one “which still bears his name. In addition, he gave 13,315 fr., the interest on which was to pay the teachers of the said school. He named the superior of the seminary, Fr. Mermet, his executor. The latter had the donation legally recognized, then gave it to the city, along with an additional 3800 fr. for the opening of a free school. This took place in 1827” (AFA, 214.43, p. 9). Fr. Douillet was certainly not unaware of these arrangements. We can see that, from that time on, he made more and more efforts to involve the town in the project. That was certainly not a bad policy on his part, but by continuing to act that way, even when the brothers were supposed to be in charge of his school, he created many problems for them. On the strength of what he had already accomplished, and wanting to guarantee its future, he planned to found a normal school, i.e., a novitiate to train religious educators. This is apparent in the resolution of the local educational committee, at its meeting of 10th February 1830, a resolution inspired by Fr. Douillet. The committee requested that the establishment founded by the latter become a normal school, for the following reasons: ‘“Considering that the best way to replace the outside teachers who come into the rural areas, during the winter months, and who do not offer all the proofs one would like of their moral character and level of education, is to set up a normal school which will meet the needs of the rural towns and district seats; that these teachers, belonging to a religious order, dedicated by their vocation to primary education, will offer guarantees which cannot be found among the lay teachers, itinerant or resident, who have family ties and are guided mainly by self-interest; considering that an establishment of this type is lacking in this department and that no better occasion can be found for starting one and bringing it to a successful conclusion, than by furthering the zeal and dedication of Fr. Douillet by means of financial aid and benevolent protection; considering, finally, that the central location of La Côte-St-André will contribute to the prosperity of this normal school, at the same time as it will facilitate the distribution of teachers wherever they are requested, etc....’ “In its session of 24th April 1830, the Royal Council for Public Instruction authorized the establishment of a primary normal school in La Côte-St-André under the direction and in the house of Fr. Douillet. The accession of Louis-Philippe blocked the opening of this normal school and put Fr. Douillet in a very awkward position. He consulted our Founder, who answered him with his usual refrain: ‘Nisi Dominus.... You were counting on the university; think it over, and try to work something ‘out with the university’. Fr. Douillet thought it over, gave up the idea of founding a teaching congregation, sent several of his young men to the Hermitage, and asked for brothers to direct his boarding school and his free school” (ibid., pp. 10-11). We know that at the end of October 1831, four brothers arrived in La Côte, followed soon after by Bro. Louis-Marie, accompanied by Fr. Champagnat himself. As for Fr. Douillet, if he had given up the idea of founding a congregation of religious educators himself, he still had not given up his interest in finding teachers for the

prefeng-letter.doc 129 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” parishes of his diocese, as nearly all the letters we have from him testify. But from then on, his fate would be linked, for the rest of his days, with that of the Institute of the Little Brothers of Mary, even though he continued for a few more years as director of the minor seminary. He was even its interim superior, for nearly a year, as the diocesan archivist of Grenoble pointed out; this corresponds with what he wrote in his letter of 17th July 1843, where we read this sigh of relief: “We have finally received our superior!” He ends his letter by reminding Fr. Champagnat of his promise to found schools in the diocese of Grenoble that year (AFM, 127. 1). Two months later, on 14th September, he became even more insistent: “It is indispensable to open an establishment in Sassenage next All Saints. I will have the honor of telling you in person the peremptory reasons which oblige us not to frustrate the expectations of that area” (AFM, 127.2). When we think of all the difficulties he ran into with his three establishments in the Isère, it is easy to understand Fr. Champagnat’s inertia in the face of these urgings (cf. LL. 38, 39). He must have shared all his reasons with Fr. Douillet, because the latter wrote him, on 23rd May 1825: “After reflecting on your reasons for always delaying the foundation of establishments in the diocese of Grenoble on the basis of the number of subjects received from there, on whatever conditions they were received, and on the reasons I have for holding to the execution of my mandate so as not to deceive the expectations of His Lordship and the diocese, I think we cannot put off having here a properly established novitiate, so that the area can keep the novices it has furnished and formed. For the rest, the matter should not present any difficulties, since you did the same thing in Belley, and since it was the first thing you and I agreed on” (AFM, 127.3). Two weeks had not passed before Fr. Douillet took up his pen again on 4th June 1835, to set forth what was burdening his heart: “In brief, Fr. Superior, all you get from our region are worries and problems. And we, for our part, think we have done a lot, with almost no results for the diocese. I consequently asked you for a novitiate to remedy that double evil. You did not answer me a single word about it. However, I believe I must tell you again that things cannot go on this way. I believe that I can and I must demand, in view of the sacrifices I have made and those which I am prepared to make, that the diocese of Grenoble be given preference over the others for brothers’ establishments. But here it is three years now that I have been making futile requests to obtain some” (AFM, 127.4). Ten days later, he sent another letter, with a solemn declaration: “After placing myself in the presence of the God of all truth, after having recited my ‘Veni sancte’ and my ‘Ave Maria’, I have the honor to assure you that the report Bro. Louis made to me is unfounded. I never had the slightest idea, nor the slightest temptation, to rescind the advantageous partnership under which we worked together and which I have always considered as finalized between us. I hope that our good Master will not abandon me to the point of letting me think of provoking and even approving the scandal of a rupture which could only be very harmful to the Society and to our religion. Please believe me, Fr. Superior, when I say that my ideas have not been understood, that my letters, as well as the near impossibility in which I found myself of coming to speak with you, despite my great desire to do so, have been misinterpreted. I have no other ambition than to use my position in the diocese of Grenoble to advance Mary’s work, which has delighted me since I have known about it, as much as lies in my power” (AFM 127.5.) What had happened between these two letters? Perhaps Fr. Champagnat had shared the first letter with Bro. Louis-Marie, who had just spent two years in La COte, and they had tried to figure out together its deeper meanings; then the latter had been sent to Fr.

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Douillet to inform him of their conclusions. Fr. Douillet found them too negative and felt he should reply in writing. However, not everything was unfounded, because even the following year, seeing that he could not win Fr. Champagnat over, Fr. Douillet turned to Fr. Mazelier. Did Fr. Champagnat suspect as much, and want to give him the opportunity to carry out his plans? That would not be impossible. In any case, since he had to go to St-Paul, he suggested to Fr. Douillet that he accompany him. The latter quickly wrote to Fr. Mazelier, to ask for a personal interview during his stay, “without Fr. Champagnat’s finding out”. “We will leave on Monday, 7th December (1835) in order to reach St-Paul that same day. Fr. Champagnat will make various proposals to you, and I would not be unhappy if you knew in advance that I am not far from suggesting that you establish your brothers in the diocese of Grenoble. Those of Fr. Champagnat leave a great void which I think yours are called to fill. Please do not let on that any of this comes from me; it seems to me that you could make this suggestion as coming from yourself. The delicate, the difficult thing will be to get Fr. Champagnat to agree to it; but since he is so eager to find some way of exempting his brothers, he may prove to be amenable in this regard” (AFM, 536.2). It appears they never made the trip, for on 12th January 1836, Fr. Mazelier wrote to Fr. Douillet: 1 do not see how we can manage without a meeting to settle and specify what each of us should do for the other, especially in view of the exemption from military service of which you spoke in your last letter and which was not mentioned in the others”. He suggested that they meet on 25th January (1836) at his father’s home in Romans (AFM, 421.13, n. 6). We do not know if that meeting took place either. All we do know is that Fr. Douillet, in his reply of 3rd February 1836 to one of Fr. Champagnat’s letters, renewed his requests: “The only reason I want a novitiate in La Côte is because I thought I had good reason to believe that Grenoble had been forgotten. You told me several times, Fr. Superior, that there were obstacles, or rather reasons against it. I agree with you; however, if the good of the Society in general, and that of the diocese of Grenoble in particular, require it, I will willingly go along. If you are of my opinion, I will send you, as soon as I receive your reply, the oldest of our novices (i.e., postulants), who could count for those you will give to Miribel (Les Echelles, Isère) next All Saints, for it is beyond belief that you could not make at least one new establishment at that time. So I beg you to have your request brought here by an additional brother you will give me. We need someone who will be with the novices all the time, except during class, and who tan form them in religious spirit. That course of action cannot but be advantageous; in any case, I have been thinking about it for a long time” (AFM, 127.6). On 8th February, less than a week later, he wrote yet another letter, saying, “In reply to your invitation, I have the honor to send you three of my oldest novices...”. But, realizing that these young men could not even pay for their habit, he added: “I am very upset by this unfortunate fact. Perhaps I should have stayed with my first idea, which was to hold on to them until I heard from you again”. It appears, then, that he had not waited for a reply to his preceding letter, and that the invitation he mentions in the beginning refers to what Fr. Champagnat always told him when he spoke about a novitiate. The short interval between the two letters favors that interpretation. In that case, it would imply that Fr. Douillet’s ardor had waned somewhat during those five days, and that willy-nilly, he was accepting the Founder’s point of view. And, in fact, his letter goes on to say, “I still believe that there are many reasons against setting up a regularly constituted novitiate in La Côte. 1° the proximity of the two places; 2° the great advantage of sending our subjects out of their own territory;

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3° the increased cost in brothers and material; 4° the difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of making it as well in La Côte as at the Hermitage; 5° the fear of possibly arousing the jealousy of the Grenoble academy and normal school; 60 even the proximity of the seminary, and the consequent almost indispensable contact with the Latin students; 7° the example of other religious groups in general, and in particular of those of the same type. When I asked for an additional brother, it was to help the other brothers in general, provided that you are willing to open establishments in the diocese of Grenoble when all the necessary conditions have been met. I will rest satisfied with the status quo, and I will continue to prepare, with all the zeal and all the resources in my power, the workers you so ardently wished for in your last letter” (AFM, 127.7). This letter, for all that it may come as a surprise to us, marked a sort of lull. His next letter to Fr. Mazelier, on 11th April 1836, was simply to reply to the latter’s announcement that he was coming to visit, and to tell him that the bishop of Grenoble would not be in his see city at that time. Also, most probably in October of that year, Fr. Champagnat sent Bro. Louis-Marie to take over the establishment in La Côte (cf. L. 70). But difficulties of another order were soon to arise, this time from the Grenoble academy, which threatened to close his house. The difficulty could be overcome provided Fr. Mazelier would agree to declare the house a preparatory novitiate for his congregation. This would be only a formality at first, but later it might become a reality (Letter of 26th November 1836, AFM, 538.4). Fr. Mazelier responded immediately, on the 29th, saying that he had wanted to open a school in the diocese of Grenoble four years earlier, but had dropped the idea when he learned about Fr. Douillet’s foundation; that he did not want to do anything which might create trouble for him later on if it were discovered; and suggesting another meeting in Romans in the first half of January. Fr. Douillet answered on 14th December, assuring Fr. Mazelier that according to the opinion of Fr. Berthier, the new vicar general of Grenoble, “such a step could not possibly compromise anyone”. Then he added, “In any case, who could prevent us from discussing it?” Again, Fr. Mazelier answered right away, telling him the opinion of the bishop, whom he had consulted, and who had told Fr. Lavarenne, his vicar general, to tell him, ‘You must absolutely follow the terms of the ordinance: no legal fictions; they would only jeopardize us and produce no results whatever”. But the project remained open to the exchange of ideas at which Fr. Douillet had hinted. They therefore met the following January. Playing on two keyboards at once, Fr. Douillet, whom danger made creative, had in the meantime dreamed up the idea of the fictitious lease mentioned in the introduction to L. 80. This was one more stratagem which he con- sidered harmless, since it was simply a matter of undoing what had just been done. But perhaps he had not foreseen all the consequences: his avowed need for brothers, not only to take care of the education of the children but also to save the entire institution, of which he considered himself the head. By so doing, he was letting the brothers get the advantage over him. There was certainly no question of a forced relationship, since Fr. Douillet was always kind to the brothers. But he began to discover how ambiguous his position was. Bro. Louis-Marie points that out very clearly in his letter of 29th December 1836 to his superior. He remarks that Fr. Douillet “gives me to understanci..that he finds himself in an awkward position, and that he sees clearly that he is making others suffer...”. The brothers, rather than witness the death of something they had a right to consider their own work, were ready to do whatever was needed to save it, but to do so, they would have to be its directors. Therefore, the lease would have to be not merely a legal fiction, but a promise that later on, a definitive lease in their favpr would be drawn

prefeng-letter.doc 132 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” up after calm reflection. In that way, they could sort out all the problems which were constantly nagging at them. These problems were mainly three in number: the presence of Marthe Cuzin, who maintained her control over certain things, like the linen supply; the young cook, Philippe, whom Fr. Douillet continued to encourage and protect; and the fact that Fr. Douillet handled the finances of the house. Bro. Louis-Marie, in the long letter mentioned above, summed up the situation in the nine following points: “I- Fr. Douillet wants a lease pro forma, with a counter-declaration annulling same; 2- He will not make final arrangements with anyone but you [Champagnat]; 3- we are under pressure from the academy because we could be denounced and our school closed at any moment; 4- Fr. Douillet refuses to promise a lease and tells me verbally that everything will be worked out shortly; 5-He realizes how irksome his attitude is for us, and what a false position it puts him in; 6- Marthe still has the linen, but I have not insisted on that point since my return; 7- As for Philippe, he is waiting for the outcome of the request he asked Bro. Jean-Louis to transmit to you; 8- I will always have the right to take in boarders, I think, so that in case of an unsatisfactory arrangement we will be working mainly for ourselves rather than for him [Douillet]; 9- I think this will be one more reason for Fr. Douillet to leave everything to us.... Taking everything into consideration, my advice would be to have the lease drawn up” (AFM, 121.5). We know that Fr. Champagnat authorized it (L. 80), but we do not know what happened to it after that, since it was never mentioned again. Fr. Douillet’s letter of a few days later, 8th January 1837, to Fr. Mazelier, comes as something of a surprise, like most of his reactions: “I marvel at Divine Providence and thank it for giving you such good dispositions and good will for helping us out in our present circumstances. May His holy name be blessed and may everything be for His greater glory. In return, I promise that I will make your esteemed and valuable association known and suggest it to young men who seem to be ready and suitable to serve it. I think that is all I can do without infringing on the liberty which they must be given in the choice of an organization to which they wish to attach themselves for their entire life. It seems to me that you cannot help but gain something from this step. It would consist, therefore, of sending me a document which would protect me from the attacks of the academy and exempt my subjects from military service. Nobody is bothering me at the moment, and I have even been given confidential assurances that I will be left alone. So I will not use your cloak unless I need to. Please date your letter as of the 1st November 1836 (AFM, 536.6). We do not know if Fr. Mazelier ever drew up such a document, but we can find no trace of it. On the other hand, we do have a copy of an “A2reement between Frs. Ferréol Douillet and François Mazelier”, dated 25th January 1837, but unsigned. It is only a rough draft, drawn up by Fr. Mazelier himself, no doubt after the projected meeting, which seems to have taken place, according to Fr. Douillet’s letter of 19th April 1837 to Fr. Mazelier. It says: “1 am ashamed of my long delay in giving you news of the outcome of our agreement. I have been sick almost the whole time since our conversation and I have not been able to get anything concrete from the Grenoble chancery. I have become more and more aware of the truth ot what you were good enough to write to me, namely, 10 that it is not enough to be skillful in many things if one is not well-informed about the matter actually under discussion, which people who deal with it almost exclusively know much more about; 2° that it is a nuisance that we are so far apart. Fr. Champagnat was here twice; he told me he intended to go see you. He is always very determined. He is truly a man of God, but he wants what he wants, without being sidetracked; however, he still listens to reason.

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As for me, I think the glory of God lies in a meeting among the three of us. You gave me to understand that family business would bring you to Romans in May. If that is true, please let me know, if you do not intend to push on to La Côte. I have the honor to be....” (AFM, 536.8). From the postmarks, we know the letter followed its addressee to St-Paul, then to his parents’ home in Romans, then back to St-Paul, 4. which shows that Fr. Mazelier visited his family sooner than anticipated; so the proposed meeting most likely never took place. It seems, moreover, that there was no follow-up on this matter, for this was the last contact we know of between these two. During all this time, Fr. Douillet continued to be a nuisance to the brothers at La Côte, to the point where the Founder considered the possibility of withdrawing them (L. 86). During 1837, the boarding school was approved, for fifty boarders; Fr. Douillet resigned as director of the seminary, and became chaplain of the school. But since he “still held on to the finances, and tried to reinstate ‘Sister’ Marthe in the kitchen, he created more discord. Fr. Champagnat threatened to withdraw the brothers and Fr. Douillet wanted to hire lay teachers” (AFA, 214.43, p. 17). But he returned to concrete reality, and even went to the other extreme, contemplating ceding his entire property to the brothers. Fr. Champagnat spelled out the conditions under which he could accept it (L. 215). On 5th November 1838, the two of them signed an agreement under which, Fr. Douillet cedes to Fr. Champagnat, in the form of a rental for nine years, dating from 1st November of the current year, and terminating on the same day at the completion of the said nine years, the house he owns in La Côte-St-André, to serve as a boarding school directed by the Marist Brothers...” (AFM, 536.9). Both sides made concessions for better or for worse, and the brothers continued in the service of Fr. Douillet. Fr. Colin had also intervened, requesting a delay. On 12th October 1837, he wrote, “I saw Fr. Douillet yesterday. I told him you did not accept the conditions he was proposing. Apart from that, I found him a self-assured man, a good man who can be of service to the Society... (AFM, 122, n. 21). Perhaps their conversation gave rise to the idea which Fr. Douillet shared with Fr. Champagnat one day (cf. his letter of 23rd April 1837, AFM 127.8): to become more closely involved with the Society of Mary. That did not mean, however, that he intended to favor the brothers, to whom he most often preferred the town, when it came to guaranteeing the success of his work, as Bro. Avit recounts in the annals of that house: “When it sold the buildings of the Recollects to the bishop of Grenoble in 1810...the city had stipulated that the day students would be admitted to the seminary at the rate of 8 fr. per month, and six of them free of charge. When the July Monarchy made that admission impossible, the city sued His Lordship for damages and interest. In 1842, to settle the dispute, they dreamed up a transaction whose expenses had to be borne by the brothers. Fr. Berthier, having become vicar general, gave the city the house in which the brothers of the day school lived later on. At his urging, Fr. Douillet also handed over the buildings of the boarding school, which had been repaired and enlarged with the money the brothers had earned by the sweat of their brow” (AFA, 214.43, p. 18). Since this act was made legal and binding only four years later, the brothers were spared that much of the unspecified expenses mentioned above. This apparently represented quite a saving. “Our famous Fr. Douillet saw to it that he received, for the rest of his life, the 300 fr. allocated for the brothers. He had 150 fr. allocated to Sister Marthe, who must have received them for thirty years. He reserved to himself the ownership of all the furnishings which would be in the house at the time of his death. We think he finally left them to the brothers, but if he had died unexpectedly, his many relatives could have

prefeng-letter.doc 134 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” claimed them. He gave all the school material to the town. Now, all of the latter, or nearly all, came from the work of the brothers, to whom he left only their lives and their clothing, for he stipulated that all profits had to be used for the house or for good works, under the supervision of a commission made up of the bishop, the parish priest and the mayor. The brothers were considered as servants” (ibid., pp. 21-22). “Five years after this donation, the city compelled our leaders to accept further obligations, if they wanted to continue to use the shanties for which our brothers had largely paid. Under the eyes of the naive donor, it imposed a burdensome lease. It was necessary to come to terms with them” (ibid., p. 27). Obviously, Fr. Douillet continued to take precedence over the brothers, not only in the purely spiritual realm, as their chaplain, but also in the material realm. They were their own masters only in the school, but even there, if one or another brother did not suit Fr. Douillet, the superiors had no choice but to change him in order to keep the peace. But from 1854 on, Fr. Douillet, whose health bad never been of the best, became more and more ill. He “began to realize that we had good reason to be offended by his donation to the city. On 9th January 1855, before Mr. Berton, an attorney in Gillonnay, he transferred to the Institute, via a simulated sale: ...(two pieces of land whose price) is stated in the document to be 4000 fr. He also declared, in the same document, that he had no right to the furnishings of the house, and reserved to himself only those in his own room.... Fr. Douillet died on 13th January 1855, at the age of 69. He was a priest of great faith and sincere piety, very devoted to the brothers, but shortsighted, which explains the way he acted towards our superiors on various occasions” (ibid., pp. 32-33). (REFERENCES, pp. 200-208).

DREVET, AUGUSTE: (1806-1894), was named parish priest of Luzinay, Isère, in 1833. It was from there that he contacted Fr. Champagnat in 1837, asking for brothers. We know that his request was refused (L. 169). Besides, he left that parish the following year to go to that of St-Alban du Rhône, where he died 56 years later, in 1894. (REFERENCES, p. 208).

DREVET, JOSEPH; see MARIE-AUGUSTIN, BROTHER.

DU ROSIER, (BARON) JEAN-THEODORE: (1793-1844), General Councilor and deputy from the Loire (not to be confused with François Lucien Du Rozier, sub-prefect of St-Etienne). Jean-Theodore was born 24th December 1793 in Montbrison, Loire. We know nothing about the first half of his life, for lack of documentation. Having become a general councilor in 1833, he was a candidate for the election of deputies on 21st June 1834 and was elected by the third electoral “college” of the Loire. whose center was in Feurs. In the Chamber, he sat with those who supported the cabinet. In the following elections, on 4th November 1837, he was defeated by Mr. Conte, who replaced him as deputy for two years. However, Mr. Du Rosier continued as general councilor, and it was in that capacity that Fr. Champagnat met him in Montbrison around 20th August 1838 (L. 209), and that he became involved with proceedings for the authorization of the Institute (cf. LL. 314, 319). On 2nd March 1839 he defeated Mr. Conte and returned to his seat in the Chamber of Deputies, which he maintained after the elections of 9th July 1842 and 1st August 1846. His role in parliament was always that of a disciplined supporter of the government. The revolution of February 1848 removed him from both the Chamber and the General Council and returned him definitively to private life

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(Robert and Cougny, DPAN). Since he owned land in the Loire, he most probably went there to retire. He died in the Château de la Varenne, in Coutouvre, on 28th August 1855. (REFERENCES, pp. 218-219).

DU TROUSSET D’HERICOURT, BÉNIGNE-URBAIN-JEAN-MARIE: (1797-185 1), bishop of Autun, Saône-et-Loire, “was born on 15th July 1797 in Questembert, Morbihan, to Bénigne-Joseph, former president of the Parliament of Paris; vicar-general of Evreux and then of Besançon, he was appointed bishop of Autun on 15th April 1829 and ordained in Paris, in the chapel of the Religious of the Sacred Heart, on 6th September. He took possession of his see on 11th October. He was very active in buying back the houses which had belonged to religious communities and returning them to their former owners. In the process, he set up the community of the Blessed Sacrament in 1835, in the buildings of the abbey of St-Andoche, bought those of St- Jean-le-Grand, which became a third parish, and turned the abbey of St-Martin into a summer residence for the major seminary. At the same time, he was authorized to set up forty-seven new parishes in the diocese. His administration, which was very firm and all the more vigilant since he never went away, resulted in the formation of an excellent body of clergy” (L’épiscopat francais, p. 86). From what we have of his correspondence, his priests must have felt that he was very close to them and very supportive of their pastoral ministry. We see, for example, that the parish priests who asked our superiors for brothers were backed up by a letter from him, whether for Blanzy, Génelard, or Toulon-sur-Arroux. Here is the letter he wrote in the latter instance, to Bro. François, on 12th June 1847: “Very dear Brother, The parish priest of Toulon has just informed me of the request he has sent you for brothers for his parish. I am very much interested in that establishment which can do a great deal of good, and I want you to take it as soon as possible. The house of Vauban has provided enough subjects for me to be able to hope for something in exchange. Please have someone visit the building, since it is important for the parish priest to know if it is suitable, and to have the necessary repairs made. Accept, my very dear Brother, the assurance of my respectful esteem, Bénigne, bishop of Autun” (AFM, 602.086.02). As can be seen, his letters are generally brief, precise and administrative, but very respectful, confident rather than heavy-handedly insistent. He had good reason to take pride in the novitiate in Vauban, which was really his foundation (cf. LL. 236, 258, 268, 278). But even apart from that, his feelings towards the Marist Brothers and their Founder were genuinely friendly, and rooted in the real respect he had for them. On 24th May 1840, he wrote the following letter to Fr. Champagnat: “Father Superior, I am very upset to learn that you are suffering. I hope that this illness will not have an unfortunate outcome and that the Blessed Virgin will soon give you back to all your children. Given the situation you were in, I was afraid I would be indiscreet in traveling to St-Chamond, especially since I had met your visitor in Semur. I was able to tell him about my wishes for the establishment in Vauban. He has no doubt shared them with you. I myself visited your brothers and the few novices who are there. Everything appeared to be still in its in. fancy. It is very good to begin in humility, for it is written, ‘exaltavit humiles’. I very much hope you will be able to act accordingly; other. wise, we will languish for a long time. Please forward this letter of thanks to Madame Neyrand; I was really touched by her kind offer. Accept, Fr. Superior, the assurance of my respectful devotedness, Bénigne, bishop of Autun. I was pleased to see that nothing had been changed in the layout of the château and the enclosure. You must continue that

prefeng-letter.doc 136 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” way” (AFM, 128.11). Less than two weeks later, on 4th June, the bishop wrote again to recommend a foundation in Digoin and to repeat his wishes for Fr. Champagnat’s recovery. The latter was no longer of this world when the letter arrived. Correspondence continued with Bro. François, with the same tone of confidence and respect. On 15th February 1845, replying to the bishop, who had recommended a foundation in Blanzy, the Superior added, “My Lord, I am happy to profit by this occasion to express to Your Grandeur my great thankfulness for the number of sacrifices you have made for the house in Vauban and for the very fatherly kindness you have always shown us. Please believe that we will always do all we can to respond to so many favors and that we are ready to fly anywhere Your Grandeur sees fit to call us. The novitiate of Vauban is flourishing; there are already a certain number of subjects who will do well once they are sufficiently formed. I hope we will soon be in a condition to open all the establishments which we will be asked to take on in the diocese of Autun” (AFM, RCLA, 1, p. 631). Circumstances, however, prevented the bishop from seeing more than one of the foundations he so strongly recommended: Digoin, in 1840. The others: Genelard, in October 1851; Toulon-sur-Arroun, in 1853; and Blanzy, in 1857, were opened after his death. “This prelate died in Autun on 8th July 1851, mourned by everyone in his diocese. He was a Knight of St. Louis and of the Legion of Honor. His body was placed in the crypt of the cathedral” (Episcopat francais, p. 87). (REFERENCES, pp. 220-221).

DUBOIS, JEAN ANTOINE: (1766-1848) first saw the light of day on 10th January 1766 in Saint-Remèze, Ardèche. He began his studies at the secondary school in Bourg- Saint-Andéol, and completed them in the seminary of the Society for the Foreign Missions. Ordained in 1791, he left for the Malabar Coast (Pondicherry) on 19th January 1792. The effects of the Revolution were beginning to be felt by then in France’s Indian colony, to the point where the priests of the Society for the Foreign Missions had to withdraw to Tranquebar. Dubois waited there to begin his apostolate. After a short stay in the Salem area, he was sent in October 1799 to Mysore, where, at the time of the persecutions by Tippou Sahib, and out of fear of torture, the Christians had accepted circumcision as a sign of their acceptance of Islam. He was extremely gentle with them and brought them back to the faith. By dint of perseverance, he convinced many Indians to accept vaccination; he was so zealous in propagating it, that the India Company rewarded him with an annual pension of 2000 fr. The British also held him in great esteem; from one of them, he received some property in Hossur on which to build a church. He obtained a grant for the church in Seringapatam, and another for the one in Darmaboury. However, his ministry was paralyzed by his lack of confidence in the Indian Catholics and by the perfection he demanded of them. In 1807, he refused to become coadjutor to Bishop Champenois, superior of the Malabar mission. When the seminary in Pondicherry was totally lacking funds in 1813, he assumed all its expenses to keep it from being closed all the money he had was poured into that work. In the meantime, he had composed his work on Indian customs, traditions and character, which he had studied at first-hand both competently and conscientiously. At the request of the government of Madras, the India Company bought his manuscript and had it published in English in London in 1817. There were later editions in French, Spanish and English. In 1819, the Council of the Society for the Foreign Missions felt that it needed a member to represent the Malabar mission, and it asked Dubois to join. He hesitated a while before accepting. When he left India, the British took up a collection to have his portrait

prefeng-letter.doc 137 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” painted; it was placed in the Madras Academy. Fr. Dubois became director on 5th August 1832; on 23rd March 1824 and 14th April 1828, he was named procurator of receipts; and on 13th January 1829, assistant superior. He lived in England on business for the missions from April 1830 until 29th October 1832, on which date he was again named procurator for receipts. During his time in England, he published a work in English in London: Letters on the State of Christianity in India. The book created a sensation and was strongly criticized by missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, because the author expressed doubts about the possibility of large-scale conversions among the Indians, and because he criticized the means the Protestants used to that end — namely, translations of the Scriptures into the local languages. He was refuted by Revs. James Hough and Henry Townley. Dubois was named assistant on 3rd December 1832, superior of the seminary on 11th January 1836, and assistant again on 14th January 1839, 10th January 1842 and 27th January 1845. Old and ill, he resigned as assistant the following 10th November. He died at the seminary of the Society for the Foreign Missions in Paris on 17th February 1848. (Biographies des Pères des Missions Etrangères de Paris, text contributed by the archivist of the seminary, 120, rue du Bac, Paris.) (REFERENCES, pp. 208-210).

DUC, JOSEPH: (1763-1841), was born on 20th February 1763 according to the personnel register, which does not indicate his place of birth. In 1808 he was named curate in Saint-Vérand, Rhône. On 15th October 1807, he was nominated for Saint- Andéol-le-Château, to replace Fr. Jacques Derne, who had been transferred to Chassagny. The nomination never took effect, because on 25th January 1809, he was named to Valsonne, Rhône, to replace Fr. Etienne Condour, who was transferred to Saint-Romain d’Urfe. He was still there on 1st November 1837, when Fr. Champagnat wrote to tell him he could not satisfy his request for brothers for his school (L. 151). Fr. Courbon made a very strange comment about him: “Former curate in Rilleux, Ain, but deported, was in the wine-exporting business, as he still is in Paris”. Fr. Duc died as parish priest of Valsonne, on 6th July 1841. (Cf. Archdiocesan archives, Lyons.) (REFERENCES, p. 210).

DUCARRE, JOSEPH; see POLYCARPE, BROTHER.

DUGAS, JACQUES ANTOINE VICTOR: (1783-1861), born in St-Chamond on 3rd September 1783, was baptized three days later. His father, Claude Marie Dugas de Boissonny, was equerry, counselor and secretaly of the king, the royal house, the crown of France and its finances. He married Agathe Crozet, daughter of Thomas Crozet and Lady Antoinette Cayrel, on 25th May 1774, in the chapel of the Château des Rouardes in St-Paul-en-Jarret. Five children were born of their union: Catherine (1775), Marie- Antoinette Jeanne (1779), Laurent Louis Claude (1781), Jacques Antoine Victor (1783), and Camille Joseph (1785). On 15th February 18 13, in St-Chamond, Jacques Antoine Victor married Marie Françoise Thiollière, born on 30th Prairial Year III (18th June 1795), daughter of Jean-Claude Thiollière and Louise Catherine Regneault. They bad onh one child: Louise Marie, who married Claude Roch de Boissieu. Jacques Antoine Victor Dugas de la Boissony, an industrialist in the ribbon trade, mayor of St-Chamond, general councilor of the Loire and Knight of the Legion of Honor, owned the estates of Boisset and Montrond and declared 20,000 fr. in income. He died on 2nd June 1861

prefeng-letter.doc 138 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” after devoting the last twenty years of his life to the administration of the hospitals, homes and orphanages of his native city. (Adapted from W. Poidebard, Génealogie de la famille Dugas.) The Industrialist - “Dugas Brothers are considered to be the founders of the ribbon industry in St-Chamond. They were raised to the nobility by a decree of 30th October 1767” (F.M., Monographie des communes de l’arrondissement de Saint- Etienne, p. 269). “The house of Dugas, surnamed ‘the model factory’, received two distinguished visitors to its main store; the father of the king, on 22nd September 1814, and the Duke of Angouleme, on 3rd, August 1816; commemorative plaques recall their coming to St-Chamond” (J. Condamin, Histoire de St-Chamond, p. 641). Victor Dugas and his brothers were able to maintain that reputation during at least the first half of the 19th century. In 1850, the Bulletin industriel, in an article on the industry, stated with regard to the Dugas of St-Chamond, “This family, the most outstanding of all those involved in the manufacture and sale of ribbons, needs no recommendations; it deserves nothing but praise, when one considers the immense amount of work it has done since it started in the business” (B!, 1850, t. XXI, p. 68). As testimony to the activity of this firm, which did not rest satisfied with past accomplishments, one can point to several patents obtained in the course of that half-century. “On 21st June 1813, Dugas and Poidebard of St-Chamond were granted a patent for five years on a watered-silk process to be used in making silk fabrics in their Vocanson mill.... On 29th September 1816, Dugas Bros. and Co. of St. Chamond were granted a patent for five years on the production of silk fabrics known as “crêpes de Chine”.... Beauvais and Dugas Bros. obtained a refinement of a patent for a new process for silk for manufacturing crêpe from raw silk, boiled and dyed” (M. Descreux, Cat. des brevets d’inv.). So it is hardly surprising that Victor Dugas was consulted by various organizations in the world of industry. Thus we find him, in 1817, at the side of Ennemond Richard and Claude Fournas, as a member of the Consultative Chamber of Arts and Manufactures of St- Chamond, of which he was chairman from 1830 to 1853. In 1823, we also find him a member of the state commission for roads and highways, together with Jovin Deshayes, and also of the commission responsible for discovering means of preventing theft of industrial secrets. In 1828, he served on the Conseil des Prud’hommes, representing the employers and the ribbon industry and in 1830, in the Chamber of Commerce, with Richard Chambovet and Thiollière. But, being a social person, he did not limit his activities to the domain of industry. An official personage - Victor Dugas became mayor of St-Chamond through a royal ordinance of 17th November 1819. He retired permanently at the beginning of 1825, according to the list of mayors provided by the municipal offices and published by Bertholon in his “Histoire de Saint-Chamond”, which lists Dugas-Vialis as his successor. But according to the departmental archives, Victor Dugas took over again as mayor of St-Chamond on 10th June 1825, after the death of a certain Bertholon who was mayor for only a few months. So it appears that Victor Dugas succeeded himself after a brief interlude. As for Jean-Jacques Dugas-Vialis, we find him together with Victor Dugas in the district assemblies, according to Monique Luirard in her “Histoire Forezienne”, but she mistakenly classifies him as an iron manufacturer. When he retired in 1830, Victor Dugas allowed his friends to put him on the District Council. But in 1843, he became General Councilor of the district of St-Chamond; his term ran until 1851 (ADL, Cons. gén.). Merchant, manufacturer, former mayor of St- Chamond, Knight of the Legion of Honor, Captain of the Horse-Guards, he deservedly enjoyed the esteem and respect of everyone in his districts. A man of good works - A

prefeng-letter.doc 139 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” convinced believer, Victor Dugas translated his Christian convictions into dedication to social work, from which Fr. Champagnat profited greatly. In 1824-25, he contributed generously toward setting up the brothers in St-Chamond, while Mr. Neyrand, a benefactor of Fr. Dervieux the parish priest, took care of their furnishings (Cf. J. Condamin, Histoire de Saint-Chamond, p. 535). On 3rd June 1833, as trustee, together with Mr. Thiollière, of a donation from Miss Fournas, he negotiated the establishment of the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, whom he housed in a building he owned on rue de l’Arzalier (ibid. p. 550). Since 1830, he and Mr. Richard-Chambovet had been ad- ministrators of the hospices of St-Chamond. As such, he twice signed the civil register on 25th December 1835, since his functions included the recording of deaths (ADL, 3, M, 208). He was also responsible for the orphanage which the brothers directed, which was attached to the hospices (Cf. L. 201 of 19th October 1839). But it was mutual esteem and friendship, far more than his administrative functions, which bound him to Fr. Champagnat. The latter did not hesitate to appeal to him in the matter of the legal recognition of the Institute (cf. L. 209 of 21st August 1838). His presence at the funeral of Fr. Champagnat, whose burial certificate he signed, is one more indication of their friendship. (REFERENCES, pp. 210-212).

DUMAS, CLAUDE: (1796-1875) was born 22nd August 1796 in Verrières, Loire. He was ordained 17th June 1721. On 23rd April 1824 he was named curate in a parish in the district of St-Bonnet-le-Château; the personnel register does not mention its name, nor that of the first parish to which he must have been assigned between 1821 and 1824. Then he was curate in Usson until 10th May 1827, when he succeeded his parish priest, Fr. Vital Monier, who had died the previous 14th April. “Fr. Claude Dumas,” Bro. Avit tells us, “a native of Verrières, having exercised his ministry for some time in St- Hilaire, was sent to Usson as curate to a an old man who, because of his infirmities, was nearly incapable of taking care of his flock any longer. When Fr. Dumas arrived in 1826, he found a great deal of work to be done, but his zeal was equal to the task. After two years as curate, on the death of his parish priest, the parishioners were so satisfied with his efforts that they requested him for their pastor, which request was granted. “As parish priest of Usson, Fr. Dumas, a very good, very educated, very zealous, and yet very simple man, redoubled his zeal for the good of his parishioners. Catechism lessons were organized, and well-attended by the young people, frequent instructions were given to these ignorant people, missions and retreats brought sinners back to the sacraments. In a short time, the latter were received frequently, the church services attended, and the people instructed. Two convents of sisters had been giving Christian instruction to the little girls for a long time; the education of the boys was taken care of only by lay teachers, who left much to be desired. The parish priest had regretted this discrepancy for a long time, but the major repairs he had to make on his church had always prevented him from seeing to the establishment of the brothers. However (around 1837), he began to think seriously about it (AFA, 213.80, p. 6). On 6th July 1837, he wrote to Fr. Champagnat: “A respectable person has told me that you would be very happy to have an establishment of your school brothers in our mountains. This would be a very favorable moment. I mean here with us, in Usson, near Apinac. We have just received a gift of fourteen thousand francs, which will be invested for a brothers’ school. I prefer yours for various reasons and also because I am attracted to them. So here I am making my request. “We would certainly need three brothers, at

prefeng-letter.doc 140 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” least two of them being well-trained. I hope we will be able to meet their salary. I am already having a loft built, to give them a separate place in the church. We are in the market for a building which will be suitable for them; if not, we will replace it in two or three years. We would be very pleased if we could possibly have them for the reopening of school, that is, around All Saints. “I am sure they will be well-received, that they will do good here; they will recruit among us, since we have well-disposed young men whom they will come to recognize in time. Please honor me with a prompt reply. If it is favorable, I will do myself the honor of visiting you to speak with you in more detail. Please accept the assurance.... Dumas” (AFM 129.32). “Fr. Champagnat must have replied that he would give him brothers when he had a suitable house and conditions for them (Cf. L. 121). Fr. Dumas tried again in June and July of 1838, saving that the lay teacher had resigned and that he was sorry he had, that the town still had no suitable schoolhouse, that he was going to rent one with a playground and garden, that he would have tables made for the classrooms, that the villagers would give him boards for that purpose, that the school would be free, that he had found furnishings and salary for three brothers.... “After the 1839 retreat,...Bros. Hilarion and Maurice were sent (to Usson) and to Craponne, which was also opened that same year, to see if everything was ready.... The three brothers... arrived on 31st October (1839), earlier than they had been expected... They found the parish priest sitting next to the fireplace in his kitchen, his legs crossed, a white nightcap hanging over his ear, and a big bowl of soup in his hand. When he recovered from his shock, he welcomed them as best he could.... Since their house and furniture were not quite ready, Fr. Dumas put them up in his house and shared his table with them for forty days” (AFM, 213.80, pp. 7-9). The ongoing annals show that Fr. Dumas’ devotedness towards his school and the brothers never wavered during his nearly fifty years of ministry in that parish (Cf. topographic sketches, under “Usson”). He died there on 7th November 1875, worn out from having dedicated his entire self and all his resources to the welfare of his parishioners. (REFERENCES, pp. 212-214).

DUMAS, JEAN-ETIENNE; see ABEL, BROTHER.

DUMAS, JOSEPH-MARIE: (1800-1871) was born 18th March 1800 in Saint-Sauveur- en-Rue, Loire. He was ordained in Lyons on 27th July 1823, then named curate, first in Saint-Julien-Molhesabate and then in the parish of Notre-Dame in St-Chamond. On 1st July 1833 he was named parish priest of Saint-Martin-la-Sauveté, suceeding Fr. Georges Metton who had been transferred to Sury-le-Comtal. Fr. Dumas’ contacts with Fr. Champagnat had less to do with his parish ministry than with family business (cf. L. 142). The presence of brothers in his hometown, and perhaps also the fact that they came from the same region, suggests that the two priests were already acquainted. Fr. Dumas spent thirty-two years In the parish of St-Martin; on 19th June 1865, he was transferred to Pouilly-les-Nonains where he died on 19th October 1871 (cf. AAL, personnel register). (REFERENCES, p. 214).

DUMAS, PIERRE ANTOINE: (1781-1856) was born 8th December 1787, according to the diocesan archives of Viviers, which do not give us his date of birth. Bro. Avit, in the annals of Boulieu, offers more details. “Fr. Dumas,” he reports, “whose parents had courageously sheltered persecuted priests in Annonay during the Terror, was named

prefeng-letter.doc 141 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” parish priest of Boulieu (on 31st August) in 1809. He first attended to setting up good schools.... For lack of other documentation, we include here the report he wrote in 1834.... Despite its length, we quote it in full. ‘I had founded in my parish a monastery of Ursuline religious for the education of the young girls; I wanted and was looking for equally zealous and pious teachers for my boys. I had had several lay teachers at various times, but despite their good will and work, they left much to be desired. I was jealous of the wonders the Brothers of the Christian Schools were working among the children of Annonay, and I could not hope to raise enough money to bring them to Boulieu. By that time, God had already raised up a zealous priest, animated by His Spirit, to found a congregation of brothers like those of Christian Doctrine, but who could be obtained in smaller numbers and at less expense. Champagnat, that venerable priest, had already opened a house of his brothers in Bourg-Argental, and another in St- Sauveur, near enough to Boulieu for people to become informed about them and know all the good God was doing through their ministry; but we still did not have sufficient resources to dare ask for some of them. ‘In 1823, the Count and Countess de Vogue, who had just lost their oldest son at the age of nine, wanted to perpetuate their dear child’s memory by founding a pious establishment. This is what they told me, because I had prepared their son for the edifying death he had just had: “We know better than ever now how important it is to give children good religious formation at an early age; for surely, Father, you would never have allowed the child we are mourning to receive the Holy Eucharist if he had not been instructed about that great mystery and the other truths of the faith. Oh, how many children, even older than our son, die deprived of that happiness, especially in rural areas, simply for lack of instruction. Father, we know your desire and we are going to help you fulfill it. Start working at once on the establishment you are planning, and we will take care of the salary of one brother, provided that the children of our parish, St-Clair’s, will be able to attend school in Boulieu”. ‘So I spoke to Mr. Mignot, the mayor of our town, who very much liked the idea of opening a Christian school. He urged his town council to vote for the salary of a second brother. After getting permission from the bishop of Viviers, I thought of requesting these pious brothers. I went to La Valla, where the venerable Fr. Champagnat had laid the first foundations of his congregation, and after having told him of the resources which had been offered to me, this worthy founder agreed to send two brothers by the next All Saints, to begin the schools in Boulieu. Fr. Champagnat even took the trouble to come soon after to see the repairs we were making on the house which was to serve as the schoolhouse. I bought the adjoining garden. We began a drive to finance the purchase of the furniture and other necessary articles. ‘Finally, two brothers, namely Bro. Jean-Pierre Martinol and Bro. Barthélemy, were sent to Boulieu, and began classes there in the month ol November 1823; since then, the school has always been directed, to everyone’s satisfaction, by pious and zealous brothers; the children have been well taught their catechism, and have acquired sentiments of piety and respect for religion. The brothers did not concern themselves with anything except their teaching and their children; they have led a very secluded and very religious life, and never went around visiting people in the parish; they earned everyone’s respect, even to the point where, when they left at the end of each school year to make their retreat, the civic authorities of the town asked me to obtain a guarantee from the Supenor that he would send back the same brothers for the following year. These same brothers always respected me as taking the place of their superior; they never absented themselves and never started anything or made any

prefeng-letter.doc 142 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” changes without asking my advice and permission. My dear-CM wish is that I may keep this pious institution for the entire time that Divine Providence entrusts me with the parish of Boulieu, and then hand it on to those who will come after me” (AFM, 213.6, pp. 6-9). We know that after the Viviers affair (cf. Vol. 1, P. 290), Fr. Champagnat told him (L. 148) that the brothers were being withdrawn. It is not hard to understand why Fr. Dumas appealed to the chancery to have Fr. Vernet’s prohibition lifted. In fact, the brothers did remain, and Fr. Dumas died in peace on 17th November 1865, after nearly fifty years of service in that parish. (REFERENCES, pp. 214-216).

DUPERRON, CLAUDE; see AMON, BROTHER.

DUPLAY, CLAUDE: (1786-1844), born 1st January 1786 in the hamlet of Ribaudes, in the town of , Loire, to Jean Duplay and Julienne de La Vialle, was ordained in Lyons on 25th May 1811, then named curate in the parish of Saint-Bonaventure in Pont- de-Vaux, Am. On 10th November 1816, he was named parish priest of Chaponost, as successor to Claude Pras, who was transferred to Monsols, Rhône. After the death of Fr. Jean Antoine Allirot, parish priest of Marlhes, Fr. Claude Duplay succeeded him on 14th May 1822 (AAL, personnel register). The brothers had just left the school they had had in that parish for four years. Fr. Duplay wanted them back, but first, the problem that caused the closing had to be dealt with; viz., providing a suitable house. With the help of the mayor, Mr. Jean-Claude Reboud, the parish priest had the house renovated, and directed the work himself; he did so well that the brothers were able to reopen the school in 1832 (Cf. L. 26). “Fr. Claude Duplay fell dangerously ill in May 1844. But he had not expected death to be so close. Warned of the danger he was in, pious man that he was, he received the last sacraments with admirable faith. He settled his affairs while he had all his faculties, and chose as his only heirs his students, the poor people of the parish, the church, the schools and the hospital of Marlhes” (J.-M. Chausse, Vie de Jean-Louis Duplay, I, pp. 305-315, passim). He died later that month. (REFERENCES, p. 216).

DUPLAY, JEAN LOUIS: (1788-1877), brother of Claude, was born on 21st January 1788 in Rebaudes, in the town of Jonzieux, the third of nine children. Fr. J.M. Chausse wrote a two-volume biography, entitled Vie de M. I’abbé Jean-Louis Duplay, prêtre de Saint-Sulpice, ancien Supérieur du Grand Seminaire de Lyon; here we will recall only the outstanding events of his long life. On 2nd November 1804, he entered the minor seminary in Verrières. In the beginning of November 1809 he entered the minor seminary in Argentière to do his philosophy, and on 2nd November 1811 he entered the major seminary of St-lrénée in Lyons. Two years later, on 1st August 1813, he was ordained deacon by Cardinal Fesch in the church of Saint-Bruno-des-Chartreux, and on 3rd July 1814, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Claude Simon in the primatial church. That same year, as a newly-ordained priest, he was named professor of dogma at the minor seminary in Argentière. He staved there two years, and during 1816-18 he taught the same subject in the major seminary of St-lrénée. He was to spend the rest of his life in various functions in that house. He taught moral theology from 1817 to 1822, but exhaustion forced him to give up teaching and restrict his activity to the function of economy until 1830. In the meantime, when the Society of Saint- Sulpice was reestablished to direct seminaries, Fr. Duplay did not hesitate. In 1824, he

prefeng-letter.doc 143 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” joined the Society, along with Fr. Gardette. In 1830 he became seriously ill and recovered only after two years of rest spent partly with his family in Rebaudes and partly in Marlhes with his brother Claude, who was parish priest there. When he returned to St- lrénée in 1832 he took up his service there again, but not for long: in 1834 he replaced Fr. De Charbonnel as economy and procurator of the seminary. In 1841, when Fr. Philibert Gardette resigned as superior of the seminary, it was he who was named to replace him. On 9th January 1848 he was named an honorary canon and first vicar general, but continued to serve as superior of the seminary until 1870, when the wisdom of his 82 years advised him to resign from his major functions. The Sulpicians named Fr. Meritaux to replace him, and he in turn was replaced on 25th January 1875 by Fr. Lebas. Under both those superiors, Fr. Duplay did work suitable to his age, until the morning of 17th December 1877, when he fell asleep in the Lord at the age of S9. (Cf. L. 26) (REFERENCES, pp. 216-217).

DUPUY, CLAUDE: was named principal of the secondary school in Saint-Etienne by a decision of the Minister of Instruction and of Worship on 26th July 1832 (B!, t, X, p. 364). The school prospectus, dated 10th September 1832, bears his signature. We also find it, accompanied by the title of “Principal, Officer of the University”, attached to an article which appeared on 11th August 1836 in the Indicateur de Saint-Etienne, dealing with the reopening of classes in the secondary school of that city, He wrote to the rector of the academy on 9th July 1838 to request his change, which was granted. The following report on him was drawn up to support his request: “A religious man, of perfect moral conduct, with a very gentle character and excellent manners. He administered his school conscientiously, but was unable to make decisions, since he lacked a clear overall vision, and kept getting lost in debates. He is out of place in Saint-Etienne, where he none the less enjoys the respect which his qualities deserve, but we do not believe he can revive the school, which is dying under his administration. “The question of Mr. Dupuy’s transfer has arisen even more forcefully this year. The city has refused to pay him anything, and he can- not remain without income. He has also requested to be moved to a secondary school suitable for the father of a family, and which his fairly good ability as principal makes it possible to grant him. Mr. Dupuy’s zeal and dedication can produce results in a less thankless location than Saint-Etienne, and we have reason to further the interests of this employee who may do better elsewhere, and to give him another assignment once his replacement has been found” (Rapport sur le college de Saint-Etienne, ADL, series T, 855-1838). We know he was replaced that same year by Mr. Berthier, who died soon after, but we do not know what became of him after that. (Cf. L. 41) (REFERENCES, pp. 217-218).

DURAND, GILBERT: (1783-1832) was born 27th May 1783 in Champoly, Loire, to Gilbert Durand and Antoinette Vernin. He received the tonsure on 28th March 1807, minor orders and the subdiaconate on 24th July 1808, and the diaconate the next day. He was ordained priest on 23rd July 1809 and appointed professor of humanities at Saint-Jodard; his appointment was approved on 14th December. He stayed there only eighteen months; on 15th May 1814 he replaced Fr. De Ia Croix d’Azolette as superior and pastor of the parish of Mix (cf. OM, lV, p. 273). On 15th February 1823 he was named successor to the recently deceased Fr. Etienne Marchand as parish priest of Neuville-sur-Saône. He was approved on 7th March and installed on 11th April. It

prefeng-letter.doc 144 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” obviously did not take him very long to realize the need for a Christian school to offer young people a better education. From what we know of his attitude toward religious life, we may presume that he was all the more eager to attract brothers to his parish. We do not know how he became aware of Fr. Champagnat’s foundation, nor how the two priests became united in mutual respect and friendship. The fact remains that in 1826, the brothers opened a school in Neuville. Bro. Jean-Baptiste, the first director there, paints a clear enough portrait of Fr. Durand in his biography of Fr. Champagnat to dispense us from saying more about him here (cf. Life, 156-158). He died in Neuville of 31st October 1832 and Fr. Chirat was named his successor that same day. (Cf. L. 5) (REFERENCES, p. 218).

DURAND, JEAN; see DIDIER, BROTHER.

DUROUX, VICTOR PROSPER: (1803-1856) was born on 6th November 1803. There is no mention anywhere of the date of his ordination. In 1829 he was named curate in Annonay, and on 28th May 1836, parish priest of Lamastre, where he died on 23rd October 1856 (Diocesan archives, Viviers). He had asked Fr. Champagnat for brothers, but the latter replied on 22nd October 1839 that for the moment, all available brothers were assigned and that in addition, the approval of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities would have to be obtained (L. 287). (REFERENCES, p. 219).

DUTOUR, MICHEL MARIE: (1796-1875) was born on 27th April 1796. The personnel register does not give the date of his ordination, but it does list his appointment as curate in the parish of Saint-André in Tarare, Rhône, on 5th December 1827. Given his age, it is possible that this was not his first assignment, all the more so since only fifteen months later, on 12th March 1829, he was named parish priest of Montrottier. On 23rd June 1837, he was named parish priest of Amplepuis, as successor to Fr. Etienne Terraillon who had died on the 5th; his appointment was approved by the government on 22nd August and he was installed on 14th September. He found plans already drawn up for the establishment of a brothers’ school, which needed only his approval for their implementation (Cf. LL 117, 133). Fr. Dutour no doubt wrote to Fr. Champagnat at once, since the latter answered on 25th September, asking for a further delay. Discouraged by that reply, Fr. Dutour turned to the Viaturians, and one of them, Bro. Blein, opened the school in October I838 (P. Robert, Vie du Père Louis Querbes, p. 292). We do not know how long Fr. Dutour remained parish priest of Amplepuis, but we do know that he died on 14th November 1875, at the age of 75 and with the title of honorary canon. (REFERENCES, pp. 219-220).

ELIE-RÉGIS, BROTHER: (1809-1872), born Etienne Marin on 20th September 1809 to Pierre Mann and Marie Peillon. He was admitted to the Hermitage on 1st November 1835 and received the religious habit on 25th March 1836. He made temporary public vows on 10th October of that year (RVT, 1, p. 64) and perpetual vows on 9th October 1837 (RVP, 1, p. 29, n. 8). We have no information about him for the following year, but he was almost certainly a student at the Hermitage. On 9th September 1838, he left for Oceania with Bros. Marie-Augustin and Florentin, accompanying, according to the Annales de Ia Propagation de la Foi, Frs. Epalle and Petit (APF, X, p. 558). In a letter he wrote on 12th January 1839, during their voyage, he expresses his joy at having been

prefeng-letter.doc 145 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” chosen to be a missionary and recounts various events of the crossing, in particular that they sailed on 11th September 1838, went through their initiation on crossing the Equator, and reached Valparaiso on 12th December. A letter from Bro. Claude-Marie, dated 26th July 1842, informs us that Bro. Elie-Régis was in Wangaroa, New Zealand (Circulaires, I, p. 362). Here is the text of a letter he wrote six weeks earlier, on 7th May 1842, to Fr. Cohn: “Reverend Father, I thought you would be glad to learn something about what is going on in the mission, and what my duties are. I was sent to an establishment with two priests, Fr. Epahle and Fr. Petitjean. Shortly afterwards, His Lordship withdrew Fr. Epalle to make him his pro-vicar. Fr. Petitjean stayed longer; I have been in this mission more than two years now, and since the need for subjects becomes greater and greater, he too was withdrawn some time ago. “So here I am alone at this time with a little native houseboy who prepares my meals and keeps me company, but that is not like the companionship of a father or brother. The fathers from the Bay of Islands come to visit me from time to time. I am deprived of Holy Mass and the Bread of the Strong; may God’s will be done! When one is under obedience, one has everything, because one does God’s will by doing that of one’s superiors: but I was given reason to hope that a father or brother will come to join me, which I certainly hope proves true. “I am very busy, since I have to be catechist, carpenter, craftsman, farmer, tailor, laundryman, and sometimes cook; add to that the care of the farmyard with the chickens and other animals. There really are special graces for missionaries; there is enough work here for three people, and it must all be done by one. When we arrived in this place, we had to think about building a house; no other workmen around but me; it’s true that houses here are made of boards, which goes quicker than stone; then we had to think about starting a garden; potatoes and maize are the standard crops in this country. We did sow wheat, which came up very well, but we can’t sow much because we don’t have the equipment to work the land: no plow, no oxen to pull one, so we have to be satisfied with a mattock. We have planted grapevines and they will do very well here; the first one will be three years old this year and is beginning to produce grapes. This year, in Wangaroa, on the land His Lordship bought for the mission, we harvested a hundred baskets, about 2200 lbs., of potatoes, 220 lbs. of wheat and an equal weight of maize, not to mention other vegetables, so that we have enough food without buying any this year. “Among all the areas for which I’m responsible, catechizing takes first place; that is to say, if I learn that someone in one of the tribes is sick, I drop everything to visit him, instruct him and baptize him if he is in danger of death. I pray morning and evening with the natives who live close by; but when I can go to the more distant tribes, I experience great consolation, because then I can instruct them in the truths of our holy religion. They are very ignorant, but also very attentive. Not that we receive anything from them; on the contrary, when you go to visit them, they immediately ask if you have a little tobacco to give them. Also, it is not easy to reach the remote tribes; sometimes I must row for half a day, then sleep on the ground fully dressed, like the natives, and endure the cold. But how sweet it is to suffer for Jesus Christ when one loves him!... “We need a church here in Wangaroa in order to be more visible, because the Protestants have a fairly nice one, and we have only a poor chapel made of reeds like the houses of the natives, who are poor but do not have the spirit of poverty. The only people they respect are those whose clothing or housing stand out; they often say, ‘If we had a beautiful church, we would be strong on prayer, but we have no taste for it in that little house’. A small outlay for the chapel would not be superfluous; God would thereby

prefeng-letter.doc 146 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” receive more glory; from time to time Mass would be celebrated there, and that would dazzle the natives. But may God’s will be done! If we are poor, we are not the first, since Jesus Christ, our master, was himself poor. Your very devoted servant, Bro. Elie-Régis” (Annales des Missions d’Océanie, I, pp. 123-126). In the Annales des residences, des séminaires, des collages et autres oeuvres en Europe et en Amérique, the Marist Fathers published brief biographies of some of our missionary brothers. We quote here their sketch of Bro. Bile, since he does not appear to have been so honored in any publication of our Institute. “According to the fathers in New Zealand, Bro. Elie-Régis Marin, companion of Fr. Servant, was one of those elite souls whom Providence raises up in the early days of Societies called to difficult missions, among the brothers as well as among the priests. That testimony was given about him at the time when Frs. Garin and Petitjean came to relieve the forced solitude imposed on him by the travels of the father whose companion he was, to visit the Christians.... The joy of finding Bro. Elie- Régis in good health doubled the fathers’ happiness. He was highly esteemed in the mission, and had endured with the most praiseworthy resignation the double trial of isolation and illness. “During those days of forced and inevitable solitude, the letters of Bro. Elie-Régis describe him being asked by the natives to go fight the heretical preachers who were severely impeding the work of the mission. On one day, among others, surrounded by more than two hundred islanders, he silenced a minister in discussions on the sacraments, the use of images, and even on a number of historical questions about religion. He was educated and a talented debater. As for the odious and ridiculous calumnies which the Protestants habitually spread, he had no difficulty showing how false they were. His whole audience applauded his answers and the movement toward Catholicism became more marked. “Bro. Elie-Régis was as good at building earthly temples as at confounding error, and the mission owed him a great deal in that respect. Besides a great spirit of simplicity guided by wisdom, what stood out most about him was his exemplary regularity. Even during cold weather, when he could barely stand up because of his illness, he still dragged himself along to our community prayers and to meals, which he sometimes had to cut short because he could not breathe. After his love for his Rule, what everyone admired in Bro. Elie was his passion for work. Illness had a hard time making him drop his hoe or his pruning knife. “Fr. Rolland gave him the Last Sacraments on 23rd April. ‘Father,’ he said in a faint voice, ‘forgive me for all the times I offended you and all the trouble I caused you’. When I told him, with a smile, ‘But, brother, you never offended me,’ he replied, ‘I know what I’m talking about’. He could see and feel that he was dying. Shortly afterwards, he looked up to heaven and then lowered his eyes. That was his last breath. This good brother died on 24th April 1872, which was a Wednesday, the day consecrated to St. Joseph. As the pious expression has it, ‘I hope his soul has become a beautiful flower in the heavenly Father’s garden’ (Letter of Fr. Rolland, SM). “Bro. Elie had left for New Zealand in 1838. He spent thirty-three years helping Frs. Servant, Petitjean and Lampila, zealously filling his double role of catechist and apostolic worker” (op.cit., pp. 104-106). (REFERENCES, pp. 221-224).

ESSERTIER, PHILIPPE; see ADEIPHE, BROTHER.

ETIENNE, BROTHER: (1799-1867), born Claude Poisnard on 4th Fructidor, Year VII (4th August 1799) in Villevocance in the district of Annonay, Ardèche, to Mathieu

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Poisnard and Marie Seux. He was admitted to the house of La Valla on 11th November 1823 and received the religious habit on 20th October 1824. We can find no mention of his temporary vows, but he made private perpetual vows on 18th October 1826 (RVP, 1, p. 4) and renewed them publicly on 10th October 1836 (RVP, l,p. 26). In 1824, almost immediately after his investiture, Fr. Champagnat sent him to found the school in Chavanay. That move can be explained by the brother’s age and by his previous studies. Bro. Avit, in the annals of Chavanay, says that, “The first director was Bro. Etienrie, who died at St-Genis-Laval on 21st August 1867. He was a holy religious, endowed with great simplicity and a very delicate conscience. He had studied with the Basilians in Annonay. One day, Fr. Gauche brought into the classrooms a fat priest who was visiting him, and began to praise the brothers and their students. The other priest looked everything over, and in a bantering tone, answered Fr. Gauche with a Latin ex- pression rather insulting to the brothers. Fr. Gauche was no doubt hurt and embarrassed, but Bro. Etienne, with his usual simplicity, answered him very sarcastically, in Latin. The fat priest looked at him, picked up his hat, and left” (AFA, 213.9, p. 3). Bro. Etienne was replaced around 1830 by Bro. Dominique, as we know from the letter we will quote a bit further on. He went to replace Bro. Antoine in Bourg- Argental. On that occasion, Bro. Avit remarked, “Although he was a good religious, this brother did not have what it took to build up the school and compete with the two others (run by lay teachers) which existed in the town” (AFA, 213.85, p. 4). One of the latter was named Grangeon, and Bro. Avit wondered if he was not Jean-Marie Grangeon who had left the Institute. Bro. Etienne wrote from “Bourg-Argental, 12th January 1831: Very dear brother in Jesus and Mary, your blessing. I am sending you by way of the charitable Mr. Perrier, 42 pounds of butter at 60 centimes a pound, which Bro. Jean- Marie bought for the Hermitage. We have had it for more than a month, since we had no way to send it. We have 120 children of whom only 21 are in the writing (i.e., the upper) class. We cannot get paid in advance, nor even at the end of the month, and a great number also have not paid for the heating. The parents say it is very expensive, that business is not good, that they are not earning enough. Even as I am writing this, the son of the most well-to-do is giving me his monthly payment; he says his parents don’t want him to learn grammar because it costs too much (2 fr.). That is very discouraging for us and for the children. “They say the brothers are not sufficiently educated and that they don’t help the children to make enough progress. They need someone who really knows how to stimulate competition among them and get them to really profit from school. The chaplain and Granjeon are teaching. We are afraid that if we send them to collect their own salary, they will leave the school or go to other schools which are a bit better off. Since we don’t know what to do we would like you to give us your advice on the matter. We have been to see the mayor three times since All Saints without once finding him. The curates never come to see us even though they promised several times that they would. All these little difficulties and problems are discouraging Bro. Chrysostome, especially the bit about not knowing how to stimulate competition among them and teach them well. “Bro. Jean has asked for a cloak, and Bro. Chrysostome a habit, but not without needing them. Please send us at least two writing models, one in ‘English’ lettering and one in ‘fine’, because we really need them. If you would be so good as to give them to Perrier, along with a reply to this letter, you would make us very happy. I would really like you to come see us, but in any case, we hope to see you at the latest at Easter, along with all the fathers and brothers, which wifi give us great

prefeng-letter.doc 148 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” satisfaction. I have the honor to be.... Bro. Etienne” (AFA, 121.1). The following year, at the 1832 vacation, “Bro. Etienne handed over the direction to Bro. Chrysostome who had succeeded very well until then with the lower class” (AFA, 213.85, p. 5), in order to go found the school in Terrenoire. He definitely remained there until 1837, because the 1834 and 1835 assignments list him there, and the account book bears the notation: “3rd September 1837, (received from) Bro. Etienne in Terrenoire, 332 fr.” (132.2, p. 93). It was either at the end of that year or the following that he went to the Hermitage to assist Bro. Bonaventure, the master of novices. He “often amused his students by his naIvete, his scruples, and his indecision during his catechism lessons” (p. 250). We do not know how long he remained at the novitiate. He must have been there in 1839-40. because he does not appear on the assignment list for that year, which does not mention the brothers of the Hermitage community. We know from Bro. Avit that Bro. Siméon was recalled from Bougé.Chambalud because of illness, and replaced by Bro. Denis as the official teacher of the school, “under Bro. Etienne who did the cooking and taught the lower class. We do not know if he was already there or if the two were changed at the same time” (AFA, 214.14, p. 7). This happened toward the end of 1842, because, “On 29th December Bro. Etienne announced that the classes had more than 100 children, that Bro. Denis really made them learn.” (ibid.). In September 1843, Bro. Denis was replaced by Bro. Avit himself, who wanted Bro. Eticime to continue as director of the community while he took over the direction of the school and dealings with outsiders, which he willingly accepted. That situation seems to have lasted for two years, at the end of which, at the wish of the local authorities, Bro. Avit took over the direction entirely and Bro. Etienne was sent to Tarentaise, where he was all alone for the first year. He probably stayed there until September 1853. The assignment lists next show him in La Valla until 1856. We lose track of him during the next nine years, because he belonged to the province of Saint-Genis-Laval, for which we have no assignment lists between 1850 and 1865. The list for the latter year puts him in Châlons, where he did not remain very long since he died at St-Gems-Laval on 21st August 1867 (RD, 3, 500). (Cf. L. 196). (REFERENCES, pp. 224-226).

EUTHYME: Was born Claude Collard on 29th March 1821 in the parish of St-Genest- Malifaux, to Francois Collard and Marie Serventon. Admitted to the Hermitage on 18th October 1835, he received the religious habit on 25th March 1836 and made temporary profession for three years on 10th October 1836. He renewed those vows on 9th October 1837 and made perpetual profession on 10th October 1838 (RVT, 1, pp. 50, 65, 68; RVP, I, p. 30). When he left the novitiate in November 1836, the school in Ampuis welcomed him as the teacher of the lower class, as we know from Fr. Champagnat’s letter of 19th March 1837 (L. 102). It was not long before he was moved to the upper class. Then he stayed a while in La Grange-pavre before being sent to help Bro. Dominique in Charlieu in 1839. But he had to give up teaching at Easter because of fatigue, and limit himself to doing the cooking. After the 1840 vacation, he left with Bros. Vincent and Faustinien to found the school in Saint-Lattier. He had just enough time to get it off to a good start, when off he went again, to found the school in Saint-Ambroix in 1843. This time it would be more than just a brief visit: he stayed there seventeen years, until 1860. It was a time for him to show all his talents as leader, organizer, researcher and intellectual. It was only natural that Bro. Louis-Marie, immediately after the General Chapter of 1860 which had elected him Superior General, thought of Bro. Euthyme as

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Secretary General. He served in that capacity for seven years, because the fifth General Chapter, in its session of 28th October 1867, elected him fifth Assistant to replace the late Bro. Pascal. As such he was in charge of the province of N.-D. de l’Hermitage, but after 1876, he handled the Institute’s legal affairs until the General Chapter of 1893. That body, in its session of 21st April, was informed by the Bro. Superior General that “Bro. Euthyme, in view of his age and more and more precarious health, prefers not to be elected again. The Reverend Brother added that Bro. Euthyme was a priceless help to him and to the Regime; his wisdom, experience and savoir-faire made him eminently useful. The Reverend Brother informed the Chapter that he wanted to keep him in the Regime as an honorary Assistant; he would take part in its discussions, keep the room he was occupying, and be the Council’s secretary” (Minutes of the 9th General Chapter). It was as such that he died six years later, on 25th July 1899. There is a biography of Bro. Euthyme in Notices necrologiques, vol. 3, pp. 85-120; it should be noted however that several dates given there are inexact. (REFERENCES, pp. 226-227).

EXQUIS, BENOIT; see DOMINIQUE, BROTHER.

FABIEN, BROTHER: Born Jean-Pierre Bouvard around 1818 in La Frette, Isère, to Pierre Bouvard and Marie Vidol. He was admitted to the Hermitage on 3rd September 1836, received the religious habit on 3rd January 1837, and rune months later, made temporary vows for three years on 9th October 1837 (RVT, 1, p. 68). He probably spent the few months he had left to live at the Hermitage, where he died on 6th or 7th June 1838, according to the certificate of his burial on the 8th (RD, I, p. 15, n.45). (Cf. L. 197.) (REFERENCES, p. 227).

FANGET, JEAN PIERRE CLAIR: (1788-1862), born 1st January 1788 in Quintenas, Ardèche, was ordained 25th May 1815 and named curate in Tournon. He was named parish priest of Andance on 15th November 1824, and transferred three months later, on 4th February 1828, to Serrières. He asked for brothers for that parish in 1837 (cf. L. 144). His school was taught by Brothers of Viviers while waiting for the Marist Brothers to take it over. Fr. Fanget died in Serrières on 30th August 1862. (Information from the diocesan archives of Viviers and AFA 213.74.) (REFERENCES, pp. 227-228).

FAURE, PIERRE: (1792-1849) was born 26th August 1792 in Aurès, in Oisans, Isère. We know he was ordained on 25th October 1818 and that he had been superior of the minor seminary in Bourg d’Oisans before being appointed parish priest of Villeurbanne in 1831. That parish belonged to the diocese of Grenoble from 1802 to 1855, even though the town became part of the department of the Rhône in 1852. Fr. Faure did not have time to establish a Marist Brothers’ school (cf. L. 229) because in 1840 he was named parish priest and dean of Vif, Isère, where he died on 16th October 1849. (REFERENCES, p. 228).

FAYOL, CÉSAIRE; see ARSÈNE, BROTHER.

FAYOL, CLAUDE; see STANISLAS, BROTHER.

FAYOL, JOSEPH; see LOUIS-BERNARDIN, BROTHER.

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FELIX, BROTHER: Antoine Barralon, born around 1816 in Rochetaillée, Loire, to Claude Barralon and Marie Chomienne. He was admitted to the Hermitage on 1st September 1835 and received the religious habit on 25th March 1836. The following 10th October he made temporary public vows for three years (RVT, 1, P. 65), but made perpetual profession a year later, on 9th October 1837 (RVP, 1, p. 29). We can find no indication of his various assignments. On 10th January 1838, Fr. Champagnat mentioned him in his letter to Bro. François, which leads us to think that he was not at the Hermitage at that moment (cf. L. 169). However, towards the end of that same year, on 6th November, Bros. François and Louis-Marie signed the record of his burial in the register of deaths (RD, 1, p. 16, n. 49). He was 21 years old. (REFERENCES, p. 228).

FINAZ, LOUIS MAXIMILIEN: (1782-1839), born in St-Chamond, Loire, in 1782, to Louis Finaz, justice of the peace in St-Chamond, and Marie Magdeleine Hervier. He married Benoîte Hervier in St-Chamond; they had two children, Victor-Louis and Ernest. The Finaz family was part of the life of the region: just about every member of the family was either a notary or a lawyer. They took an interest in industry in St-Chamond, which they often helped with their legal counsel and their money (cf. Notre vieux St-Chamond, Paroisse N.-D., p. 104). Louis Maximilien was Fr. Champagnat’s notary and also his legal adviser, as we know from his letter of 7th March 1838 (L. 175). His purchases of land, either in partnership with Fr. Courveille or in his own name, his various sales, etc.. — in a word, all his notarized deeds between 1823 and 1839 — were drawn up by Mr. Finaz, whose files are presently in the offices of Charles Cartier, Esq., 3, rue de I’Hôtel de Vile, in St-Chamond. As for Mr. Finaz, he lived on the Grand’rue. He also died there on 30th August 1839, leaving his practice to his partner, Jean-François Noël Nicole, until such time as his sons, who were still studying, could take over. It was a Mr. Mioche who drew up Fr. Champagnat’s last legal documents, specifically the act setting up the Hermitage as a civil corporation (22 March 1840) and his testament in favor of that corporation (23 March 1840) (cf. photocopies in AFM, 144.23). Louis Victor Finaz took over his father’s practice, continued to work for the brothers, was the benefactor of churches and social works, and served as a town councilor from 1847 to 1860. He died on 17th January 1897 at the age of 79. (REFERENCES, pp. 228-229).

FLANDRIN, FRANCIS: (1801-1865), born on 12th February 1801 in Roanne, Loire, was ordained on 8th April 1825. There is a two-year gap in the personnel register, from 1825 to 1827. J. M. Chausse, in his Vie de Jean-Louis Duplay, mentions a Fr. Flandrin who was an army chaplain, but gives no dates (vol. 1, p. 116). It may be the same person, but we have no proof of that. On 19th September 1827, he was named curate in Charlieu, Loire, where he was particularly devoted to the brothers (cf. L. 227). His stay in that parish did not last very long; he was transferred on 17th June 1831, to the parish of St-Pierre in Lyons. Two years later, on 10th November 1833, he was named parish priest of La Chassagne, Rhône, after the death of Fr. Jean Bouvard, but barely had time to get settled there before being transferred to Violay, Loire on 4th April 1834, when the death of Fr. Joseph Ville left that parish vacant. He left there in turn a year later, on 4th May 1835, for Ville-sur-Jarnioux. It was from there that he contacted Fr. Champagnat to ask for brothers, but without success (L. 277). On 12th November 1847, he was named parish priest of La Pacaudière, Loire, to replace Simon Novette, who had been

prefeng-letter.doc 151 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” transferred to Givors. He died on 5th November 1865. (REFERENCES, p. 229).

FLAVIEN, BROTHER: Jean-Pierre Chomas, was born 28th April 1810, in Sorbiers, Loire, to Jean-Antoine and Jeanne-Marie Picard. He entered the Hermitage novitiate on 21st November 1833 and received the religious habit on 2nd February 1834. He does not appear in the register of temporary professions but is listed in that for public perpetual professions, which he made on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, pp. 26-27). The assignments for 1834 or 1835 put him in La Côte-Saint-Andre, but the annals of that house say nothing more about him than about the other brothers who were associate teachers there. He doubtless stayed there only until the 1837 vacation, because in January 1838 he was in St-Didier-sur-Rochefort, Loire, as we know from the letter of 5th January 1838 (L. 168). That same year, he took over as director, and remained such until 1840, when he was replaced by Bro. Apollinaire and went to direct the school in Boulieu. Bro. Avit gives us one of his character studies about this brother: “This director was very good, very well-intentioned, capable enough for the period, but exceptionally naive. Bro. Emile, his assistant, was malicious enough to play many tricks on him” (AFA, 213.6, p. 17). Still, he remained there until 1848, when he was replaced by Br. Chéré- mond and went to Vauban. There is no mention of him in the annals of that establishment, but we have the assignment list for that year, as well as for 1849 when he was in Corbessieu, in the village of Frontonas, Isère, as assistant. When Bro. Avit visited there on 29th January 1851, he found him in a new house, since in the meantime the school had been transferred into the village itself. There were Bros. Mathieu (director), Flavien, Gobdélas and Fergeux. In his report we read that, “Bro. Flavien will have his children sing hymns according to the rule and will oblige them to go home in good order” (AFA, 214.34, p. 9). A bit further on, the visitor added, “Bro. Flavien is the only one who complains, as he did in the past, about the food, and he is the only one who has reason to complain. He impresses me as a man who does not know what mortification is, and who works harder to save his belly than to save his soul. He is completely lacking in common sense, but thinks he has more than the director. Not being too concerned about the fine points of the truth, he will state quite positively things he only half-knows or doesn’t know at all. He will even tell you an outright lie with complete self-assurance; like a professional lawyer, he will prove to you that he is innocent, even when you have caught him red-handed, and to offset that fact, he will prove to you that all the others have all sorts of defects” (Ibid., p. 10). According to the assignments lists, he went to Saint-Forgeu in 1852, Pélussin in 1853, then back to Frontonas in 1854. According to his file, that was his last assignment, which he left only to go to St-Genis-Laval to die, which he did on 5th May 1866 (RD, 3, n. 462). (REFERENCES, pp. 229-230).

FONTBONNE, JACQUES: (1803-1886), born 24th April 1803 in Bas-en-Basset, Haute- Loire, was the son of Claude Fontbonne and Françoise Playnet, farmers and landowners, and nephew of Jeanne Fontbonne, who under the name of Mother St-Jean, reorganized the Sisters of St. Joseph of Lyons during the period 1807-18 16. On 25th May 1817 he went to Lyons and obtained an exeat (permission to change diocese) from St-Flour to Lyons. He must have entered one of the minor seminaries, and then, on 1st November 1825, he entered St-Irénée to do his three years of theology. He received the tonsure on 23rd July 1826, minor orders on 23rd December 1826, subdiaconate on 27th

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December 1827, and the priesthood on 5th April 1828. On 11th July 1828 he was named curate in St-Laurent d’Agny, where he became acquainted with three young ladies who would become Marist Sisters. On 1st December 1830 he was authorized to go to the Hermitage, where he arrived shortly after the meeting at which Fr. Champagnat was elected provincial. He was curate in Valbenoîte from 29th September 1831 until the summer of 1833. On 31st July of that year, the archbishop appointed him curate in Allières, and then on 22 January 1834, curate in St-Martin d’Estréaux. In September 1834, Fr. Cohn and Fr. Champagnat thought of him as professor of theology in Belley, but in fact Fr. Chanut was appointed. In December 1834, he was assigned to the Valbenoîte residence, but actually lived at the Hermitage. In 1834-35, at the request of Bishop Rosati, several Sisters of St. Joseph were preparing to go to the diocese of St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States. Two of the volunteers were Fr. Fontbonne’s sisters, and the archdiocese permitted him to accompany them. On 4th January 1835, Fontbonne and the sisters left Lyons for Le Havre, where they weighed anchor on 17th January. They reached New Orleans on 5th March 1835. On 6th July 1836, he wrote to his Marist friends to ask for brothers for America. He was still corresponding with Fr. Champagnat in 1837 (cf. L. 109). Since the latter could not send anyone, Fr. Fontbonne was directed by Fr. Cholleton to the Viatorians, and he began writing to Fr. Querbes with the same request. From 1848 to 1851, he was parish priest of St-Martin in the diocese of New Orleans. He returned to France for reasons of health, and served for some time as chaplain of the hospice in Vaise, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph. He finally returned to active ministry and was successively named parish priest of Lérigneux on 18th April 1852, of Chassagne on 22nd November 1857, and of Parigny on 1st December 1867. He retired in Chagny on 18th December 1882, and died there on 12th April 1886. (Cf. OM, IV, 280-281). (REFERENCES, pp. 230-231).

FOREST, JEAN: (1804-1884), born 31st October 1804 in the hamlet of La Chapelle, in , son of Jean Forest, a farmer, and Etiennette Brossy. On 3rd March 1825 he was exempted from military service, as an ecclesiastical student living with Fr. Brut in St- Chamond (AAL, Reg. des Sérrunaires, 1811). He entered St-Irénée on 15th October 1827, and did his three years of theology there. He received the tonsure on 31 May 1828, minor orders on 20th December 1828, subdiaconate on 13th June 1829, and the diaconate on 19 December of that year. He was ordained to the priesthood on 5th June 1830, and named curate in SI-Etienne-la-Varenne on 1st July. On 19th October 1831 he was assigned to but did not go there. It must have been then that he received permission to join the Marist aspirants at the Hermitage. In February 1832, he and the Hermitage group gave a mission in his former parish of St-Etienne-la-Varenne, whose parish priest was also a Marist aspirant. He remained at the Hermitage for some time after the decision to transfer the Lyons group of Marists to Valbenoîte. He signed the Valbenoîte registers for the first time on 8th February 1832; Bishop Pompallier had been unable to get the chancery to permit him to stay with Fr. Champagnat. On 1st August 1834, he officially became second curate in Valbenoîte L. 46). In 1835 he preached in Moingt with Fr. Séon, and then gave the 1836 Lenten sermons in St- Genest-Lerpt with Bishop Perra. In May 1836 he went to Lyons to replace Bishop Pompallier as chaplain at La Favorite. (See his letter of 20th July 1836 in OM, I. p. 914, doc. 400; Extraits, p. 335.) He made his vows on 24th September 1836, and on 15th November he went to the little house on the Montée St-Barthélemy, and then to Puylata,

prefeng-letter.doc 153 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” as assistant to Fr. Cohn, master of novices and missionary. From 1839 to 1841 he was exclusively a parish missionary; after four years of requests and prayers, he obtained permission to leave for Oceania. On 8th November 1841 he left London with the title of Visitor, and landed in Wellington in the spring of 1842. He immediately made a visitation of New Zealand, at the end of which Fr. Jean-Baptiste Epalle returned to Europe to look for money and give an account of the situation. Fr. Forest spent the rest of his life in New Zealand, first in Auckland until 1850, then in Wellington from 1850 to 1860. After a period of rest in Nelson and Sydney, he went to Napier in 1862; he stayed there 22 years and died there on 28th December 1884. (OM, IV, pp. 282ff.) (REFERENCES, pp. 231-232).

FOUET, LOUIS; see MOÏSE, BROTHER.

FOURNAS, MARIE: (1763-1833) She was born in St-Chamond, Loire, to Jean-Marie Fournas and Marguerite Galley (ADL, 3 E 218, p, 20), Through her father she was the half-sister of Claude Fournas, deputy from the Loire, Knight of the Legion of Honor. We have a great deal of testimony about her and her family. "Two priests from outside the area, and therefore not known as priests, found a safe refuge with the Fournas family in the city" (J. Condamin, Histoire de Saint-Chamond, p. 494). With a fair amount of money at her disposal, Miss Fournas never stopped contributing to charitable works. "Fr. Dervieux, parish priest of St-Pierre, founded a number of useful establishments (in the city of St-Chamond), with the assistance of wealthy people...(including) the pious Miss Fournas, who was outstanding for her charity and always eager to give generously to good works" (M. Cattin, p. 113). She founded an orphanage in the rue de la Bobe, which today is called the rue de l'Asile Fournas. In 1830 she gave 21 hectares (a. 52 acres) of land to the Hospice of Charity. That gift made it possible for the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul to move into a house belonging to Mr. Victor Dugas, in the rue de l'Arzalier, and with some additional help from Mr. Ennemond Richard, to open an orphanage and pharmacy in Rue Garat (according to Les Vieux Amis de Saint-Chamond). In 1833, before her death, Miss Fournas gave her Grange-Payre property to Fr. Champagnat, over and above the financial aid she offered him for the upkeep of the old men and orphans he took in at the Hermitage (cf. L. 27). She died in St-Chamond on 3rd June 1833, in her home on rue Garat. (REFERENCES, pp. 232-233).

FRANÇOIS-XAVIER, BROTHER: Jean François Claude Peigneaux, son of Jean- François Peigneaux and Antoinette Farge, was born around 1803 in the parish of Létra, district of Le Bois d’Oingt, department of the Rhône. He appears in the register of admissions to N.-D. de l’Hermitage under date of 20th September 1836, aged 33, with a notation quite rare for the period: “has completed all his studies” (RE, 1, p. 74). A month later, 23rd October, he received the religious habit (RV, 1, p. LVIII) and the following year he is listed among the brothers who had just made perpetual profession on 9th October 1837 (RVP, 1, p. 29). Immediately afterwards, Fr. Champagnat entrusted him with the foundation of the school in Arise, Rhône, according to what Bro. Avit tells us: “On 20th October 1837, the parish priest (of Anse) announced that the building was ready and that he was taking care of the personal furnishings. He asked that the school be opened right after All Saints, which it apparently was.... The first director was the ex- François-Xavier, an ex-seminarian; we knew him during his novitiate; he seemed to us

prefeng-letter.doc 154 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” rather untidy and lacking in taste. We have no documentation on what happened during his directorship and we cannot even be sure how long it lasted” (AFM, 214.4, pp. 7-8). According to the account book, it must have lasted at least until the 1839 vacation, because he made two successive deposits in the name of the school in Anse, on 2nd October 1838 and 4th January 1839 (cf. AFM, 132.2, pp. 107, 110). When Bro. François was elected Director General at the General Chapter of 1839, he was chosen to say a few words to the Bro. Director General in the place of Bro. Louis-Marie, and he obtained a few votes in the election for the Brothers Assistants (AA, pp. 287, 290). The 1839 assignments name ‘him as director in La Côte-St-André; Bro. Avit confirms this fact in his annals of that establishment, although he remarks that, “He didn’t work wonders!” there (AFA, 214.43, p. 17). He was, in fact, replaced in October 1840 by Bro. Marie- Auzonne. It was on that occasion that he was mentioned in the post-script of the circular of 14th March 1840(L. 328). From there on information about him is vague. In the annals of Izieux, Bro. Avit includes him among the six directors who succeeded each other during the first nine years that school was open. Since he is third on the list, and the school was opened in 1838, it is highly possible that his stay in that establishment began in October 1840. The account book contains the following entry: “May, 12, from Bro. François-Xavier, direct. of Sury, for the establishment: 200” (AFM 132.2, p. 145). We find one last notation in the register of admissions, in the margin opposite the entry cited above: “Left 19th September 1846; remitted 100 fr. , 9th April 1847, remitted 20 fr. and a few items” (RE, 1, p. 74). (REFERENCES, p. 241).

FRANÇOIS, BROTHER: Gabriel Rivat (1808-1881), born in Les Maisonnettes, a hamlet in the town of La Valla-en-Gier. His father, Jean-Baptiste Rivat, son of Jean Rivat, a farmer residing in Le Pinay, in the parish of La Valla, and of Antoinette Berne, was born 12th May 1762, baptized that same day, and died on 17th December 1827. His mother, Françoise Boiron, daughter of Gabriel Boiron and Jeanne Callet, residents of the town of La Valla, was born on 6th September 1765 and died on 14th December 1844. They were married on 12th May 1789 in La Valla. They had seven children; three girls and four boys: 1. Jeanne-Marie, the eldest, born 22nd April 1709, died on 6th July I862; wife of Jacques David, who died on 25th April 1885 in Rochetaillée. They had three children: Jean-Marie, parish priest of Bussy-les-Albieux; Marie-Françoise, wife of François Roussilloux, mother of eight children, three of whom became sisters; and Marie- Antoinette, wife of Gérin Jacquier, mother of eight children. 2. Jean-Claude, born 5th September 1791, died on 1st February 1 X7(): an invalid, he had been a soldier at the end of the First Empire. 3. Jean-Antoine, born 5 Nivôse Year II (25th December 1793), died 29th January 1830; a soldier at the end of the First Empire, he became priest and was assistant in Saint-Martin-la-Plaine, when he became ill he retired to La Valla where he died in the presbytery. 4. Antoinette, born 26th Ventose Year lV (16th March 1796), died 26th September 1848; "She died from the effects of a tumor she contracted while spending her nights at the bedside of her aged mother" (Fr. David). 5. Jeanne, born 22nd Frimaire Year VII (12th December 1798), died 21st March 1818 from the effects of a hemorrhage. 6. Jean-Marie, born 20th Vendémiaire Year XIV (12th October 1805), died 27th February 1838; with his brother Jean-Claude he farmed the family land in Maisonnettes; he was also a vestry-man of the La Valla church. 7. Gabriel, born 12th March 1808, died 25th January 1881 at N.-D. de l'Hermitage, superior general of the Marist Brothers. As Fr. Jean-Marie David remarks in his letter of 10th December 1890

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(see text below), his mother Jeanne-Marie was the only one of her generation who married. As for Gabriel, since his biography has been written by a number of authors, we will simply recall here a few dates and quote a few unpublished documents. First of all, here is the letter of Fr. Jean-Marie David of 20th September 1890, telling how young Gabriel was consecrated to the Blessed Virgin by his mother. "To the Brother Director of La Valla. In Fr. Champagnat's room, you showed me a painting before which Bro. François’ mother consecrated him to the Blessed Virgin. You will be pleased, I am sure, to know the origin of that painting which you keep as a precious souvenir. Here is what I heard from my sister, who has been living in Bro. François' childhood home for more than sixty years, and who, like me, knew the mother, sister and two brothers of Gabriel Rivat, your first Superior. "Bro. François' two older brothers were in the army during the last wars of the First Empire; their mother made a vow, or at least promised the Blessed Virgin, to offer her a painting if her two children came home safe and sound. God granted her that favor; one of the two became a priest and died as curate in La Valla; the other spent his whole life in the family home, always unwell, and died at the age of 78. To fulfill her promise, the pious mother spent 500 fr. for the painting and for a statue which was also placed in the church in La Valla. To the extent that memory serves faithfully, the painting was done by a man named Ravery, from St-Chamond. I remember having seen a similar painting by the same artist in the church in Rochetaillée. I got this information from my mother, who was the oldest of the seven children of the Rivat family in Maisonnette. "When it was decided that young Gabriel Rivat-he was about twelve at the time-was to be entrusted to Fr. Champagnat, who was then curate in La Valla, his mother took him to church and there, in front of this painting, she offered him to God through the hands of the Blessed Virgin. Then she presented him to Fr. Champagnat, with these very words: 'Now that I have consecrated him to the Blessed Virgin, do whatever you wish with him'. I am happy to share with you this memory, which shows the faith and piety of our forbears, and which gives new value to this painting because of its origins. "Please accept, brother, my respectful greetings. Fr. David, parish priest of Bussy-Albieux, this 20th September 1890, and nephew of Bro. François, David". The event he describes must have taken place on 6th May 1818, according to what Bro. François himself wrote in one of his personal notebooks: "Given to Mary by my mother, at the foot of the altar of the rosary chapel in the church of La Valla, I left the world on Wednesday, 6th May 1818". He had therefore just turned ten, and had just made his host communion on 19th April; he was confirmed by Bishop De Mons of Mende, in the church of St-Pierre in St-Chamond on 3rd August of that year (Chronologie, p. 33). On 8th September 1819, he received the religious habit. Fr. Champagnat taught him Latin and had him study medicine (cf. AA, p. 44). We know only bits and pieces about the first eight years of his religious life. He helped out in the classes in Lavalla, was named cook in Marlhes in 1820, taught the lower class in Vanosc and then the upper class in Boulieu until the 1826 vacations. On 11th October that year, he made perpetual profession, after which he began a new phase of his life, which he spent entirely at the Hermitage, working directly for the Founder. In 1831, he became his private secretary. After the law of 28th June 1833, Bro. François wanted to obtain a certificate of competence, which was given to him by Mr. Briot, the principal of the secondary school in St-Chamond. None the less, he did not leave the Hermitage to go teach anywhere. One of Fr. Champagnat's entries in his notebook on 12th March 1835 says, "Bro. François is to serve as secretary until further orders" (M. p. 176). We

prefeng-letter.doc 156 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” know he was elected Director General on 12th October 1839. The twenty years of his generalate are sufficiently well known for us not to have to elaborate on them here. That brings-us to 1860. Bro. François, "given the state of his health and the ever more burdensome and more difficult responsibilities he had to face as the Society spread and multiplied", convoked the Third General Chapter for 17th July 1860, "mainly...in order to give the Regime some helpers and collaborators" (ibid.). This was the first chapter held at St-Genis-Laval. On the second day, 18th July, "the Reverend Brother Superior took the floor and made the following remarks: 'Dear Brothers, We must recognize and admire the action of Divine Providence in everything. Sometimes it reveals itself in very noticeable .and consoling ways. For a long time now, as I told you yesterday, we have felt the need to strengthen the Regime by increasing the number of Assistants in order to relieve those who were carrying a load under \x hose weight we had reason to fear they might collapse. The matter was quickly decided and resolved. But it was still necessary to take steps to have at the head of the Regime a man with all the physical and intellectual qualities needed to deal with every aspect of the administration of the entire Institute, able to replace the Superior General in thing he could no longer do himself. 'Which would be better under the circumstances: the resignation of the Superior or the election of a Vicar? What should be proposed to 1]. Chapter? The question was discussed at length in Council and seriously studied, always in view of the greater good of the Institute and the advantage of the brothers. which were our only concerns, and we finally reached a unanimous decision. We then informed the Rev. Fr. Favre, Superior General of the Marist Fathers, who is always interested in us in a very fraternal wan. Father took advantage of a trip to Rome in May of this year to consult Archbishop Bizzarri, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Bishops and Regulars, whom I had the honor to see several times, and to whom I had presented the various documents concerning our authorization. 'This was his reply: "Since the Little Brothers of Mary are actually in the process of seeking the authorization of their Institute by the Holy See, it is advisable not to make any substantial changes in its administration. But if the Superior General can no longer fulfill his functions, the Brother First Assistant must substitute for him . Fr. Favre himself came to give us this reply which the Regime received with the respect and deference it deserved. regarding it as the expression of God's will. Only he on whom the burden weighed was frightened by it and consequently shared with us his observations about it, but still submitting very religiously to the decision of the Chapter. 'That is who I now propose to you to give Bro. Louis-Marie full and entire authority, and all the powers necessary for the administration and general government of the Institute, as Vicar of the Superior General. I do so with all the more confidence, since it seems that by the words which Fr. Champagnat spoke to both of us a few days before he died, our good Father foresaw what is happening today. You also know that since our first election, we have always worked together to handle the business of the congregation, whether at Notre-Dame de l'Hermitage, in Paris, or in Rome. which now indicates this step to be taken in the circumstances in which we find ourselves'. "Bro. Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Assistant, then said a few words urging the Chapter to go along with the advice given by Archbishop Bizzarri, Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops and Regulars, that the Rev. Bro. Superior General delegate to the first Assistant the responsibilities incompatible with his state of health. The Chapter quickly approved this measure by acclamation, out of deference for the Holy See. Bro. Louis-Marie rose to make some very strong objections, saying he did not consider himself bound: he gave several

prefeng-letter.doc 157 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” reasons, accompanied by many tears, requesting a vote of the Chapter, in writing, hoping to escape the heavy load which had been placed on him. At the proposition of Bro. Pascal, 3rd Assistant, we voted in writing to decide whether the Chapter would follow the advice given by Archbishop Bizzarri, or if it would try to reach its own solution; the proposal from Rome was upheld by 33 votes to 2. "After this decision the Rev. Bro. Superior, the two remaining Assistants, and the Chapter, unanimously gave Bro. Louis- Marie, first Assistant, all the powers of the Superior himself, with entire responsibility for using them according to the Rules and Constitutions, until the death of the Rev. Bro. Superior, or until such time as a future General Chapter might ordain otherwise. In so doing, the Chapter did not intend to establish a precedent; it acted thus because the congregation found itself in an exceptional situation which will not be repeated: the awaited approval of the Rules and Constitutions, when it occurs, will necessitate general elections. Then the Rev. Bro. Superior, his Assistants, and all the members of the Chapter gave the kiss of peace to Bro. Vicar General" (AFM, 31.03, pp. 211-212). For all practical purposes, Bro. François withdrew from official functions and Bro. Louis-Marie governed the Institute, signed the circulars, and presided at the 4th General Chapter, both the first session on 22nd April 1862 and the second on 19th July 1863. It was during that second session, which followed the approval of the Institute, that Bro. Louis- Marie was elected Superior General. The date was 22nd July 1863. "At 6:30 the following morning, "at the beginning of the session, the Very Rev. Bro. Superior General, not wanting to perform any official act before receiving his predecessor's blessing, left the platform and knelt before him to request it. Very Rev. Bro. François bestowed it in these terms: 'May the Lord give you the authority of a father, the tenderness of a mother, and grant that you may lead us all to heaven'. Before giving the blessing, he stated that this was an opportunity for him to perform his first act of obedience to his successor" (AFM, 31.04, p. 65). After that, as he said, he could retire to do penance for the faults he had committed during his generalate, write his many voluminous personal notebooks, and cultivate his little garden on the slope above N.-D. de l'Hermitage, from whence the Lord called him to his permanent home on 22nd January 1881 at the age of 73. We add here the text of the second letter from Fr. David, parish priest of Bussy-les-Albieux, written on I 0th December 1890. "Most Honored Brother, I am very happy to give you some information about the family of my uncle, Bro. François. Jean-Baptiste Rivat and his wife Françoise Boiron had seven children; four boys: Jean Antoine, Jean Claude, Jean Marie, and Gabriel; and three girls: Jeanne Marie, Jeanne and Antoinette. Jeanne Marie, my mother, who was the eldest of the family, was the only one who married; she and Jacques David had three children: Marie Françoise, who died in the paternal home of Bro. François, Marie Antoinette who is still living in Izieux, and Jean Marie, parish priest of Bussy-les-Albieux. My sister Marie Françoise, wife of François Roussilloux, had eight children, three of whom are religious: two Sisters of St. Joseph, and one Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. My nephew, who lives in the house in Maisonnette, could give you more details. "Let me go back to the other brothers and sisters of Bro. François. Jean Antoine became a priest and was first named curate in St-Martin-la- Plaine, then curate or assistant in Lavalla, where he died in 1838 after a hemorrhage. Antoinette died in 1848, from the effects of a tumor she contracted from spending the night at the bedside of her aged mother who died in 1844: her father had died in 1827. Jean Marie and Jean Claude were bachelors who farmed the Maisonnette property. Jean Marie was a vestryman of the church in La Valla. Gabriel, the youngest of the

prefeng-letter.doc 158 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” family, was entrusted as you know to Fr. Champagnat after having been consecrated to the Blessed Virgin by his mother in the former church, before the painting whose origin I explained in another letter. "Bro. François' father and mother were what one could call simple Christians, upright and God-fearing; fast and abstinence were observed with scrupulous severity. When I was still a very young child in Rochetaillée, my parents sometimes took me to Maisonnette, and I can still see Bro. François' mother raising her two hands to heaven and telling me, with an angelic smile, 'My child, up there is where we must go'. For some years she was nearly paralyzed and bedridden. "Their father's and mother's spirit of faith and piety were transmitted to their children, one could say, with the very life they received. In that house one would never hear a vulgar or improper word. Before she married, my mother wore a hairshirt; I learned that from the person who was with her during her last moments and whom she asked to put that hairshirt in her coffin. Every evening, the family recited the rosary, and even today the third generation has continued that pious practice.... When she was four or five, my mother had picked up a few nuts under a tree by the roadside; to teach her to respect other people's property, her mother made her bring them back to the spot where she got them. "I am giving you these few details in no particular order; they may help explain young Gabriel's good dispositions for religious life. My eyesight is so weak that my handwriting has become a scrawl. Two more details that just came to mind. Some years before the death of Bro. François, my brother-in-law, who died in Maisonnette in 1893, became seriously ill with pneumonia; he had already received the Last Sacraments and there seemed no hope of saving him, when Bro. François, who had come to Maisonnette, told the family to have confidence, that he would pray and have the community at the Hermitage pray; 24 or 48 hours later, my brother-in-law was almost completely recovered. "Bro. François' mortification: with his parents and even with me, a priest, he embraced us without our cheeks touching. Dear brother, take whatever you can from this whole assortment, and I will always be at your disposition for the glory of my uncle and of your Institute. Accept my respectful greetings. Fr. David (nephew of Bro. François)." (Cf. LL. 67, 87, 96, 169, 170, 172, 174, 175, 176, 177, 179, 182, 185, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197). (REFERENCES, pp. 233-238).

FRANÇOIS, JEAN: (1792-1857) was born in 1792, according to his death certificate, which does not indicate the place of his birth. He died in Pélussin. The fact that we could not find his birth certificate, and his profession as a notary, may indicate that he did not come from around Pélussin, but we do find his family name in the town registers, so the contrary could also be true. In any case, on 3rd June 1836. he was named second deputy mayor of Pélussin, by royal ordinance (Municipal archives, Registre des délibé- rations, 1820-1837). On 22nd August 1837, another royal ordinance appointed him mayor, which office he took over on 23rd September. Mr. Jean-Pierre Parret was his deputy. Three years later he left office, handing it over to Mr. Jullien du Colombier who took over at the town hall on 21st September 1840 (ibid.). The census sheets for spring 1841 inform us that Mr. François’ wife was named Jeanne Marie Ducom and that they had two children, Léonie and Felix. His death certificate reveals the existence of a third child named Adrien, who succeeded him as notary. The fact that the latter does not appear in the Pélussin census means he was away at the time, most probably at school. Mr. Jullien remained mayor until the events of February 1848. Dismissed from office by the provisional government, he was succeeded by Mr. Jean François, who took over the

prefeng-letter.doc 159 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” office provisionally for the second time on 13th March 1848. The political significance of this change no doubt created adversaries for the new mayor. Although feelings were rising all over the country, in Pélussin there was also the fact of the inauguration of the new church which had just been built in the “Les Croix” neighborhood in the highest part of town. The inhabitants were not only divided, but formed opposing factions: the partisans of the old church, and those of the new. Since the brothers’ school was next to the new church, the children of the partisans of the church in the lower part of town refused to go there. In order to calm everyone, Mr. François wrote to the Superior, “As I had the honor to remark to Bro. Visitor, the annoying divisions which have stirred up the town of Pélussin make it necessary for the moment to divide the school. Some teachers called in by some of the townspeople have appeared. Thinking I could persuade the latter to send their children to the school in Les Croix, I prevented the former from settling here. But I could not convince them. They brought up all the danger involved in putting together the children of two rival groups. “To make everybody happy and allow the brothers to do their teaching, I got the inhabitants to agree to entrust their children to them on the special condition that, every day, two brothers would leave the others and go down to the center of Pélussin to teach in a room that would be provided for them. That is the proposal which I have the honor to submit to you, asking that you inform me whether you can accept it. If the answer is affirmative, please be so good as to inform me...”. Mr. François’ request was studied only superficially, and the superiors sent Bro. Simplice to teach in the older part of Pelussin; that class was considered an annex of the town school which remained in Les Croix” (AFA, 213.36, pp. 9-10; cf. also the topographical entry for Pélussin, which cites a somewhat different version of this affair, also given by l3ro. Avit). This state of affairs continued well beyond Mr. François’ term of office; he signed the register of deliberations for the last time on 11th May 1852. On 8th August, Mr. Jullien Alexandre was installed as mayor of Pélussin. The next mention of Mr. François is in the register of deaths, entry no. 22: “On 11th March 1857, Jean François, notary, husband of Mrs. Jeanne Marie Ducoin, 65 years of age, died at the home of Mr. Adrien François, notary, his son”. (REFERENCES, pp. 238-240).

FRANÇOIS-REGIS, BROTHER: “Born Claude Boiton, legitimate son of Benoît and...deceased, in the parish of Eclose, Isère, being eighteen years of age, (I) attest and declare that...I was admitted on the sixth day of May to the house of Notre-Dame de l’Hermitage..., and that on the fifteenth day of August of the same year, eighteen hundred thirty-two, I had the honor of being clothed in the holy religious habit of the brothers...(signed on 15th September 1832)”. That is his declaration in the register of investitures (RV, 1, p. XVII). In the register of temporary professions, after repeating the same declaration as above, he adds, “I have, on the seventh day of October of the same year...made privately, but voluntarily and freely for a period of six months, the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience...(signed on 8th October 1832 at N.-D. de l’Hermitage). Then underneath we read, “I renewed my vows for three years” with no other indications (RVT, 1, p. 36). In the register of admissions, Fr. Champagnat had written, “6th April 1832 - Claude Joseph Boiton, legitimate son of Boiton and.. .des Clauses”, and nothing more; in the margin, another hand added, “F. François Regis”. His name appears on the list of brothers who publicly made or renewed perpetual vows for the first time on 10th October 1836. As for his professional life, we have only a few dates, and even these are not always certain. In 1835, he was in Mornant under the

prefeng-letter.doc 160 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” direction of Bro. Laurent. The following year, 1836, he replaced Bro. Paul as director in Marlhes, according to Bro. Avit who is unable to specify how long he stayed there. Fr. Champagnat mentions him in two successive letters to Bro. François, on 20th and 23rd June 1838 (LL. 196, 197). Should we conclude from that that Bro. François-Régis was at the Hermitage at that time? Or that he had not done well as a teacher and had to be assigned to manual work? Or that he was preparing for the next departure for the missions? We have no answer to any of those questions. Actually, it was Bro. Marie- Augustin who left for the missions the following 2nd September (Chronologie, p. 79), while there is no further trace of Bro. François-Régis. Since he does not appear on the 1839 assignment list (AFM, 137.5), we presume he left the Institute sometime in 1838, but we have no way of confirming that supposition. (REFERENCES, p. 240).

FREDET, HIPPOLYTE FRANÇOIS: (1799-1884), was born in Cébazat, Puy de Dôme, son of Jean Fredet and Claudine Arcony. A medical doctor, he resided at 36, la Grand’rue, in Saint-Chamond (ADL, 49 M 22). His wife, Marie Maillery, gave birth to a son, Noel, who died on 29th June 1829 at the age of one. In 1830, she gave birth to a second son, Jules Jacques, who survived and eventually took over his father’s medical practice. On 24th April 1837, their daughter Marie died a few moments after her birth. We know that Mr. Fredet was the regular physician of N.-D. de l’Hermitage at the time of Fr. Champagnat, and a look at the register of deaths and the number of premature deaths makes it clear that he made innumerable visits there. The St-Etienne directory for 1830 lists three other physicians residing in St-Chamond: Mr. Bernard, Mr. Laval, and Mr. Meyer who was a health official at the hospital (op. cit., p. 102). After 1830, a young doctor, Mr. Louis Mocquint, set up practice in St-Chamond. He lived on the same street as Dr. Fredet and became acquainted with Fr. Champagnat. It seems clear that Dr. Fredet took umbrage at Dr. Mocquint’s visits to the Hermitage, and said as much in a letter to Fr. Champagnat. The latter replied in L. 77, which as far as we know, had no follow-up. In 1838, when there was question of establishing a cemetery, the town council of Izieux consulted Mr. Fredet, which would indicate that he enjoyed a certain reputation. He died in St-Chamond on 26th June 1884; his wife, Marie Maillery, died on 28th August 1892 (Civil registry of St-Chamond, ADL, E 208). (REFERENCES, pp. 241-242).

FROGET, PIERRE MAURICE: (1794-1880), “Born in Panissières in 1794, student at the minor seminary of L’Argentière in 1805 and at St-Irénée seminary from 1814 to 1817, ordained to the priesthood in 1817, was curate in Amplepuis and at St-Georges in Lyon, then parish priest of Irigny and of the Grand’Eglise in Saint-Etienne from 1835 until his death in 1880.... The name of Fr. Froget is followed by this annotation of distinction: ‘knowledge, very considerable” (J.M. Chausse, Vie de J.L Duplay, I, p. 211 and note). During his forty-Five-year ministry in St-Etienne, he gave the very best of himself. Luis Dorna, in his book, La Grand’Eglise, devotes several pages of praise to him, recounting his activities in that parish. He saw to the restoration of the chapel of Sainte-Barbe and of his church, especially the organ and the belltower; he participated in the planting of the Liberty Tree on 9th April 1848; on 18th September 1852 he received the Prince- President Louis Napoleon. An honorary canon of Lyons and a knight of the Legion of Honor, he died on 13th December 1880. (Cf. L. 84.) (REFERENCES, p. 242).

FULCHIRON, JEAN-CLAUDE: (1774-1859) was born on 21st July 1774 in Lyons. His

prefeng-letter.doc 161 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” father, who was also born in Lyons on 11th June 1744, was a banker. He had two banks: one in Paris, with a branch in Lyons; he had a seat in the legislature from 1810 to 1815, had great influence in his native city, and died on 20th July 1831. His son Jean- Claude entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1795, then gave up a military career to involve himself in science, political economy and literature. At the time of the Restoration, he moved to Paris. When he entertained, many distinguished personages gathered in his home to exchange opinions. His own were favorable to the government of Louis-Philippe. He was named a member of the Committee for Primary Instruction and of the District Council of Saint-Denis. He was decorated with the medal of a Knight of the Legion of Honor, and that same year, 1831, he became a member of the General Council of Commerce and Manufacturing. He began his parliamentary career on 5th July 1831, having been chosen by the third electoral “college” of the Rhône. He belonged to several commissions of the Chamber, such as transportation, grain crops, warehouses and customs duties, and his participation in debates won him a reputation for expertise in political economy. Elected general councilor for the Rhône in 1833, he was reelected on 4th November 1837 and again on 2nd March 1839. On 14th August 1845, a royal ordinance made him a member of the Chamber of Peers. The Revolution of 1848 returned him to private life (cf. Robert and Cougny, DPAN). “After his seventeen-year career in politics, Mr. Fulchiron became involved primarily in questions of political economy and finance. His opinion and his evaluations carried weight with his colleagues.... (Moreover), he was generous and loyal, and combined both those qualities with happiness. He could be so more than some others, because he had remained single, and was reputed to have a considerable fortune. His wallet was always open, and generously so, in the face of public sufferings and private miseries” (Hodieu, Nomenclature lyonnaise, pp. 107-108, passim). In that context, we can understand why Fr. Champagnat asked his assistance with the legal recognition of the Institute, as he mentions in a number of his letters to different persons (cf. LL. 171, 194, 202, 314, 323). Jean-Claude Fulchiron died at his Paris residence, 17 rue Gramond, on 22nd March 1859, at the age of 85. (REFERENCES, pp. 242-243).

FURET, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see JEAN-BAPTISTE, BROTHER.

FUSTIER, JEAN FRANÇOIS BERNARDIN: (1791-1853), born 9th April 1791 in Nonières, Ardèche. On 18th February 1815, he was ordained and began a very nomadic decade. Immediately after his ordination, he was named curate in Vernoux, Ardèche; on 9th April, parish priest of Saint-Julien-le-Roux, a hamlet of Vernoux; the following year, he founded the secondary school in Vernoux; on 1st May 1820, he resigned in order to found the boarding school in Maisonseule; on 30th September 1822, he was named parish priest of Saint-Basile, Ardèche; on 1st January 1824, he became part of the mission band in La Louvesc; on 11th July 1825, he was named parish priest of Baix, Ardèche; and on 5th December 1826, he settled in the parish of Saint-Félicien, Ardèche, where he spent the remaining twenty-seven years of his life. As we know from Fr. Champagnat’s two letters to him (LL. 137, 149), Fr. Fustier had been ten years in his last parish when he felt the need for Marist Brothers for his school. We know from a letter from Fr. Laverenne, vicar general of Viviers, to Fr. Mazelier, that a lady in Saint- Félicien had asked for the former’s help in obtaining Brothers of St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux. Fr. Laverenne gave his correspondent the following information: “St-Félicien is a district

prefeng-letter.doc 162 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” seat, the town is quite large, spirit in the area is very good. Fr. Bernardin Fustier is parish priest there. Unfortunately, he is hopelessly at odds with the lady who has spoken to me about this good work. Their misunderstanding is so strong that they cannot possibly work together, even on this occasion. But I could deal separately with each of them: I know Fr. Fustier very well, since he was in the seminary with us, and the lady in question is a distant relative of mine, a De Dienne” (AFM, 531.135, p. 1). On 16th September 1835, Fr. Mazelier informed Fr. Fustier that he could not possibly give him brothers (AFM, 531.3.117). It was then that he wrote to Fr. Champagnat (cf. L. 137). Another letter of his, which appears as a footnote to L. 149, shows that his request had still not been met in 1840. It would not be, until 23rd October 1841 (cf. Avit, Annales de St-Félicien, AFM, 213.48, p. 8). This letter reveals Fr. Fustier’s exuberant and jovial character, which Bro. Avit confirms with the words, “Fr. Fustier was not loved by the rich people whom he lampooned in song, but he was very popular, and his songs remained famous for a long time” (ibid., p. 5). He died in St-Félicien on 5th December 1853. He had been decorated with the Lys in 1814 and named an honorary canon in 1826 (cf. ADV). (REFERENCES, pp. 243-244).

GABRIEL, BROTHER: was born 6th May 1818. On 23rd March 1833 he signed the following declaration in the Régister of temporary professions: “I, the undersigned Bro. Gabriel, born André Caillot, legitimate child of Jean-Baptiste and of Benoîte Meygre, both still living, born in the parish of Ampuis, fourteen years of age, attest and declare that by the grace of God, I was admitted on the twelfth day of July, eighteen hundred thirty, to the house of Notre-Dame de l’Hermitage, novitiate of the Society of Mary; that on the second day of February, eighteen hundred thirty-one, I had the honor of being clothed in the holy religious habit of the brothers of the said society, after having humbly requested it from the Rev. Fr. Superior; and that later, with the permission of my same Superior, also undersigned to certify the permission, I have, on the fifteenth day of August, eighteen hundred thirty-one, before receiving communion at Holy Mass, in the chapel of the above-mentioned house, made privately but voluntarily and freely, for a period of three months, the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the superiors of the said Society of Mary according to its constitutions and aims: in proof of which, etc....” At the end of that declaration we read: “I renewed my vows for six months on twentieth November eighteen hundred thirty-one; for one year, on 3rd April eighteen hundred thirty-two; for one month at Easter, and for one month on 5th May 1833; for until the Assumption; finally for six months on 29th September 1833” (RVT, 1, p. 39). Further on, on page 65 of the same Régister, he appears on the list of brothers who made or renewed their vows for three years, after the October 1836 retreat at N.-D. de l’Hermitage. And a few pages further on, on page 68, we find him on the list of brothers who made or renewed their vows on 9th October 1837. He made perpetual profession on 10th October 1838 (RVP, I, p. 30). We have no indication where he was and what he was doing from 1831 to 1836. Perhaps he was studying at the Hermitage or cooking for one of the communities. In 1836 we find him in Lorette as assistant to Bro. Bernardin with Bros. Eloi and Maurice (AFA, 213.28, p. 3).We do not know if he stayed there until he succeeded Bro. Marie as director in Thoissey; Bro. Avit simply tells us that, “When school reopened in 1838, Bro. Gabriel succeeded Bro. Marie, and with his associate, continued to reside in St-Didier” (AFA, 214.99, p. 5). Should we question that statement, or should we presume that Bro. Gabriel was often absent, since on 5th November 1838,

prefeng-letter.doc 163 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” he signed the burial certificate of Bro. Gonzague in the Régister of deaths at the Hermitage, and on 28th March 1839, that of Bro. Felix; and since as we know from L. 249 of 8th April 1839, he went to Grenoble to take the examination for his certificate of competence? At the first General Chapter, in October 1839, he was chosen as scrutator along with Bros. Louis and Laurent (AA, p. 288). “Towards the end of 1840,” Bro. Avit tells us in the annals of Thoissey, “Bro. Gabriel was accused, apparently with some foundation, of immoral acts with his students. According to Bro. Philippe (director in St- Didier), several of his victims were not permitted to make their first communion. Their parents and the authorities kept silent, and despite the investigation by the court in Trévoux, the whole ugly affair made very little noise” (AFA, 214.99, p. 6). However, Bro. Gabriel was replaced for the rest of that school year by Bro. Louis-Bernardin; we do not know what the superiors did with him during that time. At the beginning of the 1841 school year, we find him in Grand-Lemps, where thanks to Bro. Avit, we can follow him practically until his death. “Bros. Mathieu, Gabriel, Eustache and Auxence arrived and began classes around the 10th of November. Bro. Mathieu was director and did the cooking, and Bro. Gabriel was the officially recognized teacher.... Bro. Gabriel replaced Bro. Mathieu in October 1842.... (He) soon fell ill and had to be replaced by Bro. Abrosime. On 6th October 1843, the latter wrote...that the mayor had demanded the return of Bro. Gabriel, so as to give the title of town teacher to the brothers.... (He) was named town teacher in July ‘43, and even though he was still sick, he had to go to La Tour-du-Pin to take the oath of loyalty to the Bourgeois King.... (He) then returned to take over the direction of the school in January 1844” (AFA. 214.36, pp. 4-6, passirn). On 6th June of that year, he ends a letter by saying that all the classes are doing well, “and the brothers too. I never once had even a slight quarrel with them, and we live in the most perfect peace and tranquillity; the exercises of piety are performed regularly and on time, we always get up and retire at the indicated time; there are only some occasional infractions against silence, but never at the strict time [i.e., Great Silence]. “We have all been fighting coughs; for the rest, Bro. Joseph still has his usual sickness, but he has decided to make the sacrifice of a trip to the Hermitage, and he is counting on your kindness for the coming year, and recommends himself in a very special way to your holy prayers. The other brothers and especially your poor servant are at your feet and confidently expect the same service. Very Reverend Brother,.. .the devil often makes wir on me, and he torments me more often than just when my turn comes around.... I am with profound respect, Very Reverend Brother, your poor little servant, Bro. Gabriel” (AFM, 605.054, p. 17). His letter of 6th February 1846 is written in the same tone: “The brothers do their best to teach their classes. The exercises of piety are performed regularly on time. Out of all the brothers who are on time, the director’s performance is worst; and he is the one who most needs prayers; so I am counting on the promise you gave me to give me a larger share in your prayers, so that the enemy may not raise his flag over me...” (Le Grand-Lemps file). “On 8th June 1847, Miss De Virieu, foundress of the school in Le Grand-Lemps, wrote to Bro. Director General, ‘I have learned, brother, that Bro. Abrosime, who spent a year and a half in Lemps, and whom we gave up for a while only because of problems which no longer exist, that Bro. Abrosime, as I was saying, is in La Côte-St-André merely as a teacher. Permit me to ask you, brother, if we could not have this good brother back as superior. ‘Bro. Gabriel, whom we were obliged to take back because the town-teacher’s certificate was in his name, even though he is an extremely good teacher, is not at all so capable as he of

prefeng-letter.doc 164 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” directing the moral life of the children. He is a very good young man, zealous for the classes to the point of damaging his health, but he lacks that pious and gentle manner we found in Bro. Abrosizne and which is so necessary for attracting young souls toward what is good. He is not involved strongly enough in forming character, and he really does not have it in him to perfect himself in that area. He could be very useful in class, especially if he were given time to continue his studies. But he is not capable of providing moral training. He has also had several disagreements with the town authorities, in which, even though he was really not wrong, he did not know how to placate them by using suitably flowery language; in a word, he can barely do any good any longer here in Lemps. ‘It hurts us to see a number of young people going to school elsewhere. So please try to send us back Bro. Abrosime, with whom we were perfectly satisfied, and whose poor health would do well in our pure and invigorating air...’.” Bro. Avit adds that “The parish priest made the same request. He did not find Bro. Gabriel flexible enough or sufficiently obsequious” (op.cit., p. 7). Apparently the superiors did not satisfy these requests, because Bro. Avit remarks that, “Being exhausted, Bro. Gabriel did the cooking in 1849 and 1850. Ex-Priscillien was named official teacher, taught the first class and shared the direction with Bro. Gabriel, which means that there was no direction, and the finances showed it” (ibid.). The team did not remain together long, because Bro. Gabriel died at the Hermitage on 23rd July 1850 at the age of 32 (RD, 1, p. 43, n. 153). (REFERENCES, pp. 244-247).

GAGUIN, JEAN: (1792-1867), born 11th February 1792. The diocesan archives of Autun contain very little information about this priest. He was parish priest and dean of Saint-Gengoux-le-Royal, Saône-et-Loire, in 1862, but we do not know when his assignment began. He was already there in 1837, since he wrote to Fr. Champagnat from there (cf. LL 152, 218). He is certainly the Jean Gaguin referred to in those letters, and not another of the same name, who was curate in Saint-Gengoux in 1862, and the following year named parish priest of Curtil-sous-Burnand, a hamlet of Saint-Gengoux, at the same time, it seems, as the Fr. Gaguin we are concerned with here retired to that parish as a “priest in residence”. According to Fr. Gauthey, the archivist of Autun, “they were probably uncle and nephew”. The latter was born 4th February 1830, in Vinzelles, Saône-et-Loire, was prefect of studies at the minor seminary in Autun, curate in Sennecey-le-Grand, Sa6ne.-et-Loire in 1856, in Saint-Gengoux-le-Royal in 1862, then in Pierreclos, Saône-et-Loire in 1875; he died 3rd November 1901. As for his uncle, the former parish priest of St-Gengoux, according to the necrology he died in Messplier, in the parish of Blanzy, on 11th December 1867. (REFERENCES, p. 247).

GARDETTE, PHILIBERT: (1765-1848), priest of the archdiocese of Lyons. He was born on 7th May 1765 in the hamlet of Villeneuve in the parish of Saint-Romain-d’Urfé (Loire), to Joseph Francois Gardette, tarmer and landowner, and Catherine Bessey. He did his preliminary studies in Saint-Romain under Fr. Coudour Annet, then his humanities and rhetoric at the secondary school in Thiers from 1782 to 1784, and his philosophy at St- Irdnée in 1784-1786. After a year of theology with the Oratorians (1786-87), he was appointed, in the autumn of 1787, protessor of philosophy in the seminary of Clermont- Ferrand, even though he was only a tonsured cleric. It was there that he received minor orders and the subdiaconate and was present at the first stage of the Revolution. On 9th April 1791, with dimissorial letters from Bishop De Marbeuf, he was ordained to the

prefeng-letter.doc 165 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” priesthood in Le Puy; it was Bishop De Galard’s last ordination. He then returned to his native hamlet where he carried on a clandestine ministry until 6th December 1793. when he was obliged to surrender to the police. Sentenced to be deported, he left Clermont- Ferrand on 6th March 1794; on the 18th he reached Bordeaux, where he was interned in the Saint-Raphael minor seminary until 2nd December. His ship sailed for Guyana on 8th December but could not reach the open sea and remained in Port-des-Barques at the mouth of the Charente. On 12th March 1795, he was set free and returned to Auver- gne, where he found refuge with the Meydat family in La Praderie. In September of that year, he returned to his home town, where he signed the baptismal Régister from 14th February 1796 to 7th October 1797 as a “missionary priest”. There he also began to gather a group of children, which by 1798 had become a real clerical juniorate. That year, he was invited by Fr. Linsolas, the vicar general, to join his group to that of Fr. Devis in Saint-Jodard. After teaching philosophy in that house for five years, he became its superior on 5th September 1803, and remained so until the beginning of 1812. He was then called to St-Irénée as superior, a responsibility to which he gave his all during the difficult years 1814-1815 (OM, I, docc. 31, n. 1; 34; 35; II, 562, n. 4; 768, n. 3) and which he fulfilled for nearly thirty years, thus leaving his mark on several generations of Lyons clergy. When Bishop Dc Pins arrived, he was confirmed in his position; from 3rd March 1824 on, he participated in the meetings of the archdiocesan council. During the summer of that year, he joined the Society of Saint-Sulpice. In July 1841 he gave up the superiorship of St-Irénée, but remained there to give conferences and work with those preparing for the diaconate. He died there on 16th August 1848. He was buried in the cemetery of Loyasse (OM, IV, pp. 286-287). From his years in the major seminary, Marcellin Champagnat always found “a supporter, an excellent counsellor, and an experienced director in the person of the well-known Fr. Gardette, who directed the major seminary for a very long time, who trained an army of pious, regular, serious clergy, who did so much good in the diocese. It was said of him that he was the living rule of the seminary; and in fact, he would not tolerate any irregularity. In the time of Bishop Dc Pins, a lady from the court of Louis-Philippe came to Lyons and wanted to see the major seminary. Having learned that Fr. Gardette would not receive any woman except in the parlor, she obtained a letter of recommendation from the bishop. Having been shown into the parlor, she presented this letter to Fr. Gardette, who after reading it, told her with his usual slight stammer: ‘Madam, the bishop runs the diocese, and I run my seminary,’ and he politely showed her to the door” (AA, pp. 25-26). As the confidant of the Founder of the Little Brothers of Mary, Fr. Gardette “counselled him in his difficult dealings with Fr. Bochard, presented him to Bishop De Pins in 1824 (AA, p. 54: Life, pp. 112, 116-118), apparently suggested, that same year, that he ask for Fr. Courveile to help him (L. 30), intervened on his behalf in the spring of 1827 (Life, p. 192; L. 3), and continued to help him after that. It was he who, during the summer of 1831, sent to the Hermitage a seminarian who had given up the idea of the priesthood, Pierre-Alexis Labrosse, who would become Bro. Louis-Marie, second superior general of the Little Brothers of Mary (AA, p. 107; cf. OM, IV, p. 287). Fr. Champagnat readily went to see him about any difficult matters, and willingly followed his advice (L. 98). “He hadn’t confined himself to guiding and encouraging Father Champagnat, but had helped him with his own money. At any time that Marcellin visited the Major Seminary, Father Gardette provided him with advice, encouragement and material help for his work. The Little Brothers of Mary remain forever in the debt of that distinguished priest” (Life, p.

prefeng-letter.doc 166 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References”

118). (There is also a biographical entry on Fr. Gardette written by Fr. Cattin, in Mémoires pour server à l’histoire écclesiastique, pp. 152-153.) (REFERENCES, pp. 247-249).

GAUCHÉ, JOSEPH: (1769-1855) was born in Cubusson in the parish of Véranne, Loire. Curiously, neither his date of birth nor that of his ordination appear in the personnel Régister nor in the civil Régister of the clergy. Perhaps, like many priests during the Revolution, he was ordained clandestinely, even at night, as often happened, by some bishop traveling in disguise. On 1st October 1809, he was named parish priest of Chavanay, where he was already curate, to succeed Fr. Jean-Baptiste Reynaud who had retired the day before (AAL, Reg. pers.. 1). Fr. Batia says he had been there since 1800, and puts him 17th on the list of priests who served that parish more or less clandestinely before the reestablishment of public worship. So we can understand Bro. Avit’s error in dating when he says he was named parish priest in 1801 (AFA, 213.9, p. 3). From the outset of his ministry, various circumstances must have put him in contact with Frs. Jean-Claude Courveille and Marcellin Champagnat. On 27th November 1816, the secretary of the archdiocesan council noted, “The parish priest of Chavanay, who has several houses of young ladies dedicated to education and living for that purpose in community, although they are in no way religious sisters, would like and has been working for a long time to have one of the said houses adopt a rule and associate itself with a religious institution. He requests the previous approval of the ordinary to that effect. It is decided that he be authorized for that purpose to affiliate the house he linds best disposed to either the congregation of St. Joseph or that of St. Charles, but on condition that each of the subjects in the said house agrees” (AAL, Reg. délib., 4, quoted in OM, Ill, p. 842, note 3). Moreover, around that same time, two parishioners from Chavanay, Anne Perreton and Catherine Verrier, were in Saint-Claire-du-Rhóne as religious teachers of the nascent congregation of Sisters of Mary, attached to Courveille. We do not know what relationship they may have had with the first group. But we do not see how Fr. Gauche could have been unaware of the different attempts at founding women’s teaching congregations, and of the various persons, like Courveille, who were trying to organize them. That thread would have made it all the easier for the parish priest of Chavanay to arrive at the Little Brothers of Mary of Marcellin Champagnat, since it appears that the education of the young boys of his parish was giving him problems. “We know,” Bro. Avit recounts in his annals, “that there was a lay-teacher there in 1820. It seems he was doing very poorly, and the parish priest and the parishioners were very dissatisfied with him. In search of something better, Fr. Gauche wrote to our Founder, and obtained two brothers in 1824”. But three lines later, he adds, “The house [which the brothers were to occupy] belonged to a certain Miss Ollagnier, who had run a school there before the brothers. She ceded it to Fr. Gauche, probably for nothing. She went to live with the local sisters and even took the veil” (AFA, 213.9, p. 3). Fr. Gauche certainly had not waited until 1824 to meet Fr. Chainpagnat. According to Fr. Bourdin, the parish priest of Chavanay visited the Hermitage “at the time when Fr. Champagnat was collaborating in principle with Fr. Bochard, that is, around 1822” (OM, II, doc. 754, n. 25; p. 782, n. 2). This was certainly not the first time the two men had met, if we are to believe a remark made by Fr. Debours: “Now the parish priest of L’Horme [Jean-Antoine Grenire, a native of Chavanay] told me that there was at that time a parish priest named Gaucher [sic].... Fr. Gaucher was a very holy priest and a

prefeng-letter.doc 167 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” very shrewd man. Fr. Champagnat had given him brothers and they were intimate friends” (OM, Ill, doc. 865, n. 2, pp. 842-843). In 1826, Fr. Champagnat wanted to settle the matter of the properties he owned jointly with Fr. Courveille, who had been forbidden, after his fault, to live at the Hermitage. “Having learned that Courveile was in St-Clair (and Courveille must certainly have seen Fr. Gaucher often), Fr. Gaucher, being a very shrewd man, must have directed negotiations between Fr. Champagnat and Courveille. Given his competence, he must have led Courveille to accept the conditions set down in the document, which was then notarized. Thus, Fr. Champagnat found himself freed and had peace of mind” (ibid., p. 843) In connection with that arrangement, Fr. Coste remarks that, “Fr. Gaucher’s intervention in this matter is hardly surprising. He could have dealt on this occasion with either Fr. Courveille or Fr. Champagnat. Under the circumstances, then, he could be the ideal go-between, and he may even have directed the two priests to a notary whom he knew” (OM, I, p. 416, note 1). In the annals of the Chavanay school, Bro. Avit speaks at length of Fr. Gauche, who was very involved in the school, upheld the brothers, and showed himself all the more demanding because he had the prosperity of his work very much at heart. On 5th December 1839, he complained to Fr. Champagnat about the brothers he had been given. “Poor Bro. Laurent,” he said, “IS a holy man, a beautiful soul in the sight of God. But I am forced to tell you, to my great regret, that he does not have the qualities needed to be director, especially of the establishment of Chavanay. With all due respect for his virtue, the whole parish is unanimous in speaking about his incompetence. Not only that, but you have also withdrawn Bro. Modeste and replaced him by a younger man, who may be very talented, but who makes a very poor impression. The truth is that we have been very poorly served for some time now. People are not even afraid to say that you send us only the rejects from the other establishments” (AFA, 213.9, p. 5). The Bro. Modeste whom the priest mentions had replaced Bro. Anastase in May, and had been withdrawn in October. Bro. Laurent did have a certificate of competence, of the sort common at that time, which had been given him by the parish priest of St-Chamond before 1830, but he had lost it. Rev. Bro. François wrote to the parish priest to tell him so. Fr. Gauche repliecL..on 27th December..., “When the brother left for the Hermitage at the end of the last school year, he was advised to please put everything in order and to obtain a duplicate of the certificate he had lost. This good brother did nothing about it and appeared here again without that important document.... As a result, the school of Chavanay is considered vacant in the eyes of the prefecture, and our tax-collector cannot be authorized to pay either the brothers or the rent on the house they are using” (ibid., p. 6). Around 1843, “Fr. Gauche, either because he had resigned or because his residence was uninhabitable, went to live on the second floor of the school building, which he had had repaired. His housekeeper, the comings and goings of the parishioners, his dinners for other parish priests, etc....very much annoyed the brothers, whose ground-floor classrooms were dark and damp, and whose first-floor residence was cramped” (ibid., p. 8). On 18th January 1845, Fr. Gauche requested the return of Bro. Dacien, who had had to withdraw because of illness, and had been replaced by Bro. Marcel. “If Bro. Dacien were cured and able to take over his duties, I would beg you to give him back to me. He has been widely missed; he knew how to win the affection and confidence of the parents, the students, and mine as well” (ibid., p. 8). The following 3rd May, “the parish priest complained that his [January] letter had produced no results. On 22nd August and 2nd September of that same year, he asked for a third brother for

prefeng-letter.doc 168 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” what he called an evening class, and insisted that Bro. Marcel be changed” (ibid., p. 9). He wrote again in 1847 “to request Bro. Marcel’s change.... He was finally replaced by Bro. ThCophile after the 1847 retreat At the beginning of 1848, Fr. Gauche fell gravely ilL “Rev. Bro. François came to see him, and the sick man gave him two bags of money whose contents we do not know. After his recovery, he wrote that he was giving one bag for the down-payment and furnishings of the third brother, who was then added. He reclaimed the second bag, alleging that he was not in full possession of his senses when he had made the gift, and since he was not yet dead, he feared he would be in tight straits if the second bag were not returned to him. We know that it was sent back to him.... On 10th September 1851, Fr. Gauche asked that the same three brothers be sent back to him, saying that they enjoyed widespread confidence.... [He] died on 1st July 1854, [leaving] 6000 francs and his furniture to his housekeeper, on condition that she look after a niece of his, and that she leave whatever was left of that amount to the brothers on her death...” (ibid., pp. 10-1 1). Unfortunately, when Bro. Avit drew up these annals in 1882, he got his dates mixed up. He may have confused the date of this dona- tion with the date of death. According to Vachat, Fr. Gauche remained parish priest of Chavanay until his death in October 1855 (Les paroisses du diocese de Lyon, Let-ins, 1899, p. 592). Fr. Batia says this about him: “Around 1850, education in Chavanay took on a new lustre, thanks to the efforts of two outstanding priests, the Ft-s. Gauche, who were uncle and nephew, and who, after giving the parish a primary school directed by the Marist Brothers, founded a school of higher and secondary education which rendered great service to the well-to-do families of the area, began the education of a number of priests, and raised the reputation of the town of Chavanay to a very high level” (Recherches historiques sur le Forez-Viennois, Imprimerie Dumas, St-Etienne, pp. 368-369). Fr. Detours recalls an incident which sheds light on one aspect of Fr. Gauche’s personality: “At one social gathering, when the singing began, a certain Voltairian who happened to be present sang a rather indecent ditty. The master of the house laughingly asked the priest, ‘Well, Father, what do you think of that song?’ And he shrewdly replied, “Oh, I’ll just take the music and let the others have the words” (OM, III, doc. 865, n. 5, p. 844; cf. L. 41) (REFERENCES, pp. 249-252).

GAVARD, CLAUDE MARIE: (?-1876), was born in Ville-en-Sallez, Savoie. His date of birth is unknown. He was at first curate in Geneva before being named parish priest of Noire-Dame in Annecy in 1827. Together with Fr. Bouvet, parish priest of Saint-Maurice and perhaps with Fr. Piccolet, the spiritual director of the secondary school, he wrote to Fr. Champagnat to ask for brothers. We know from L. 9 that four brothers were promised for the following All Saints. Fr. Gavard was named a titular canon and died sometime in 1876. (REFERENCES, p. 252).

GAZEL, LEONARD: (1794-1863) was born on 6th April 1794 in , in the town of Noirétable, Loire. He was ordained in Lyons on 19th July 1818, and on 3rd October, appointed curate in , Loire, and then in Villié-Morgon, Rhône. On 1st July 1824 he was transferred to , near Roanne, before being named parish priest of Chambon-Feugerolles, as successor to Fr. Antoine François Curie, recently deceased. He was appointed on 12th July 1832, approved on 31st August and installed on 19th September. He must have known Fr. Champagnat since his seminary days, but that did not make his attempts to obtain brothers any more successful (cf. LL. 214, 245). It was

prefeng-letter.doc 169 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” only in 1852 that his request was granted. On that occasion, Bro. Avit remarked, that he “was a holy man, but he liked a quiet life” (AFA, 213.27, p. 6). In the Régister of the retirement house for priests of the diocese, we read, “Fr. Gaze!, born in La Chamba, former parish priest of Chambon-Feugerolles, entered this house paralyzed on his right side. He was very edifying; since he could not say Mass, he attended it every day and received Communion. He was very generous; he donated a chandelier and two large candelabra for the chapel. This excellent priest died suddenly, although he had been ready for a long time, in September 1863 (on the 20th, according to the personnel Régister) at the age of 69”. (Notes historiques, retirement house of the archdiocese of Lyons.) (REFERENCES, pp. 252-253).

GENISSIEUX, ETIENNE FRANÇOIS: (1788-?) was born in 26th February, probably in a town in the disthct of Feurs where he owned large tracts of land. We do not know how much education he had, but the positions he held show that he was considered a highly competent citizen of the region,, He was the “syndic-gerant”, or in modern terms, the president and general director, of the Compagnie des Fonderies et Forges de Terre- noire, La Voulte et Bessèges. The company owned factories in those three cities and later acquired iron-works in Lorette, which it purchased in 1850 from Neyrand Frères et Thiollière, and also a factory in Le Pouzin, which it bought from Mr. Dugas-Vialis. We do not know the precise date, but Mr. Génissieux married Marie Seraphine Paule Reynaud. They had at least three boys: Charles, born in 1816; Ernest, born in 1823, and Jean- Marie Ferdinand, born on 24th May 1830 in Terrenoire-St-Jean-Bonnefonds (ADL, UE 238). Even though he was never involved in politics, Mr. Génissieux was named a member of the town council of Saint-Jean-Bonnefonds in 1837. However, because of his time-consuming occupations and his frequent travels, he did not attend meetings; in the book of minutes, we read, “Génissieux, Etienne Francois, has not attended council meetings since he became a councilor, request the prefect to declare Mr. Génissieux and Mr. Chavane to have resigned” (AM St-Jean-Boanefoncis). But he had not waited until then to become involved with his fellow-citizens, especially the families of the men who worked in his factories. Bro. Avit, in the annals of Terrenoire, gives him high praise for that. “To the extent that work in those establishments was rough, dangerous and exhausting, the attention and foresight of the administration for its workers was all the greater. For example, a doctor, a pharmacy and a special hospital were provided for them. Had injuries put them out of work? They were given a pension. Had death struck down a husband or father? The pension was transferred, following wise and prudent regulations, to the widow and orphans. Did a certain worker have children? They were educated in the shelters, at the sisters’ school, at the brothers’ school, all of these connected exclusively with the factory. Each worker has his own home, with a little private garden to give him some relaxation from his rough labor. It would have been difficult for those hard-working people to practice their religion, so far from the parish church; a church was built in Terrenoire; it is a vast structure with only one nave, but is well maintained and suitably decorated. There is even an organ, whose harmonious sound offers a diversion from the continual din of the work-place. A chaplain and an assistant chaplain minister at that church. The brothers’ school of which Mr. Ogier speaks was ours. It was founded in 1832 by Mr. Génissieux, the director of the company and benefactor of the Institute” (AFM, 213.78, pp. 3-4). The friendship between the Founder and the director of the Terre-noire factories was as sincere as it was cordial, as

prefeng-letter.doc 170 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” we can see from L. 81.Being very satisfied with the results the brothers had obtained in Terrenoire, Mr. Génissieux requested three more for La Voulte, in August 1837. “The Founder promised them to him: he could hardly have refused, seeing that Mr. Génissieux was one of the principal benefactors of the congregation. The request and the promise were more or less simultaneous with the letter which Fr. Vernet, vicar gene- ral of Viviers, sent to the Lyons chancery, requesting the latter to forbid Fr. Champagnat to assign his brothers in the diocese of Viviers (Cf. Letters, vol. 1, pp. 290-291). “The Founder found himself, as we say, between a rock and a hard place.... The intervention of Mr. Gémssieux, and, we would like to believe, that of Fr. Pleynet, the parish priest and dean of La Voulte, brought Bishop Bonnel to the realization that his vicar general bad gone too far. His Grandeur sent the following letter to Fr. Champagnat on 13th November 1837: ‘Pierre Francois Bonnel, by the mercy of God and the favor of the Holy Apostolic See, bishop of Viviers. Since the establishment of the Marist Brothers in La Voulte was decided upon before Fr. Vernet’s letter to Fr. Cattet, vicar general of Lyons, I would be very pleased to see that establishment prosper and continue as planned. I also ask Fr. Champagnat to send to La Voulte the brothers he had promised to Mr. Génissieux; the piety of that excellent Christian is too deserving of encouragement for me to oppose his plans’ (AFM, 128.5). “This episcopal document was given to the parish priest, who had been maneuvering for three days to obtain it; he gave it to Mr. Géni- ssieux, with the request that he in turn send it on to the Founder” (AFA, 211.13, pp. 4-5). The latter did in fact receive a letter from Mr. Génissieux, under date of 17th November 1837: “Father Superior, I have the honor to forward to you the enclosed letter which I received from the parish priest of La Voulte, and the authorization which you wanted from the chancery of Viviers for the establishment of our school in La Voulte. I no longer see anything now which would prevent the brothers from going to take possession of the lodgings prepared for them. I would like them to arrive in La Voulte before the end of the month. Everything is waiting for them there, apart from the furnishings which you have to give them. Whatever you have to ship down via our boats will be transported promptly. Please send everything in care of Mr. Roy, the agent of the Compagnie des Fonderies et Forges de Ia Loire et de l’Isère in Givors, to be forwarded by the first available boat to Mr. Vautré in La Voulte, to be put at the disposal of the brothers. “Orders have been given to see to the transportation, as they have to welcome the brothers. I think they will need a few days to settle in properly and to get everything ready for the opening of school, to Régister the children who will be brought to them, in a word, to organize everything and set everything up properly. I will go myself at the very beginning of December with one of the administrators of the company, to attend the inauguration of the school and the religious ceremony which will probably be held to bless it. Here in Terrenoire, I think the brothers could come toward the end of next week; everything will be finished by then. The stairway between the former kitchen and the new classroom is finished, as well as the window you requested in the former lower class. The former stairway has been removed and the opening sealed up. I would very much like you to see this new arrangement now; I am convinced you would find it very satisfactory. I have the honor to be, with the deepest respect, etc...” (AFM, 129.44). The brothers left for La Voulte as planned. In addition, when iron was needed to make beds, they always asked Mr. Génissieux for it, and never failed to obtain it. The iron for the beds, which were made at the Hermitage, “was given to the Founder by the Terrenoire factory, that is, by Mr. Génissieux, its director” (AA, p. 276). That went on for a long time, because on 14th

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February 1846, Mr. Génissieux sent this reply to the Superior General: “I received in good time the note you forwarded to me via one of your fine brothers, for the iron you need for your work. We are so taken up with the many orders we have that it has not been possible until now for me to send you what you requested, but I will take care of it as soon as possible. “In that connection, I should inform you that I could not send you the entire amount of iron without payment. I am only the company’s agent, and in that position, I cannot be too generous with its finances in making donations, no matter how much I might personally like to. So I propose to send you half the shipment free of charge, and the other half will be billed to you at the lowest possible price. I have the honor to send you my highest regards, Génissieux, syndic-gerant” (AFM, HER 660, Terrenoire file). We know that Mr. Génissieux had a considerable personal fortune. On the list of electors drawn up in 1845 by the mayor of St-.Jean-Bonnefonds, we read, “First arrondissement, district of East St-Etienne: Génissieux, Etienne François, born 26 February 1788. Assessment: 2,970.67; payable in Valbenoîte, 730; the rest in Feurs”. This shows that he had holdings in the district of Feurs, but we do not know in what town. That is all the more regrettable, since then we would certainly have been able to discover where he was born and where he died, and the latter date, which our research was unable to turn up. (REFERENCES, pp. 253-256).

GERASIME, BROTHER: Appears in the admissions Régister under this brief notation: “12th September (1834), Terme, Antoine, born in 1818”; underneath, we read: “15th September 1848, given to his mother, 90 f.”. He does not appear in the Régister of receptions of the habit; in the vow Régisters, both temporary and perpetual, he appears as, “Bro. Gérasime, Antoine Terme, La Frette”. Then, on what certainly seems to be his personal file-card, we find the following information, “Born Antoine Thermoz, in La Frette, district of St-Etienne St-Geoirs, arrondissement of St-Marcellin, Isère, on 16th March 1818, son of Guillaume Thermoz and Anne Bailly; entered the Hermitage 12th September 1834, reception of the habit there 25th March 1836, vow of obedience there on (?) September. Profession at the Hermitage 18th October 1841”. That last date is confirmed by the Régister of perpetual professions; as for the rest, there are only two cross-checks: he was born in 1818, and in La Frette. What is most annoying is the change of name. In the first years, we always find the name Terme, and from then on, until the notation of his funeral, he is invariably called Thermoz. We presume, although we have no proof, since we could not find any information in La Frette, that his father died and his mother remarried. That would have been around 1848, which would explain why Bro. François gave 90 francs to his mother on that occasion. As for the rest of his curriculum vitae, we find ourselves faced with the same sort of problem. On the one hand, we have his file-card, and on the other, the information contained in Bro. Avit’s annals. Both sources do not always agree. One of the first discrepancies regards the functions fulfilled by Bro. Gérasime, whom Bro. Avit names as director a number of times, whereas his file lists him as such only for his last two assignments, from 1852 on. Closer examination of these two sources calls for two remarks: first, we have already pointed out a number of mistakes in the annals, which were written around 1885; then, everything on the file-card for the period from 1838 to 1865 is in the same handwriting, and may have been entered on the same day. Though the file-cards were compiled around that time, we may piesume that care was taken to check the information with the parties concerned. That is why we will follow the latter source, pointing out as we go

prefeng-letter.doc 172 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” where it differs from the others. “In the novitiate from 12th September 1834 to January 1838.” In that connection, note that he entered on 12th September 1834, and did not receive the habit, and hence begin his novitiate, until 25th March 1836; whoever filled out the file-card did not know what to write after “vow of obedience”, since at that time, that vow was not taken by itself. From the Régister of temporary professions, we know that he made his vows for three years on 9th October 1837, and renewed them on 11th October 1838 (RVT, 1, pp. 68, 70). “Cook in Perreux until September 1838.” In the annals of Perreux, Bro. Avit writes, “Bro. Polycarpe replaced Bro. Innocent in October 1839. Bros. Gérasime and Théodoret were his associates” (213.38, p. 12). Bro. Avit is certainly in error here, because according to L. 275 of 6th October 1839, Bro. Gérasime returned to St-Paul at that time. “Student-teacher in St-Paul-3-Ch. until March 1839.” Perhaps they had given up hopes of his getting his certificate of competence, and had need of him elsewhere. “Assistant in Lorette until September 1839.” “Student-teacher in St-Paul-3-Ch. and in Barjac until September ‘40”, which is confirmed by L. 275 of 6th October 1839. When his draft number was called, Fr. Champagnat sent him back to St- Paul, more to put him in a safe place than to have him prepare for his certificate; that is why Fr. Mazelier could use him, which in fact he did, sending him to his school in Barjac, Gard. “Associate in Rochegude until Sept. 1841.” Rochegude, a hamlet of Barjac, is another establishment of the Bros. of St-Paul (cf. AA, p. 267). “Student-teacher at the Hermitage until Sept. 1842.” In the annals of Semur-en-Brionnais, Bro. Avit writes, “We know that Bro. Gérasime was director here for a while, under someone else’s name, but we do not know the precise dates. It was probably during the latter part of 1842, and under the name of ex-Cypnen” (AFM, 212.48, p. 9). It is very possible that Bro. Cyprien fell ill, and that since Bro. Gérasime was at the Hermitage, he filled in for him, without it being mentioned on his ifie-card. “Associate in Peaugres until Sept. 1845.” Bro. Avit agrees, since he says, in the annals of that establishment, “Bro. Gérasime, who succeeded Bro. Maxime in October 1842, tells us that there were no boarders here when he arrived and that he himself did not receive any during the three years he stayed here.... On 5th December 1844, Bro. Hilarion, director of the district, told Bro. François that he had just seen the brothers in Peaugres,... that Bro. Gérasime’s class was weak in catechism, grammar and arithmetic, but that their copybooks were very well kept” (AFM, 213.35, p. 7). “Assistant in Preaux until September 1846”, which Bro. Avit con- lirms in his annals of that establishment: “The brothers arrived in November 1845.... Bro. Théodose was the first director.... Among the associates, there was at first Bro. Gérasime (AFM, 213.40, p. 5). “Associate in St-Julien-Molhesabate until May ‘47.” Bro. Avit confirms this date also when he includes in his annals a letter of 30th June 1846, from Bro. Laurent, who says, among other things, “Bro. Gérasime had at most 12 or 13 (students); he could not control them. Our men told me that his class was always in disorder; he could not make them go to the church two by two. The children told their parents that all they did in school was amuse themselves and fight, that they did no work at all” (AFM, 213.85, p. 18). “Student-teacher at the Hermitage until Sept. ‘47.” It is easy to understand that because of his lack of discipline, he had to be taken out of the classroom and kept temporarily at the Hermitage. “Associate in Allevard, until Sept. 1849”: Bro. Avit notes in his annals that, “At the next vacation period (1847), Bro. Omer left the Institute under the pretext that the only reason he had entered was to go to the missions and he had not been allowed to do so. Bro. Gérasime succeeded him.... The director taught the lower (class). On 29th August, Fr. Marion (the parish priest), wrote

prefeng-letter.doc 173 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” that the results of the final examinations had been good, that the conduct of the children had been edifying, but that the brother director’s incorrect French was hurting the school and the reputation of the Institute. He wrote the same thing during the 1849 vacations: the town council had rescinded part of the brothers’ salary. The parish priest blamed that on Bro. Gérasime’s poor language, adding that both the town and the patrons of the local spa who visited the school were astonished to find that its director was so poorly educated. Bro. Gérasime was replaced by Bro. Ladislas in October 1849” (AFM, 214.1, pp. 11-12). “Associate in Marlhes until Sept. 1850”: he went there to replace Bro. Platonide and “without being the school’s official teacher, directed the house until September 1851” (AFM, 213.30, p. 11). Bro. Avit evidently got his date wrong. “Associate in St-Genest-Malifaux until Jan. ‘52”: this is confirmed by an 1851 assignment list. “Associate in St-Etienne (orphanage) until Sept. ‘52.” “Director in Boën until 30 Nov. 1865”: confirmed by the 1853 assignments as well as by Bro. Avit; “Bro. Lucien was the official teacher” (AFM, 214.5, p. 19). A few pages further on, the annalist shares a letter from the parish priest to Bro. Superior. “The children are leaving the classes and going to other towns in search of the education they cannot receive in Boën. The parents are complaining about their children’s lack of progress, which they attribute to poor administration”. Then the priest quotes a report from the inspector to the sub-prefect: ‘The poor results obtained in the boys’ school in Boën, the justified complaints to which this has given rise, are due mainly, not to an insufficient number of teachers, but rather to poor organization, which would be readily apparent to an intelligent administrator.... The Superior General of the Marist Brothers has always placed subjects who are too young and inexperienced at the head of this school, in order to reserve its direction to an old brother who has never earned his certificate of competence but who keeps the title of director. The result is that on a daily basis, the official teacher sees his work neutralized by an incapable brother to whom he is subordinate”. The priest then adds, “The primary inspector’s remarks seem fair to me, and they oblige me, dear brother, to ask you to change our brother director and to send a certified brother to replace him. I regret having to take this step, since I have no other complaints against the brother director than those raised by the inspector”. And Bro. Avit concludes. “Without admitting that the Bro. director was an obstacle to the proper administration of the school, the Reverend agreed to withdraw him..” (AFM, 213.5, pp. 23-24). “Director in until Sept. 1891”: confirmed again by Bro. Avit when he writes in the annals of that establishment, “In September 1865, the esteemed Bro. Gérasime, one of those whom the Founder had sent to Fr. Mazelier to preserve them from military service, succeeded Bro. Basic, and was still there on 18th September 1885: his assistant was the official teacher of the school. In 1885...the bro. director having reached his 50th year in community, his nearby confrères took advantage of the Easter holidays to honor him.... This brother was always very zealous in recruiting good subjects for the Institute. Since the seed of the congregation could not germinate here, he was able to raise money to help the Institute educate the juniors who came from elsewhere. Having gained the confidence of Mr. Merle, a rich landowner in Ambierle, that esteemed gentleman gave him 15,000 francs for the juniorate in 1879. He later gave him four yearly donations of 1000 francs...” (AFM, 213.1, pp. 14, 16). In September 1891, Bro. Gérasime returned to the Hermitage, where he died on 23rd February 1892 (RD, 3, n. 1383). (REFERENCES, pp. 256-259).

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GERENTET, ANTOINE CLAUDE JOSUE MARIE : (1788-1840) was born in Saint- Rambert-sur-Loire. He married Jeanne Marie AdelaIde Chalayer, they had two sons: Jean-Louis and Jean-Marie. According to the 1841 census reports, both became jurists. Their father himself was a notary; he was named mayor of Saint-Rambert on 23rd October 1831 and reappointed on 19th September 1835 with Mr. Pierre Beny, appointed the preceding 12th March, as his deputy (Muncipal archives of St-Rambert, list of mayors and deputies). These two appointments outside the regular periods are rather strange. He was reappointed by royal ordinance at the usual time, 22nd August 1837; the document is signed by Henri Levet, secretary general and councilor of the prefecture (Régistre delib. 1837). In 1838 he wrote to Fr. Champagnat, requesting brothers for the school in St-Rambert. He received a friendly, almost encouraging reply (cf. L. 201). Unfortunately, he was unable to carry out his plans, since he signed the book of deliberations for the last time on 13th October 1839, after which date his deputy, Pierre Beny, signed under the notation, “for the mayor, who has resigned”. Ultimately, on 21st September 1849, a royal ordinance appointed Mr. Beny mayor, and he took office on 19th October. Mr. Gérentet had no doubt resigned for reasons of health, because the Régister of deaths informs us that he died on 15th May 1840 at the age of 52 (ADL, 3 E 280, p. 10). On 13th August 1848, date of the first municipal elections by universal suffrage, Jean-Louis Gérentet, notary, son of Antoine Gérentet, was elected mayor of St-Rarnbert. He was 28 and still single. He soon married Marie Josephine Anaïs Robert des Cots. It was he who, following in his father’s footsteps, obtained brothers for the school in Saint-Rambert, in 1855. After a twenty-year term as mayor, he died in Saint- Rambert on 22nd April 1882 (ADL, 4 E 280). (REFERENCES, pp. 259-260).

GERIN, JEAN-BAPTISTE: (1797-1863), was born in Roches-de-Condrieu, Isère; his father was a tailor. He was fifteen when he left for Lyons to begin his apprenticeship, but he soon felt called to the priesthood. In 1816, he went to Véranne, Loire, to enter the seminary for delayed vocations. In 1818, he entered the major seminary in Grenoble, with a letter of recommendation from Fr. Germain, the parish priest of Roussillon. He was ordained in 1821 and assigned as curate in Saint-Symphorien d’Ozon, and then as parish priest of Feyzin (Bligny, Histoire des dioceses de France, Beauchène, Paris, 1879). From 1831 to 1835, he was back in Saint-Symphorien d’Ozon, this time as parish priest. When he arrived, the brothers had already been there for several years, but were still living and working in extremely unsuitable conditions, and their salary left somewhat to be desired. Fr. Champagnat found himself obliged so to inform the parish priest, and even to threaten to close the school if the situation did not improve. Fr. Gerin replied as follows, on 17th July 1834: “Reverend Father, although I have often written on the hearts of your edifying children, my intentions relative to your establishment in St-Symphorien, I am happy to have an opportunity to renew them and to inform you that, far from diminishing, my good will increases all the time. Since my arrival in St-Symphorien, I have showed by my actions that I was attached heart and soul to the Marist Brothers’ establishment in my parish. My parishioners are hardly unaware of my attitude in that regard, since I have told them as much publicly. These unhappy times, the bad spirit which now reigns in the world, and hatred for the sign of faith, are painful obstacles which prevent my good will from developing and reaching into the souls of our fathers and mothers, and from bearing fruit there in terms of this establishment which I desire with a well-founded religious desire for the happiness of my parish. But I am full of hope

prefeng-letter.doc 175 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” in God’s merciful goodness and in the power of God’s hand, and confident as I am that calm will follow the storm, that light and justice will follow darkness and iniquity, I have decided to use all the means in my power to maintain this good work. I have the honor to be, with great respect...”. At the bottom of the page, Fr. Champagnat wrote, “Fr. promised to make up the missing salary, in the presence of Bro. François and Bro. Jean-Pierre”. However, it does not appear that significant change took place. According to Bro. Avit, “from the beginning until 1840, the average school fees were only 387 francs” (AFA, 214.92, p. 5). Moreover, the following year, 1835, Fr. Germ left Saint- Symphorien to become parish priest and dean of the Grenoble cathedral, where he died in 1863 with a reputation for sanctity. In the chapter on Grenoble in the Histoire des dioceses de France, we find the following statement: “A man of deep interior life, nourished by the Scriptures and especially by Saint Paul, animated by great devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to St. Joseph, a fervent pilgrim, he was one of the first devotees of La Salette, friends with a number of con-frères, and also with Dom Mortaize, the Superior General of the Carthusians, and with the Curé of Ms. highly esteemed by Bishop Dupanloup, whom he visited at the château of La Combe. He devoted long hours to the ministry of the confessional, either in the church, where he was literally besieged by penitents, or on visits to the sick; he also gave much time to preaching, both at parish Masses and at meetings of various groups. Bishop Bruillard had named him to his episcopal council, and entrusted him with a delicate mission to Rome concerning La Salette. Nicknamed “the Curé of Ars of Grenoble”, his reputation continued to grow and his tomb in the cemetery of St-Roch was quickly covered with ex-votos and flowers”. (REFERENCES, pp. 260-261).

GILLIBERT, JEAN-ANTOINE: The elder (1779-1863), born on 18th February 1779 in , Loire, to Louis Gilbert, fanner and landowner, and Jeanne Font, was ordained with Frs. Barou and Menaide, in the first such ceremony held in the cathedral after the signing of the Concordat, on 9th June 1803. He was first appointed to teach at Saint- Jodard as soon as that house reopened, and approved as curate in Tarare on 29th August 1804. In 1806 he returned to Saint-Jodard where he remained until its closing in 1812. He was then named curate in Condrieu, but on 15th November 1813, he was appointed parish priest of Saint-Julien-sur-Bibort. He was then named parish priest of Courzieu on 17th February 1818, and of Saint-Genest-Malifaux on 27th June 1827. According to Bro. Avit, “It appeals that this good priest was not satisfied with the existing school in his parish, since, after reaching an agreement with the municipal authorities, he requested three of our brothers in 1834. It appears that the latter agreement was a verbal one, made no doubt during one of our Founder’s trips to Marlhes, his home parish, since we can find no written record of it” (AFA, 213.45, p. 5). We do however have a letter from Fr. Gillibert, dated 11th July 1834, a sort of reminder of the commitment made. “Fr. Superior,” he writes, ‘1 just want to ask you not to forget the establishment in St-Genest. We are still counting strongly on you. You know I have committed myself to the extent of one thousand francs for the furnishings. I hope my commitment will be met to the letter. I would not want to fail either you or the town of St- Genest. I would very much like you to make your purchases, as you wish, except how- ever for the tables and the wood for the beds, which can hardly be made except on the spot. Perhaps I will have a chance to see you at the Hermitage during August or September, but in the meantime I thought I ought to remind you of the town of St-

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Genest; it needs you too much. I have the honor to be, respectfully, etc.” (AFM 129.8). “Once the preparatory matters were taken care of, Bros. Pierre-Marie, Maxime and Jean-Louis arrived, were received with open arms, and opened the school in November 1834” (Annales, p. 6). The parish priest felt very strongly about his school, from which he expected above all the Christian education of the children of his parish, as Bro. Avit testifies in his annals by the following anecdotes. “Having been appointed by the committee of the arrondissement, Bro. Avit began his functions (in that school on 16th August 1840). When the ministerial appointment arrived, the town committee, made up of the parish priest, the mayor and the justice of the peace, were convened by the delegate from the prefecture for the installation of the new title-holder. These gentlemen examined the children and were satisfied. After questioning them on the catechism, the parish priest, who abhorred grammar, arithmetic, geography and history, withdrew. After the examination, these gentlemen drew up the minutes of the installation and asked Bro. Avit to take them to the parish priest for his signature. He found the pastor saying his rosary and was very poorly received by him. ‘When you have finished stuffing our children with geography and history,’ Fr. Gillibert said to him angrily, ‘who is going to plant the potatoes? All they need to know is their catechism, how to read and how to write a little...,’ and he refused to sign the minutes. His brother, who had been at the meeting, went back to the presbytery and reasoned with him and had him go to the brothers’ house to sign the document. ‘You’re too late,’ Bro. Avit told him, ‘the other gentlemen sent it to the prefecture”. It should be pointed out here that “the younger brother of the parish priest [who had the same name, Jean-Antoine; cf. OM, lV, pp. 288- 289, text and note 2], who had been parish priest of Tarare and had had difficulties there, had retired here.... “The Corpus Christi processions were held very simply here at that time.... Little square tables, covered with a tablecloth on which stood two candles and a crucifix, served as repositories. Wanting to show his zeal and thinking he would make people happy, Bro. Avit set up a large repository in the town square in 1841. The younger Fr. Gillibert, the two curates, and the parishioners, all complimented him. The parish priest became extremely angry, and the brother was not eager to do it again. “Bro. Avit ended each school year with a very simple distribution of prizes, even though it appeared grandiose to the local people. The students recited a dialogue and questioned one another on the catechism and the other branches of learning. All the priests liked this ceremony, except for the parish priest, who had to be begged to attend. He refused the armchair prepared for him, stayed at the back of the room, and left as soon as the part on the catechism was finished. “This holy man, who seldom left his residence, and whom one always found reciting his rosary, was extremely quick- tempered. We could offer examples which the reader might think exaggerated. “None the less, he was very gentle in confession. One brother accused himself of not getting up at the prescribed time or of having omitted some of his prayers, and the confessor replied, ‘When one cannot get up, one recommends himself to God and stays in bed; when one cannot recite a prayer, one recommends himself to God and omits it’. That school of moral theology, while fundamentally correct, was very handy for certain brothers.... One day, when the crowds were going to the Curé of Ars, he recognized some people from St-Genest, and told them, ‘Why come here? Stay with your holy parish priest!’” (AFA, 213.49, pp. 5, 8-10). In 1839, after the death of Cardinal Fesch, when Bishop D’Isoard was named Archbishop of Lyons, Fr. Gillibert was named one of his vicars general. Bishop D’Isoard died before being approved, so Fr. Gillibert’s

prefeng-letter.doc 177 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” appointment did not take effect (cL J.M. Chausse, Vie de f.M. Duplay, vol. 1, p. 161). Bro. Avit gives us one last testimony, when he writes, “Fr. Gillibert died in December 1863, having edified his parishioners by his humility, his piety, his mortification, and his love for the hidden life. His constant efforts to restrain the outbursts of his seething character no doubt earned him a brilliant crown” (AFA, 213.49, p. 18). (Cf. L 288). (REFERENCES, pp. 261-262).

GILLOZ, FRANÇOIS RÉGIS: (1798-1876), was born on 11th September 1798 in Viriville, Isère. Ordained in 1822, then named curate in the parish of Saint-André-le-Haut in Vienne, Isère, he became parish priest of Le Colombier in 1826. On 30th December 1835, he was named parish priest and dean of Saint-André-le-Bas in Vienne, replacing Jean-Claude Michon, who had resigned. He found the brothers working in his parish school, but not in a very enviable position, as we pointed out in connection with L. 71 of October 1836. Since the brothers left Vienne in 1837, our contacts with Fr. Gilloz were thereby terminated, apart from some apparently vague plan to bring the brothers back in 1851; there was no follow-through, however, at least not during his tenure in Vienne. On 20th March 1854 he was named a titular canon; he died in Grenoble on 19th September 1876. (Diocesan archives of Grenoble.) (REFERENCES, p. 263).

GINET, FRANÇOIS ; see APOLLINAIRE, BROTHER.

GINOT, JEAN-BAPTISTE: (1789-1864), born in Soulage, in the town of La Valla, on 19th December 1789. At his baptism the following day, his godparents were Jean- Baptiste Micol, a farmer from Brenil, in the parish of Saint-Just-en-, and Françoise Ginot, wife of Michel Duplomb, a farmer from Foie, in the parish of Izieux (La Valla baptismal Régister). Once he had finished his studies, he left home and went to Paris, no doubt at the invitation of his uncle Micol. The latter, in a letter of 28th November 1807, remarks that up to that point, Jean-Baptiste had not been of much service: “He did not know how to speak so as to make himself heard in Paris”, which doubtless means that he had not yet learned to speak or act like a Parisian. He married on 23rd April 1814. His death certificate tells us he was married twice; first to Etiennette Martinol and then to Madeleine Galley. The former, who always signed herself “Wife of Ginot” wrote a letter on 29th April 1814, saying she was very pleased that Jean-Baptiste had gone to confession, which he had not done in a long time, and that he was so happy that he intended to go again. We do not know when he opened the store at 115, rue Saint-Denis, nor the date of the creation of the Société Ginot et Compagnie of which he was president. During 1816 he stayed in Soulage several times; his wife wrote him several letters in which she says she is taking care of the business, that she has gone to Mass and hopes he has done the same, but that she finds the week long, “waiting for a little husband who is as kind and as nice a person as you!” On 20th October of that year, Jean-Baptiste wrote to her, “I have not yet given my wife’s masterpiece to the Sisters of La Valla,” but on the 3 1st, he was able to tell her that “the sisters found your ‘piat’ [probably a hand-painted plate] very pretty; they are praying to God for you and they thank you”. On 4th November, he tells her that he had spent the feasts [All Saints and All Souls] in Soulage amid a thick fog which had lasted four days. Since his wife had told him, in her letter of 26th October, “I am putting you under obligation to look at your wedding ring and remember why you’re wearing it”, he also wrote, in his letter of 4th

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November, “I hope your behavior is worthy of imitation! I embrace you as I love you: with all my heart”. On 10th November he received a fairly cut-and-dried letter from Storrow, requesting immediately delivery. Perhaps he left for Paris and then returned home, because we have another letter from him, dated 25th November, in which he says that he spent only half a day in Soulage and that he was returning to Paris with Louis [most probably Jean-Louis, his older brother], who wanted to go to Paris, “to learn about laces and to install the looms in the mill; it seems there’s a lot of money to be made there”. On 26th January 1822, Jean-Louis wrote that he had to obtain good equipment and recruit workers, because he thought he could promise to make 50 kilograms of laces a month. He also said that he was making two or three pounds of them a day. On 1st January 1826, Jean-Baptiste Ginot turned over his business to his brother Michel, and retired to Soulage where he was officially Régistered as a man of independent means. On 5th October 1830, he received a confidential letter from the sub-prefect, who wanted him to become mayor of La Valla. That must not have happened immediately, because on 21St November 1831, the sub-prefect addressed him as “Mr. Deputy-Mayor”, and put him in charge of organizing the elections which were to be held on 1st December 1831. His signature appears in the La Valla marriage Régister from 14th January 1835 to 31st December 1840. He also signed the report on the brothers to second the request for the authorization of the Institute. On 1st May 1840, Fr. Bedoin, parish priest of La Valla, leased a house he owned in town to Mr. Jean-Baptiste Ginot, in his capacity as mayor. He set up this house as a school and residence for the teachers, namely the brothers. He died in Soulage at noon on 24th November 1864, at the age of 75. (REFERENCES, pp. 265-266).

GINOT, JEAN-MARIE: (1799-1874), brother of Jean-Baptiste, born on 4th Nivose, Year VIII (25th December 1799) in Soulage. After living for some years at 12, rue Martel, in Paris, working like his brother in the ribbon trade, he returned to his native region, to a place called Layat, where he had a house built for himself. That must have been after 1838, since on 20th June of that year, Fr. Champagnat borrowed 1000 fr. from him in Paris, and paid it back to his brother in La Valla (L.196). A great benefactor of the town, he paid out of his own pocket for the search for drinking water and for having it piped to the village, a fact which earned him the public gratitude of the inhabitants in the newspapers and from the pulpit. In 1872, he endowed the town with a municipal wash- house, which again earned him the thanks of the women of La Valla. His death certificate tells us he was twice-widowed; his first marriage was to Cede Frémont, his second to Caroline Frémont. He died in his home in Layat on 9th January 1873 at the age of 74 (Civil Régistry of La Valla). (REFERENCES, p. 266).

GINOT, Michel (1792-1864), brother of the two preceding Ginots, was born in Soulage on 27th September 1792, and baptized the following day. His godparents were Michel Duplomb from the parish of Izieux, and Claudine Dumaine, wife of Antoine Nicol Dumaine, from the parish of Saint-Just-en-Doizieux. Since he was a partner of his brother Jean-Baptiste, he must have resided with him at 115, rue Saint-Denis in Pans. On 1st January 1826, he took over the business, which he ran for nineteen years before handing it over in turn to Mr. Guillet, one of his employees, on 1st January 1845. He never married, and retired to Soulage to spend the remainder of his life with his brothers at their mill there, where he died on 19th February 1864 at the age of 71. (Cf. L. 104).

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(REFERENCES, pp. 266-267).

GINOT: The Ginot family, then as now, lived in the place called Soulage in the town of La Valla-en-Gier. According to the manuscripts in their possession, which the family kindly allowed us to consult, the name appeared in 1779 with Jean Ginot, who on 15th June of that year, was linked with Joseph Tardy from Soulage in a lawsuit brought by Jérôme Gallery, because in plowing up fields for planting, they had uprooted some oak trees. So they were a farming family, who by dint of tenacious labor and with a very enterprising spirit, succeeded in developing their property despite the very hilly terrain. At the beginning of the 19th century, the family already enjoyed considerable esteem in the village and had many children: -Jérôme Ginot, the father, listed in the La Valla civil Régister as a farm worker in the place called Soulage; died around 1824; -Benoîte Micol, his wife, apparently from Saint-Just-en-Doizieu; died 14th November 1839; -Jean- Louis, their oldest child, mentioned as such in the birth certificate of the third. Several of his letters, kept by the family, are signed “Ginot the elder”, and indicate that he lived in the mill at Soulage, making laces which he sent to the store in Paris. He must have died fairly young, since he does not appear with his brothers and sisters on the notarized document of 14th June 1864, establishing the list of heirs of Michel Ginot, who had just died; -Jean-Baptiste, 1789-1864, ribbon merchant in Paris, 115, rue Saint-Denis; -Jean- Marie, 1799-1874, also a merchant in Paris, 12, rue Martel; -Michel, 1792-1864, likewise a ribbon merchant, residing in Paris and Soulage; -Joseph-Marie, a fuller at the Soulage mill; -Jean-Antoine, also a fuller at the Soulage mill, married Marie Tardy; he died before 3rd October 1849, since a document of that date lists him as deceased; -Catherine, who married Etienne Berlier at Le Clapas, in Saint-Martin-en-Coailleux; -Jean-Etienne, who fanned their father’s property in Soulage; -Antoinettte, who married Etienne Payre, a farmer in Saint-Paul-en-Jarret; -Marie, who married Guillaume Dozot, a landowner in Layat, town of La Valla. So the family included ten children, seven boys and three girls, which is confirmed by their present descendants: Mrs. Marie Ginot and her son Antoine. At the beginning of the 19th century, this numerous family had a hard time surviving on their farm. So the boys, no less courageous or intelligently enterprising than their father, went to seek their fortune in industry, which was then just getting started. The testimony of Fr. Malause, who did some research on the family papers, confirms that Jean-Etienne was the only one who stayed on the family farm. The other brothers continued in partnership; at first they sold ribbons between Saint-Etienne and Paris, traveling back and forth by public transport. Later they had their own horses and wagons. Then they settled in Paris, opening a store under the name of La Société Ginot et Compagnie, at 115 rue Saint-Dems. Jean-Baptiste was the overall manager, with Jean-Marie and Michel as his associates. All three resided in Paris, while Joseph-Marie and Jean- Antoine supplied them from La Valla; ultimately, they all returned to their home town towards the end of their life. Since they were practically neighbors to the Hermitage, the Ginot family did many favors for the Founder; genuine and lasting bonds of friendship were forged between them and the brothers. Even during Fr. Champagnat’s lifetime, the Ginots went to Sunday Mass at the Hermitage, as they still do today. The Ginot brothers’ frequent travels between Saint-Chamond and Paris made it possible for the Founder to communicate with the capital while he was carrying on negotiations for the authorization of the Institute (cf. LL. 104, 174). (REFERENCES, pp. 263-265).

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GIRARD, JOSEPH; see HILARION, BROTHER.

GIRE: (1786-1840), parish priest of Saint-Privat d’Allier, Haute-Loire, in the diocese of Le Puy. We have very little information about this priest, because the diocese of Le Puy was not reestablished until 1823. Before that it was part of the diocese of Saint-Flour, where the candidates from Le Puy were ordained. But since the see of Saint-Flour was vacant in 1818, all candidates from both Saint-Flour and Le Puy were ordained that year in Clermont-Ferrand, on the eve of the Pentecost Ember Days. The 1824 and 1825 ordos of Le Puy do not give a list of the clergy. The 1826 ordo mentions a Gire as parish priest of Saint-Privat d’Allier, but does not give his Christian name, nor those of the other Gües. Fhe same holds true for subsequent years. Fr. Champagnat answered three of his letters, one after the other (LL. 308, 310, 315) without being able to give him the brothers he requested, even though he was offering to send several postulants. Be- sides, both of them were nearing the end of their lives. The 1841 ordo of the diocese of Le Puy lists Fr. Gire among the priests deceased in 1840. Since they are given in chronological order, and since he is listed fourth out of fifteen, we may presume he died during the first quarter of 1840, in Saint-Privat. (REFERENCES, p. 267).

GOIRAN, BARTHÉLEMY PHILIPPE: (1790-1863) was born on 24th December 1790 in Lyons, to Philippe Guillaume Goiran and Elisabeth Vincente Parra. His father was already mayor of Couzon au Mont d’Or, Rhóne. The latter’s personnel file gives us the following information: “Goiran, Philippe Guillaume, landowner, born 21st August 1753 in Lyons, residing in Couzon, married, father of seven children, formerly a merchant in Cadiz, Spain, has held various administrative posts since his return to France” (ADR, 3M Tr. 795). Another file, from 1821, adds: ‘Widower, seven children, pays 628 fr. 84 centimes in taxes” (ADR, EM, Tr. 795). In late 1815 or early 1816, the people of the town sent the prefect a report, stressing the mayor’s negligence about publishing the laws and decrees concerning the maintenance of public order and the monarchy. The prefect sent this report to the mayor of Neuville, Mr. Durant, asking his reaction to his intention to replace Mr. Goiran with Mr. Matthieu Thomasset. In his confidential reply, Mr. Durant defended Mr. Goiran. “I know that people accuse Mr. Goiran of not being very honest about his opinions, but I am convinced that he is too honorable and too scrupulous not to be absolutely exact in carrying out the orders of higher authority. Besides, Mr. Goiran has almost always headed the town administration; all the inhabitants have absolute confidence in him. It would be difficult to find anyone to replace him. Besides, I am convinced that changing him would be contrary to the best interests of the king.... (As for) Mr. Thomasset, don’t appoint him, whatever you do; he knows nothing about administration and he has always spoken against the king.” In fact, Goiran remained mayor until October 1824, at which time he resigned; he died several months later, on 4th April 1825. His son Barthélemy Philippe was appointed mayor of Couzon by prefectorial decree on 1st September 1832. On 30th June 1835, he married Elisabeth Laure Guitton. It was in his capacity as mayor that he wrote to Fr. Champagnat, asking for brothers for his school. Despite the encouraging reply he received from the Founder (L. 167), his plan was never carried out. He was reappointed mayor every three yeears until 1848, apart from a one-year hiatus from September 1846 to September 1847, during which time Mr. Antoine Dumont replaced him. We have no information on his life between 1848 and his death on 30th August 1863 in his home in

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Couzon. (REFERENCES, pp. 267-268).

GONON, JACQUES: despite all our research, remains very much an unknown. The Cenves town hail has no archives which could offer us information, since none of his family live in the town any longer. All we know, from the same source, is that he signed the civil Régisters for the first time on 11th October 1838, and for the last time on 31st August 1848. According to the yearbook of the department of the Rhóne, he was named town councilor by prefectorial decree of 8th February 1818, and he was mayor in 1843. He may have been appointed long before that, but his signature as mayor appears between 1845 and 1848 (ADR, 3M, tr. 795). Fr. Champagnat’s letter of 9th August 1837 (L. 130) does not specify if he was mayor at that time. (REFERENCES, p. 268).

GONZAGUE, BROTHER: Jacques Sabatier, son of Charles Sabatier and Marie Laby, was born in Saint-Hostien, Haute-Loire, around 1806. He was admitted to the house in La Valla on 20th August 1824, and received the religious habit there on 25th March 1825; he made temporary vows for three years on 11th October 1826 and perpetual vows on 5th October 1828, privately, as was done at that time (RVP, 1, p.10). We know verb little about this brother's career, still less about him personally. We cannot find any document to tell us what he did from 1826 to 1828. In the annals of Ampuis, Bro. Avit transcribes a report from Fr. Petitain, the parish priest, who indicates his presence at the head of his school in 1829. We presume that means the 1828-29 school veer, since in October of the latter year. Bro. Gonzague went with Bro. Antoine to found the school in Millery, as we know from L. 20 of 4th February 1831. But after the retreat in October of that year, the superior included him. in the team of four brothers, with Bro. Jean-Pierre as their director, sent to take over the school in La Côte-Saint-André. In a notebook which Fr. Champagnat must have used for memos, we read: "Bro. Gonzague's brevet" (AFM, 132.8). From the context, we can situate that note in 1832, therefore during Bro. Gonzague's stay in La Côte, which seems normal enough, since we know that many brothers obtained their certificate of competence in Grenoble. We do not know whether the Founder's memo meant that the brother had just received it, or that he must remember to see that he took the test. Nor do we know how long he stayed in La Côte. We find his name among those of the eight directors who succeeded one another in seven school years in Saint-Symphorien d'Ozon; more specifically, among the three who held that post during 1833 (AFM, 613, Saint-Symphorien d'Ozon, doc. 17). On an assignment list dated 1834-35, he appears as director of Chavanay, but the annals of that establishment do not mention him. However, L. 41, of April 1834, informs us that Bro. Dominique had just left Chavanay, so it is very possible that Bro. Gonzague replaced him. We do not know how long he may have staved there, but it could not have been beyond November 1837, since Bro. Avit thinks that in 1838, "good old Bro. Laurent" held that position. In the meantime, he had made public perpetual profession, like all the other brothers in the same situation, as soon as they received authorization to do so, on 10th October 1836. We come across the name of Bro. Gonzague Sabatier for the last time in L. 175 of 7th March 1838, from which we can deduce that at the time he was director of a school or at least of a community, but all our research has failed to tell us which one. His name does not appear on the 1839 assignments. Most likely, against the Founder's advice, he had waited patiently until the end of the 1838 school year, while making preparations to leave the Institute at that time. This is confirmed by the fact

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GRANJON, JEAN-MARIE; see JEAN-MARIE, BROTHER.

GRAPPELOUX, PIERRE; see JEROME, BROTHER.

GRASSET, GASPARD-MEICHIOR-BALTHAZAR: (1791-1840), was born on 27th July in Béziers, Hérault. We do not know the date of his ordination, but on 24th July 1816 he was assigned to Lauret, Hérault, and from 1st April 1818, to Marsillargues. Hérault. He could not have stayed long in the latter parish, since we soon find him as spiritual director of the major seminary in Montpellier, whose rector he became on 1st October 1830. On 10th August 1834, he was named vicar general to Bishop Fournier, but he held that position only a short time, since the bishop died on 29th December of that year. On 23rd March 1836, he was named parish priest of Saint-Etienne d’Agde. He stayed there even a shorter time, since by October 1837 he was back in his former position as rector of the major seminary, where Fr. Paul Benoît was spiritual director. Each of them wrote individually to Fr. Champagnat during 1838 to ask for brothers; one for the parish of Brassac, the other with an eye to the establishment of a novitiate (cf. LL. 199 and 203). The Founder must have met them during a trip to the south of France, but no trace remains of whatever agreement they may have reached. The project was never followed up, and Fr. Grasset died on 5th October 1840, a few months after Fr. Champagnat (AD of Montepellier, Régistre du clerge; information supplied by Fr. Gerard Alzien, archivist). (REFERENCES, p. 270).

GUINAULT, JEAN-MARIE: (1800-1862), according to his death certificate, was, at the time of his death on 20th October 1862, mayor of the city of Charlieu, member of the general council, Knight of the Legion of Honor, 62 years of age, husband of Marguerite Elisabeth Alesmonière, a resident of Charlieu, son of the late Leonard Jean Baptiste Guinault and Elisabeth Marguerite Delaronzière. It is very possible that he was not a native of that city, and that he went there to exercise his profession as a notary. Bro. Avit (AA. p. 60; AFA, 213.8, pp. 9-10), repeating what Bro. Jean-Baptiste says in the Life (p. 131) mentions him as mayor of Charlieu at the time when our brothers took over the school, that is, in November 1824. But as Bro. Louis-Laurent demonstrates (Bulletin de l’Institut, XXII, p. 96), that assertion is incorrect, because at that time Mr. Ducoing headed the town of Charlieu. Mr. Guinault was not installed until 19th April 1829, in virtue of the prefectorial decree of the 14th of that month, which appointed him mayor. He had no doubt been on the town council for some years already, as can be seen from the account of his years of service which we will quote below. Perhaps too, this was only an interim arrangement, since on 13th September 1830, Alexandre Jean Marie Levet was appointed mayor, with Mr. Guinault as town coundillor and deputy, as subsequent events show (Reg. des délib.). In point of fact, on 24th January 1837, a royal ordinance appointed Mr. Jean Marie Gerbay as deputy mayor of Charlieu, to replace Mr. Guinault who was appointed mayor (ADL, 7,M,l). According to the same source, he was reappointed on 8th November 1840, 20th October 1843 and 3rd November 1846, elected in 1848 according to the new process for naming mayors, and reelected on 26th July 1852 (ibid., 55). We know that he remained in that office until his death. A

prefeng-letter.doc 183 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” document on the length of terms of office of mayors and deputies still serving on 1st January 1851, indicates that Mr. Jean Marie Gumault had already been mayor of Charlieu for 20 years and 8 months, to which we must add the remaining years of his life. During that whole time, he was directly involved in the rather troubled history of the brothers’ school, as we know from Fr. Champagnat’s letter of 27th July 1839 (L. 262). The annals of that establishment show that he invariably took the brothers’ side, against part of his council who were hostile to religious schools. The city of Charlieu owes it to him, in part, that the brothers remained there. Long after his death, in 1885, when it was necessary to plan for a new building to replace the one the town rented until 1888, “The widow Guinault...who had always protected the brothers, gave a building and a very large piece of property for that purpose”. But since neither one nor the other was suitable, “with the consent of the donor, the property was sold for 35,000 francs”, which enabled the corporation established for that purpose to buy land on which to build a new boarding school (AFA, 213.8, p. 49). (REFERENCES, pp. 270-271).

GUINÈS, PAUL ARMAND JOSEPH: (1805-1871), was born on 8th September 1805 in Bergerac, Dordogne. On 13th July 1829 he was ordained in Sarlat, Dordogne, which at that time was the seat of a diocese. After eighieen eventful years of apostolic ministry as a diocesan priest, he entered the Capuchins in Bergerac, where, under the name of Fr. Ambroise de Bergerac, he became something of a celebrity. After his death, which occurred on 12th July 1871, La semaine religieuse of Périgueux, in its edition of 15th July, published his funeral eulogy, signed by Fr. Monmont. We here quote a passage from it, to which we have added, in brackets, additional information we were able to obtain. “The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and the diocese have just suffered a significant loss in the person of Rev. Fr. Ambroise, guardian of the Périgueux friary. This venerable religious, known throughout all of France, and so highly esteemed here among us, finally succumbed to a long and painful illness. He died of cirrhosis of the stomach.... “Fr. Ambroise, it is only just to state, was an apostle in the broadest sense of the term. Curate in Bergerac (1829-1830), parish priest of Le Maurens (1830-1834), acting parish priest of Terrasson (1834-1835), professor of philosophy at the secondary school in Brives (1835-1836), [acting parish priest of Terrasson (1836-1841), parish priest of Mareuil (1841-1842)], dean of Ribérac (1842-1847), he exhibited rare talents in these diverse functions and always exerted indefatigable zeal for the propagation of good. The most difficult work was hardly enough to absorb his vast energies. Having spent his day preaching, confessing, visiting the sick, and consoling the dying, he spent almost the entire night in laborious vigils, studying or writing. “Having entered the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in 1847, he devoted himself with extraordinary ardor to the extremely difficult and fatiguing work of preaching. Most of the cities of France and the capital itself have heard his convinced and intelligent words. He had hardly finished one mission or retreat in some large city when he was off again, in a few days’ time or even the next day, to start his laborious task over again in some city a long way from the one he had just evangelized. Amid all his labors and apostolic travels, he found enough time and strength to write many works and even to undertake the great journey to Rome, either out of devotion or on business for his order. Death surprised him at the moment when he was finishing the biography of the venerated parish priest of Bergerac, Fr. Macerouze, whose curate and friend he had been.... Fr. Ambroise is buried in the monastery garden, at the end of the path which leads to the little oratory of the Blessed

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Virgin. His body lies at the feet of the statue of Mary, for whom he had such tender devotion, and under the eye of his brothers, whom he loved to his last breath...” (Monmont, Semaine religleuse de Périgneux, 15th July lWll,pp. 537-539). (Cf. L. 115) Bibliographie: Histoire de Saint Léocade et Saint Lusor ou Ludre, Paris, 1866; Vie de Soeur Angele de la Croix, pauvre Clarisse du couvent de Périgneux et biographie de Melle Jeanne Blonde!, en religion, Mere Jeanne de Saint-Paul, fondatrice du méme couvent, 1867; Le livre de Ia vie intérieure, Périgneux, 1868; Le Perigord, appel au bon sens, 1869; Relation de la consecration de l’eglise Saint-Jacques a Bergerac, 1869; Panégyrisque de Saint Vincent de Paul, preche a Angouleme, Paris, 1869; Un prétre modèle; la vie de J.-B. Macemuze, Bergerac, 1873; Histoire d’Ambialet et du Pèlerinage de N.-D. de l’Oder, 1897. (REFERENCES, pp. 271-272).

GUIZOT, FRANÇOIS PIERRE GUILLAUME: (1787-1874), one of the most noted orators in France’s legislative chambers, was born on 4th October 1787 in Nîmes, Gard. André Francois Guizot, his father, a distinguished attorney in the courts of Nîmes, so long deprived of all civil standing and constantly exposed to various annoyances, like most of the Protestants of southern France, was not hostile to the Revolution, to which, however, he fell victim on 8th April 1794. His mother, Elisabeth Sophie Bonicel, a pious lady of noble and firm character, dedicated herself totally, with unlimited devotion, to the education of her two sons (he had a younger brother, Jean-Jacques, who died before him while serving as maitre des requêtes [a functionary who received, classified and forwarded the documentation arriving in an office]). After their father’s death, their mother moved to Geneva, where François did his studies in the humanities (classical studies) from 1799-1803, and then in philosophy until 1805. At the end of that year, the family returned to Nîmes, but Francois soon left for Paris to study law. It was there that he met Mr. Stapfer, former minister of the Swiss Confederation, who introduced him to the circle around the academician Suard, editor of Le Publiciste in which Mademoiselle de Meulan also collaborated. Acquaintance quickly became friendship, thanks to the help he gave her, especially after the death of the editor, by writing anonymous articles for her journal, and Mr. Guizot eventually married her on 9th April 1812, despite the dif- ference in their ages; Elisabeth Charlotte Pauline de Meulan was born on 2nd November 1773, in Paris. That same year, 1812, Fontanes appointed him professor of modern history in the Faculty of Letters in Paris. His political career began two years later, with the first Restoration. On 24th May 1814, he was named secretary general of the Ministry of the Interior, and the following 18th October, royal censor, three days before the publication of the law on censorship (21st October 1814). In 1815, even though he accepted “by a hurried vote” the additional “Act of the Hundred Days” [legally permitting Napoleon to resume power again], he was still dismissed from his post as division chief in the Ministry of the Interior, to which he had been transferred from the general secretariate. He went to meet Louis XVIII in Ghent, then returned with him and resumed his title of secretary general in the Ministry of the Interior, before being transferred by royal ordinance of 14th July 1815 to the Justice Department and finally to the Council of State as maître des requêtes. His son François-Jean was born on 11th August of that year. An ardent defender of the law of 5th February 1817 which es- tablished in France the political preponderance of the middle class, he quickly committed himself to the “doctrinaire party” as a follower of Royer-Collard. Having been promoted to state councilor the following year, on 6th January 1819 he became director

prefeng-letter.doc 185 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” general of town and departmental administration, a position which Mr. Decazes created for him when he took over the Ministry of the Interior. When the latter fell in 1820, Mr. Guizot was tainted by the collapse of his political allies. He went back to teaching at the Sorbonne, and produced a significant portion of his historical research, publishing major works one after the other, the fruit of his personal reflection and experience. In retrospect, it proved an even more propitious moment for him, because in 1822 the government, fearing subversion, suppressed the chair of modern history at the university. On 1st August 1827, he lost his wife, with whom he had lived fifteen years in peaceful happiness and unfailing unity. Around that time, sensing that the end of the monarchy was approaching, Guizot separated himself from the Restoration and joined the “Heaven Helps Those Who Help Themselves Society”, whose “only purpose was the strong defense of independent elections, against the underground machinations of the power structure”. The following year, on 9th April 1828, he was able to resume his courses at the Sorbonne, which the Vatimesnil cabinet had once again authorized. Towards the end of that year, following the suggestion of his first wife, he married her niece, Miss Elisa Dillon, who was born 30th March 1804; they had three children, before she died in the flower of her youth, on 11th March 1833. On 1st March 1829, he resumed his seat on the Council of State, but only for a few months, because with the fail of Martignac that 8th August, his moral and political convictions obliged him to resign once again and this time to ally himself openly with the opposition. But as of January 1830, he was back in force, for he had just been elected deputy for the first time by the electoral “college” of Lisieux, Calvados, a neighboring city to Val-Richer. The new deputy from Calvados had hardly taken his seat on the benches of the Chamber before he began to expose the deplorable tendencies of the government. The memorable “Address of the 221” (by the Chamber of Deputies to the king) was partly his work, and still more the proclamation by which the 1830 Chamber summoned the Duke of Orleans to govern France. On 31st July 1830, a decision of the municipal commission appointed him provisional commissioner in the Ministry of Public Instruction and Worship, but he declined, in order to take over the functions of commissioner in the Department of the Interior, of which he was named minister, from 11th August to 2nd November of that year. Even though Casimir Périer did not choose him for his team on 13th March 1831, Guizot backed him with all his power. In the following government, that of 11th October 1832, Soult relegated him to the Ministry of Public Instruction, but he occupied the highest place in the cabinet. In addition, on 8th December 1832, he was named a member of the Academy of Ethical Political Sciences, and on 28th June of the following year, there appeared the education law which bears his name. Before leaving the government once again on 22nd February 1836, he was made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor on 4th April 1835, and in the interval before his return, he was inducted into the Academic Française on 28th April 1836, to replace Destutt de Tracy. The Mole cabinet of 6th September 1836 gave him the portfolio of Public Instruction. Confronting the struggle over the freedom of secondary education which was then raging, Mr. Guizot, “the most sincerely liberal and the most religious mind of his day, would have asked nothing better than to do for secondary education what he had already done for primary education, since he believed that freedom would be the best solution for all parties. ‘There was only one good solution,’ he wrote in his memoirs, ‘the total renunciation of government control in the area of public education, and to accept openly, with all its consequences, free competition between the State and its rivals, whether lay

prefeng-letter.doc 186 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” or ecclesiastical, whether individuals or organizations’ (Guizot, Mémoires, vol. III, p. 105). “Following his principles, in 1836 he presented the draft text of a law which, by imposing only a few conditions concerning degrees and certificates for the heads of scholastic establishments, and by giving the administration only the simple right of inspection, would have given sufficient freedom of action to the rivals of the university. The Chamber’s acceptance of an amendment proposed by deputy Vatout, which obliged the head of an establishment to swear that he did not belong to an unauthorized congregation, wrecked the whole project” (Boulanger, Histoire général de l’Eglise, pp. 137-138). Mr. Guizot did not try to repair the damage, all the more so, because the collapse of the government in April 1837 set him aside for three years, since the four cabinets which succeeded one another during that period did not request his services. Despite the death from pleurisy of François-Jean, his son by his first wife, on 15th February 1837. he did not stop making his voice heard in the Chamber, to which the electors of Lisieux returned him in 1839. He combated the coalition, demanding moral uprightness from those who governed; “Let us practice openness, uprightness, justice exactly observed, mercy judiciously applied. If this is a revolution, the country will thank us for it, and Providence will support our efforts”. On 9th February 1840, Mr. Guizot was sent as ambassador to London, where we suspect his historical works on England and the fact that he was a Protestant earned him a warm welcome. But he had hardly settled there when the government was changed and Mr. Thiers was given the portfolio of Foreign Affairs. Despite his disagreements with Guizot, Thiers left him at his post. Before that year had ended, however, there was another cabinet crisis. The ambassador was recalled from London to replace Thiers in Foreign Affairs, while waiting to succeed Soult as prime minister. So it was that Guizot directed the political scene and governed France during those last eight years of the monarchy. In accord with old King Louis- Philippe, his politics remained obstinately conservative, an inflexible “resistance”. The people, stirred up by the new ideas about socialism and democracy, were demanding reforms, but Guizot, in the name of peace, order and prosperity, refused to bend. The king was advised to separate himself from his prime minister his answer was, “Are you trying to tear out my tongue?” The last resort was to organize “banquets” or demonstrations. When the capital prepared to hold one, like those in other major cities, Guizot banned it. That proved to be a fatal mistake. On 23rd February 1848, the king informed him that he was dismissed. It was too late; the next day, the king himself was forced to abdicate. Guizot accompanied him into exile in England, but returned to France the following year. After one last vain attempt to secure his election to the new legislative assembly on 13th May 1849, he retired permanently to Val-Richer to complete several historical works and write his Mémoires. He died there on 12th October 1874. (Cf. L. 75) (REFERENCES, pp. 272-275).

GUYOT, JEAN FRANÇOIS: Printer and bookseller at 39, Grande rue Mercière, Lyons, under the sign of “At the Three Theological Virtues”. It was he who printed the first Rule in 1837. Research has not turned up any further information about him or his establishment. Nor do we know if Bro. François-Régis, who was supposed to be sent to him to learn printing, eventually went there, because we could not find any other reference to it anywhere (Cf. L 196). We note, on the other hand, that the first edition of the Guide des Ecoles in 1853, as well as that of the biography of Fr. Champagnat, were printed by Périsse Frères, 49, Grande rue Mercière. That leads us to think that, in the

prefeng-letter.doc 187 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” intervening years, despite the difference in the street number, Mr. Guyot had sold his business to the latter firm, all the more so since in 1868, the Avis, Leçons, Sentences were printed by Ve. J. Nicolle, successor to Antoine Périsse, 47, rue Mercière in Lyons. (REFERENCES, pp. 275-276).

HECTOR, BENOIT REGIS: (1802-1884) was born in the hamlet of La Baudière, in Saint-Lattier, Isère. He spent his entire life in his native village. Immediately after his ordination in 1830, he was named curate in his home parish, whose parish priest was Fr. Mosnier. He succeeded the latter from 1841 until his death in 1884. Around 1837- 1838, he wrote to Fr. Douillet to ask him for religious teachers for his school. The latter told him to send his request to the Hermitage, which he did on 3rd July 1838. “After several requests,” he wrote, “Fr. Douillet, director of the Marist Brothers’ school in La Côte-St-André, gave me reason to hope that we might have two of your brothers in St- Lattier for next All Saints. But a letter written from St-Chamond, of which he informed me about a month ago, leaves me doubtful about both the time and even the possibility of having any. One of the main reasons which seems to lead you to put off promising two brothers for St-Lattier is that you fear for the future of that establishment, because the request was made only by the curate. To reassure you about that, let me tell you about the sacrifices which both our parish priest and the town have made, and then you will be able to judge for yourself Father’s zeal and the town’s interest in this establishment He then explains at length that the town had sold some wooded property in order to buy a piece of land and have a school built on it, and that the parish priest is putting some of his own money toward guaranteeing the brothers’ salary. He shows how the future of the school can be guaranteed. The school population is also guaranteed; three layteachers presently divide it among themselves, in two schools. Finally, the house being built will be very large and comfortable. Then he ends by saying, “I can readily see it will be impossible for us to have your brothers for next All Saints, because you have many requests. Besides, the interior of our house will not be completely finished by then. But we would like to have immediate assurance for 1st October 1839. Any doubt about that would discourage the town council and oblige us to make even greater sacrifices to obtain Brothers of the Christian Schools. So it is in the expectation of a favorable reply on your part that I ask you to please accept the assurance of the highest esteem of your, etc.... B. Hector”. The parish priest countersigned the letter and added, “I consent to and approve the statements made in this letter, in testimony of which I sign, Mosnier, Rector” (AFM, 129,52). This letter reveals an organized, systematic and confident man. The reply he received, in its dry brevity, must have surprised him somewhat (cf L. 237). Still, it was not a refusal, but a rather indefinite promise. On the strength of it, Fr. Hector wrote again on 5th January 1839, to “inform you of the progress of the work on our house for the brothers we are expecting from your Institute and to...inform you also of the favorable attitude of the council and of the people of the town towards you...”. He goes on to say that the major work is done, the inside work will resume with the return of good weather. Then he describes the very suitable layout of the house. “The attitude of the town is no less favorable toward your arrival next All Saints. Since Fr. Douillet had led me to hope that we could have brothers even for last All Saints, I kept assuring the town authorities that we would have them at least for next All Saints. The bishop, whom I saw last September, also told me that according to your answers, we could certainly count on them. That is why I did not show your letter, which was a little discouraging, to

prefeng-letter.doc 188 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” the town council, since all it said was that we will have brothers in our turn, without specifying when.... So the whole town is expecting your arrival for next All Saints...” (AFM 129.62). The answer he received on 9th January was hardly more encouraging (L. 237). Successive developments are explained in the introduction to L. 256, so we will not repeat them here. Evidently, Fr. Hector’s confident perseverance paid off. Not two, but three brothers arrived to take over that school at the end of October 1840. He was named parish priest the following year, and for more than four decades he would live through the good ?nd bad days of this school, which according to Bro. Avit and the reports of the primary inspectors had become the outstanding school of the arrondissement by the ‘80s. “On 25th July 1880, Bro. Dii-ector asked the primary inspector to grant a holiday, so that the brothers could take part in the celebration of the golden jubilee of Fr. Hector, the esteemed parish priest. His request, seconded by the mayor, was granted. The brothers helped decorate the church. The band from our boarding school in Peage de Romans livened the ceremony with its brilliant renditions. The celebration was splendid. The parishioners and a great number of clergy took part. Fr. Hector’s humility stood it as well as it could” (AFA, 214.84, p. 20). Two pages further on, he comments, “In spite of his 80 years, Fr. Hector is still very active. It could be that he will have to suffer from seeing his work collapse before he dies”. He wrote those annals in July 1883. Even though Fr. Hector, who died in 1884, did not live to see the collapse of his work, when his successor arrived he found himself confronted by our superiors’ threat to withdraw the brothers. It was not carried out that year, nor in 1890 when it was renewed. (Cf. the entry for Saint-Lattier in the topological section.) (REFERENCES, pp. 276-277).

HENRI-MARIE, BROTHER: Born Claude Bachon around 1818, in Saint-Genest- Malifaux, Loire, to Jean-Baptiste Bachon and Pierrette Couturier, landowners, entered the Hermitage on 18th April 1835 at the age of 17. Three months later, on 26th July, he received the religious habit. On 10th October 1836 he made public temporary vows for three years; he renewed them for another three years on 11th October 1838 (RVT, 1, pp. 64, 70). We do not know what he was doing between those two dates. Fr. Champagnat mentions him in his letter of 24th March 1838 (L. 183) to Bro. Antoine, which proves that he was then in Millery. The account book mentions him twice: on 30th November 1838, when he handed in money left over from a trip; and on 2nd July 1839, when he handed in 100 francs on behalf of Bro. Ignace, for the community of St- Symphorien-le-Château, which shows he was in that community for the 1838-39 school year. According to the 1839 assignment list, if we take the name “M. Henri” to mean Henri-Marie, which seems the only acceptable interpretation, he was assigned to La Côte-St-André for the 1839-40 school year. That is all we were able to unearth about him. He definitely did not remain in the Institute very long, since he does not appear on any list of perpetual professions. (REFERENCES, p. 278).

HILARION, BROTHER: Born Joseph Girard on 5th May 1806 in Soilgnac, Haute-Loire, the son of Jean-Louis Girard and Françoise Mallet, was admitted to the house in La Valla on 28th April 1822; he received the religious habit there the following 25th October (RVP, 1, p. 6, and his personal file). If we can put faith in the latter, he was assigned to cook in Bourg-Argental from November 1822 to March 1823, and then in La Valla until that October. It was perhaps then that he pronounced his first vows, but there is no

prefeng-letter.doc 189 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” document indicating the date, nor even the fact, of his having made temporary vows. We can only presume he did so, because at that time there was still no register of those ceremonies. As of October 1823, again according to his ifie, he became an associate in Bourg-Argental for one school year, and then for two in Boulieu, after which he returned to the former school in 1826. In October 1827, the Founder appointed him director in La Valla. That contradicts Bro. Avifs assertion that he was director of Boulieu at that time, but he made so many errors in the annals of Boulieu that it is dif.. ficult to accept his version over Bro. Hilarion’s personal ifie. For example, he has Bro. Jean-Pierre dying after the 1825 retreat, when in fact he had died on 29th February of that year. He also makes Bro. Barthélemy both director in Bourg-Argental and associate in Boulieu during the same period, 1825-1827. Bro. Hilarion replaced him at the latter school, not in 1827, but as we have seen, from October 1824 until September 1826. However, Bro. Hilarion stayed in La Valla only a few months, since in March 1828 he was entrusted with the direction of Valbenofte, where a scandal had necessitated immediate changes. In his annals of that establishment, Bro. Avit quotes a letter sent by Fr. Rouchon, the parish priest, to Fr. Champagnat, on 6th November 1828. “I thank the Lord,” he writes, “for inspiring you to send us Bro. Hilarion...who, I hope, will put order in the house” (AFA, 213.81, p. 7). We may presume he succeeded, since he stayed there until the 1832 vacation; during that time, on 10th October 1828, he made private perpetual vows (RVP 1, P. 26). He returned to Boulieu, this time as director, for the reopening of classes in 1832, and not in 1831 as Bro. Avit states, thereby contradicting himself, since in the annals of Valbenoîte he wrote that Bro. Hilarion stayed there four years, beginning in 1828. During his stay in Boulieu, Bro. Hilarion obtained his certificate of competence sometime in 1834, then renewed his perpetual vows publicly as soon as that was permitted, on 10th October 1836. Armed with his diploma, he set out to follow his lifelong inclination, “his passion for writing”. He planned to write “a survey of French history which would fill 20 volumes, and he himself published advertisements for it in the Annonay newspaper, very laudatory articles, naturally” (AFA, 213.6, pp. 12-13). As L. 181 of 18th March 1838 leads us to suspect, Fr. Champagnat entrusted him with the direction of Bourg-Argental after the vacation that year. That assignment also included the function of district visitor. As such, he visited the communities under his jurisdiction and drafted numerous letters to give an account of his visits or of his own school. Bro. Avit summarizes them thus, in the annals of Bourg-Argental: “We read there, 1° that his associates were Bros. Angelbert, Marie-Joseph and Bassus; that the latter had just been changed, which he regretted; that he had obtained 1800 fr. from the government, 8000 fr. from the prefect; from Mr. Montchovet, 1000 fr., and from Mr. Bechetoile, 100 fr. to pay for the new house.... “2° he thanked the Reverend Brother for having given him permission for a thirty-day treatment at the spa in Allevard. Even though he lived with the brothers (in that city), he had spent 120 fr. The Duchess of Angouleme had sent him 300 fr., Henri V, 100 fr., and he was expecting 150 fr. from the prefect, to pay for repairs on the house. He could pay only 400 fr.. for the clothing of four brothers; “3° he was often unwell, it was necessary to send him helpers fairly often.... It appears that Bro. Hilarion did the cooking, and was always tired.... “He was always short of money;.. .we discovered the reason why when we visited that house.... Bro. Hilarion was a book-lover and had a mania for writing, of which he did a great deal even though he was lacking in style. He had quite a large library. The four walls of his room, which was fairly large, were covered with books from top to bottom. He had asked for some as gifts, and

prefeng-letter.doc 190 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” borrowed a certain number, but had bought most of them, or had subscribed to certain publications.... None of that improved his financiaJ situation, nor the regularitv of the house nor the progress of the school. This brother was obsessed by his mania for writing which prevented him from taking his teaching seriously enough. We could not compliment him on that score. We even ordered him to send a good part of his books to the Hermitage, which offended him and led him to repeat that we would not do any good among the brothers because we were too abrupt. We should add that he learned how to sneak into the library of the Hermitage and take back most of the books he had sent there. “Our report (for 1851), states: ...Bro. Hilarion is difficult to convince when it comes to his accounts. He still enters everything, but follows no particular method. At vacation time, his students owed him 1500 fr. I tried in vain to push him; all he handed in of that amount was about 250 fr. He himself owed about 1450 fr. and he paid part of those arrears with money he must have had on hand, which came from the sale of school supplies which do not appear on the vacation-time accounts. I urged him to pay what he owed and to see that he was paid what he was owed.... It is impossible to get a clear picture of his accounts.... It’s hard to make those old devils follow procedures!” (AFA, 213.85, pp. 6-8, passim). From the account book (AFM 132.2), we learn that between 1838 and 1842, he handed in a total of 1417.20 fr., or an average of 354.30 per year. On page 14 of the annals of Ampuis, Bro. Avit states that “Bro. Antoine was replaced in 1849 by Bro. Hilarion”, but on the one hand, Bro. Antoine died in that establishment on 7th March 1851, and on the other hand, the same annalist wrote in the annals of Bourg- Argental that, “After the 1852 retreat, (Bro. Hilarion) was assigned to Ampuis, then to Boulieu”, after stating specifically that he met him during his visit to Bourg-Argental in 1852. Bro. Hilarion’s file, on the contrary, dates this transfer from after the 1851 retreat until February 1853. This leads us to our hypothesis that Bro. Antoine was replaced after his death in March 1851 by Bro. Hilarion, who, again according to Bro. Avit, “did or was supposed to do the cooking. Following his long-standing habit, he gave much more time to his books than to his casseroles” (214.3, p. 14). In 1853, either in February, according to his file, or in October, according to Bro. Avit, which seems more likely, “Bro. Hilarion returned to take over the direction of the house” in Boulieu, and continued “to write his history, which did nothing for his classwork” (213.6, p. 17). In a letter dated 26th October 1857, Fr. Boissonnet, the parish priest, asked the Superior General “to please recommend to Bro. Hilarion that he attend to the children, that he spend a little less time on that so-called writing of books of which you must be aware. That would put an end to certain complaints which have reached me and which I do not want to see repeated ever again...” (Boulieu file, n. 4). In that context, Bro. Avit comments that “despite his good spirit, this brother was never really able to control himself in that are However, he had excellent reasons for that. Having composed a gram’ mar, which means he copied here and there from existing grammat. books, he presented his work to the General Chapter of 1854, with tbó request that it be examined. A commission studied its form and judged it worthy of the wastebasket. Nevertheless, Bro Hilarion put together the best bits he could find, under the tile of Manuel a l’usage des architectes, des entrepreneurs, des pMtriers, des serruriers, etc. A printer in Saintes printed this plagiarism at his own expense, hoping to make a profit on it. Most of the copies were used to wrap pepper [which was sold loose by the gram]” (213.6, pp. 22-23). In 1862, the visit report mentions that “Bro. Hilarion is suffering a great deal and very absorbed in his writing, and is letting things go...” (ibid., p. 24). In 1866, his transfer was announced, but he maneuvered to be

prefeng-letter.doc 191 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” permitted to remain where be was. On the advice of the parish priest, the announcement became reality; Bro. Hilarion, coming to the end of his teaching career, spent a year as associate in Saint-Clair, then three years in Pélussin, before returning to the Hermitage, where he entered eternity on 7th December 1877. (REFERENCES, pp. 278-281).

HIPPOLYTE, BROTHER: He is familiar to us from various interconnecting and complementary sources. These include: Avis, leçons, sentences, chapter XVI, p. 167- 180; Abregddes Annaies, pp. 77 and 250; and three of the first registers: those for admissions, perpetual professions, and deaths. To simplify things, we have combined in this article the information they contain, using the Avis... as our basic text, and filling in with the others. Bro. Hippolyte was a young man of twenty-six when he entered religious life. Born Jean Rérnillieux on 12th October 1799 in Chuyer, Loire, to Pierre Rémillieux and Anne Bajard, he was admitted to the Hermitage on 20th September 1826 (RD, RVP). He knew the tailoring trade, and was a good worker who could have done well in the world; his desire to save his soul spurred him on to give himself to God. He hesitated, caught up in the struggle between the world and grace; religious life was attractive, but so was the world. In his indecision, he went to see Fr. Champagnat to speak with him about his vocation; but not willing to take any risks, he asked only to spend several days in community on a trial basis. Father welcomed him kindly, hut did not want to accept him “on trial” unless he first paid for his novitiate, because he feared that the young man would be put off by the lirst difficulties he encountered, which are all the more repugnant to human nature when one has not yet made a clean break with the world. In the admissions register, we read: 26th May 1825 - Jean Remilieu from Chuyet, 25 years old, entered the house as a novice; promises to give the 400 francs for his novitiate, of which two will be given now and the rest in a year’s time. (In point of fact, he did not give anything that day.) 21st September 1826 - Reenters the house and gave two hundred - 200 - the rest as soon as possible...24th January 1827 - Also received - 255.25” (RE, 1, p. 7). So he had come on 26th May 1825, but had not stayed long. He took the decisive step in September of the following year. Grace had finally triumphed over nature. our pious young man definitively renounced the world and everything he had hoped to receive from it. He went to the Hermitage with the money for his novitiate room and board, which he gave to Fr. Champagnat, assuring him that he no longer wanted to do anything else but work to become a good religious. (To be more precise, he gave only half of his room and board fees right away, and the rest four months later, as the text just quoted indicates.) Delighted with his good dispositions, the Founder gladly accepted him, for he needed a tailor badly. For nine years, Fr. Champagnat had been using the tailors and shoemakers of La Valla for the brothers’ clothing and shoes. For lack of shoemakers, he would have to keep using them for footwear; but he immediately set up a tailor shop at the Hermitage, with the help of Bro. Hippolyte, who knew how to sew a little (AA, p. 77). That very evening, speaking about him to one of the principal brothers, he said, “Thank God, who today sent us a subject for our tailor shop. I am counting on him to persevere, since he arrived with one good sign of a vocation.” “And what might that sign be, Father?” “The three hundred francs he gave me. This young man was doing well in the world; he earned the money for his room and board. He would certainly not have given up his future prospects and sacrificed all his savings if he were not detached from the goods of this earth and determined to persevere in his vocation.” The Founder was certainly not mistaken; Bro. Hippolyte did not miss the

prefeng-letter.doc 192 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” world, and became truly attached to his new state in life. As he himself stated, “the twenty-fifth day of December of that same year (i.e., of his admission, 1826), I had the honor of being clothed in the holy religious habit of the brothers of the said society (of Mary)...and....then...on the eighth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight...! made privately, but freely and voluntarily, the three perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the Superiors of the said society of Mary, according to its statutes and aims, after one year of temporary vows” (RVP, 1, p. 9). He was soon put in charge of the tailor shop, a task which he carried out very intelligently from then on until his death, and in which he became known for his total dedication, and his inalterable gentleness and patience. “This brother became competent, showed his dedication and patience in the face of every trial, made himself loved by all the brothers, and directed the tailor shop for 43 years” (AA, p. 77). “Bro. Hippolyte lived forty-one years in community (43 years, months and 16 days, according to the register of deaths). Those who knew him can confirm the fact that during that whole time he was known for four qualities in particular. “1” Bro. Hippolyte was remarkable for his constancy in his vocation and his love for religious life. From the day he entered, he never, regretted what he had given up, nor ever thought of returning to the world. He was not tempted by the false liberty and the vanity of worldly goods. ‘I am in God’s service’, he said, ‘I am very happy here and I will stay here all my life.’ I was particularly struck by St. Polycarpe answer to the tyrant who was urging him to renounce Jesus-Christ: ‘I have been serving Jesus for eighty-four years; he has always been good to me, so why should I deny him? God preserve me from such ingratitude!’ In his simplicity, Bro. Hippolyte said, ‘I think that is a very correct and very reasonable answer. Like that great saint, I am pleased with God, I am pleased to be in his service and it makes me happy, so why leave it? I belong to God, I will belong to God all my life and for all eternity’. “Bro. Hippolyte was often in contact with those who were leaving the congregation, because he was usually asked to provide them with secular clothing. ‘That is the only part of my job which hurts,’ he said; 1 always suffer when I see these poor young men, with no experience, taking the road back to the world.’ He sometimes told them, ‘You don’t know what you are giving up, nor what you are taking on. Watch out that when the beautiful days of your life are over, you don’t regret the happy time you consecrated to the service of God! I know the world; it looks beautiful from a distance, but it’s frightful when you look at it close up; it makes all kinds of promises, but offers little consolation, satisfaction or true happiness’. “2° Bro. Hippolyte was constantly noted and admired for his gentleness. It is a fact known by all the brothers that Bro. Hippolyte did not know how to take offense, and that no one ever saw him angry, nor even showing signs of being irritated or quick tempered, which is so often the case with busy people. Although he was often disturbed, and surrounded by a crowd of brothers asking for things they needed, Bro. Hippolyte, always calm and unruffled, bad nothing but pleasant words for everyone: ‘I am at your service, brother, just give me a moment; be patient, you will all be waited on, etc.’ No one ever saw him rebuff anyone; there was never a sharp word out of his mouth; if he did not have whatever he was asked for, or if he was not permitted to fulfill the requests of certain brothers, he begged their pardon and treated them politely, and one could see that he suffered more from not being able to give what he was asked for, than the man who was being relused. “3° Bro. Hippolyte was always outstanding for his great benevolence and his habitual readiness to be of service to everyone. He had made himself the servant of all his brothers. He no longer belonged to himself at all. From morning to night, he was

prefeng-letter.doc 193 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” concerned with others; at whatever hour of the day or night people went to him, they always found him ready to oblige them. Like St. Francis de Sales, his happiness lay in serving his neighbor, in exerting himself for the good of his brothers and of the community. His friendly, gentle, straightforward manner, and the goodness of his character, made the good he did and the service he rendered even more pleasing. Like all the elect, Bro. Hippolyte’s heart was gentle, good, sensitive, naturally merciful and in- dulgent; that is no doubt why he did not know how to say no, and put himself out to be useful to his confreres. Like his Divine Master, he ‘spent his life doing good to everyone. “4° Finally, Bro. Hippolyte was greatly renowned for his love of work and his dedication to his employment, which was extremely important and extremely demanding. Nothing could describe the persevering zeal with which he made, cared for, repaired and managed the brothers’ entire clothing supply for over forty years. As soon as he had entered the Institute, he was placed in charge of the tailor shop; he stayed there, neither requesting nor desiring anything else, until the day he died. He spent whole days and weeks reorganizing and putting order in the used clothing, so that nothing would be lost or spoiled. Bro. Hippolyte worked himself to death; he was devoted and faithful to the end, and he died in harness. “But these four characteristic qualities of Bro. Hippolyte were not the only virtues which shone in him. This outstanding brother was also very prayerful. The various aspects and burdens of his occupation never led him to neglect his religious exercises, but there was nothing affected about his piety. It was in keeping with his character: simple, peaceful, calm, constant and sustained. Devoted to his brothers, very attached to his Institute, submissive to his superiors, childlike before God, he spent his life serving others and never hurt anyone. However, the Founder, who was very fond of economy, sometimes reprimanded him, because he habitually carried a little lamp when he made his nightly rounds of the house. He accused him, sometimes publicly, of not putting it out soon enough, or of using it without real necessity. Bro. Hippolyte received these reprimands humbly, and without saying anything; but they never changed him, because he believed that he could move more quickly and lose less time with his lamp, but most of all because he did not run the risk of banging into furniture or into walls. “Even though he blamed Bro. Hippolyte, in terms of economy, the Founder used to say that he loved to see him with lamp in hand, because he was for him an image of the wise man who is always enlightened by a reflective spirit and guided by prudence. “‘Like Bro. Hippolyte,’ he would say, ‘a virtuous man, a good reli- gious, a wise director, is never without his lamp; a reflective spirit enlightens all his actions; prudence directs and guides all his projects and everything he does.’” Bro. Hippolyte must have gone to Saint-Genis-Laval when the motherhouse was transferred there, since that is where he died, on 26th March 1868, at the age of 69 (RD 1, p. 32). (Cf. LL. 48, 196). (REFERENCES, pp. 281-284).

HUGONY, PIERRE BERNARD: (1803-1874), he was born on 28th April 1803 in Manosque, in the diocese of Digne. Immediately after his ordination on 24th June 1835, in Palermo, in the then Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, he was named administrator of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. Named curate in Ivry-sur-Seine on 4th July 1836, he was named parish priest of Pres-Saint-Gervais two months later, on 5th September. The keeper of the diocesan archives of Paris notes that, "In the file on Prés-St-Gervais there is a substantial amount of correspondence between Fr. Hugony and the diocesan administration...resignations, lawsuits, and other business. It appears that this priest was

prefeng-letter.doc 194 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” a man with a history . He wrote to Fr. Champagnat during the first half of 1840, hoping to obtain brothers for his school. We know that the reply was negative (cf. L. 339). He made the same request of Bro. François four years latter. The latter replied in March 1844: "We have not forgot the request with which you honored us four years ago. Today it is easier for us to reach out in your direction, since our fathers will be there to watch over the establishments and guide the brothers who will direct them. However, there is still one thing hindering us: will the government be pleased to see us at the gates of Paris? Will it not prevent us from establishing ourselves there? We would be very pleased to know the minister's thinking on the subject before we start anything. If it turns out that no one would be opposed to our spreading out toward Paris, we still could not promise you brothers for this year, nor even for next year. We could begin your establishment only in another two or three years..." (RCLA, I, p. 548). Fr. Hugony did not press his case again; besides, in 1848 he was named parish priest of the new parish of Plaisance. Counting perhaps on the long-range promise he was given in 1844, he waited until 1856 to renew his request, this time for his revs parish. He sent no less than eight letters between 21st September and 29th December that year. The last was to thank the Brother Superior for sending three brothers, and to ask for the help of a fourth, for the number of students had already reached 210 and a third class had had to be created immediately. On 16th January 1860, he wrote to announce the sudden death of Bro. Isidore, and a drop in the number of students, and to mention his plan for a second school, which would be free. There were several letters in succession toward the end of that year. The writer showed himself to be totally devoted to his school, by means of which he intended to combat immorality among the young and the influence of the Protestants who were particularly active. Having won over the civil authorities, he did not stop until he had collected enough money so the brothers could rest easy. When he had finished that project, his bishop entrusted him with the parish of Ternes in 1864, then that of Auteuil in 1872. He died suddenly there on 7th June 1874. (REFERENCES, pp. 284-285).

ISIDORE, BROTHER: Born Jacques Poisnard, in Annonay, around 1811, to Mathieu Poisnard and Marie Seux, was admitted to the Hermitage on 18th November 1826, at the age of 15. He received the religious habit on 14th October 1827, and four days later, on the 18th, made private temporary vows for three years; on 9th October 1830, he renewed them for six years. We know nothing about his first years in religious life; given his age, he no doubt spent a number of them as a student at the Hermitage. We meet him in L. 24 of 1st November 1831, which informs us that he was at Saint-Symphorien d’Ozon, but there is no documentation as to when he arrived and left. Letter 32 of 10th November 1833 indicates that he was in Millery, but gives no further details, beyond the fact that at the time, he must have had to go away, perhaps to settle the question of his military service. We may wonder if he ever returned, since on 13th July 1834, Jean- Pierre Petit received the religious habit under the name of Bro. Isidore, which shows that by then Jacques Poisnard had left the Institute. Two of his brothers were also Marists: Claude (Bro. Etienne) and Pierre (Bro. Simon). (REFERENCES, pp. 285-286).

JANY TACHE: (1802-1859), was born in Saint-Vérand, Isère, around 1802. We know very little about him, not even his first name. We do know that in 1829, he was named parish priest of La Frette, that he stayed there until 1843, that in 1849 he was named

prefeng-letter.doc 195 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” parish priest and dean of Beaurepaire, and that he died there sometime during 1859 (Diocesan archives, Grenoble). On 7th October 1837 he wrote to Fr. Champagnat about Bro. Apollinaire, a native of La Frette, who was recuperating at home and of whom he had taken care. No doubt he also asked for brothers for his school at the same time. We know the answer he received (cf. L. 147). He must have repeated his request at the end of October 1840, because on 5th November Bro. François answered him: “It would be impossible for us this year to give you the brothers you want for your attractive parish, because all our available brothers are already assigned. We have six new establishments on our books for next year; several for eighteen forty-two. I can see that we will have to default on a few of them because we are not going to have enough subjects. Keep your good lay teacher. So many towns have none, or only bad ones! None the less, we would very much like to see our brothers working with you and under your powerful protection to form the minds and hearts of the children who would be entrusted to them, and to prepare new workers for the Lord’s vineyard; but when will we be able to send them to you? At the moment, I can only give you an approximate date: in three or four years. Please accept, etc (RCLA, 1, p. 216, no 262). Stifi, the following year, “on 18th June 1841, Fr. Jany, born in St-Vérand, and at the time parish priest of La Frette, was commissioned by Mr. Rey to negotiate with our superiors, whom he knew, to obtain two brothers for St-Vérand. On the basis of the many subjects which La Frette had already given us, Fr. Jany intervened on behalf of his native parish. He received a negative reply. He returned to the attack on 14th July; another refusal. He tried again on the 3 1st, always in the name of Mr. Rey. He suggested as director of that post, which had not even been promised, Bro. Clement, his parishioner, who was sick at La Frette at the time and who left shortly after” (Avit, annals of St-Vérand, 214.94, pp. 7-8). The brothers finally took over the school in St-Vérand in November 1841. Unfortunately, we could not find any of Fr. Jany Tache’s letters, but Bro. François’ replies show that he was on very friendly terms with the brothers. (REFERENCES, pp. 286-287).

JAYR, HIPPOLYTE PAUL: (1801-?), was born on 25th December, in Bourg, Am, to Benoît Marie Jayr and Lucie Marie Devote-Roussel, residents of Bourg. He studied law in Paris, and in 1830 began his career in administration, first as legal counsel and then as secretary of the prefecture of the Ain. On 25th May 1831, he became prefect of that department (Robert and Cougny, DPAN). On 24th July 1837, he replaced Baron De Sers at the prefecture of the Loire (BI, St-Etienne, 1837, vol. XIV, p. 304). Fr. Champagnat wrote to him three times towards the end of that year, about administrative matters (LL. 145, 154, 162). By royal ordinance of 23rd May 1839, he was appointed prefect of the Rhône, replacing Mr. Rivet. From personal notes he left in St-Etienne, we learn that he was married and the father of two children. We know that he was replaced by a Mr. Chaper on 24th July 1847. (REFERENCES, p. 287).

JEAN MARIE, BROTHER: Born Jean-Claude Bonnet on 14th September 1807 in Saint- Sauveur-en-Rue. Loire, lost his mother, Marie Ruart, and then his father Jean Bonnet, in the space of a few months, when he was only live years old. "The three orphans, two girls and a boy, were taken in by charitable parents in the area" (Biographie de Frère Jean-Marie. par un Père Mariste, Valence: 1887, pp. 6-7). Jean-Claude, the youngest, even as a child, was an avid reader and a fervent Christian. He must have known the Marist Brothers who had run the school in his native village since 1820. On 2nd

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September 1826, he was admitted to Notre-Dame de l Hermitage where he received the religious habit the following 2nd December, Given the fact that he was an orphan, his age, and the fact that he had already taught in a school opened by him Fr. Champagnat felt he had to test his vocation in a special way. That apparently did not frighten him, because he had already tamed his body by voluntary acts of penance. We have no documentation about his temporary vows, but he certainly must have made profession at the end of the 1827 retreat at the very latest After that retreat, "Bro. Jean-Marie, already well-educated for those days, was appointed to teach in Charlieu" (ibid., p. 16). Two years later, in 1829, he was named director in Boulieu, in the Ardèche, after having made private perpetual vows on 8th September 1828 (RVP, 1, p. 27). He could not have stayed more than three years at that school, since Bro. Avit says that in 1832 he was a teacher in the scholasticate at the Hermitage (M. p. 110). Fr. Champagnat, in L. 33 of January 1834, to Bro. Antoine, mentions that he had passed the examination for his certificate of competence on 27th December in St-Etienne, along with Bro. Jean-Louis. In 1836 he was named director of the Hermitage community and also administrator of the goods of the Institute (Biographies, II, 16). His biographer gives this testimony about him: "At the end of 1840, we three postulants appeared at the Hermitage, each of us accompanied by his father. After we had agreed with Rev. Bro. François on the conditions for our admission, a fairly tall brother appeared, wearing a black cape over his shoulders, no rabat, bareheaded, and carrying an inkstand and a few sheets of paper. This was Bro. Jean-Marie, who was econome at the time. This brother's modest bearing his gentle expression, and his gracious smile, made such an impression on us that today, forty years later, that picture is as clear in my mind as it was then" (ibid., p. 18) His functions brought him into the circle of Fr. Champagnat’s closest advisors: the following year, the latter put him in charge of the sector of St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to carry out the integration practical as well as theoretical, of Fr. Mazelier’s disciples into our congregation. He was really the man for the job, gifted with solid and consummate good judgment, a broad and lofty mind a constant and firm enough character, although somewhat timid, and in addition, good-humored, very gentle and very kind; his conscience was extremely delicate his piety and faith, extremely solid and down-to- earth; his mortification and humility had something awe-inspiring about them (ibid., p. 22). The task was not easy, because even while being sensitive to the customs and feelings of both the founder and the brothers he had to organize everything, repair the buildings, maintain and develop the works. Director of the house master of novices visitor of the establishments, the one responsible for all the brothers of the sector all those functions were piled onto his shoulders. ''By his gentle and conciliatory way of acting, " one of his disciples tells us, "he very quick y managed to establish the new regime which it was his mission to introduce in St-Paul, and to make it loved: and he did so without arousing criticism, complaints, or any other apparent difficulty" (ibid. p. 25). In reality, according to his bum testimony, the task was far from easy. Here is one of the 90 letters he wrote to the superiors from St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux: "1st July 1844. Dear Brother François: When I got back from a short trip, I found your letter written from La Voulte, in which you ask to have Bro. Léon for fifteen days. That is a lot given our situation. If Bro. Juste needs a long rest, you would do well to send a brother from the Hermitage as soon as you can. Bro. Léon is presently in La Voulte, but I really need him, since I am often so tired that I don't know what will become of me. At the moment I am suffering like a miserable wretch. I am going through some painful times! And that just

prefeng-letter.doc 197 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” makes my sickness that much worse "The fair in Beaucaire is coming up soon: that is the time when we must settle at least some of our accounts. You know what condition our finances are in.... The pansy priest of Semène has just written me a fairly sharp letter saving that you made an agreement with him and that you didn't insist on very many things, and that you should send him the plans for the tables. He ended by telling me that since we were so demanding, he had found other brothers and that he would have them in the beginning of October. It seems that Fr. Querbes promised some for Piolenc. Tulette is probably the only place we can suspend operations this year, but nothing is definite vet. Building is still proceeding slowly; Fr. Mazelier still wants to do things on a small scale, a very small scale. I don't push him much at all, since things would not Fe done well. ''So, I find myself in a real labyrinth of situations which are all extremely unpleasant. If the Lord does not take pity on me, I'm really afraid I'm going to lose my skin and even more. On top of all that, our establishments in general are doing rather poorly; and how could they do well in the condition they are in? I can assure you that I am beginning to understand what misery really means. If I can manage to settle most of my accounts in time for the Beaucaire fair, I will consider myself lucky, but then I will have nothing with which to provide for the vacation time, and during the vacation I will take in nothing or next to nothing. "I get so annoyed just thinking about it, especially when I reflect that it's all Fr. Mazelier's fault, for not putting his schools on a solid footing! I implore you to have prayers said for your servant, he needs them very badly, and as soon as you can, send him back Bro. Léon so that he will not be left alone champing at the bit.... P.S. This is badly written, but I do not know what else to do: I am suffering so. Br. Jn. Marie' (AFM, 630.1, doe: 82). If we throw in the personnel needs and the brothers lack of formation. we have a fairly complete picture of the situation described in this very intense correspondence. For example, during October 1846. he sent eight letters: six to Bro. François and two to Bro. Jean-Baptiste, the assistant in charge of St- Paul. These letters deal mostly with administrative matters, often embellished with personal references to his health all sorts of problems, his illnesses etc. This verbosity can be explained by the fact that, being responsible for the sector without having the power to make the assignments or any important decisions, he had to verity frequently to the superior to ask his permission. Besides, he received letters from outside parties as though he were the real superior, when all he could do was pass them along. All of that certainly did not make his task of organizing the province any easier. The situation would be altered immediately after his departure, not in the direction of greater independence, but on the contrary, in the sense of an alignment with the other provinces, which were governed entirely prom the Hermitage. That would provoke Fr. Mazelier's protests at the General Chapter of 1852, which he reminded of the agreements signed at the time of the Fusion. In point of fact, it would appear that Bro. Jean-Marie, more than anyone else, had prepared the wax: as a docile child and obedient servant, and perhaps also because of his rather amid personality, he had been very careful to keep his superiors informed in great detail, and had never begun anything without their permission. Besides, it is to his credit that he was able to face up to everything and still give the province a forward thrust which placed it in the ranks of the most flourishing. On 7th August 1846, he wrote, "I can drag myself here and there only with great difficult and often with the aid of a cane". Ten days later, he added, "The difficulties I have experienced this year were so many and so great that unless God had given me special help I would certainly have collapsed under them". During his last year

prefeng-letter.doc 198 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” in that post 1849, he still taught "an hour of arithmetic every day to the second division: a lesson in drawing or geometry on Tuesday Thursday and Sunday: and catechism every day. Sometimes I do two a day: one in the novitiate and another in the boarding school ' (Letter of 6th February 1849). That was in addition to the provincial administration and the animation of the brothers and the communities. In spite of ail that in his last letter, dated 10th September 1849, he states, "If your is to recall me, I do not think my absence will hurt St-Paul: anyone else will do even better than 1. My only regret is that if you are counting on me to help you, you may have made a very bad choice. Without trying to sound humble, I do not believe I am capable of doing very much at all. But, whatever you want...." In fact, he did have to return to the Hermitage a few weeks later, to be pan of the administration there. His apostolic real and his modesty did not find what then expected there. "Towards the end of 1851, Bro. Jean- Marie was sent to the Var. to negotiate with a number of towns which were asking for our brothers. Among others he settled the conditions for an establishment in Gonfaron, and volunteered to direct it. His offer was accepted by the superiors, who for a long time had been desperate to find the sort of situation his modesty longed for. He was given two confreres and the school was opened in September 1852" (Biographies, II. p. 38). The third and last stage of Bro. Jean-Marie's apostolic career had begun. It would be the longest, and certainly not the least painful, but it would end with his glorification. The brothers were given a chills reception by the local people, whose ideas were more revolutionary than religious. The school quickly succeeded and the number of students passed 200. Bro. Jean-Marie found himself obliged to build two classrooms with the help of a township lacking in maternal resources. That was in 1868 two years later, the same township abrogated the brothers' salaries. They were therefore withdrawn, except for Bro. Jean-Marie, who remained in Le Luc, a nearby hamlet, to watch developments, since he did not want to abandon the people for whom he had sacrificed himself for 18 years. Events turned in his favor, because he was able to reopen a free school right in Gonfaron in December 1871. When school reopened after Easter in 1875, it once again became a town school. So there were then two town schools: the brothers', with over 100 students, and the other which had barely forty. That situation could not continue amid such irreligious people and such an anticlerical political atmosphere. And so, three years later, "under the pretext of saving money, the town council (in its session of 24th February 1878) voted for the closing of the religious schools and declared their decision a moral and financial relief' (Avit, Annales de Gonfaron, 215.32, p. 13). Bro. Jean-Marie was not officially informed of the decision which had been confirmed by the prefect, until the day the town school was to reopen, 1st November. His previous attempts to parry the blow had therefore ended in failure. None the less, on 1st December, a new free school opened its doors. Bro. Jean-Marie was still director! but did not do any teaching. "There was nothing very specific about the salary. It was made up of 900 francs in the form of gigs to Bro. Jean-Marie, or begged by him, and about 400 francs in school fees. So the brothers lived in poverty, which had never really led the house since it was founded. In spite of a verb frugal and economical diet, Bro. Jean-Marie could barely pay for his clothing and that of his associates; many others, in his situation, would have paid on y half of it" (ibid., p. 15). His "troubles" in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux had been just a prelude to these later ones: if he had learned to put up with the former, now the only wise thing to do was to live with the latter. That approach must have worked for him. since in 1886, the Visitor noted that, "Bro. Jean-Marie has gained in terms of goodness

prefeng-letter.doc 199 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” what he has lost in terms of health" (ibid., p. 17). It was around that time that the bishop of Fréjus who was trying to convince a priest to accept the parish of Gonfaron, used as his clinching argument, "You will have a holy brother in your parish in the person of Bro. Jean-Marie. Follow his advice and I guarantee your success" (idea.). Having apparently caught a chill, Bro. Jean-Marie soon had to stay in bed and let himself be nursed by his brothers, and then by Bro. Réole the infirmarian of the provincial house, who had been sent specifically for that purpose. It was he who left us this report, written on 26th November 1888, three days after Bro. Jean-Marie's death: "Dear Brother Assistant, I think you will be pleased if before leaving Gonfaron I write you a beef account of what happened to our dear departed, especially between his death and burial. During his illness, which was quite long (about 40 days), he bore his pain with great patience, without ever complaining. When I arrived here last 19th October he had pains in his chest, had frequent and very painful coughing fits because of a large poultice which covered most of his right lung but his complaints were always mild and always followed by these words: 'But, what do you expect? We have to suffer something; there are so many poor people who offend our loving God!' And then he would fall silent, putting up with his pain without saying anything, and continually fingering his rosary which he never let go of night or day "After his first illness (that is, his bronchitis and the beginning of his pneumonia) was cured, he hardly suffered at all: he was just extremely weak. How many times he told me then that I was doing too much for him, that I should not put myself out so much, especially at night and he thanked me every time. He received Holy Viaticum four or Eve times, and you can well believe that he prepared for it. How many times, during his thanksgiving, I heard him sac aloud, 'Come on, Jesus: come on...what do you want?' and so on. He could not see me: I was sitting in his armchair behind his bed. He received Communion again the day he died, even though he had already received twice in four days. "On Tuesday (23rd November 1888), Bro. Henri came to see him and our holy invalid reached out to give him his rosary. Bro. Henri, thinking he just wanted it untangled, gave it back to him: he held it for a moment. and then gave it back to him, still without a word. Bro. Henri untangled it again, or rather pretended to, and then went to class, never realizing that the venerable old man was leaving his rosary to him. Even I saw the whole thing without attaching much importance to it. But after his death, Bro. Henri remembered the whole thing and then we understood. Needless to say, Bro. Henri kept that rosary as a precious souvenir. "I could see that our invalid had been sinking for several hours, and I did not want to leave him but the bell had rung for dinner and he urged me to go eat something, raying that he didn't need anything, that I did not take sufficient care of myself, that I was going to get sick, and that I had to go. That was at ten minutes to twelve. I went and had some soup then went back upstairs right away. Seven or eight minutes later, our dear invalid began his agony. I called the brothers; Bro. Henri ran for the parish priest while the rest of us recited the prayers for the dying, and our venerated Bro. Jean-Marie fell asleep piously in the Lord without any contortions and in perfect peace. "As soon as his death became known, many of the neighbors hurried over but we left them waiting at the door until we had washed and dressed him, and placed him in the first classroom which we arranged for the purpose. But it was then Bro. Assistant, that extraordinary things began to happen. Ever one said, 'The saint is dead; let's go see him' and from that moment on there was a continual procession. I think the entire population of Gonfaron came to see his mortal remains. Until nine p.m. the first day, and until about ten o'clock the second, people came in, they

prefeng-letter.doc 200 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” mourned him, they prayed, they wept, and everyone, men and women, conservatives and republicans, paid homage to our beloved departed. Who knows how many hundreds of rosaries were touched to his body and held to his lips for him to kiss? I stayed next to him much of the time and I saw almost everything For lack of rosaries many people who never set foot in church came to ask me to have him kiss their rings, which they handed to me and which I gave back to them after placing them on the hands and mouth of our; saint, to use the name the crowd was giving him. Maybe more than a, hundred persons took off their earrings to have the same thing done! Mothers brought their little children to see and even touch our dear ' Bro. Jean-Marie. "Sick people came to ask him to cure them, have him touch a hand which had been paralyzed for three years, and their other infirmities. Oh, how much I wanted a miracle; how carefully I was watching! At night the men, or at least a good number of them, argued over who would have the honor of staying with him; I limited it to ten for the two nights. We had placed him, very simply but neatly, on a little bed in the first classroom, but then people began to bring quantities of all sorts of flowers from the countryside and we had to let them set up a beautiful funeral chapel decorated with powers and laurel branches. "And then came his burial which was far more a triumphal march than a funeral procession. There were thirty of our brothers, and four Brothers of St. Gabriel from Lorgues including their provincial. Ten priests came for the heal services for our venerated departed brother. The whole town was there. All the parish organizations were in the procession, along v.>ith many other women. More than three hundred men, in good order, followed the body from the house to the church and from there to the cemetery. Everyone wanted to carry him and vied for that honor. I insisted that the brothers carry him from the house to the road but from there on, groups of men took turns every fifty or one hundred paces. It was d question of who would take hold of the bier host. Then the chaplain from Le Luc intervened and made them change verb often "Along the way, all the men and women who were not in the procession were trying to see Bro. Jean-Marie for the last time. We carried him in his open casket. If I had not strenuously opposed it, the) would have cut up his entire cassock, and probably stripped his funeral couch as well. Then, to satisfy the eager desires of many people, I thought of cutting up his cloak for distribution in pieces of about 8 square centimeters. There is almost nothing left of it. and people still come oh ten to ask for some. When we reached the cemetery there was practically a frenzy, since everyone wanted to see him one last time. One of the officiating priests, a former student, grabbed his skullcap his rabat was cut up; his cassock, which had already been snipped by some skillful scissors during the procession was now in pieces up to the knees. It was impossible to put on the lid, which was resting on the heads and arms of the people who were still cutting up his cassock. It was sheer madness! ''I would even say that we almost had several accidents. Some altar-boys and other youngsters who were close to the coffin narrowly escaped being crushed by the crowd which was pushing forward to see the saint one last time. One of those children, about seven or eight years old, was already screaming under the feet of the crowd which still kept on pushing I was able to grab him and stand him up, and then get him out of the crowd. I will not say anything, Bro. Assistant of the magnificent allocution given by the parish priest at the end of Mass. He drew many tears. Nor will I speak t the emotion-filled words spoken at the cemetery by Fr. Imbert, one of his first students thirty-five years ago. We have been promised the text of both those brief discourses, and they will be given to you Both gentlemen wish to revise them before

prefeng-letter.doc 201 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” giving them to us. "Fr. Broquier, chaplain of the Sisters of Cuers, a former student of the brothers in Gonfaron, having stayed close to Bro. Jean-Marie since childhood, knows him very well. This holy priest is the one who stole his skullcap, he would willingly write a little booklet on Bro. Jean-Marie if we gave him some information about his life before he came to Gonfaron. It would be sold for the benefit of the establishment or of the juniorate, if you wish: but there has been no mention of the juniorate. "As you can see, Bro. Assistant, I have been very lengthy but I wanted to give you all these details which you can rend at leisure. Even now people could not be kinder to us. Not only did they bang us food for a dinner for all the brothers present, but we have enough wine, bread, meat, etc. for several days. I must add that all the brothers from Le Luc and several others left right from the cemetery so as not to miss their train. I forgot to tell you that after 48 hours our dear departed had not changed a bit; his face was just as it had been before his death, and there was no trace of decomposition. Everyone noticed and remarked on it that was what so electrified people during the ceremony. How many people went up to his coffin during the High Mass and during the procession to see if he smelled! How many times I heard, 'It's true: he doesn't smell at all; he hasn't changed'! And yet he died a few minutes after noon on Tuesday, and he was still not in the ground Thursday noon. "A number of letters have arrived here in recent days Bro. Assistant, from various parts of the diocese, giving the title of saint to Bro. Jean-Marie. I strongly urged Bro. Henri to keep them. Br. Réole." Later, "the townspeople showed their attachment to Bro. Jean-Marie by spending 150 francs to have a monument erected over his tomb" (AFA, 215.32, p. 22). Since the cemetery was recently transferred, there is no longer anything there to recall the memory of Bro. Jean-Marie. (REFERENCES, pp. 298-305).

JEAN MARIE, BROTHER: Jean-Marie Granjon was born 2nd Nivôse Year III (22nd December 1794) in La Terrasse, in the town of Doizieu, Loire, to Jean-François Granjon, a farmer, and Claudine Laval. He lost his mother on 18th April 1796 and his father on 8th April 1800. Since the Loire recruiting council declared him fit for military service in 1813 (ADL, R. nº 28), he would have taken part in Napoleon's last campaigns as a grenadier in the Imperial Guard (OM, Extraits, p. 74). On "the first Sunday of October" (6th October 1816) (ibid., p. 437) Fr. Champagnat noticed him in church in La Valla. A few days later Jean-Marie came looking for the curate to visit a sick person in La Rive that was how they met (idem.). Fr. Champagnat found him well-intentioned but almost totally uneducated, so he took an interest in him, and suggested that he come live in town, so he could more easily teach him to read and write (Life pp. 57-58). Little by little he revealed to him that he intended to train religious educators to teach the country children. It is easy to see why Jean-Marie, being an orphan just emerging from a long period of ignorance but filled with strong Christian sentiments, had little difficulty in going along with the ideas of this priest, who was becoming more and more attached to him. When young Jean-Baptiste Audras was ready to follow the same road, the two disciples of Marcellin Champagnat joined forces in a little house which the latter had just acquired for that purpose. Not long after, it seems, according to Fr. Bourdin (OM. Extraits p. 442), the two novices began to take care of two poor children whose parents entrusted them to them to take them away from an alcoholic schoolteacher who had the support of the parish priest. Fr. Champagnat, being all the more aware of the inexperience of these makeshift teachers, brought in a former Brother of the Christian Schools to train them for

prefeng-letter.doc 202 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” that profession. The experiment proved very unsatisfactory from other points of view, so much so that he had to dismiss the instructor. In the meantime, the small community had grown and there was need to give it a superior. Jean-Marie was chosen bv his confrères to fill that role (ibid., p. 446). As such, "at Easter 1821, he went with Fr. Champagnat for an unpleasant encounter with Fr. Bochard" (OM, IV, p 294; Extraits, p. 448). At the end of that year, the Founder. who was beginning to find Bro. Jean-Marie too self-centered, sent him to direct the school he had just accepted in Bourg-Argental. That is where Inspector Guillard found him on 23rd April 1822. In the annals of Bourg- Argental, Bro. Avit tells us that "Bro. Jean-Baptiste was one of his associates. Their first task was to store their mattresses in the attic. When Mrs. De Pléné asked them why, they replied that such things were not used in the congregation, and that a sack of potatoes would be much more useful to them. So the mattresses were replaced by the vegetables. At first Bro. Jean-Marie went to extremes in mortification and poverty. Under the pretext of imitating St Aloysius Gonzaga, he went so far as to give his own clothing to the poor.... After a year, Bro. Jean-Marie got the idea of going to the Trappists. He left without saying a word, and left the two classes, with 200 children, to his fifteen-year-old associate (AFM 213.85, pp. 3-4). It is surprising that neither Bro. Jean-Baptiste nor Bro. Avit name Bro. Jean-Marie's two associates, who founded the school in Bourg-Argental with him on 2nd January 1822 (Life, p. 90). At that time there were only eight brothers in the Institute. It would have been easy to divide them among the four existing schools. Doing so would give us: in La Valla, Bro Louis (Life, p. 90); in Saint-Sauveur-en-Rue: Bro Jean-François (Life, pp. 84-85; AFM, 213.73, p. 10) and Bro. Barthélemy (idem.); in Bourg-Argental, Bro. Jean-Marie (Life, p. 90) and the two others, viz., Bros. François and Jean-Pierre. Bro Jean-Baptiste, who would be there the following year, did not receive the habit until October 1822. Consequently, the fifteen-year-old brother in question at the time of Bro. Jean-Marie’s escapade can only be Bro. François. And then, why did Bro. Avit write that Bro. Jean-Marie "left the two classes, with 200 children, to his fifteen-year-old associate", when there was another brother there, who, if it was Bro. Jean-Pierre, was twenty-four years old? Was he just trying to be sensational, or was it because the young brother was Bro. François, so he gave him priority? Bro. Jean- Baptiste states, "It was about this time that the school in Tarentaise was opened, with Brother Laurent in charge (Life, p. 88). That could not have been until after the withdrawal of the brothers from Marlhes, i.e., during 1822. To come back to Bro. Jean- Marie, Fr. Jean Coste (OM, IV, pp. 294-295, note 2) has tried to date the departure of the director of Bourg-Argental for the Trappists. He begins by remarking that Bro. Jean- Baptiste, and Bro. Avit after him, "group together everything concerning Granjon eccentricities, which led to his leaving the Institute, thus giving the impression that events followed one another fairly rapidly, whereas it is certain that Bro. Jean-Marie was in Saint-Symphorien during 1823-24 (cf. L. 1). So it is evident that the abrupt departure from Bourg-Argental was separated by a long lapse of time from the events which led to his leaving in 1826.... If we followed (Bro. Avit's text cited above), we would think he led early in 1823, when his associate in Bourg-Argental was Bro. Jean-Baptiste, who was fifteen. But the reality seems to be that Bro. Louis went to Bourg-Argental in the autumn of 1822". If, as we have tried to demonstrate above, the fifteen-year-old brother is not Bro. Jean-Baptiste, but Bro. François, the difficulty disappears. So Fr. Caste can conclude with even greater assurance, "So the departure took place at the end of the first school year, at the beginning of summer 1822, which still seems the most probable

prefeng-letter.doc 203 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” explanation". In any case, it appears that he was absent no more than four weeks. When he returned, Fr. Champagnat wanted to show that he still trusted him, by sending him the following year, 1823, to open the school in Saint-Symphorien-le-Château (L. 1). According to Bro. Avit's annals, "He did very well here and was able to satisfy everyone. But it seems that the Founder was not too pleased with his way of acting, since he replaced him after one year, with Bro. Anthony" (214.93, pp. 9-10). "During the 1824-25 school year, he was certainly at La Valla and the Hermitage, and it was from there, after a number of eccentric actions and his refusal to go to Charlieu, that he was sent away from the Institute.' "The exact date of his dismissal is unknown, but Jean-Baptiste places it after the departure of Fr. Courveille i.e., in 1826 at the earliest (Life, pp. 146-148). Besides, on 2nd December 1826 a new subject received the name of Bro. Jean-Marie, an indication that Granjon was no longer in the Institute at that time. As of 29th November 1827, he was a nail-maker in his mother's native hamlet of Le Truzeau, in the town of Saint-Julien-en-Jarez, where he had bought some land. He was still there on 28th November 1833, the date of his marriage to Jeanne Mellier, from the same hamlet, a twenty-seven-year old widow. He died there on 4th August 1859, leaving two living children Jean-Baptiste (1834-1877) and Marie-Antoinette (1838-1870) (Civil register of Saint-Julien-en-Jarez; Joannès Granjon file). One of his great-grandsons, Jean-Louis, called Joannès Granjon, is still living in Saint-Genis-Terrenoire and holds title to property going back to his great-grandfather" (OM, IV, p. 295). (REFERENCES, pp. 305-307).

JEAN, BROTHER: Born Jean-Baptiste Apollinaire Courbon on 22nd July 1810, in Saint- Genest-Malifaux, son of André Courbon and Jeanne Marie Rivaloy, and brother of Joseph Courbon the vicar general, entered the Hermitage on 15th January 1836, and received the religious habit the following 3rd July. On 10th October of that same year he made temporary vows for three years; he renewed them on 9th October 1837. According to Bro. Avit, in the annals of St-Didier-sur-Rochefort, “Bros. Denis, Jean and Marcel came to take over this post and began classes at the beginning of November 1835” (213.46, p. 4). The Bro. Jean of whom he is speaking was named Claude Dumaltre; he left the Institute during that school year. But two pages further on in the same annals, we read, “The good and naive Bro. Flavien succeeded ex-Denis in October 1838, with Bros. Maxim, Jean and Anaclet as associates” (ibid., p. 6). This time he is speaking about Courbon, who was the fourth in the Institute to have that name: the first, Aubut, left; the second, Cholleton, died; the third, Dumaître, left. As for Bro. Jean Courbon, he had just made perpetual profession in 1838 (RVP, 1, p. 30), but we do not know what he had been doing in the interval between his novitiate and then. According to his personal file, he was assigned immediately to Saint-Didier in October 1836, and there is nothing in Bro. Avit’s statement above to contradict that. We do not know how much education he had before he entered; all we know is that when he entered, he was described as “able to read and write”, a formula which signified a higher level of education than that given by the village school. In any case, L. 168 of 5th January 1838 shows that he was definitely in Saint-Didier under the direction of Bro. Denis, together with Bro. Flavien, therefore before the latter took over as director. According to his file, he remained there until September 1846, as is also indicated on an assignment list which is undated, but must come from around 1845. From 1846 to 1853, again according to his file, he was prefect in Craponne-sur-Arçon; that is confirmed by assignment lists for 1848 and 1851, and by Bro. Avit in 1849 and in 1851-52. Then,

prefeng-letter.doc 204 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” beginning in September 1853, there was his long and just about final stay in Charlieu. If there was any interruption, as his file says there was, it was only for the 1864-65 school year, which he spent in St-Laurent-de-Chamousset; he then returned to Charlieu which he did not leave again until his death on 10th April 1888. The annals tell us that “during the week after ‘Quasimodo’ (Low) Sunday, the esteemed Bro. Jean died unexpectedly. He had been suffering greatly for some time, but still got up every morning with the community. The doctor had to order him to stay in bed. The Brother Visitor came to see the house, and visited the invalid again before he left. The Brother Director went with him to the stagecoach. When he returned, Bro. Jean was no longer of this world; he died without agony. He had given an example of every virtue in this house where he had ful- filled a variety of functions for 33 years” (AFA, 213.3, p. 67). (REFERENCES, pp. 287- 288).

JEAN-BAPTISTE: Jean-Baptiste Furet, was born in St-Pol-de-Chalençon, Haute-Loire, on 24th September 1807, the third of the six children of Antoine Furet and Marie Gallet. He received his early education from the local Béates, and did his share of the work around his parents’ farm. He also learned From his mother how to make lace; with his share of the profits from its sale, he bought religious pictures with which he decorated their home. In his biography of Fr. Champagnat (Life, pp. 93-99), he gives a third-person account of his arrival in La Valla in March 1822 at the age of fourteen and a half, after a two-day walk over the mountains with his seven companions. He received the religious habit on 25th October of that year, and made perpetual profession privately on 8th September 1828 (there is no record of his temporary profession). He was sent at All Saints 1823 to Bourg-Argental, where Bro. Jean-Marie Granjon, the director, was already beginning to exhibit symptoms of bizarre behavior. The latter disappeared soon after to join the Trappists without saying a word to anyone, leaving Br. Jean-Baptiste and another confrere with two hundred students to look after. Granjon returned after three weeks, but Bro. Jean-Baptiste was already so exhausted that he fell seriously ifi, and was thought to be dying. Fr. Champagnat’s visit to his bedside led to the incident of the “Memorare in the snow” (Life, pp. 343-344). The year 1825 saw him fully recovered and teaching in St-Sauveur. In 1826, he was sent to open the school in Neuville-sur- Saône, where he remained until 1836, when he replaced Bro. Louis in Charlieu. From there he went to open the school in St-Pol-sur-Ternoise in 1839; his stay there was very brief, since the First General Chapter in October of that year elected him Assistant General with 57 votes out of 92. Once again, the energy he put into fulfilling his new duties brought him to the point of exhaustion; there was some question whether he could continue much longer, when Providence intervened, in the person of a certain Fr. Cane, the parish priest of Bouillargues, who had been promised brothers for All Saints 1842, and was not about to accept the sudden news that the foundation would have to be put off for a year because of lack of personnel. He went to the Hermitage to insist that the promise made him be honored, and then announced that he would not leave until he had his brothers! Not taking him too seriously, Bro. François offered him a room, presuming he would return to his parish for the following Sunday. When he gave no indication of doing so, Bro. François invited him to celebrate the Sunday High Mass for the community. Seizing this golden opportunity, Fr. Cane agreed, vested in the sacristy, and then announced that there would be no Mass until he got his brothers! “But Father, ” objected the Superior, “you wouldn’t want to make the brothers miss Sunday Mass?”

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“I’m determined to do just that, since you seem equally determined to let the boys of my parish run wild in the streets.” Since Bro. François could make no headway with the immovable priest, he returned to the chapel and sent Bro. Jean-Baptiste to deal with him. The outcome: “All right, say Mass for us and you can have your three brothers!” Where they were to be found was another question, but Bro. Jean-Baptiste simplified the search somewhat by saying, “You know how tired I am; suppose I go to Bouillargues to do the cooking? That would make one less brother you have to find, and it just might be good for my health”. So off he went to Bouillargues for a few months as cook and director. During that brief period, he earned a local reputation as an outstanding catechist, in both the school and the parish church. He returned to the Hermitage announcing that he felt much better, but he never really regained his health, and had to follow a rigid diet for the remaining thirty years of his life. He did not let that, however, stand in the way of accomplishing the tasks obedience assigned him. The merger of the Brothers of St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux with the Marist Brothers in 1842 was the beginning of another major phase of Bro. Jean-Baptiste’s ministry. He was entrusted with the task of helping Fr. Mazelier’s brothers to adapt themselves fully to their new congregation. His personal gifts of leadership, and his great talent for spiritual direction, enabled him to do so gently but firmly, over a period of two years. Being convinced that plunging into the new waters would be in the long run a better solution than inching in, he imposed on the embryonic province the Marist Rule in all its details. This occasioned strong objections from Fr. Mazelier, who disliked the singing of the morning “Salve Regina”, and wanted two periods of meditation each day, as well as the replacement of the evening office by a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Bro. Jean-Baptiste held firm, how- ever, and in time the objections died down. Financial and personnel problems created even greater headaches. Since Fr. Mazelier, in his zeal to open badly-needed schools, had been willing to accept about half the salary his brothers needed to live, a number of his establishments simply had to be closed. At the same time, that same zeal, along with the demands placed on his time by his other commitments, had led the founder to skimp on the formation of his brothers, some of whom were really unsuited for religious life, and had to be dismissed. While this seventy first created shock-waves, its end product was a healthy new province for the Marist Brothers. At the time of the fusion in 1842, the Brothers of St-Paul numbered 40, with 13 houses. In 1860, when Bro. Jean-Baptiste was replaced as their Assistant-General, the province had 400 members and 80 houses. He had also earned the esteem and gratitude of the brothers. The sort of impact he made on them is revealed in reminiscences like the following: “In February 1857, a few days after my arrival at the novitiate in St-Paul, I sensed a great deal of excitement in the air. The novices were whispering to each other, and everyone’s face was lighting up. Intrigued, I asked what was going on, and one of my confreres told me in a low voice, ‘Bro Jean-Baptiste is arriving this evening; the cook just told so-and-so’. “So’, said I, “who’s Bro. Jean-Baptiste?’ “He’s our Bro. Assistant; he’s going to give us a talk and then we’ll each have a private interview with him.’ “And in fact, at six p.m., we were all gathered in the room where we said our prayers, to await his arrival. When he appeared at the door, everyone stood up, looking relaxed but eager. He walked across the room very gravely, mounted the platform and began the prayer. I was right in front of him; I fixed my eyes on his ascetic-looking face, and I was completely fascinated. He spoke about the Blessed Virgin, and there was something about his words and his tone of voice which to me, at sixteen, was like a sort of revelation. “Like all the other novices, I

prefeng-letter.doc 206 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” went to his room on one of the following days. I came out of the interview feeling joyful, encouraged, enthusiastic. He had won me over, and for life.” In addition to conferences, spiritual direction and organizational work, he devoted an incredible amount of time and energy to the writings through which he would become known to future generations of Marists. Between 1850 and 1853, he prepared the texts which were discussed and approved by a succession of General Chapters: the Constitutions, the Common Rules, The Teacher’s Guide — all of which in a sense replaced the original 1837 Rule, with its eleven chapters and 211 articles. Later would come the Principles of Christian and Religious Perfection, the Directoire de la Solide Piété, and the life of I.B.M. Cham- pagnat. His absorption with preserving Marcellin Champagnat’s heritage in written form did not in any way lessen his awareness of what was going on in the lives of the brothers entrusted to him. There are many anecdotes concerning his judgment of character, such as the time the master of novices told him that Providence had just sent them a postulant willing to hand in 20, 000 francs, enough to cover the house’s debts — provided he be exempted from all manual work during his novitiate. Bro. Jean-Baptiste’s reaction was as dry as the master’s was enthusiastic: “Send him home. The good his 20, 000 francs might do will never make up for the harm his attitude definitely will do”. But there was also the rough-cut postulant whom the master had decided to send home, and had assigned to work meanwhile with the masons. Bro. Jean-Baptiste noticed how hard he worked, spoke with him, and was impressed by the good sense and maturity lurking beneath his lack of manners. After several more such conversations, Bro. Assistant remarked to Bro. Master, “You’re having a reception of the habit soon; I presume that postulant who works with the masons will be part of the group?” “Oh, no — he was voted out; as a matter of fact, he’ll be going home in a few days.” “Well, this time I say differently — admit him.” As it turned out, the young man turned out a good religious and an excellent teacher, and died with a reputation for great holiness. That was not the only time Bro. Jean-Baptiste helped to safeguard a vocation. In an incident reminiscent of Fr. Champagnat’s reprimand to the director who complained that 15-year- old Bro. Sylvester had trundled a wheelbarrow through the house (his way of protesting against being ignored by his older and very prim and proper confreres), Bro. Jean- Baptiste had to deal with a brother director who complained that his young cook, just out of novitiate, sang all the time! His response was to send the director a note, inviting him to thank God for giving him such a joyful young brother, and to the delinquent a beautiful picture, with another note, urging him to sing even more, so that he would never feel sad! Once again, his judgment of character proved accurate: the merry chef was Bro. Nestor, who in time became the third Superior General of the congregation. There were no doubt many brothers who could have echoed what one priest said after travelling to Paris with him: “I would gladly spend the rest of my life with Bro. Jean-Baptiste; he’s beyond price!” As the years passed and took their toll, he found himself one of the last of the pioneers of the La Valla days. That handful of eager aspirants had now grown to 2200 in 400 schools. Whatever pride he might have felt in that expansion was counter- balanced by his mounting asthma and stomach troubles. Worse still was his increasing scrupulosity. He who had known so well how to counsel others in their difficulties was now tortured in his own soul by the fear that he was practicing and preaching laxity” because his poor health prevented him from following the daily routine of the community to the letter. One thing illness and scruples did not diminish, however, was his literary output. It was during these twilight years that he produced such works as Le Bon

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Supérieur, Our Models in Religion, and the Avis, Leçons, Sentences, as well as three volumes of meditations on the Incarnation, the Eucharist and the Passion inspired by Fr. Champagnat’s conferences on the “three first places” at the Crib, the Cross and the Altar. In addition to all these published works, at his death he left behind the manuscripts for Marie Enseignée a la Jeunesse (Behold Thy Mother), a treatise on education designed to serve as spiritual reading, a hundred pages of meditations on various topics, an equal number of pages of particular examens, and a treatise on “religious civility”, plus a vast assortment of conferences, notes and rough drafts on various subjects. He died peacefully at St-Genis-Laval on Sunday, 5th February 1872, seated in the armchair where his asthma had forced him to spend his last days and nights since he could not breathe while lying down. His funeral was held on Thursday the 9th, the weekly school holiday, to permit as many brothers as possible to attend; over one hundred did so. Bibliography: Nos Supérieurs, pp. 11-69; Circulaires of 8th April 1872 and 24th May 1873, Vol. IV, pp. 239-306 and 349 if.; “Circular on the Fervent Vocation”, Collection of Circulars, Vol. II, pp. 5-130; “Bro. Jean-Baptiste Furet. biographer of M. Champagnat”, Marist Notebooks, n. i, pp. 47-67;n. 2, pp. 33-52. (REFERENCES, pp. 288-292).

JEAN-CHRYSOSTOME, BROTHER: Jean-Louis Doche, was born in Destigny, Haute- Savoie, around 1803, to François Doche and Marie Borcier. He was admitted to the Hermitage on 25th February 1829 and received the religious habit there that 15th August. On 9th October 1830, he made private vows for three years (RVT, 1, p. 16). On 2nd October 1831, before their expiration, he made perpetual profession privately, and renewed it publicly on 10th October 1836. As is the case with most of the first brothers, we do not know what he did during the year following his novitiate. Everything points to his having been named in October 1831 as associate to Bro. Etienne in Bourg-Argental. Bro. Avit does in fact indicate his presence in that school during 1832. and on the following page, he notes that, “Bro. Etienne handed over the direction to Bro. Chrysostome, who had succeeded very well until then in the lower class. He directed the house until 1834 and gave a great deal of help in the school” (Annales de Bourg- Argental. 213.85, p. 5). He then was named to head the team, which included Bros. Charles and Denis. which took over the school in Sury-le-Comtal in October 1834. That year’s assignment list confirms the information given by Bro. Avit in the annals of that establishment. He transcribes a report on his school by Fr. Metton, the parish priest, who says, among other things, “Three days before All Saints, there arrived the good and esteemed brothers, whom we had been awaiting so eagerly. They began their classes during the first days of November, even though their house had barely been begun, the walls were still damp, and there was danger of both children and teachers falling ill. Providence is watching over the house; no one got sick.... The classes have been in progress only two months, and three brothers are barely enough: they have 180 stu- dents.. .and a large number of young men who have to work during the day hurry there every night for the lessons which the brother director willingly gives them, forgetful of the fatigue of the day, counting all those sufferings as nothing, provided he can do good...”. Bro. Avit adds, “The brother director whom Fr. Metton was praising was the esteemed Bro. Jean-Chrysostome, born Louis Doche, in Savoy. He had started out in the lower class in Bourg-Argental, and had then been made director of that house before coming to found the one in Sury. He was sufficiently capable for that period, endowed with great

prefeng-letter.doc 208 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” piety and unlimited dedication. He succeeded very well here, as he did in Bourg- Argental. He was very mortified. Even though he did not like meat, cheese or certain other dishes, he never let his cook replace them by something his stomach could stand.... Bro. Jean-Chrysostome’s scanty diet and hard work soon wore him out. Along with his bad stomach he soon had rheumatism and inflammation of the legs. Despite what Fr. Metton said...the cool dampness of the rooms in the beginning was certainly not unrelated to this good brother’s infirmity. After about three years, he had to retire to the Hermitage” (AFA, 213.76, pp. 6-8). He no doubt spent the three remaining years of his life there, along with some time with his family or in some other restful place, as we know from the post-script to the circular of 4th February 1840 (L. 318). But even a year earlier, his illness was considered irreversible (cf. L. 249, 8th April 1839). At the Hermitage, according to Bro. Avit, “He spent three years in atrocious pain, which he bore with heroic patience, and died on 24th January 1841” (Ibid., p. 8). His funeral was celebrated by Fr. Besson, SM, on 26th January (RD, 1, p. 20, n. 65). (REFERENCES, pp. 292-293).

JEAN-FRANÇOIS, BROTHER: : As a religious name, seems to have been taken for the first time in our Institute by Etienne Roumesy. His case is very peculiar, in that neither Bro. Jean-Baptiste nor Bro. Avit, nor most other witnesses, ever call Etienne Roumesy by that name. They refer to him as either Bro. Etienne, or Bro. Etienne Roumesy, or sim- ply Bro. Roumesy. There is only one short list in our archives (AFM, 137.13) which gives us Etienne Roumesy’s religious name. The list is entitled, “Etat de Ia Congregation des Frères de Marie depuis la fondation jusqu’en 1825”. It has three sections: first a list of establishments, then a list of the members of the Institute, and then a list of the novices. The first ten brothers on the list, in order, with the original spelling and their religious names in parentheses, are: 1° Jean-Marie Granjon (Jean-Marie); 2° Jean-Baptiste Audras (Louis); 30 Antoine Couturier (Antoine); 40 Claude Audras (Laurent); 5° Gabriel Rivat (François); 6° Barthélemy Badard (Barthélemy); 7° Jean-Pierre Martinol (Jean- Pierre); 8° Etienne Romesi (Jean-François); 9° Antoine Gratallou (Bernard); 10° Claude Fayolle (Stanislas) ...and so on down to: 40° Jean-Pierre Deville (Jean-Pierre). Then come the novices, without religious names, which may prove that the list was drawn up in 1825. Later, someone wrote in dates next to the names: of foundation, for the establishments, and of admission, for the brothers. Thus, next to Martinol we find 1820, and next to Romesi, 1819, but the latter date is in a different hand from the others. The fact that the list of names is not in chronological order shows that it was based on reception of the habit rather than on admission. That being the case, Roumesy would have entered with Martinol but received the habit after him. Among the registers which we have, only that for perpetual professions mentions numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10 of the above list. So we have very little information on Bro. Jean-François; we do not know the date and place of his birth, nor the names of his parents, information normally given in the profession registers. There are only a few vague references to the years he spent in the Institute. Bro. Jean-Baptiste devotes a few pages to him in the Life of Blessed M.J.B. Champagnat (pp. 148-150). We will not quote them here, but it is worth noting that the name “Bro. Jean-François” does not appear in the first edition nor in that of 1897. Bro. Avit uses it in three places: 1 - the annals of Saint-Sauveur, founded in 1820: “The first director was Bro. Jean-François, who did not persevere. Since he was not very competent, even though he was very enthusiastic, he was given a young brother for the

prefeng-letter.doc 209 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” upper class”; 2 - “Bro. Jean-François stayed here only one year. A Bro. Etienne, who apparently did not persevere either, succeeded him for two years” (213.73, p. 10); 3 - “Bro. Etienne Roumesy, one of his first and best subjects, whose name does not appear in the registers. He was trained and adept in all sorts of manual work, but did not obey. A priest who wanted to found an orphanage led him astray. Bro, Etienne followed him, despite the wise advice the Founder gave him; the undertaking failed and the poor brother led an unhappy life after that” (AA, p. 76). It is obvious that Bro. Avit did not make any connection between the three brothers: Jean-François, Etienne, and Roumesy. But this Bro. Etienne whom he does not appear to know, of whom he speaks in text number 2, has to be Roumesy, because on the list given above there is no other Bro. Etienne before Claude Poinard, who received the habit on 20th October 1824 under the name of Bro. Etienne, and whom he identifies very clearly when he refers to him as the founder of Chavanay (AFA, 213.9, p. 3). So we must presume that Bro. Jean- François Roumesy directed the school in Saint-Sauveur at least during its first three years. Therefore, the qualification of “not very competent’ applied to him in text number 1 has to be nuanced by the statements made in text number 3. Bro. Jean-Baptiste tells us that Fr. Champagnat “had withdrawn Bro. Roumesy from teaching and had summoned him to the motherhouse, where he was put in charge of the work and temporal affairs” (Life, p. 148). To give a specific date between 1823 and 1825, we would have to know if he was referring to the La Valla motherhouse, or only to the Hermitage, which the brothers began to use from May 1825 (Chronologie, p. 41). The second hypothesis seems more likely. He would have been kept there after the 1824 vacation, to see to the completion of the house, since Fr. Champagnat, even though he had been relieved of his ministry in La Valla (idem.) still had to devote all his time to the brothers. That represents a major responsibility, which would indicate a good bit of competence on the part of the brother, and a great deal of confidence on the part of the Founder. The impact of his departure in 1826 and the veil later cast over his person, only serve to support our hypothesis. It is not unthinkable that he may have been regarded as an extraordinary individual. He may have done business under his civil name, to the point that it was the only name under which he was generally known. Obviously, those are only suppositions, but the fact remains that he is never treated exactly like all the others. We do not know what became of him later, but he seems to appear in the minutes of Archbishop De Pins’ council. In its session of 1st March 1826, the council decided that, “Fr. Ribier, parish priest of Larajasse, will be sent a letter indicating that if Mr. Colomb does not send back the brother from the Hermitage, who left without permission, Mr. Colomb will be informed of the council’s displeasure at the situation”. Then, two weeks later, on the 15th, the minutes give more details about the matter. “Mr. Colomb from Larajasse informs us that Bro. Jean-François had terminated his commitments at the Hermitage, that he did not wish to renew them, that he was therefore free when he went to Larajasse, that he however went to the Hermitage, and that he repeated his refusal. The council believes the matter should rest there”. Nor did we think we should push our research into the matter any further. The last quotation may simply testify to the sincerity of the motives cited by Bro. Jean-Baptiste in the passage mentioned above. (REFERENCES, pp. 294-296).

JEAN-FRANÇOIS, BROTHER: : Born Jean-Marie Boisset, in Saint-Jean-la-Bussière, in 1810, to Claude Boisset and Benolte Oby, was admitted to the Hermitage on 5th

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February 1827. We do not know when he received the habit, since he does not appear in that register, and his declaration at the time of his profession omits both dates. On pages 18 to 20 of the register of temporary professions, we find three absolutely identical declarations, all in the same handwriting, with a blank space for the dates. They were for Bros. Anselme (Etienne Poinard), Jean-François (Jean-Marie Boisset), and Timothée (Gabriel Valla). The first was filled out and signed by the brother, but not the other two, which were signed by Fr. Champagnat. We may presume the three were together in the novitiate, received the habit the same day, 22nd April 1827, but did not make vows on the same day. That would explain the discrepancies, but we have no proof. The three declarations were drawn up only on 20th December 1830, therefore in the absence of the parties concerned, who were expected to fill them out and sign them when circumstances permitted. Bro. Anselme obviously did so, but not the other two. We know practically nothing else about Bro. Jean-François. On 20th July 1829, he signed as a witness at the burial of Bro. Gébuin, which shows he was then at the Hermitage. The letter of April 1831 (L. 22) to Fr. Merlat tells us he was in Saint- Symphorien-le-Château, but we have no way of knowing when he arrived or left there. From what Fr. Champagnat says about him in that letter, we would not be at all surprised if he left the Institute soon after. But the only proof we have of that is the fact that on 14th June 1833, Victor Ginier received the habit and the name of Bro. Jean- François (RE, 1, p. XXIII). (REFERENCES, pp. 293-294).

JEAN-JOSEPH, BROTHER: Born Jean-Baptiste Chillet, from Chevrières, but a native of the parish of Saint-Denis-sur-Coise, son of Jean-Joseph Chillet and Jeanne-Marie Dumond, entered the Hermitage on 4th July 1826, at the age of 46, with a certificate of good conduct. He received the religious habit that 11th October, but did not make temporary vows until 8th September 1828. He did so for three years (RE, 1, p. 6; RVT, 1, p. 6). He made perpetual profession privately on 2nd February 1830 and publicly on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, pp. 11 and 27). When recording his admission, Fr. Champagnat did not note, as he did for the others, if he knew how to read and write, but he underlined the “certificate of good conduct”, as if to show a certain deference toward this candidate who was almost ten years older than he. Bro. Jean-Joseph almost certainly had no education, and given his age, was hardly capable of obtaining any. He therefore spent his entire religious life at the Hermitage, doing manual work. “This fine brother, ” writes Bro. Avit in the Abregé des annales, “was a model of humility, good spirit and devotedness. He had no talent for teaching, but he was adept at weaving cloth and linen. He was bell-ringer for fifteen years, and he was never off by so much as a minute. His bell always rang precisely on time” (op.cit., p. 101). He was also the door- keeper, and it was he who, on 24th July 1831, admitted “the prosecuting attorney of the ‘Bourgeois King’, with a squad of gendarmes”, in search of a marquis, although he himself had no idea what a marquis might be (ibid., p. 97). In an account book in which Fr. Champagnat entered receipts, especially after 1832, we often find the name of Bro. Jean-Joseph, who faithfully handed in the money he had received “for making cloth”. For example, in January 1832, he handed in 13.60 fr. on the 10th, 6.50 on the 11th, 10 on the 16th; 10 on the 18th, 9.60 on the 26th, 9.75 on the 27th, and 5.50 on the 29th, for a total of 64.95 for that month. In all, he handed in 326.30 francs that year, or rather the first nine months, since the last three months are not included in the book. But it was not so much the money he brought in for the community, but his example of humble fidelity

prefeng-letter.doc 211 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” and quiet service that won him an important place in the beuse, if we are to judge from the number of personal letters in which Bro. François mentions his death. In one of them, he wrote, “Our beloved Bro. Jean-Joseph died last Saturday, after six days of illness. Say for him the prayers prescribed for the professed brothers. You know the edifying life of this fervent religious. His death was sudden, but hardly unforeseen; he was too well prepared for that. We are praying for him and we have confidence in his prayers” (AFM, 505.2, p. 346). In another, he gives more details: “You may have already heard about the death of our beloved Bro. Jean-Joseph last 20th September [1845]. After six days of illness following a stroke, he fell asleep peacefully in the Lord, on Saturday, at 3 a.m. He was buried on Sunday’ (ibid., p. 354; cf. RD, 1, p. 28, n° 102), (Cf. L 196). (REFERENCES, pp. 296-297).

JEAN-LOUIS, BROTHER: Joseph Bonin, was born around 1815 in Belmont, in the district of Grand-Lemps, Isère, to Joseph Bonn and Marie Douillet. He was the nephew of Fr. Ferréol Douillet, spiritual director of the minor seminary in La Cóte-St-André, Isère. He was admitted to the Hermitage on 30th August 1831 and received the religious habit there the following 2nd October. His novitiate lasted eight months, until 10th June 1832, when he made temporary profession for three years (RVT, 1, p. 11). There is no further mention of him in any of the profession registers. We do not know what became of him during his first years in religious life, but there is every indication that he remained at the Hermitage to study. Fr. Champagnat informs us in his letter of January 1834 (L. 33) to Bro. Antoine that he passed the examination for his certificate of competence on 27th December 1833. After that, he may have replaced someone in one of the schools. In any case, according to Bro. Avit, he was part of the team which took over the school of Saint-Genest-Malifaux in November 1834; that is confirmed by the 1834-35 assignment list. “Besides doing the cooking”, Bro. Avit specifies, “Bro. Jean-Louis, who had a beautiful hand, did the writing models for the students” (AFA, 213.49, p. 6). We do not know how long he stayed in that establishment. Since he bad his certificate, he was presumably offered a class the following year, perhaps in La Côte-St-André, which would explain the sentence in L. 70 of October 1836. to Fr. Douillet: “I am keeping Bro. Jean-Louis”. But for lack of documentation, we can only speculate. We do know, however, that he was buried in the cemetery of Notre-Dame de l’Hermitage on 18th September 1837 (RD, 1, p. 14, n. 39). (REFERENCES, pp. 297-298).

JEAN-PIERRE, BROTHER: Born Jean Deville, “entered the Hermitage at the age of twenty on 14th May 1825” (RE, 1, p. 10). In the record of his perpetual profession, he states that he is “the son of Jean-Claude Deyule and Catherine Fayol...born in the parish of St-Julien-en-Jarret...and was clothed in the holy religious habit of the brothers of the Society of Mary (on 18th October 1825)...and on the thirtieth day of September, one thousand eight hundred twenty-seven.. .made privately, but voluntarily and freely, the three perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience...after having made them for a period of five years on the eighteenth day of October, one thousand eight hundred twenty-six” (RVP, 1, p. 5). He renewed his perpetual profession publicly, like all the others in his situation, on 10th October 1836. In the admissions register, Fr. Champagnat had noted, besides what we quoted above, that he “gave two hundred francs, a dozen shirts, four table-napkins, ten handkerchiefs; he still owes, besides what is still lacking from his furnishings, three hundred francs. 14th September 1826: received

prefeng-letter.doc 212 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” from Bro. Jean- Pierre, one hundred fr.; the rest will be given at the end of the two years, i.e., in May 1827. 24th June: received two hundred fr. 14th November 1831: on the death of his mother, from Bro. Jean-Pierre: 1300” (RE, 1, p. 10). The expression “at the end of the two years” no doubt means that the novitiate, whose duration “is two years” (cf. L. 55), was counted from the date of admission, and that neither reception of the habit nor temporary vows served as natural termination points as they do today. We can deduce from the foregoing that Bro. Jean-Pierre stayed at the Hermitage until 1827, but we do not know what he did during the three following years, since we do not find him mentioned in any document from that period. In the annals of Neuville, we read that, “Bro. Jean-Baptiste was withdrawn at the 1830 vacation. His successor was Bro. Jean- Pierre. After a year, Bro. Jean-Baptiste returned until 1835” (AFA, 214.60, p. 8). In October 1831, Bro. Jean-Pierre went with three other brothers to take over the school in La Côte-Saint-André, which Fr. Douillet could no longer maintain on his own (AFA, 214.43, p. 15). He was still there on 3rd May 1833, since on that day Bro. Louis-Marie wrote to Fr. Champagnat, “I left the next day with the permission of Fr. Douillet and the approval of Bro. J.P., since I did not have time to inform you” (AFM, 121.2). The following October, Bro. Jean-Pierre went to found the establishment in Vienne. “Talented enough for the period, even though he had formerly been a blacksmith, he was a strict religious, hard on himself and sometimes on others. He was replaced, successively, by an ex-brother Athanase...and by an ex-brother Lucien.... Since the time those men spent there had irritated Fr. Michon (parish priest of St-André-le-Bas), Bro. Jean-Pierre was sent back to him with Bro. Louis-Bernardin as associate, in 1835” (AFA, 214. 107, p. 2). We do not know what became of Bro. Jean-Pierre in the meantime, nor can we be pie-cisc about the dates or duration of his absence from Vienne. The first assignment list we have, dating from 1834-35, puts him in Vienne with Bro. Louis- Bernardin. Should we conclude from that that Bro. Avit once again has his dates wrong, or that the list is incorrectly dated? We have no way of telling. But it is hard to believe that Bro. Jean-Pierre would have been changed during his first year there, especially in view of his success, according to what Bro. Avit tells us: “The classes were besieged and the mutual-method school soon became only a figure of speech”, and the second year another dass had to be added. To confuse things still further, here is a passage from the annals of Lorette, in which Bro. Avit says, “Ex-brother Pie stayed only one year.... Bro. Louis-Bernardin was his successor here, in September 1835” (213.28, P. 3). For lack of more complete information, let us accept that Bro. Jean-Pierre founded the establishment in Vienne in October 1833, that he was replaced during the 1834-35 school year, and that he resumed the direction of that school from October 1835 until its closing in September 1837. “Bro. Louis-Bernardin told us, ” says Bro. Avit, “that Bro. Jean-Pierre’s character and parsimony made the lives of his brothers very meritorious”! Bros. Sylvestre and Raphael, who were his associates in 1836-37, “tell how their director often went to spend Thursdays in Ampuis or in St-Symphorien d’Ozon, leaving them alone, and locking everything up before he left. That same year, Fr. Gutton, parish priest and dean of Saint-Maurice, seeing how well our brothers were doing in St-André, asked Fr. Champagnat for two of them. The Founder asked Bro. Jean-Pierre to work out an agreement with the priest regarding conditions and housing. The emissary replied that the building was like Noah’s ark and that the conditions weren’t exactly wonderful. So the Founder refused to send the brothers. “The refusal, , and Bro. Jean-Pierre’s less than charming manner, irritated Fr. Guttin. He turned to the Brothers of the Christian

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Schools and offered them good conditions and free classes (cf. L. 71). Those brothers came and made a great deal of noise as they usually do.... A fairly large number of students were attracted by the fact that there were no fees, and this reduced our brothers’ three classes to about 80 students, all of them paying.... Fr. Champagnat decided to withdraw (his brothers).... The school in St-André was closed in October 1837” (2l4.107, p. 3; cf. also AA, p. 151). Bro. Jean-Pierre went that year to found the school in Firminy. There, too, success was not long in coming, so much so that by 19th November, the parish priest had to request a fourth brother, who was sent to him. But he bad overestimated his resources. Since he could not guarantee the salary, Fr. Champagnat threatened not to send the brothers back in October (Cf. L. 220). None the less, Bro. Jean-Pierre and his team did return to Firminy. The report of the visit to that school on 13th January 1840, reproaches Bro. Jean-Pierre for “occasionally reprimanding his associates in front of the children”. Bro. Avit goes on to say, “He was a religious who was hard on himself and sometimes on others. He was rather blunt with everyone and did not know how to make his inferiors love him. He died here on a Sunday (8th March) in 1840 during solemn vespers, to which his associates had gone to supervise the children. Asthma, which had been wearing him down for a long time, finally choked him” (213.18, p. 13). He was buried in the Firminy cemetery. (REFERENCES, pp. 307-310).

JEROME, BROTHER: Pierre Grappeloup, born around 1806 in Charlieu, Loire, to Antoine Grappeloup and Marie Crusille. He entered the Hermitage novitiate on 1st April 1829 and received the habit on 15th August under the name of Bro. Jérôme. He does not appear in the register of temporary vows, even though he entered after it had been begun, but he does appear on the list given in AA, p. 92. On 22nd April 1832, he made private perpetual vows which he renewed publicly on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, pp. 15, 27). He was always assigned to manual work. On 7th February 1834, Fr. Colin asked Fr. Champagnat for a gardener, saying that, “Bro. Timothée would like Bro. Joseph or Bro. Jérôme” (OM, I, doc. 330). In his letter of 4th February 1838 (L. 172) to Bro. François, the Founder asked about him. In that of 7th March 1838 (L. 175), he told Bro. François, “Bro. Jérôme will have to see where he can store all that, either in La Grange-Payre or at the Hermitage”. Bro. Avit tells the story of the time someone placed a hot brick at the foot of the bed of a young brother who was sick, to warm it up. It caught fire during the night, and the young invalid, not wanting to break silence, tried to save himself as best he could, but he would have roasted if Bro. Jérôme, making his usual rounds, had not come to his help (cf. AA, 329). Fr. Champagnat loved him dearly and had often heard him or run into him during the night, going through the house to make sure everything was closed. The Founder used to tell him, “That’s all right, Bro. Jérôme; everything is fine, go back to bed”. Nothing made Fr. Champagnat happier than this concern and devoted-ness. “There you have a brother, ” he would approvingly remark, “who loves the Institute; he is not like certain brothers whose thoughts are only on themselves and who always do as little as they can” (Life, p. 469). “The brother who filled in (at the Founder’s bedside in 1840) was Bro. Jérôme whom the founder especially loved for his excellent character and his simplicity. He was expert at supporting the Founder while raising him, at changing his bed linen and discerning and satisfying (as far as it was his role) any needs that he had. The Founder, therefore, preferred his help to that of the other brothers” (Life, p. 240). The only ones who

prefeng-letter.doc 214 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” remained at his bedside were Bros. Hippolyte and Jérôme. Bro. Avit gives us a final testimony about this brother “In losing Bro. Jérôme, the Institute lost one of its best religious. He was one of those men who prefer to remain in the shadows. To his perfect modesty he joined excellent judgment, habitual recollection, unlimited devotedness and inviolable attachment to the Institute” (AA, mss., 1850, p. 388). This excellent brother was a victim of his own devotedness. He had been in charge of the wagon for a number of years, and he used to say his rosary as he walked along beside his horse (Life, 470). His horse had taken the bit in its teeth in the middle of Saint-Chamond, just as a group of children were coming out of school and crossing the Street; Bro. Jérôme grabbed the bridle, the horse shied violently, and the brother was caught between the body of the wagon and one of the wheels, which ran over him. Badly crushed, he was carried to the hospital, where he suffered terribly until he fell asleep in the Lord on 3rd February 1850. He was buried at the Hermitage on the 4th, with the chaplain, Fr. E. Dc Ia Goutte. S.M., officiating. (REFERENCES, pp. 310-311).

JEURY, JEAN-ANTOINE-JOSEPH; see ANDRONIC, BROTHER.

JOSEPH-EUGENE, BROTHER: Born Jean-Baptiste Cartier on 10th June 1799, in Lyons, to unknown parents. As a foundling, he was taken in by the Hôpital de la Charité, which placed him, on 12th March 1813, with Jean-Pierre Foetas, in the town of Challes near Cerdon. On 1st October 1819, he went to Cerdon itself, to live with Claude- François Furby. A little later, no doubt when he had reached his majority, he went to live with and work for the Fathers Colin, whom he followed in 1825 to Belley, where he waited on tables at the secondary school. On 7th October 1832 he was present at the blessing of the chapel in the former Capuchin friary, and in the formal record of that event, he appears for the first time with the tide “brother”. On 17th November 1834, he was brought to the Hermitage by Jean-Claude Colin. When he entered him in the admissions register, Fr. Champagnat noted, “Fr. Colin, superior, will discuss this with me” (RE, I, p. 56), which no doubt meant not only that the latter was to be responsible for all expenses, but also that this subject was definitely considered a future lay brother of the Marist Fathers. During the first five months of 1835 he went rapidly through the usual stages: reception of the habit on 6th January, temporary vows for three years on 2nd April (RVT 1, p. 51); private perpetual vows on 3rd May (RVP, 1, p. 21). As of 17th January that year, Jean-Claude Colin had asked to have him back (OM, Extraits, p. 280, doc. 133.4). On 29th March Fr. Champagnat told him he was still waiting for an order to send Bro. Joseph-Eugène back to him (cf. L. 55). On 23rd April, Fr. Colin repeated his request, but less insistently (OM, Extraits, p. 283, doc, 134.2). Fr. Champagnat was no doubt of the opinion that this novice needed more formation. In any case, he stayed until 3rd May, after which he must have returned to Belley, and then returned to the Hermitage to make his public perpetual profession on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, p. 27), since it is unlikely he would have remained in the latter house the whole seventeen months. He worked at the secondary school in Belley until 1839, and then at La Capucinière from 1839 to 1842. After that he was successively “gardener and cellarer” in Marcellange (1843), La Capucinière (1845), Lyon (1850), La Neylière (1851), Sainte- Foy (1856), Chaintré (1860), Sainte-Foy (1861), and Saint-Maurice (1874). He left the latter house as an invalid and died on 8th October 1880. (Cf. OM, IV, pp. 2 13-214.) (REFERENCES, pp. 311-312).

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JOVIN DESHAYES, JEAN-AIMÉ: (1774-1844), was born in Saint-Etienne on 23rd February. His father, François Jovin, was involved in the armaments industry in that city, in partnership with his brother Jean-Baptiste. François’ children, Jean-Aimé, Georges- Victor and Jean, later formed a partnership and took over the business. From 1809 to 1821, the oldest, Jean-Aimé, known as Jovin Deshayes, was on the list (and after 1818 headed it) of members of the Consultative Chamber for the arms industry; he belonged to a number of its commissions and even to its administrative council. From 1810 to 1817, he held a seat on the court of commercial affairs, and from 1825 to 1828, he was the president of that tribunal. In 1816, he was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor. In 1823 we find him working with Mr. Victor Dugas on the highways and roads commission, and also with Mr. Baude on the navigational rights commission, involved in the collection of taxes on the transport of coal from Saint-Rambert to Paris (B!, St-Etienne, 1823, vol. I, p. 174). Later, in 1830, he again headed the list of the members of the administrative council for the blast-furnaces, followed by Messrs. Boggio and H. Thiollière, and also on that for the administration of charitable institutions, after H. Thiollière (president), Charles Ballet, David Peyret, and Bertholet (md. de St-Etienne, 1830, pp. 43, 84). His name also appears on the list of twenty members chosen, towards the end of February 1831, to form the new departmental council (BI, vol. XVIII, p. 83). By royal ordinance of 22nd August 1837, he was appointed mayor of Saint-Jean-Bonnefonds, a small city near St-Etienne where he resided. He signed the register of deliberations from his nomination until 14th January 1840, and then again the following 6th July. In the interval, the first deputy mayor, Jean Dancer, signed the book and listed him as absent. It was during that period that he came into contact with Fr. Champagnat. As soon as he was appointed mayor, he became involved in trying to provide a Christian school for his town, and wrote to our Founder, who was able to satisfy him immediately (L. 140). At the same time, the latter tried to make use of the influence of the mayor of St-Jean- Bonnefonds to obtain the authorization of the congregation. It would appear he was more than willing to help (L. 174). In that connection, Bro. Avit is in error when he refers to him as a deputy for the Loire (AA, p. 259), a position he never held; he was twice a candidate, and twice defeated, the first time by Mr. Claude Fournat, the second by Mr. Jacques Marie Ardaillon (ADL). Fr. Champagnat wrote to him again towards the end of 1838 (L 227) and judging by the following letter to Mr. Baude (L. 228), it would appear that he kept his peomise but had no more success than the others, as we already know. On 21st September 1840, a royal ordinance replaced him as mayw of St-Jean- Bonnefonds by Mr. Jean-Baptiste Séauve, since a prior aidinance of 1st August had named him mayor of Saint-Etienne, where his property was located. Like many of his predecessors, he would not serve a full term of office; he resigned in 1842 and left the area completely. In the record of one deliberation, we read that, “Mr. Jovin Deshayes has left our area altogether. Since he has no more property here and no longer lives here, he could not legally continue to function as mayor. We do not question either the zeal or the good intentions of Mr. Jovin Deshayes for the interests of our city. But, unfortunately, good intentions are not enough for carrying them out (Journal de St- Etienne et de la Loire, n. 597, 5th August 1842, p. 3). He died two years later, on 18th April 1844. in the Château de Beauvoir, in the Nièvre. (REFERENCES, pp. 312-313).

JUSTIN, BROTHER: Born Pierre Champallier towards the end of 1814, in La Valla, to

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Jean-Claude Champallier and Antoinette Poyeton, was admitted to the Hermitage on 18th October 1832, according to his own statement, although Fr. Champagnat entered him under date of 16th November (RV 1, p. XXII; RE, 1, p. 45). He received the religious habit on 2nd February 1833, made temporary vows for three years on 29th October of that year (RVT, 1, p. 45) and public perpetual profession on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, pp. 25, 27). According to the presumed 1834-35 assignment list, he was supposed to go to La Côte-St-André, but being eligible for conscription, his stay there was very brief. The following year, 1835, he was one of the first four Marist Brothers to go under cover in St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to avoid military service (L. 60). He fell ill a few months later. Fr. Champagnat called him back to be cared for in the infirmary at the Hermitage and then to convalesce with his family. Did he send him back during 1836, and then recall him later for the same reason, or did he keep him until the following year? Letters 65 and 95 are open to either interpretation. In the annals of Perreux, we read, that, “Bros. Justin, Prosper and Agape arrived on 14th November (1837) and classes began the 21st (221.38, p. 9). Bro. Jean-Baptiste confirms Bro. Justin’s presence in that post (Life, p. 336), so we must conclude that his health had improved considerably. The question which remains unanswered is whether he had returned to Saint-Paul sometime after February, and especially whether he had been able, in that space of time, to obtain his certificate, which would justify his being named director of a school. A document which lists the Marist Brothers who went to St-Paul between 1835 and 1837, no doubt drawn up during the latter year, notes with regard to Bro. Justin “subject to depart”. We interpret that comment to mean that the brother had in fact drawn a number which obliged him to do his military service. That leaves us with two possible hypotheses: that he either remained on Fr. Mazelier’s books, even though he went to Perreux, or that he later found some motive for exemption, as for example his certificate. Even though the second hypothesis seems more plausible, we have been unable to find any documentation to support it. In any case, Bro. Justin did not remain in Perreux very long. His devotedness, as Bro. Avit puts it, “‘cost him his life’. In March 1838 he had to go to the infirmary at the Hermitage, where he died a most edifying death. A very unsettled postulant who witnessed his death was so touched by it that he asked to receive the religious habit and to be given the deceased brother’s name. Both his wishes were granted, and he left soon after for the missions in Oceania” (213.38, p. 12; cf. also Life, pp. 336-337). The postulant in question was Etienne Perret, who was born on 9th January 1814, and died in the Antiquaille hospital in Lyons on 8th June 1871, after having spent many years in Oceania. (REFERENCES, pp. 313-314).

KOENIG, FRANÇOIS XAVIER: (1804?-1878) was born around 1804. The diocesan archives of Grenoble unfortunately could not give us more detailed information about his background and formation. What we know of his priestly life centers around three dates: he was successively named parish priest of Genas, Isère, in 1832; of Tullins, Isère, in 1835; and of Domène, Isère, in 1857. He died in the latter parish in 1878. As for his personality, we are told that he was “a priest very much involved in social theory and social work”. It was no doubt he who promoted our brothers’ establishment in Genas, during his short time there. He did not put himself in the foreground, but seemed rather to prefer to hide behind those whom he did push forward, as we gather from his writing only one letter to Fr. Champagnat, while Mrs. Ranvier, his benefactress, wrote twice, and the mayor three times. On 7th September 1835, the same day Mr. Quantin, the

prefeng-letter.doc 217 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” mayor, was writing, Fr. Koenig sent this letter: “Father, I have just seen the mayor of my parish; he read to me the letter he is sending you as a result of the decision he finally obtained from the town council. For a long time we had to deal with a small but powerful opposition. After more than a year of effort, victory is finally ours. However, it would be a hollow one, even a sad one, if you do not have the extreme kindness to take to heart our plans for the improvement of morality. If, after this decision, we were refused the two brothers, the opposition would certainly bring an ordinary teacher to Grenoble, and we would see our hopes totally dashed for a long time to come. “I beg you, Father, to support the enthusiasm which has fortunately taken hold of almost the entire population of Genas, and which cannot fail to spread to the neighboring parishes, if two brothers chosen by you bear out, as I have no doubt they will, the positive opinion we have tried to create on every occasion. Have no fear for anything concerning money; the mayor and I will gladly see to that. A number of wealthy people have been eager to offer me money and make contributions. Besides, this is a large parish which can furnish a large number of students. I am almost ashamed to tell you all that, as if your zeal for the good of religion needed to be stimulated. Please forgive me; I am just afraid that our project which has been opposed for so long, may still go down in sight of land. “I forgot to tell you that the bishop of Grenoble is delighted with what we are doing, and has given full consent to the choice we have made of your brothers. So please, Father, understand these true and important motivations, and believe that I am your most humble servant, Koenig, parish priest. Genas, eve of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin” (AFM, 129.18). As one can well imagine, when the parish priest said that there was nothing to fear on the level of finances, he was overestimating his resources, or else furthering his cause by gilding the lily. As we see from L. 105, the situation quickly became untenable, so much so that there was soon question of withdrawing the brothers. But in the meantime, as Bro. Paul, the director, wrote to Fr. Champagnat on 14th December 1837, “Father welcomed us with signs of great joy and happiness. Two weeks later he gave a beautiful instruction about our classes, to encourage the parish. On the 10th of this month, he had a number of priests come from nearby parishes to sing a Solemn High Mass of the Holy Spirit, and during the Mass he gave a sermon calculated to touch all hearts. After the Mass, we went in procession...for the blessing of the classrooms, after which he gave another very beautiful talk...” (AFM, 121.8). Bro. Avit adds that this quotation shows “the efforts which Fr. Koenig made to keep open this school, which was built on sand” (Anna- les de Genas, 2134.35, p. 7). And, as we said, the brothers were hardly settled in when he left the parish, leaving the brothers alone to deal with the township to find some way of living at least decently. (For further information, cf. the topographical references under “Quantin” and “Genas”.) (REFERENCES, pp. 314-315).

LABROSSE, PIERRE-ALEXIS ; see LOUIS-MARIE, BROTHER.

LACHEZE, PIERRE DÉSIRÉ ANTOINE: (1800-1883), officer of the Legion of Honor, president of the Montbrison tribunal, general councilor and deputy for the Loire, counsel to the Appeals Court of Lyons, was born in Montbrison on 7th Ventose, Year VIII (26th February 1800), to Jean-Claude François Antoine Lachèze and Amélie Frédérique Belon who was born in Prussia around 1773. He had one sister, who married Charles Wangel Bret, then prefect of the Loire, on 4th November 1832. He himself was married on 29th March 1837, in Paris, to Charlotte Marie Anne Leclerc de Sainte Croix, who was

prefeng-letter.doc 218 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” born in Gentilly, Seine, in 1817. They had two sons: Charles Antoine, born in 1839, and Louis, born in 1841. After completing his law studies, Pierre Lachèze entered the magistrature and was at first, under the Restoration, deputy royal prosecutor for the arrondissement of Gannat, in the Allier. In 1830, he became president of the Montbrison tribunal. Having thus returned to the area of his birth, he was elected on 5th July 1831 as a deputy from the fourth electoral district of the Loire. He sat with the conservative majority, and voted consistently with them throughout the entire reign of Louis-Philippe. He continued to have the confidence of his electoral district in the successive elections of 21st June 1834, 4th November 1837, 2nd March 1839, and 9th July 1842. It was also at that time that Fr. Champagnat wrote to him, to obtain the authorization of his congregation, as we know from LL. 58, 172, 182, 183, 209, 314 and 319. He no doubt deserved that confidence and he never failed to put in a good word with the minister. However, when he gave the Founder ten to one odds that he would succeed, he was doubtless basing himself too much on the contents of the file without having spoken sufficiently with those on whom the decision depended. Mr. Lachèze’s term as deputy ended in 1845, and that as councilor general in 1848. He then left his Paris residence at 6, rue Neuve Saint-Augustin, and retired to his home town. He was administrator of charitable institutions there and died at home in Montbrison on 14th July 1883. (REFERENCES, pp. 315-316).

LAFAY, PIERRE MARIE: (1791-1869), was born on 16th February 1791 in Trélins, Loire, and ordained in Lyons on 22nd July 1816 together with Marcellin Champagnat. On the 24th he was named curate in Montrotier, Rhóne, and transferred on 9th October, to the parish of Sainte-Marie in Saint-Etienne. On 17th October 1818, he succeeded Antoine Guillot as parish priest of , Loire. According to A. Vachet, in Les paroisses du diocese de Lyon, Pierre Lafay had been helping out in Firminy from January 1821 to May 1832, when he was given sole charge of that parish. So Bro. Avit was ill-informed when he stated in the annals of Firminy tht “Fr. Lafay...had been parish priest...since 1830” (213.18, p. 10). It was he who brought the brothers to his parish in 1837, but we have no documents concerning that fact. “Being very near the Hermitage”, says Bro. Avit, “he must have gone to visit our Founder and reached a verbal agreement with him, because we can find nothing in writing about the conditionsN (idem.). We do know, however, that since it was not a town school, the parish priest had to take care of it, because it was he who wrote to Fr. Champagnat immediately after it opened on 14th November, to ask for another brother. “Father,” he said, “I beg you to grant the request for a fourth brother which was made by the brother who was delegated to go to you. Otherwise the classes will be delayed too long; I discussed this with our notary and he promised to back me up. We will try to provide whatever is needed. But I must ask you to wait until January for the money I should send you, or else I will sign a promissory note. Respectfully yours...” (AFM 129.43). We know from the Founder’s letter of October 1838 that Fr. Lafay was unable to keep his promises, despite all the good will he showed in his two letters in reply (cf. L. 220 and its introduction). And Bro. Avit goes on to say, “We must add that the brothers set up three classes from the very first, even though there were only three of them. The parish priest prepared their food, and Fr. Plotton, who was then only thirteen, went to pick it up every day. It was that which no doubt pushed Fr. Lafay to ask for a fourth brother in 1838 (sic)” (ibid., p. 14). After a few years the school became a town school and the number of classes doubled. From then

prefeng-letter.doc 219 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” on, understandably, the parish priest was no longer very much involved in the running of the school. However, it would have been preferable had he intervened in 1862, during the storm stirred up by various calumnies, which swept down on the brothers and drove them out of the town school. But he apparently remained silent even in the face of the unjust condemnation of the brother director. it is true that he found himself in an awkward position, between his curates who sided with the laypeople, and the brothers whom he himself had brought to the parish. We may presume that he did not stand idly by when it came to setting up the new religious school and putting up a new building for it. Fr. Lafay died on 15th July 1869, in Firminy. His nephew, Fr. Jean Lafay, replaced him. (REFERENCES, pp. 316-317).

LANGLOIS, ANTOINE: (1799-1878), was born in Ampuis on 26th September. He was ordained on 23rd December 1826, and named curate in the parish of Saint-Pierre in Lyons, a function which he apparently fulfilled for nearly ten years. On 13th October 1836, he was named parish priest of Curis-au-Mont-d’Or, Rhône, replacing Fr. Pierre Loire who was transferred to Saint-Cyr-de-Valorges. Fr. Champagnat contacted him on 21st November 1839, to suggest establishing a school in Villevert for the boys of his parish and those of Albigny (cf. L 302), but the project fell through. Besides, Fr. Langlois left Curls less than a year later, since he was transferred on 9th October 1840 to the parish of Saint-Louis in St-Etienne, to replace Fr. Pierre Grange, who had been appointed vicar-general on 19th August (AAL, Registre de personnel). He died in that parish on 17th January 1878 (Registre nécrologique, 1878). (REFERENCES, p. 317).

LANYER, JOSEPH CONSTANT: (1794-1868), born 16th August 1794 in Saint-Etjerme, studied medicine and exercised that profession in his home town. Through the patronage of Casimir Périer, who had become prime minister, Lanyer became maitre des requêtes in regular service to the Council of State. On 21st June 1834, he announced his candidacy for the first electoral district of the Loire, but was not successful. On 4th November 1837, he was elected by that same district to replace Mr. Peyret, who was going out of office. His term of office was renewed from then on until 1848. In the Chamber, he remained in the center with Mr. Mole. Fr. Champagnat asked his help in 1838, as deputy for the Loire and member of the Council of State, in the affair of the authorization, but as we read in the journal of his stay in Paris (cf. Introduction to L. 182), he went to see him only on 19th March. On 26th November 1847, he received the badge of an officer of the Legion of Honor, and four days later he was elected general councilor by the district of Saint-Etienne-Ouest. He retired as State Councilor on 25th May 1852. We have several books which he wrote, especially those on the mineral waters of Saint-Galmier, on meteorology applied to medicine, and on the impact of the education of workers on industrial development. He died in Paris on 19th September 1868 (Robert et Cougny, DPAN). He is also mentioned in: F. Thiollier, Ie Forez, p. 440.; Delarsa, Foréziens dignes de mémoire, p. 36; Agnes Boucard, Travaux de l’U.E.R. de Droit, vol. 3, ed. 1979, p. 86; Bulletin Industriel de St-Etienne, vol. XXI, 1850, p. 180; Diana, Rec. Mém. Doc. sur le Forez, vol. X1V. (REFERENCES, pp. 317-318).

LAURENT, BROTHER: Born Jean-Claude Audras on 4th May 1793, in La Valla, Loire, to Jean-Marie Audras, a farmer, and Jeanne-Marie Poyetton. We know from Bro. Jean- Baptiste how his vocation was awakened (Life, pp. 63-64). It must have been at the time

prefeng-letter.doc 220 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” when the farmers needed every available worker to bring in the harvest that his parents sent him to bring his brother Jean-Baptiste home from Fr. Champagnat’s house. He waited until winter, 24th December 1817 to be precise, to join his brother in the novitiate (RVP, 1, p. 2). The following 15th August, he received the habit (idem.) According to Bro. Avit, “Jean-Marie Grangeon and Laurent Audras at first made nails, to help the little community survive” (AA, p. 40). Bro. Jean-Baptiste claims that Bros. Jean-Marie and Louis had been doing that since 1817 (Life, p. 62). If Bro. Avit mentions only two of the four young men in the novitiate, it is doubtless because they are the oldest, being 24 and 25 respectively, while the two others, Bros. Antoine and Louis, are only 18 and 16. It is understandable that the first two had more trouble with their studies than the two others. The beginning of Bro. Laurent’s apostolate in the parish of La Bessat is generaly situated in 1819 (Chronologie, p. 34; Life, pp. 78-80; AA, p. 45). But in the annals of Tarentaise, Bro. Avit says that that apostolate was preceded by catechetical activity in La Valla itself: “Bro. Laurent had already taught catechism in the remote hamlets of La VatIa. He was then assigned to .... He gathered the inhabitants, and did his best to teach them and make them say their prayers. Every day, after his class, he would ring his hand-bell to bring them together in a chapel, in some barn, or in the town square, to teach them the catechism. Then he replaced his brother in Marlhes until 1822” (213.77, p. 4). However, Bro. Avit says elsewhere that this replacement occurred in 1820. In the annals of Marlhes, a school founded in 1818, he writes, “After two years, Bro. Laurent replaced his younger brother” (213.30, p. 6). Since we have no other documentation to confirm the date, we must accept it, even though the same Bro. Avit omits it entirely in the Abrégé des annales (p. 45). Bro. Jean-Baptiste mentions the transfer but does not give a date (Life, p. 87). In the annals mentioned above, Bro. Avit adds, a bit further on, “Bro. Laurent’s zeal for catechizing children continued here as elsewhere; every Sunday he went, bell in hand, to gather the children from the remote hamlets, and he thoroughly enjoyed teaching them religion. However, under his direction and because he was too easy-going, discipline slackened and the number of children in the school diminished considerably” (ibid., pp. 6-7). Our annalist believes it was this fact, together with the transfer of Bro. Louis, which angered the parish priest, who made no attempt to offer the brothers a more suitable house, so much so that Fr. Champagnat withdrew the brothers, apparently even before the end of the 1821-22 school year. We can hardly imagine Bro. Laurent remaining idle until vacation time, but we have no way of knowing what he did next. When the schools reopened in 1822, Fr. Champagnat sent him to take over the school in Tarentaise, which had been founded by Fr. Préher, the parish priest. There again, Bro. Avit tells us. “he prepared his own meager meals, slept in the dormitory of the boys who were studying Latin, and taught in a barn. We do not know how long that went on. It appears that this school was later suspended, but we do not know the date or the duration of the suspension” (213.77, p. 4). Fr. Champagnat’s letter of 1st December 1823 (L. 1),. informs us that Bro. Laurent was then in Vanosc. He was probably the founder of that school, which he must therefore have opened in 1823, not in 1822 as is generally believed. Actually, it is hard to imagine to whom the Founder could have entrusted it, even towards the end of 1822, if not to Bro. Antoine alone after he left Marlhes, while the following year he had about ten young brothers available. That permitted him to open schools also in Saint-Symphorien-le-Château and in Boulieu. We do not know exactly how long Bro. Laurent stayed in Vanosc, but we may suppose it was until the school closed in 1826 or 1827 (213.82, p. 3). We are just as uncertain

prefeng-letter.doc 221 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” about his next assignment, to Mornant. In the Abrégé des Annales, Bro. Avit notes for 1826: “Bro. Laurent first directed the school in Mornant” (p. 78); in context, the word “first” means he was its first director. But he gives us a totally different picture in his annals of that establishment. First of all he tells us that, We believe this school was opened on 2nd November 1826”. Then a (few lines further along, he says, “The first director was an ex-brother Michel; all we know about him is his name. It seems that Bro. Dominique next directed this house for sometime, according to what Bro. Xavier tells us; we have no more documentation about him than about his predecessor. In 1828, Mr. Lespinasse gave money to buy the cemetery for plague victims. ..to become the brothers’ garden. That same year, Bro. Laurent replaced Bro. Dominique. He was a holy religious, the younger brother of Bro. Louis (Audras), another holy religious. Bro. Laurent directed the school until 1835” (214.56, P. 7). We have quoted the entire passage to point out its inaccuracies and errors. As can be seen, Bro. Avit is not sure of either the date of foundation or the presence of Bro. Dominique, which is itself highly questionable (cf. the entry under his name). Moreover, Bro. Laurent was not younger than Bro. Louis, but eight or nine years older. The date of his departure from Mornant is incorrect, as can be seen From Fr. Champagnat’s letter of 5th November 1838 (L. 225). But for lack of more precise information, we can accept that in October 1826, or at the latest, at Easter 1827, Bro. Laurent took over as director of the school in Mornant, a position he held until the 1838 vacation. And in fact, we see from the account book that it was Bro. Athanase who handed in the contribution from Mornant for the caisse commune or general fund on 12th May 1839. “Good old Bro. Laurent appears to have replaced Bro. Dominique (in Chavanay). We know he was here in 1838 and 1839. He did the cooking and taught the lower class, in which, so say some old timers, he often fell asleep. We have no difficulty believing that, since he was very red in the face and teaching must have been painful for him” (Annales de Chavanav, 213.9, p. 4) The parish priest, Fr. Gauche, had this to say when he wrote to Fr. Champagnat on 5th November 1839: “It’s about your establishment in Chavanay. It’s going badly; poor Bro. Laurent is a holy man, a beautiful soul in God’s sight. But I very much regret to have to tell you that he does not have the qualities required in a brother director, especially for the establishment in Chavanay, and even while giving him credit on the subject of virtue, the whole parish is unanimous on the subject of his incompetence.... Bro. Laurent knows absolutely nothing about running a household; he buys anything and everything, whatever pops into his head. And he must carry through whatever he has decided on; so I will be very surprised If he can make both ends meet, even though I have supplied their wood all summer long, something I will be unable to do in the future. ‘0 “What I am afraid of is that the evil will continue to grow and that the parishioners will become fed up with sending their children to school unless you quickly make a change and send some brothers who will restore public confidence. Since I had no idea whether or not my nephew told you about all this, I was very surprised to see Bro. Laurent return. Besides, you are not unaware of the prefect’s orders to the tax collectors, forbidding them to write checks for any teacher unless he can prove: 10 that he has a certificate of competence; 2° that he ha~ been approved by the committee and by the town council; 3° finally that he has been approved by the committee of the arrondissement. This is no longer an arbitrary decision by the mayor, as it was in the past; this comes from higher authority. The poor brother has none of those, and I very much doubt he ever will...” (AFM, 129.70). Bro. François answered on 13th November 1839: “Dear Father, We received your letter after

prefeng-letter.doc 222 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” the esteemed visit of your nephew, who strongly urged us to change Bro. Laurent. I discussed the matter with our Father Superior when he returned from his trip to Montbrison; when I read him your letter, he was somewhat surprised by its contents. Bro. Laurent, who for many years has exercised the difficult function of teacher, in a large number of towns, to the great satisfaction of the authorities and other individuals, has always left regrets behind him, and people have often asked to have him back again. “He has his certificate of competence; in the past he was in charge of the upper class; so would he not be all the more able to teach a lower class, and to satisfy the good citizens of Chavanay? He has always shown enthusiastic and generous zeal for teaching catechism to country children. The mayor himself has expressed his satisfaction with him; last year we did not receive a single complaint about him, unless someone wants to blame him for not having wanted to take on a supervision which it would be imprudent for our brothers to accept.... “If our brothers are not sufficiently economical, the motherhouse bears the loss; we do not ask the towns to increase their salary. Prodigality, especially in the area of food, has never been one of Bro. Laurent’s defects so far; he has rather been reproached with the contrary. It is possible that he has been lacking on other points.... It would be difficult, if not impossible, for us to change him this year. Next year, with advance notice, it will be easier for us to reserve you another brother, if the present director cannot win the esteem and confidence of your parishioners...” (RCLA, 1, pp. 150-151). Fr. Gauche wrote back on 27th November, not to Bro. François, but to Fr. Champagnat: “I am answering the letter which Bro. François wrote me about Len days ago concerning Bro. Laurent. I will tell you first of all that when this brother left for the Hermitage at the end of the last school year, he was advised to please put himself in order by obtaining a duplicate of the certificate of competence which he says he lost. This good brother has done nothing about it and has appeared here again without that important document. He complains that the mayor has refused to sign his request to the university. The mayor has not refused anything; he claims that his signature is not at all necessary for that. And Bro. Laurent continues to do nothing. The result is that in the eyes of the prefecture, the school in Chavanay is considered officially vacant, and the tax-collector cannot be authorized to pay either the brothers or the rent on the house they are occupying. It also follows that any day now the prefect might send us a lay teacher of his own choosing, who would no doubt be approved, because Bro. Laurent certainly does not have a reputation for competence. “It is very possible that this good brother may have left behind regrets in the towns in which he has been stationed; I really do consider him a holy ‘boy’, but it would hardly be surprising if the years have somewhat diminished his competence. He himself admits that he has no more memory, and forgets From one moment to the next what he has said and what he wanted to do. Even so, we would be patient perhaps a little while longer, but I am too apprehensive that the prefecture may send us a lay teacher whom it would not be easy to uproot later, and that we are going to see the annihilation of an establishment which has cost me so much effort. “To come to the point, would it not be possible to put him in another town, for example in the one where he is so well liked, and in exchange, send us a brother who has all his documentation in order?” (AFM, 129.72). At all events, Bro. Laurent stayed there until the 1840 vacation, and began the next school year at the head of the school in Saint-Julien-Molhesabate. According to Bro. Avit, he did not stay there the whole year, for reasons which we do not know. The parish priest, Fr. Celle, “complained about all these changes, on 30th August 1841. He

prefeng-letter.doc 223 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” requested the return of Bro. Laurent, whom he praised, and the withdrawal of the ex- brother Pie, whose lack of piety did not please the people. Bro. Laurent was sent back to him” (213.85, p. 16). In confirmation of that, we have a letter from Bro. Laurent, dated 27th January 1842, and postmarked in Montfaucon on 1st February. (The translation cannot capture the full flavor of Bro. Laurent’s style, but the punctuation, or rather the lack of it, is his.) “My Reverend brother Superior in Jesus and Mazy. How happy we are to receive news from you and especially all the care and trouble you take for the good of our souls Jesus and Mary will be glorified by it alas since Christmas our mountains are covered with snow my poor little children have not been able to come to school only the biggest came our good brothers who are with me are well it is only my poor old fogey who was worn out these last few days I thought it was all over with me but unfortunately I’m getting better Brother Hippolyte told me he would send us some clothing for our poor people I don’t know if he sent them if he has. not sent them put them with the package of brother Louis who will have it brought to Saint Etienne to Bachez at the sign of the red hat rue de Lyon written in St Julien the 27th of January 1842 brother Laurent” (AFM 560 A). We have another letter he wrote eleven months later “My Reverend brother in Jesus and Mary. We have many children this year their came very early we have 24 boarders two more should come after New year’s day I have about 60 in the lower class 32 in the upper a few molt will come when they finish their service as domestics to the local gentry. The brothers who are with me are well it is only this old fogey brother Laurent who still has stomach aches from time to time I wanted to fast twice it made me sick I decided not to fast any more if you are willing my Dear brother Superior you had led me to hope you would let me go teach catechism to the children in the diocese of Angouleme I beg you to let me go as soon as possible all I need is a catechism and a bell I think I hear those poor children who tell me ah if we knew this great God who created us who gave his life for us, we would serve him better than our unfortunate parents who abandoned him who live like animals I know I must expect all sorts of privations but I hope providence will give me all I need. It seems to me that our good Mother is asking me to make this sacrifice it will be all for her Ah if I could win the children over entirely to love to serve this Great Queen yes that would be to win them over to Jesus So Dear brother let me go end my days among these poor children if I can do some good you will have the First share in it after God. The suits and shirts you were good enough to let me take with me were a great consolation to our poor people when I told them that it was my superiors who sent them this alms ah how good they are they told me we will never forget them in our prayers the lay teacher from Montfaucon has sold all his furniture you will see it soon I end by wishing you a year of all sorts of spiritual blessings and all the brothers Assistants too. I would very much like brother visitor to come. my best wishes to all the brothers and novices of the community I beg you to remember me in your fervent prayers. I am for Life your very obedient brother Laurent. Written in St. Julien Molhesabate on 26th December 1842” (AFM, 560 A). It was around this time (in 1840, according to Bro. Eubert, Secretary General from 1874 to 1893) that Bro. Laurent wrote his five pages or so on the life of the Founder (cf. OM, Extraits, doc. 167, pp. 452-456). Bro. Laurent must have left Saint-Julien-Molhesabate at the 1844 vacation, according to Bro. Avit, who bases himself on a letter from Bro. Saturnin, his successor, written from Saint-Julien on 9th March 1845; this letter apparently no longer exists. In the annals of that house, Bro. Avit also writes: “Whether because Bro. Saturnin had asked for his transfer, or because he was not appreciated in

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St-Julien, Bro. Laurent was sent back there at Easter 1846. On 30th June, he wrote: ‘When I arrived in St-Julien, I soon found out why the children were not coming to school. I saw a heavy wooden ruler which was used to hit them. But far from correcting them, the blows only made them more unruly. Bro. Gérasime had 12 or 13 at most, but he could not control them. The local men tell me his class was a disaster; he could no longer make them walk to church two by two. The children told their parents that all they did in school was fool around and fight, that they did nothing at all. There was talk of bringing in the local beates.’ But when they saw this old fogey they changed their minds. These poor people are really stupid to become attached to a broken-down old man without virtue or competence’. Bro. Eusèbe replaced Bro. Laurent after the 1848 retreat” (213.85, pp. 17-18). This time his departure was final. Bro. Laurent probably stayed from then on at the Hermitage, where his hard-working life ended less than three years later, on 6th February 1851. (REFERENCES, pp. 318-324).

LAY, BENOIT; see VICTOR, BROTHER.

LEVET, NICOLAS HENRI: (1798-1869) was born on 6th Nivôse, Year VII (26th December 1798) in Montbrison, Loire, to Joseph Levet and Sophie Privat. All we know about him are a few dates which mark highlights in his administrative career. He must have studied law, since the 1828 Almanach de la yule de Lyon et du Rhône lists him among the lawyers in Montbrison (p. 457). On 26th April 1816, he had been named a prefectorial councilor and secretary general delegate (Felix Lardon, Rive de Gier, p. 119). His death certificate tells us that he married Henriette Simone Desmales at some unknown date. By a royal ordinance of 11th September 1832, Mr. Levet, last secretary general of the prefecture of the Loire, was named a member of the council of the prefecture, replacing Mr. Barge, recently deceased. Often enough, when the prefect was absent or during the intervals between prefects, it was he who dealt with current business. So we find his signature in the deliberations register of the town of Saint- Rambert-sur-Loire on 21st February 1837, and of Sury-le-Comtal in 1838. We know that a secretary who remains in office regardless of a change of prefects often knows the files better than his superior. That is why we said, in connection with LL. 155 and 156, that at least one of them was addressed personally to Mr. Levet. We meet him again in 1843, among the members of the commission which examined teachers. On 20th February 1848, Mr. H. Cournon, the prefect, was relieved of his functions, and Mr. H. Levet, as dean of the prefectorial council, became provisional prefect of the department. Two months later — he signed for the last time on 26th April 1848 — he was replaced as provisional prefect by another prefectorial councilor, Berger-Fillon. In a request he submitted on 22nd October 1862, on behalf of his son, he is described as a former sub- prefect, residing in Montbrison. He died there, in his home on boulevard Lachèze, on 12th February 1869. (REFERENCES, p. 324).

LIBERSAT: An official in one of the offices of the Ministry of Public Instruction. Our research in the national archives and elsewhere has failed to turn up any trace of him. Our Founder must have met him on one of his many visits to the ministry. He was no doubt impressed by his kindness and honesty, so much so that he wrote to him on 13th August 1838, a few weeks after his return from Paris, to ask for news about the business he had gone there to transact. Mr. Libersat replied on 4th September “Father

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Superior, On my return from a trip, I found the letter you did me the honor to write me on the 13th of last month, and I immediately did what you asked. Whoever told you that your ifie had been sent to the Council of State gave you the wrong information. It is still at Public Instruction, since the minister wants to ask the general councils of the departments to gave their opinion on the object of your request, before he himself makes a decision. “As you know, there was an earlier decision, giving provisional authorization but restricting your teaching to towns of no more than 1200 souls. That decision was revoked, and the matter submitted to further examination, as I had the honor to tell you above. It seems that the minister is afraid of compromising himself by approving the existence of a new body of primary teachers who will undoubtedly extend still further the services already rendered by the all too small group of Brothers of Christian Doctrine [Brothers of the Christian Schools]. “The general councils will presumably be favorable to its creation; after that, I have no idea what other opinion he might want to obtain, and I really hope that it will not be long before you are granted legal existence. I will do my best, Father, to keep you informed of everything that happens in that connection. Please accept the assurance of the respect which which I have the honor to be, Father Superior, your most humble and most obedient servant, Libersat” (AFM, 129.53). On the strength of those promises, Fr. Champagnat wrote him again on 19th September 1839 (cf. L. 273). Unfortunately, we do not have his reply. Mr. Libersat no longer figures in the reports of Bros. Jean-Baptiste and Louis-Marie, who resumed the negotiations for the legal authorization of the Institute in March 1841 (Chronologie, p. 92). (REFERENCES, pp. 324-325).

LIGUORI, BROTHER: Jean-Antoine Perret, from Brezins in the district of Saint-Etienne- de-Saint-Geoire, Isère, was the son of Antoine Perret from Brezins and Marie Chevalier. He was admitted to the Hermitage novitiate on 27th October 1832 at the age of 22 (RE, 1, p. 43). He received the religious habit on 2nd February 1833, and on 29th September made his first temporary vows for three years, as was the general practice at the time. His novitiate doubtless continued until October 1834, unless he was cooking for some community. Immediately after the 1834 retreat, he was named director of Char-lieu, as we know from the assignment list dated 1834-35, and from Fr. Champagnat’s remark in his letter of 23rd November 1834 to Bro. Dominique: “If Brother Liguori had told you that all the brothers had congratulated him on having you as his associate...” (cf. L. 49). This rush to appoint him director may be somewhat surprising, especially since we now know he did not persevere. The explanation of the Founder’s behavior can be found in what he noted at the time of this candidate’s admission: “22 years old, knows how to read and write, has followed a regular course of instruction”. So we are dealing with a young man, not an adolescent, whose intellectual baggage is vastly superior to that of the others, some of whom could barely write when they entered. However, it seems that his first attempts as a director were not too successful, since he stayed in Charlieu only one year. He spent the 1835-36 school year in La Côte-St-André. In the annals of that house, Bro. Avit has this to say: “Bro. Jean-Pierre (first director of La Côte, which was founded in 1831), with whose administration Fr. Douillet interfered, was soon replaced by the ex-Liguori. Fr. Douillet remained superior, even director, of the boarding school and the free school. The four brothers were under his orders. He wrote to Fr. Champagnat to ask him to change the ex-Liguori, with whom he was vezy dissatisfied. The Founder answered him” (cf. L. 70) (214.43, p. 12). As can be seen, the annalist

prefeng-letter.doc 226 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” gives no dates in summarizing the events of the five years between the arrival of the brothers in 1831 until the Founder’s reply in 1836. In Fr. Douilllet’s letter of 17th July 1834 to Fr. Champagnat, to give him some news about the brothers, he mentions. “Bro. L Bro. Ambroise..., Br. Antoine Bro. Justin poor Bro. Joseph Bro. Jean-Pierre...”(AFM, 127.1). So, from his letter we learn that there were not four brothers at La Côte, but six, and that Bro. Jean-Pierre was still director, because the “Bro, L.” is not Liguori but Louis- Marie, whom he mentions in his next letter on 14th September 1834. Then in yet another letter from Fr. Douillet, this one dated 3rd February 1836, we read this: “Fr. Superior, you would not believe the trouble I am having in giving the new brothers a good reputation, especially Bro. Liguori. Oh, what problems changes cause! I think you would do well to advise him to hand the accounts over to me, because of his illness...” (AFM 17.6). Obviously, Fr. Douillet had not wanted Bro. Jean-Pierre to be transferred, as we know from Bro. Avit’s statement above that the latter had asked for his change. The change must have taken place at the start of the preceding school year, in October. 1835. Finally, we can see that Fr. Douillet was not at all satisfied with Bro. Liguori; we do not have any letter in which he specifically asked for his transfer, but in the beginning of L. 70, the Founder states that he had done so. Either we do not have all of Fr. Douillet’s letters, or he made his request verbally, which is not unlikely, since they met frequently. So it was in October 1836 that Bro. Liguori became director of Valbenotte, and not in 1835 as Bro. Avit says (213.81, p. 8). The new director turned the little school in Valbenoîte into an important academic establishment. In its annals, Bro. Avit writes at length about Bro. Liguori, but his attitude seems to us somewhat extreme. None the less, we will quote from his text, adding in brackets excerpts from the documents in our possession on which he based his opinions, which will allow the reader to nuance some of his categorical statements. “Bro. Liguori”, he says, “directed this school for 15 years [actually 14 years, since he did not go there until 1836; hence from 1836 to 18501. In his time the number of students reached 300, including from Liguori 25 to 35 boarders. That was all the house could hold, and even then they were very crowded.... In 1839, Bro. Liguori had six associates: Bros. Marie-Ausonne, Angilbert, Abbon, Théodose, Antollien and Satumin.... In January 1839... they sent the following letter to Fr. Champagnat: ‘Dear and very Reverend Father, Our duty and necessity oblige us to inform you of several abuses on the part of Bro. Director. 1° there is no regulation about rising and retiring; some days it’s at one time, other days at another. What is the outcome of all this variety? We lose a lot of time, we have no exercises of piety at all or we perform them badly. 2° We cannot have even the most necessary items, especially clothing; we are lucky if we finally get them by dint of asking for them for a long time. 3° As for food, we do not have even what is necessary; what is regrettable is that we are obliged to deprive the children. Until today, we have not been able to have a little wine mixed with water at meals every time we needed it. Outside of meal times, there is no point in even talking about reddening even the slightest bit the water we want to drink, even though it is very bad and perhaps unhealthy. Your most humble and respectful children in Jesus and Mary...” (AMF, 121.11). “Bro. Liguori was in a class by himself and did not know how to act paternally towards his associates. He had not learned how to absorb the spirit of the Founder, who, in order to show he was interested in him, had taken his father and mother into the Hermitage where they died that same year, 1839, and were buried in the cemetery. [Marie Chevalier Perret, from St-Pierre-dc Bressieux, Isère, was buried at the Hermitage on 5th March 1839, at the age of 68, by Fr. Besson (RD, 1, p. 17, n. 51).

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Antoine Perret, from Brezins, Isère, was buried at the Hermitage on 18th March 1839 at the age of 71, by Fr. Besson (RD, 1, p. 17, n. 52).] “As we will see, he gradually separated himself from the Institute.... On 26th April (1841), there was a conference, during which Bro. Liguori, president, and Bro. François-Xavier, vice-president, and Bro. Raphael, secretary, examined sixteen brothers from Valbenoîte and environs. Their report states that several of these brothers were neglecting their education.... [Seven of the sixteen brothers were marked absent. Under the heading “Observations”, we read: “Dear Bro. Director General, We could not begin our conference until 11 a.m. and we finished at 12:30, because we were still awaiting the arrival of someone from the Hermi- tage to preside; we did the best we could under the circumstances; everything was carried out in perfect order, and everyone was satisfied; as you will see from the marks given, many brothers are unconcerned about their education” (Valbenoîte file, doc. 2).] “In 1842, Bro. Dither complained of the Bro. Director’s frequent irregular goings-out. The latter sent Bro. Castule, the cook...to the Hermitage because he was ill, and gave him a letter in which he submitted his resignation to the Reverend Brother, because of all the problems he was having. Then he asked him for a ninth brother to help the cook, who could not handle three brothers and 36 boarders by himself. This brother would replace him in the lower class, except for keeping the books, drawing and catechism, but he added that he would soon give even that up. Then he sent away his cook, about whom he had many complaints, and asked to have Bro. Castule back because he was more economical... On 22nd August, the director asked permission to send away the boarders on the 25th, because of repairs which had to be done on the house, and to have them return before 1st October, because a longer vacation than that would annoy the parents. [Here is the beginning of his letter of 22nd August 1842: “Dear Brother Director General, When I asked you to begin the boarders’ vacation on 25th August because of repair work, I forgot to ask you when they should return. It is essential that I know that im- mediately, because a number have asked me and I need to know the date so that I can go after those who will not offer to pay their bill. So please, dear brother, be good enough to write me about this as soon as possible, and in making your decision, to take into account the fact that many parents do not believe in more than one month of vacation. It would do us a lot of harm if for example we gave them until the end of October as usual...”. At the end, he adds, “Dear brother, I should inform you that I took it on myself to go see our brothers in St-Martin, Lorette and St-Paul last Thursday. I made that decision on the spur of the moment and did not have time to inform you. I went there by coach, and returned on foot as far as St-Chamond. There was no harm done by my absence; on the contrary, it did me a lot of good. Everything is going along as usual; the brothers are well. Accept (Valbenoîte file, doc. 3)] “On 27th December, he asked for a postulant, one as young as possible, to help in the kitchen, with the supervision, and to act as a monitor in his class. [“Valbenoîte, 7th December ‘42. Very dear Brother Director General, I was pleased to learn that you were good enough to send our brother cook a helper. I am writing to ask you if you can possible give us a novice who does not have the habit, as young and as small as you wish, because I would really be ashamed to have two cooks for so few people. In his free time, this young novice will go to class with the boarders, and he will be my monitor, when I have to be away from my class. He will pass for a boarder and will be a great help to us with the supervision. Let me add that he will be well trained for that difficult function.... P.S. I would prefer you not send me anyone except the kind of novice I want.” (Valbenoîte file, doc. 4)] “In 1843, the

prefeng-letter.doc 228 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” director wrote seven letters to say he had taken over his class again, to complain about all the changes, to ask for some himself, to ask permission to buy some iron in Terrenoire, and to refuse to pay the 700 or 800 francs which the econome was asking for, on the grounds that he had had to pay between 3600 and 4000 fr. for the repairs on the house, so he wanted a postponement.... [We have only two of the seven letters; here are their essential paragraphs: “28th September ‘43. Dear Bro. Louis-Marie, Bro. Conrad told me yesterday that you had told him that Mr. Génissieux had written you to ask if we really needed the iron for which I had asked him. You must remember that we agreed that we would ask Mr. Génissieux for the iron to replace whatever the metal- worker would use for the railing of our staircase. I asked Bro. Stanislas several times to make that request. He told me to do it myself, that he would take care of paying the bill when it came. That’s why I am asking for enough iron to replace what the worker used.... Please answer as soon as possible whether I should replace the iron he used or pay the worker in cash. In the meantime...accept...” (ibid., doc. 5). “23rd November ‘43. Dear Brother Director General,...you tell me that you regret having to ask me on behalf of Bro. Jean-Baptiste, to send him the money I promised him; I regret even more that I find myself obliged to tell you that I cannot give you what I do not have. It is true that I gave Bro. Louis-Marie reason to hope that I would be able to send him from 700 to 800 francs, once all my receipts were in; but not everyone paid, and I have never been in such a difficult situation before. I still expect to be able to pay, but be patient a while longer. Don’t be surprised, Bro. Director, that my total savings are so low this year. After paying from 3600 to 4000 francs for repairs, out of my income of about 8000 fr., I wouldn’t expect my balance to be very much. To prove my fidelity in my administration, all I have to do is produce the bills I paid, my total expenses for food, and my total income, documents which I regret I cannot include here, for fear of making the letter too heavy, but which I am keeping on hand for a suitable occasion. Please do not believe that I had the thoughts you suspect me of having, of embezzlement or bad faith. For the rest, you know perfectly well, and I dare to say so without flattering myself, that I have always handled matters as well as possible, in the interests of the society, and that I am ready today to justify my conduct on that score whenever you want. I asked permission to see Fr. Superior~ since he is absent, I will wait a while longer, I’m in no hurry. However, I would ask you to be good enough, if you have a chance, to send me that permission in advance, in writing. “Once again, please don’t be surprised that I want to see Fr. Cohn; it is true that it is for matters of conscience, but always for my own good and for the best interests and glory of the Society. My salvation comes first; that’s my motto. I will add that for the moment it is not in danger, and I am hopeful that God will not condemn one who has insulted him a great deal, it is true, but who hopes in his great goodness in spite of everything. “It is with those sentiments that I still dare to ask you to remember me before the Blessed Virgin; she alone is our rallying-point; it is through her and in her that I am and always will be your most humble and most unworthy brother Liguori.” (ibid., doc. 6)] “In 1844, Bro. Liguori wrote several letters, complaining about his cooks. On 19th April, he wrote as follows (rather than reproduce the section Bro. Avit quotes about the buildings, we give here only the second part of the letter, which concerns the brothers): ‘We keep the rule fairly well, and we get along very well together. I think you really ought to reassure Bro. Faustinien on one point. He is extremely touchy, and he imagines that not only the brothers of Valbenoîte, but even those of the other establishments, dislike him because he reports their faults to you. I do

prefeng-letter.doc 229 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” not think that is true, at least not for the brothers of Valbenoîte; I never noticed any antipathy between them and him. I have tried to reassure him, and I advised him to go to see you less frequently, to write to you secretly, and even to speak to you about his feelings in this matter. I told him you would not require him to give you any more reports, so as not to let such an opinion become established, since it might be harmful to him and destructive of charity. ‘As for myself, I find what he is doing necessary according to the spirit of the rule, but it should not be noticed, or at least, it should not recoil on him. I asked him to inform me of everything irregular he might notice, either in me or in the other brothers, before speaking to you about it, except when it was a case of an abuse or something continual. In that way, correction among ourselves would be more effective, in that it would not offend anyone and would unite us even more in the bonds of that charity which is never envious, nor jealous, and does not take offense. ‘As I believe I have already told you, he is very intense, very regular, very scrupulous; that’s all well and good a thousand times over, but you know, Brother Director General, that no matter what we do, we always slip with or without bad will. But if a censor by duty or by conscience immediately grabs you by the collar, like a creditor seizing some poor debtor — that’s what hurts, especially for people who are still so imperfect and so fragile in doing good. You can understand that people regard as a severe punishment that you are immediately informed; they wouldn’t always love someone they fear so much, and that is another major drawback. ‘Finally, I think there is much truth in the proverb that you can’t find men without defects any more than roses without thorns or grain without chaff and straw. Excuse me for making these reflections, and believe in the sincere and very devoted friendship in Jesus and Mary with which I will always be...’ (ibid., doc. 7). “On 1st February 1845, the director wrote that all the brothers were well, and the classes full,...that he had put an end to the goings-out for which he had been reprimanded, that he hoped to be relieved of Valbenoîte at vacation time. His deafness was increasing and made his situation more difficult. Bro. Jean-Baptiste visited this house and was not very satisfied with the classes; neither was the primary-schools inspector. The Reverend complained to the director about this, and he blamed the incompetence of his associates, among whom was Bro. Chrysogone, who has been Econome General for a long time now (Bro. Avit is writing in 1885), and also Bro. Théophane, who is currently Superior General of the Institute but was just beginning then. That proves that Bro. Liguori was not easy to please. [“Valbenoîte, 17th July 1845. Very dear Bro. Director General, The observations you were good enough to share with me today, about my children’s lack of progress, were made to me by the sub-inspector in question. The least I could do was to agree with him, and to agree also that Bro. Ajust will never have enough tact to help his students. You cannot reproach me, dear brother, for not having done my best to put him on the right track. How many times I have criticized and dis- avowed his way of acting! He never really followed my advice, or at least, he never appeared to. I could not always be in his classroom to supervise, since I had a class of my own to teach. But I think it is useless to look for the reason for this lack of success anywhere else than in this brother’s lack of intellectual capacity. I admit he has a certain amount of experience, but he knows nothing or next to nothing: I dare him to conjugate for me an irregular verb without making a mistake; as for arithmetic, he’s even worse there, since he does not even know his metric system. In the face of all that, why be surprised that the children are so weak? This is one place where the proverb is very apt: you cannot give what you haven’t got. How many times has he not complained in front

prefeng-letter.doc 230 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” of all of us that after eight years in the society, you never let him study at the Hermitage, as you did for so many others younger than he? ‘That just shows,’ he used to say, ‘how little confidence they have in me; they don’t think I am going to persevere.’ “Bro. Chrysogone may be even weaker than he; I can assure you of that, since I made them all work for several days. Under the circumstances, brother, all the wrong is not on my side, and I am very glad to have this opportunity to prove to you that very often, the brothers to whom important classes are entrusted, whether here or elsewhere, do not have the required competence. Now you should no longer be surprised, brother, at my insistence in the past on having capable brothers, whether for the day-students or for the boarders; I was finally so worn out that I decided to accept and to find always very good whatever you sent me, which you always told me were first choices. In conclusion, I will add that I was as interested in the matter as in previous years, if not more so. Maybe vanity or self-love spoiled everything. “No, I can assure you that this year has not been my least fervent, and if I have not succeeded, may all the glory for that go to God, since he has no doubt permitted this humiliation for my own good, which should also redound to his glory. Perhaps you are accusing me of never having made any remarks to you on the subject. I made them often and that’s all there is to it. As for my own class, the sub-inspector should have had nothing to complain about, since my children an- swered hIm very well. It was only Bro. Jean-Baptiste who found them weaker than he would have liked, and weaker than I myself ever would have liked; however, for children who are in their second year of schooling, I really think they did not do so badly. For the rest, I have done the best I could, and I leave the working of miracles to others. To prefer a perfect grasp of history and geography to everything else is, I believe, misplaced zeal. “Brother, if what really upset you is the infraction of the rule in connection with the play I had my children put on, please believe me when I say I did it only with permission. You’ll see what I mean. Since I had an opportunity to see Bro. Louis-Marie during our absence, I spoke with him about it and it was agreed that when you returned he would submit to you my request for the trip and for a play as usual; and he gave me as a sign of your approval the silence you would maintain about it, or rather that he himself would maintain, when he would inform me of your permission for the trip to St-Véran. In point of fact, you said nothing, so I presumed it was all right, and that is why Bro. Liguori once again broke the rule, after having already broken it 17 times on that point; the others are wrong for not asking permission as I did. Bro. Louis-Marie, if he remembers correctly, wrote it down in his notebook; if he spoke to you, brother, someone should have told me the answer was ‘no’. It’s too late today to drop it, it is almost public knowledge. Besides the precautions I took with regard to the Hermitage, I also submitted the play, first to the parish priest and then to Fr. De Launay; both of them approved it so you needn’t worry on that score. “I am really annoyed that this has upset you so; it seems to me that it is not my fault at all. When I began, I explained to the brothers and especially to Faustinien the permission I had obtained from Bro. Louis- Marie; perhaps he was right not to believe me and to write to you about it. How could it have been otherwise? The column will not be shaken, more violent storms have shaken it and God will grant, I hope, that it will not be knocked over by minor shocks. “Please excuse me, brother, for this hasty le~er I hope to go there soon to buy my prizes, and then I will tell you in person what I cannot explain to you very well today. In the meantime, accept, etc.... P.S. However, if you think it best not to go ahead with the play, please let me know as soon as possible; I will accept your decision with great pleasure.”

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(ibid., doc. 8)] “However, in December he had good things to say about Bro. Théophane, and also about Bro. Faustinien, whom he had put in charge of presiding at the religious exercises, even the chapter of faults, which this brother did very well. As for himself, he almost never got up on time, supervised the students’ studies, and gave lessons to the most advanced among them. At that time there were fifty boarders or day-students at the boarding-school, and the classes of the day-school were packed. [An undated letter: “Dear brother Director General, You have certainly been waiting to hear how Bro. Théophane is doing in his work. I am very happy to tell you that he will ultimately be a great success. It is true that he is having some problems with disciplining the students, but considering his good will and his way of acting, I am sure that within a few days he will succeed very nicely. I am sure I don’t need to tell you that I have had some problems myself with the parents and students because of this change, but I made many promises and I hope I will be able to keep my word. “As for myself, as I have already told you, I take the study periods from 6 to 7:30 a.m., from 1 to 2 p.m., and from 4:30 to 7 p.m.; during class time I give lessons to the best students, and I will soon be giving all of them a daily half-hour lesson in book-keeping. I also have time to visit the classes and to take care of the administration of the establishment.. That means I am busier than last year, but these occupations are more within my possibilities. In general, everything seems to have been going well for a while now. The classes are full: there are 50 boarders or semi-boarders. I have no doubt, brother, that you will thank the Blessed Virgin with us, for the abundant harvest she has sent us. “As for the rule, except for myself, everything is going fine, thanks to the care and vigilance of Bro. Faustinien. Since I put him in charge of having the brothers make their chapter of faults every Sunday, he has all the influence he needs over them to keep them tied to his apron strings (i.e., to keep them from going to the theater or the taverns, by holding the chapter of faults). The exception in my case is that I cannot always get up with them, for two reasons. The first, which I have explained to you several times, is that I cannot sleep at night because of my ear-aches, which have been very painful for almost two months now. The second reason is that I have to be there to receive the day-students who arrive while the others are getting up. A third is that the room where the brothers say their prayers is too cool. So, when I do not get up precisely with them, I say my prayer with the students, I make a little meditation with them which I continue by myself, then my office, and that’s it. I will not enumerate all my other failings; you know how exposed I am because of my position and my weakness, but, you know, I try to do the best I can. So Bro. Louis-Marie cannot count on my working on a summary of French history; besides the fact that that is not at all my field, my time is too broken up.... “Nothing else for the moment, Brother Director General; the brothers are all well, your poor servant is the only one who will soon be cast aside, and that will not be through my own fault: I am taking great care to preserve the little bit of hearing I have left. Pray for me in a special way, please; you know I need God to have mercy on me (ibid., doc. 9)] “We have thirteen letters Bro. Liguori wrote in 1846. [We have only three of them, and we wonder how the others disappeared and only these three were kept.] From them we learn that: the parish priest was open to having the boarding students attend night prayers during Lent; they went only on Thursdays.... A conniver who controlled the town council was Marieuvering to have the boarding school closed, saying that the building had been donated for day students. The brother asked to have at least a recitation at the closing exercises, and the parish priest agreed because of the solemnity of previous closings.

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The Reverend was opposed, for fear of arousing the suspicions of the university. [“Valbenoîte, 11 May 1846. Dear Bro. Director General, I expected to have the pleasure of seeing you in Valbenoîte when you returned from Vauban, but apparently you could not make it. We would all have liked to speak with you, since we have not had a single visit all year. “Brother, you must give me authorization to have a play this year. Bros. Louis-Marie and Jean-Baptiste, to whom I proposed it in your absence, advised me not to have any at all, for fear of arousing what you once called the university’s sensitiveness; but the parish priest thinks it is very necessary for the sake of the town, which at the moment is more exasperated than ever with everyone, fathers, sisters, parish priest, because of the parish priest’s residence, which they don’t know where to build. We are still out of range of their blows, but who knows, we may be on the eve of trying times. The town council is dominated by a few troublemakers, the grand caliphs of the masonic lodges. Not long ago this duel of spiteful remarks produced an idea which was a threat to us, namely, that if they wanted to, they could close the boarding school, because the building was given to be the town school, which has the right to use all of it. “So there we are, caught between two fires: the university which so far has said nothing to me, and the town which is getting its inspiration from bad sources. Please note that this is still only an idea, and please God it will die at the bottom of the heart which conceived it. So, brother, please advise an assembly; I will simply have a dialogue on some classical subject; no play, no costumes, etc... none of the things I usually have on very solemn occasions. “For my exercises of piety I am still following the schedule I sent you at the beginning of the year and to which you raised no objections, which I took as a sign of your approval.” (ibid., doc. 10)] “The brothers and the clergy were very close. The town raised no complaints. Inspector Gonthard tried to catch the brothers doing something wrong, then declared himself satisfied and even promised to help get the boarding school authorized. Negotiations begun in 1841 for the authorization of the boarding school had succeeded on the level of the arrondissement committee, but the ministry was opposed, saying that the building was not suitable and that the official teacher ran his school badly. Bro. Liguori replied that he had never received any complaints and that he had recently received a medal; moreover, he had had the building repaired and enlarged. Since the town council and the sub-prefect strongly backed up the brother’s request, authorization was requested for thirty students. [“Valbenoîte, 3rd June 1846. Dear brother Director General, I nearly came to see you, but something important kept me here. A few days ago, I took steps to have the boarding school authorized. The mayor, whom I was fortunate enough to meet one day at the parish priest’s house, told me that if I needed anything, I had only to tell him and he would contact Mr. Lanyer, the deputy for St-Etienne, to whom he is very close. I very quickly profited by the opportunity. We reached an agreement. I drew up a petition, in my own style, in the name of the town council, the local committee and some outstanding electors of the town of Valbenoîte. The document is covered with any number of signatures. It leaves for Paris today, with a letter of recommendation from the mayor. We all hope that this attempt will succeed, all the more so since I already have authorization from the superior committee. We hope to see the results when Mr. Lanyer returns for the elections. This deputy is very much appreciated by the government because he is an ardent supporter of the present cabinet. “I was very surprised, brother, that since you went to the orphanage you didn’t stop for a minute on your way back at the house in Valbenoîte; we so much want to see you. We have still not had a single

prefeng-letter.doc 233 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” visit this year from the superiors at the Hermitage. Apart from the sort of confidence you seem to show us by abandoning us to ourselves like this, I would almost be led to believe that you are afraid of something I neither know nor can imagine. Ultimately, brother, that is your business, not ours. “The classes are still very numerous and they are going along well. Still, Bro. Faustinien is very inconstant. He very much wanted the class he is now teaching; but now he wants the one he used to teach. Each one certainly has his defects; that consoles me a bit, I who am teeming with them, but that still does not constitute a reason for staying that way. “There is one thing that really bothers me: Bro. Théophane’s class; his students detest him, and they have gone so far as to write his name in manure on the doors and shutters of the houses in Valbenoîte. The discontent which prevails could create trouble. The other day I had almost decided to take over that class again, but I didn’t want to do so without informing you in advance. Believe, me, I am doing all I can to guide him, but there is something in his personality which leads him to act in ways 1 cannot explain, but which they do not like.... “I am still performing my exercises of piety as I wrote to you during the winter; if you think you should complain (ibid., doc. 11)] “The brother director asked to have the building and furnishings insured against fire.... The ten letters he wrote in 1847 can be summarized as follows [only three of the ten have been preserved]: Having begun a school band without permission, and having been strongly reprimanded for it by Bro. Louis-Marie, he answered that he thought he was doing the right thing. [“Valbenoîte, 11th Feb. ‘47. Dear brother Louis-Marie, Your letter which I received a few days ago added nothing to the lively regret I feel for having introduced instrumental music to the school in Valbenoîte. Had I foreseen that such an innovation would draw down on me the displeasure of my superiors and consequently the punishment of God with which you threaten me, I certainly would have preferred the former status quo. But who would have thought it would have come to this? “Brother, my conscience obliges me to protest on its behalf against your reproach that I was disobedient. First of all, to commit an act of disobedience one must violate a verbal or written prohibition. The second kind simply does not exist. The first is practically tacit. Then, a permission granted elsewhere led me to presume that something deemed no less necessary in another establishment would certainly be tolerated in Valbenoîte, being so close to St-Etienne. Those are the motives which led me to underestimate the danger I was running. Judge for yourself, from this brief explanation of my reasons, whether I have gravely offended against religious obedience. “As for the problems you point out in connection with the authorization, I disagree, since I am convinced that music poses no more threat to the boarding school than drawing or book-keeping, etc., since it is a subject which the academy wants and approves. However, I do agree that I should never have gone ahead with something so important without first having obtained your clear and free consent, and that is where I went wrong. In this case, now that I have made my confession and asked your pardon, please do not bring up the subject again. I could not bear being given repeated reprimands about music.... “The meticulous care you take not to make me angry while teffing me the truth reminds me of the ancient proverb: ‘amicus Plato, sed magis amico veritas’. The very freedom and frankness with which you have written to me are a very convincing proof of the friendship with which you honor me. I know no better way to make myself worthy of it than by fulfilling my obligations the best I can. I am convinced that by so doing, I will always find in you the same feelings I have towards you. P.S. Pray to the Blessed Virgin for me, please.” (ibid., doc. 13)] “He had put a former soldier

prefeng-letter.doc 2 34 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” in charge of the band. The brothers complained about that, and about the newspapers which came into the house. The Reverend reproached him for it. Bro. Liguori gave a glowing defense of the soldier who was a little saint, and stated that he sometimes looked at the parish priest’s paper.... The Reverend sometimes delegated Bro. Liguori to visit certain houses. He begged off in June, alleging that the local authorities were not pleased with his absences. [“Valbenoîte, 13th July 1847. Dear brother Director General,...I just asked the parish priest for permission to be away for the reason you already know. He expressed great displeasure over this trip which, he says, comes at a time when I am most needed in school. I had forgot to tell you that last year he grumbled a great deal for the same reason. He claims I am leaving myself open to being blamed by the mayor and all the parents. I find Father’s reasons excellent; I do not look forward to being away right now because I still have so much to do. “Please see if there is some way you can cancel this visit, or at least move up my departure for now, and have me visit only Vauban for eight or ten days. I think that would be enough. Please let me know your decision on the matter, brother Director General. I am ready to accept anything; even though I find this a very unpleasant burden, I will still do it. Or if you decide otherwise, I will be very happy not to do it. Accept (ibid., doc. 15)] “He was not dispensed from the trip. During his absence, Bro. Faustinien wrote that the boarding school was doing very poorly, that the prefect and the teachers were playing dirty tricks on each other, that Bro. Déicole was spending the time of office rehearsing a play for the school closing, etc.... On his return, Bro. Liguori wrote that he had spent two days in Perreux, the same number in St-Martin-Lestra and three in Charlieu, to rehearse the plays and presentations for the end of the year. In December he declared that he was at the end of his rope. His associates were constantly quarreling and hurting each other by things they said in front of the students. He asked for several changes and the return of Bro. Chrysogone. He wanted an organization like that of the Fathers who were fourteen teachers including the director, for 60 students, while the brothers were only ten for 60 boarders and 300 day-students. “On 1st January 1848, Bros. Liguori, Faustinien, Epipode, Adérit, Aphraat, Tarcise, Déicole, Magloire, Berthuin and Evance sent the fol- lowing greetings to Rev. Bro. François: ‘Dear brother Director General and dear brothers Assistants, At the start of this new year, we all want to send you our good wishes for your continued good health, and the expression of our sincere gratitude for the truly religious and fatherly solicitude with which you overwhelm us. These are the very sincere feelings of our hearts towards you. Please accept them, dear brothers, and believe in the respectful attachment with which we will always be, in the holy hearts of Jesus and Mary, your most humble and most obedient brothers and servants...’ (The brother director added this post-script: ‘Everything seems to be going well here at present. Mr. Lanyer has just given the mayor a letter from the minister, addressed to him, in which he assures him of the success of his recommendation. The Royal Council of the University is taking the matter under consideration’) (ibid., doc. 16). “The February Revolution excited people here more than in any other of our houses. Two brothers in workers’ smocks went to the club in St-Etienne several times, on the pretext of keeping up with what was happening. Even though he kept saying he was not afraid, the brother director went home to his family for three days without permission. Bro. Louis-Marie, fearing for the food stored at the Hermitage, asked him to find some place to put twenty bags of flour. Bro. Liguori gave them to the bakers, admitted to Bro. Louis-Marie that he had run away, and promised to stay where he belonged. [“Valbenoîte, 27th March 1848.

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Very dear brother Louis-Marie, I gladly accepted the proposal you made me via Bro. Stanislas, to send us some sacks of flour. I told Ginot the baker about them; he will take as many as you can send him. I can understand that you are taking precautions; I think you are very well-advised to do so. This way, we will more easily be able to deal with the financial crisis. “Here in St-Etienne, everything is getting worse, in people’s minds and in business; they expect very unpleasant developments. But don’t be afraid that the boarding school will go under for lack of money; I’m keeping my eyes open. We’re upset, but we’re not afraid, and that is especially true of me. “Brother, please present my apologies to brother. Director General for having gone home without his permission. Things were closing in, and in this case, fear was an evil counselor. However, I did ask our parish priest’s advice, and fully informed the brothers about the reason for my trip, which lasted three days. I am counting on his indulgence to overlook this new prank of mine, if that’s what it was. I asked Bro. Stanislas to prepare the way for the apologies I intend to make to him the first chance I get. “The classes are doing about as usual. The brothers are all well. The rest is up to God, we must be patient and resigned.... “P.S. I must warn you that letters are not safe in the postal system.” (ibid., doc. 17)] “In June he asked that the two cooks be changed, as well as Bros. Déicole and Epipode; the latter two had been mixed up for some time and both left.... Before withdrawing the two deserters, the Reverend thought he should make some remarks to Bro. Liguori about various complaints he had received, and told him that Bro. Louis-Marie was coming on visitation. The brother director replied that there was no need for a visitation, that most of the complaints were unfounded, that it seemed he was not trusted, that this way of acting was very painful for him.... [Unfortunately, we do not have the letters to which Bro. Avit is referring here, so we do not know exactly what happened. But we do have a letter from the parish priest; it is undated, but must be from this period, after the visit of Bro. Louis-Marie, to whom it is addressed. “Dear Brother, When I had the honor of seeing you during your visit to Valbenoîte, I gave you reason to hope, as I myself hoped, that Bro. Liguori, in spite of the problems which arose at the end of last year, would regain the obedience and respect of the brothers you had entrusted to him. Today, I cannot avoid informing you of my negative impressions. “He shared with me the letter you wrote him. I must tell you that I was hurt. I would never have believed that brothers could be so unjust. Some of them really have bad will; it was easy to see, but given this new evidence, it almost pains me to suppress a suspicion, which I still reject, but which I must share with you. Might there not be a plan afoot to oust the brother director, who, I must tell you, edifies me by his uprightness, and especially by his patience? “There are certain characters who have changed vastly: independence and self-sufficiency have replaced the simplicity and compliance of a good religious. I hope we will be able to go along smoothly until the end of the year. I tell you, evil is making strides which make me uneasy. My advice counts for very little, people come and go on the slightest pretext. So I cannot keep track of all these problems. What to do? “I leave it to your experience to decide and to make changes. I will not be upset by them, but I will not ask for them. If you are of a mind to do so, Bros. Faustinien and Déicole could be removed, and no harm would be done. You may have gentler means, but I think you need to use your authority and the influence of your paternal advice to restore respect and obedience. “Please excuse these new problems; they are a sad consequence of those of last year. May God help us in this situation too. Please accept...’ (ibid., doc. 18)] “On 5th September, he wrote this: ‘Very dear brother Director General, The republic has

prefeng-letter.doc 236 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” destroyed me!!! I was already very weak, and it crushed me!! I am unworthy to stay any longer in a society where one must have a degree of virtue and courage which I have never had. All my superiors have often reproached me for my lack of exactitude, my lack of taste for the exercises of my state, of the religious state. I admit the reproach was well-founded, but would you believe, my pride was injured, and I became more and more discouraged. Besides there were habits which seemed to me to be insurmountable; it all makes me today a man who is no longer what he was before he entered religion, more wicked than I would ever have dared imagine myself to be. ‘If it were permissible for me to open my conscience right here, how many regrets you would hear that I took the step I did! Au, how blind they are, those who let themselves be drawn, against their own inclination, along a road to which God is not calling them! God did not call me to the religious state, it was my lack of employment which persuaded me to follow advice for which I shall still always be grateful, because it came from a heart which loved me. ‘Dear Brother Director General, I no longer have the happiness to belong to your society, to the society of Mary’s children; my salvation is in grave danger there, and that is a solid and well-thought-out conviction. Never, ah, I am saying more than I should, never have I enjoyed that freedom of conscience which brings so much happiness to souls specially consecrated to the service of God. This moral servitude, this constant uneasiness, is the result of an initial fault, a fault which I shall regret all my life, which, because of my frank and sincere admission, created in me, through the imprudence of a confessor, a formal doubt about the seal of confession.... I am leaving; may God and the Blessed Virgin go with me...’. “The superiors held him back and wanted to replace him. The mayor was insistent on keeping him, in the name of his people. For his part, the parish priest, Fr. Magnard, wrote as follows: ‘Dear Brother Superior General, Yesterday the mayor urged me not to postpone Bro. Liguori’s arrival any longer. I am in total agreement with him. The calumnies which have been spread around will do us more good than harm, because we can (not) [Bro. Avit inserted, the negation, which is not in the original] deny them boldly and from then on, his presence becomes a necessary consequence for their complete obliteration. ‘He has courage; I was delighted with a letter he wrote me. I could see the total sincerity of his repentance, in the heroicity of the satisfaction he offered. I hope his edifying conduct will more than make up for all the trouble he has caused you and all the harm which may have resulted from it. Accept once again the assurance of my respectful esteem, Magnard, parish priest’ (ibid., doc. 20). [Before that letter, Fr. Magnard had apparently sent this one, dated 27th February: “Dear Brother Superior, I would have informed you directly of our situation in Valbenoîte, had I not been told that someone had passed my letters on to you. You were aware of Bro. Liguori’s repentance, and I still have no idea what decision you have made. I am certainly far from interfering in any way with your plans, but it is important that you also know all the problems which may arise if he is changed. “I have no doubt that your administration is well-intentioned and wants to do the right thing, which it sees from its point of view. The fact still remains that I know nothing; there are new plans afoot, but will you be able to approve them? At the very least, that is doubtful, if one is forced not to give in to all their demands. That would be one motive for complaints. “If, in the second place, you refuse to grant the mayor Bro. L., whom he has already requested: a second motive. What will the consequences be? Please believe that prudence requires us not to take that risk. Harmony is absolutely necessary for doing good. I have reason to fear that the university may demand that we adhere to all

prefeng-letter.doc 237 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” the formalities for the boarding school; it will be suspended. That would lead to all sorts of rumors against everyone, especially those who are most innocent. “You may have serious reasons to hesitate about putting everything back the way it used to be in Valbenoîte. I can assure you that there are also serious reasons not to change anything. To tell you the whole story would require an interview; I am annoyed that you are so far away. You can imagine the position I am in. When I have given people a little reassurance about the brother’s transfer, they begin to stone me about the transfer of the superior of the sisters, about which I know nothing officially but which is all over the parish. “Please think seriously about it; it seems to me that if you are a bit indulgent now, then a few months from now, if there is dissatisfaction, you can act with more assurance; at least that is my advice. I would even dare beg you to meditate on it; you are entitled to counsel from on high. Please, I beg you, send me a brief reply, and accept the assurance of the respectful esteem which I have the honor to be (ibid., doc. 19)] “The Reverend gave him the reasons which motivated the transfer, but the parish priest insisted that the brother return. The case was embarrassing. It repeated itself with every change of a director who had satisfactorily fulfilled his functions as a teacher, while seriously neglecting his religious duties, and seeking to please men rather than God. The Reverend thought he ought to give in to the pleas he received, but as we will soon see, the heroism of which the parish priest spoke was not heroic enough to prop up Bro. Liguori. The bantering tone of the letters he later wrote to the Reverend showed clearly enough that he was not at all disposed to follow his advice.... [Here is the last letter we have from him: “Valbenoîte, 30th April ‘49. Reverend Brother Director General, Bro. Numérien just arrived at 4:30 p.m. I can only count on your having made a good choice, since he will have more than a little hard work, as the number of boarders has now reached 50. As for Bro. Déicole, do what you can to replace him as soon as possible; I’m depending on that and I will not leave you in peace. Bro. Conrad was getting impatient because his replacement had not arrived; today he is leaving happy. Bro. Capiton is doing so well that nobody misses Bro. Faustinien. Everything else is as usual. “One sentence in your letter, brother, particularly caught my attention; both the thought and its expression were just right. It was this: ‘Your detailing of your many occupations did not arouse any sympathy’. That word ‘sympathy’, borrowed from contemporary philanthropy, is perfectly correct here, whatever it may be worth in other contexts. The word ‘charity’, implying a feeling of divine compassion for the sufferings of one’s fellows, would have been too exclusive in this case. “No, Reverend Brother, when I listed my numerous occupations for you, in no way was I intending to gain your esteem or your sympathy, but simply to show you that I cannot possibly take on any teaching. Esteem and honors have never motivated my behavior, if I ever earned a share of them, I have never been aware of it, especially in regard to my superiors. May they pardon me if I am forgetful; it is only in heaven that we are rewarded for the good we have done. As for not doing as much as others, I gladly take consolation in thinking of the parables of the talents, of the workers in the vineyard, the widow’s mite, and the glass of cold water. “You, Reverend Brother Director General, Moses on Mt. Horeb, or in the Holy of Holies, pray for us during this beautiful month of Mary. Continue to be our great St. Bernard in your letters, give us advice, consolation, and proof of your truly fatherly attachment. Are we not all children of the abbey of Citeaux under your direction? “My best wishes, please, to Br. Louis-Marie and Br. Jean-Baptiste. Accept the assurance of the respectful and sincere attachment in J.M.J. Your most humble servant and brother, Liguori.”] “Bro.

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Liguori’s overly tense situation could not continue. Once he set up a job for himself in the world, he left to take it, in 1850. He became manager for a rich family which had properties in Savoy and in the Isère. One day, when he ran into Bro. Polycarpe, who was then director in Ampuis, in the streets of Vienne, he painted him a glowing picture of his job. ‘In that case,’ the brother answered, ‘you must be very happy.’ ‘I certainly would be,’ replied the ex-brother, ‘if I had not been a brother!” (Annales de Valbenoîte, 213.81, pp. 12-21, passim.) (REFERENCES, pp. 325-341).

LIMPOT, JACQUES FRÉDÉRIC: (1808-1894), was born on 22nd Februaxy in Neuvy, near Moulins. He was ordained to the subdiaconate on 5th June 1830 and to the priesthood on 28th May 1831. In June he was appointed curate in Gannat. In 1835 he was named parish priest of Cosne-Hérisson, Allier he retired there in 1889 and kept the title of parish priest. He died on 18th February 1894. It is noted that he made great sacrifices in order to open two religious schools in his parish. The one for boys was entrusted first to the Viatorians, who were replaced by the Brothers of the Christian Schools; that for girls was directed by the Sisters of the Presentation from Bourg-St- Andéol (1836) (Archives of the diocese of Moulins, 2 June 1982). He had written to Fr. Champagnat to ask for brothers, but on 17th February 1839, the Founder replied that It was impossible to open that school at present, or even to say when he might be able to (L. 243). (REFERENCES, p. 342).

LOISSON DE GUINAUMONT, PAULIN: (1799-1886), born 8th June 1799 in Mairy-sur- Marne, Marne, was ordained in Châlon-sur-Marne on 19th December 1829: on the 28th he was appointed parish priest of Vitry-la-Ville, Marne. The archives of the diocese of Châlon show that he was appointed vicar general on 25th November 1839, but it seems probable that he had been appointed several months earlier, since Fr. Champagnat wrote to him under that title on 30th September and 19th November (cf. LL 274, 296). We do not know how Bishop Monyer de Prilly, his ordinary, knew about Fr. Champagnat’s work. The fact remains that the Founder was tempted to enter one more diocese, but lacked the personnel. Fr. Loisson served as vicar general under four successive bishops: De Prilly, Bara, Meignau and Sourrieu. After Bishop Bara’s death in 1864, he was named vicar capitular until the accession of Bishop Meignau on 3rd May 1865. He was still vicar general when he died on 11th October 1886. One of his nephews, Fr. Louis de Guinaumont, is still living, at the priests’ retirement house in Châlons. (REFERENCES, p. 342).

LOUIS MARIE, BROTHER: (1810-1879) Pierre-Alexis Labrosse, born 2nd June 1810 (according to his birth certificate; the parish baptismal register says 22nd May) in the hamlet of Labrosse in the town of Ranchal, Rhône. His parents were Claude Labrosse, who was born around 1764 and died on 25th October 1841; and Louis(e) Marie Tivend, born around 1781 and deceased 6th November 1829(?). They were married in Ranchal on 23rd Thermidor, Year XI (12th August 1803). Their thirteen children included two sets of twins: Pierre-Marie, born 13th Thermidor, Year XII (2nd August 1804); Gabriel- François, born 1st April 1806; Charles-Victor, born 27th May 1808, died 11th January 1811; Pierre-Alexis, born 2nd June 1810 Jean-Antoine, born 24th April 1812; Claude- Marie, born 13th January 1814; Antoine-Marie, born 29th June 1815, died 18th November 1816; Jérôme and Marie-Thérèse, born 24th September 1816, died 22nd

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February 1817 and 21st March 1818, respectively; Charles-Victor and Jeanne-Marie, born 2nd February 1818, died 19th February 1818 and 15th January 1819, respectively; Joseph-Marie, born 3rd March 1821; Marie-Ursule, born 15th April 1826. The above information was graciously supplied by Mr. Cugnet, mayor of Ranchal. It was he who put a question mark after the date of the mother's death. We agree that it must be incorrect, because according to Bro. Louis-Marie's own statements, both of his parents were living on 1st January 1832, the day he received the habit (RV, 1, p. XIV), on the following 7th October, the day of his temporary profession (RVT, 1, p. 35), and on 12th October 1834, the day of his private perpetual profession (RVP, 1, p. 20). The Labrosses were landowning farmers. When both the town teacher and the parish priest urged Mr. Labrosse to send Pierre-Alexis to the seminary of Verrières, where one of his older brothers was already enrolled, he demurred, saying that he could not afford to pay for both. He finally gave in under combined pressure from Pierre-Alexis himself, his mother and his seminarian-brother, and so in 1824, the lad began his classical studies. In 1827 he moved on to L'Argentière to study philosophy and mathematics; he stayed at the top of his class and discovered a strong liking for literature. He began his theological studies at St-Irénée in Lyons, under Fr. Gardette, in 1829. During the 1831 summer vacation, he suddenly announced his decision not to return to the seminary, a decision he maintained against all opposition, although he never revealed his reasons. It was Fathers Gardette and Cholleton who then directed him to the Marist Brothers. His request to Fr. Champagnat for admission brought an encouraging reply (L. 23), and so he began his novitiate at the Hermitage on 16th October 1831, once the combined force of prayer and contacts in high places had obtained his official exemption from military service, for which he had once again become eligible after leaving the seminary. He certainly must have found it difficult, given his age and education, to adapt to the youth and uncouthness of many of his companions. Still, his biographer notes that he apparently never returned home again, even for a brief visit. He was generous in allowing others to do so, but despite many requests from his family that he even just stop off while passing by, and despite his many promises to do so, he always seemed to find some excuse at the last moment. After his first profession in 1832, he was sent to La Côte-Saint-André, where all his considerable diplomatic skill and force of personality were barely a match for the formidable Fr. Douillet and his housekeeper, "Sister" Martha. Between the latter two and Bro. Jean-Pierre, the director, life at La Côte was frugal indeed. Bro. Louis- Marie later recounted how one Easter, when Bro. Jean-Pierre was away at the Hermitage, the subdirector augmented the meager menu to the extent of a two-penny sweet roll for dessert. The director's reaction to such prodigality was to eliminate meat from the midday meal until the wasteful expense was made up! Small wonder that the students of the time told their parents, "We're starving, but at least we're learning a lot"! While at La Côte, Bro. Louis-Marie managed to feed at least his mind well, obtaining his brevet or teacher's certificate in Grenoble. In 1833, he was transferred to the Hermitage, but Fr. Douillet insisted on having him back, this time as director. Fr. Champagnat finally yielded "provisionally"-and he remained at La Côte until 1839. He got on well with Fr. Douillet, but still adhered to the letter of the Rules. His refusal of a dinner invitation from the latter on one occasion, on the grounds that such things were forbidden, elicited the response that, "Your Rule isn't very friendly, but it's certainly wise!" As noted above, he made perpetual profession privately in 1834, and like all his confreres, renewed it publicly in 1836. Three years later the first General Chapter elected him Assistant

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General by 70 votes out of 92. His first assignment was to direct the new scholasticate, or "special school" as it was called, and to serve as house treasurer. It was he who drew up Marcellin Champagnat's spiritual testament at his dictation, and then read it to the assembled community. At 29, he was the youngest member of the new administration: Bro. François was 31, Bro. Jean-Baptiste 32. They were three very different people, but they worked together in such harmony that no one could ever detect whose opinion had prevailed in any given decision. It was definitely he, though, who in 1851 drew up the report which finally obtained government approval for the Institute. The nickname the brothers gave them, "Les Trois Un" or "Three-in-One" was well deserved. In 1853, the mayor of St-Genis-Laval asked for brothers for his town school. A favorable reply brought Fr. Magat, the parish priest, to the Hermitage to negotiate a contract. His surprise at the location and appearance of the buildings elicited from the superiors the admission that they had indeed been thinking of transferring the administrative center of the Institute closer to Lyons. He suggested St-Genis-Laval, and was eventually able to arrange for the brothers to purchase an old chateau, with its outbuildings and 13 1/2 hectares (33 3/4 acres) of property for 230,000 francs (US$46,000), obtained by scraping together all available revenues, and selling the property of La Grange-Payre for 75,000 francs. Construction began in 1856; the general council moved there in 1858, and the novitiate followed a month later. That left the Hermitage practically empty, and there was even talk-fortunately never anything more than that-of selling it. Bro. Louis- Marie made his first trip to Rome in 1858, accompanying Bro. François in his attempts to gain papal recognition for the Marist Brothers. The III General Chapter in July 1860, was the setting for Bro. Louis-Marie's election as vicar-general The following excerpt from the minutes of the General Chapter gives us the details, beginning with Bro. François' address to that assembly: "'Since the Institute, through the mercy of God and the protection of the august Virgin Mary, is constantly experiencing new growth, our task, by that very fact, is steadily becoming more burdensome and more difficult; and I must add that my steadily increasing infirmities make it almost impossible for me. Therefore, the good of the congregation demands that I take the necessary means not to fail in that task, and to bring to the handling of administrative affairs all the exactness and care required for their success. For that purpose...we have decided to gather in capitular assembly all the brothers who have made the four vows, in order to take with them, according to rule, the necessary steps to give us helpers and thus insure the good government of the Institute' (Bro. François, session of 17th July 1860). 'For a long time, as I told you yesterday, we have been feeling the need to strengthen the Regime by increasing the number of Assistants, to provide some relief for those who are bearing a burden under the weight of which we fear they may end up collapsing. That question was quickly decided and voted. But it was still necessary to take steps to have at the head of the Regime a man with all the physical and intellectual qualities necessary to deal with every part of the administration of the entire Institute, and thus replace the Superior General in everything which he can no longer do by himself. 'Which would be preferable under the circumstances: the resignation of the Superior or the election of a Vicar? What should we propose to the Chapter? After long discussion and serious study in Council, always with an eye to the greater good of the Institute and of the brothers, which was our only aim, we finally reached a unanimous decision. Then we informed Rev. Fr. Favre, Superior General of the Marist Fathers, who always shows a very fatherly interest in us. Father took advantage of a trip he made to Rome in May of this

prefeng-letter.doc 241 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” year, to discuss the matter with Archbishop Bizzarri, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Bishops and Regulars, whom I have had the honor of meeting several times, to whom I presented in person the documentation concerning our authorization. 'Here is his reply: "Since the Little Brothers of Mary are presently in the process of obtaining the authorization of their Institute by the Holy See, it is fitting that they not make any substantial changes in their administration. But if the Brother Superior General can no longer carry out his functions, the Brother First Assistant must replace him". Rev. Fr. Favre came himself to inform us of this reply which the Regime received with the respect and deference which it deserved, considering it an expression of the will of God. The only one who was frightened by it was he on whom the burden rests, who has therefore shared with you his opinion, while still submitting himself according to Rule to the decision of the Chapter. 'That is why I now propose to you to invest in Bro. Louis- Marie full and entire authority and all the powers necessary for the general administration and government of the Institute, as Vicar of the Superior General. I do so with all the more confidence, in that it seems by the words with Fr. Champagnat spoke to both of us a few days before he died, that our Father foresaw what is happening today. You also know that since our first election, we have always been together in handling the business of the Congregation, whether at Notre-Dame de l'Hermitage, or in Paris, or even in Rome, from whence comes the indication of the step we should take in our present circumstances' (Bro. François). "Bro. Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Assistant, said a few words to encourage the Chapter to follow the opinion given by Archbishop Bizzarri...in the sense that the Bro. Superior General should hand over to the First Assistant whatever responsibilities were incompatible with the state of his health. The Chapter quickly agreed to the proposal by acclamation, out of deference to the Holy See. "Bro. Louis-Marie rose and expressed very strong objections, saying that he did not consider himself bound: he gave several reasons for that, accompanied by many tears, requesting a secret written vote of the Chapter, thinking he might be able to avoid the heavy burden which was being imposed on him. "At the proposal of Bro. Pascal, 3rd Assistant, a secret written vote was taken, to determine whether the Chapter would follow the opinion given by Archbishop Bizzarri, or whether it would make its own decision in the matter: the proposal from Rome was upheld by 33 votes to 2. "After that decision, the Reverend Brother Superior, the two remaining Assistants, and the Chapter, unanimously gave Bro. Louis Marie, First Assistant, all the powers of the Superior himself, with entire responsibility to use them according to the Rules and Constitutions, until the death of the Reverend Brother Superior, or until a new General Chapter decided otherwise.... "Bro. Louis-Marie again took the floor to express his submission to the Chapter. To the great edification of all, he declared that he intended to remain under the authority of the Rev. Bro. Superior in everything concerning his personal life, that he would make his chapter of faults to him, and ask his permission to receive communion and all other personal permissions; he then requested the Chapter's approval, as a personal favor. The Chapter, deeply moved, gave him that satisfaction by a unanimous standing vote. He then begged Bro. Jean-Baptiste, with great insistence, to act as his monitor, and also asked the Chapter to request him to do so. The Chapter satisfied him on this point as on the preceding. Then the Brother Vicar praised his two colleagues, and also those newly-elected, whom he called up to take their places in the order of their election. His emotions mounting steadily, he finally threw himself at the feet of the Rev. Bro. Superior, begging him to bless him and all the capitulants, who, likewise very much

prefeng-letter.doc 242 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” moved, also knelt down. Rev. Bro. Superior did the same; he recited a Pates and an Ave. and the Memorare, and finally pronounced the words of blessing, finishing with the Angelus" (IV General Chapter, Session of 1 8th July 1860) . From that time on, it was really Bro. Louis-Marie who governed the Institute, which had expanded remarkable in the twenty years since Fr. Champagnat's death. The Brothers of St-Paul-Trois-Chateaux and those of Viviers had been absorbed into the congregation, 300 new schools and four new novitiates had been opened, there were now 1800 brothers teaching 50,000 students. In addition, the first schools had been opened outside France: in England in 1852, and in Belgium four years later. Approval of the Marist Brothers by the Holy See enabled the General Chapter of that year to give Bro. Louis-Marie the title as well as the powers of superior general. Again, we quote from the minutes: "22nd July 1863: Account of the election of the Rev. Bro. Superior General.... The voting procedure was as follows: the capitulants, having each received a pre-printed ballot, were called by order of seniority according to their vow of stability, the two tellers last, and after them the Regime. Each capitulant went to write his ballot at a table placed in the north-east corner of the hall, away from the rows of seats; then he came and stood in front of the tellers' table, took the prescribed oath aloud. and placed his ballot in the urn. "The counting of the votes gave the following tally: Bro. Louis-Marie, thirty-seven votes; Bro. Jean-Baptiste, two; one vote invalidated for irregularity; total, forty votes, equal to the number of capitulants. These facts having been verified, the first teller proclaimed, as prescribed by the Constitutions, that Very Reverend Brother Louis-Marie was the Superior General of the Institute of the Little Brothers of Mary. It was then 8:40. "The members of the Chapter came two by two to promise him their obedience. Then the Magnificat was intoned, and the entire community, gathered at the door of the chapter hall, which was opened at that moment, responded. Before the Magnificat, all the ballots had been burned in the chapter hall in the presence of the capitulants. Everyone followed the community to the chapel for the singing of the Te Deum and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The ceremony ended at 9:30. The members of the Chapter then went to breakfast. "At the start of the [following] session, the Very Reverend Brother Superior General, not wanting to perform any official act before receiving his predecessor's blessing, left the platform and went to kneel before him to request it. The Very Reverend Brother François gave it to him in these words: 'May the Lord give you the authority of a father and the tenderness of a mother, and grant that you may lead us all to heaven'. Before giving that blessing, he stated that this was his first opportunity to perform an act of obedience to his successor" (IV G.C., Morning session, 23rd July 1863.) Dynamic growth continued under Bro. Louis-Marie's administration. In 1867, the first Marist school opened in Cape Town, South Africa. Other requests from mission territories led to foundations in Australia in 1871, New Caledonia in 1873, and in 1876, New Zealand (where Marist Brothers had been working with the Marist Fathers since the arrival of the first missionaries in 1838). Against that background, the General Council unanimously decided to concentrate henceforth exclusively on the missions, and not to accept any new foundations in Europe. The need for English-speaking brothers for many of those places led to the opening in 1876 of a novitiate in Dumfries, Scotland. In 1868, the first juniorate, or preparatory school for the novitiate, opened at N.-D. de l’Hermitage. The 1876 Chapter voted to open three more. As Bro. Louis-Marie explained the following year in a letter to the archbishop of Lyons, "More and more, we can see the need to lower the age at which we accept aspirants. If we keep it at 15, we lose a

prefeng-letter.doc 243 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” tremendous number of subjects who stifle any thought of a religious vocation once they come into contact with the world of the factories and shops. Hence, we must accept those children who show solid signs of a vocation into our juniorates or minor novitiates at the age of 12 or 13; in other words, immediately after their First Communion". The new recruiting pattern was obviously successful, since he could announce to a potential benefactor in 1879 that, our three juniorates already have more than two hundred youngsters who give us great hope for the future". As stated above, the Holy See approved the Marist Brothers' Constitutions on 9th January 1863-but only on an experimental basis, with the recommendation that the superior general and his councilors should have definite terms of office, and that they should no longer attempt to govern the entire congregation directly. Provinces should be set up, governed by provincials with real authority. The General Chapter of 1863 found these suggested changes to our traditional structures rather threatening. Besides having to deal with this ongoing tension between the government of the congregation and the Holy See, Bro. Louis-Marie and his councilors also had to cope with the mounting hostility of the French government toward the Catholic schools and the religious who taught in them, a hostility evident in the increasing difficulty of having the brothers exempted from military service. In 1870, he succeeded in keeping them out of the army during the Franco-Prussian War; instead, the army came to them, St-Genis-Laval was occupied for five months by two thousand French soldiers! In 1869, and again in 1875, he journeyed again to Rome to negotiate with the officials of the Sacred Congregation for Bishops and Regulars. Under mounting pressure from that quarter, provincial boundaries were established, and a "provincial vicar", usually the director of the "provincial house" was appointed, to serve as the delegate of the general councilor and to visit the houses within his territory. On 8th December 1879, Bro. Louis-Marie was quite evidently overjoyed by the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The emotional tone of his conference to the community, the vivacity of his conversations during the day, and the enthusiasm with which he sang vespers, were noted by all. But it was too much for his aging body; that evening he suffered a stroke, gradually lapsed into a coma, and died the following afternoon, just as the brothers were finishing the recitation of the rosary. His funeral was held on the 11th; his body reposes in the community cemetery at St-Genis-Laval. At the time of his death, there were 2500 brothers teaching 83,000 students in 560 schools. Bibliography: Vie du Frère Louis- Marie, deuxième Supérieur général de l'lnstitut des Petits Frères de Marie, 1810-1879, par un Frère de son Institut, Librairie E. Vitte, Lyon, Paris, 1907; Nos Supérieurs, anonymous, Saint-Genis-Laval, 1853, pp. 73-140; Frère Ignace, Mariste, La vie d'un grand organisateur, le Réverend Frère Louis-Marie, Editions Marie-Mediatrice, Genval, Belgium, 1955. (REFERENCES, pp. 347-354).

LOUIS, BROTHER: Born Jean-Baptiste Audras on 1st Messidor, Year X (20th June 1802), in La Valla, to Jean-Marie Audras, a farmer, and Jeanne-Marie Poyetton. Since Bro. Jean-Baptiste speaks of him at length in the Life of M.J.B. Champagnat (pp. 59-60, 81-87, 115, 151, 153, 413) and in Our Models in Religion (pp. 21-58), we need not say too much about this brother here. We know how it came about that on 2nd January 1817 he took part in the foundation of the Institute, but there are many things we do not know: what schooling he had received before then, why he first applied to the Brothers of the Christian Schools rather than to the seminary, how he learned about the vocation of a

prefeng-letter.doc 244 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” teaching brother.... In any case, since he was one of those over whom Fr. Champagnat bad the most influence, he must have had son preparation. Marlhes was his first apostolic engagement, both at the end of 1818 (Chronologie, p. 33) and during 1819 (Life, p. 81). He replaced Bro. Jean-Marie as master of novices at the end of 1821 when the novitiate was almost empty; the following year, when it was overcrowded, Bro. Louis had to go direct the school in Bourg-Argental, and we do not know to whom the novices were then entrusted. According to Bro. Avit, he stayed two years at that school, but according to the letter of 1st December 1823 (L. 1), Bro. Michel must have replaced him in October of that year, which no doubt allowed him to return to La Valla. In October 1824, he went to found the school in Charlieu (cf. OM, Extraits, p. 95). Bro. Avit says he stayed there only one year (213.8, p. 10). Did he spend the next two school years, 1825- 27, in Bourg-Argental, as Fr. Coste thinks (OM, W, p. 190), rather than in La Valla, as we might suppose? Our documentation from that period is too sparse to provide a firm answer. We do know that in 1827 he took over the school in Saint-Paul-en-Jarret, replacing Bro. Bernardin who had drowned on 8th July. “Bro. Xavier, dean of the brothers who had known Fr. Champagnat, replaced Bro. Louis in 1828” (Annales de St- Paul, 213.67, p. 3). The latter no doubt stayed at the Hermitage as master of novices, after making private perpetual profession on 8th September 1828 (RVP, I, p. 1). In October 1831, when Bro. Bonaventure replaced him as master of novices (AA, p. 100), he returned to Char-lieu, this time for five years, as we know from the letter of 3rd June 1834 (L. 36) and from the money he turned in 1832 and 1833. “Bro. Jean-Baptiste replaced Bro. Louis at the beginning of 1836, as we learn from his letter of 26th June (213.8, p. 11). It appears that from then on, Bro. Louis never left the Hermitage, where the Founder put him in charge of the library and bookstore, and doubtless of other administrative functions. According to the account book, he made several trips: to Montbrison in September 1837, to Saint-Symphorien-le-Château in May 1838, to La Voulte in July 1838. He was one of the members of the corporation set up by Fr. Cham- pagnat before the notary in St-Chamond on 22nd March 1839. He was one of the tellers at the Chapter of October 1839; in 1840, he signed as a witness at the enclosing of the mortal remains of MJ.B. Champagnat in their casket; on 20th October 1841 we find him among the enlarged council which decided on the fusion of the Brothers of Christian Instruction of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux with our congregation. So we can state that he was a member of the community of N.-D. de l’Hermitage until his premature death on 3rd August 1847, at the age of 45. (REFERENCES, pp. 342-343).

LOUIS-BERNARDIN, BROTHER: Joseph Fayolle, was born on 21st June 1813 in Chazelles-sur-Lyon, Loire, to Jean-Marie Fayolle and Marianne Beraud. He was admitted to the Hermitage novitiate on 14th August 1832 (RE, 1, p. 42) and received the religious habit there the following 7th October (RV, 1, p. XVIII). According to his personal file, he left the novitiate at the end of that month to go cook in Saint-Paul-en-Janet for a year. On 29th September 1833, he made his religious profession for three years (RVT, 1, p. 44), then went to Vienne as associate to Bro. Jean-Pierre. He stayed there two years, until September 1835; he made private perpetual vows on 27th September, before going to replace Bro. Pie as director of the school in Lorette. In March 1838, according to his file, he became director of the Chemin-Neuf orphanage in Lyons, but Bro. Avit thinks differently; he says that “Bro. Gregoire was replaced in 1839 by Bro. Louis-Bernardin, who stayed there barely a year” (214.47, p. 8). The account book

prefeng-letter.doc 245 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” indicates a contribution “from Bro. Grégoire for the Lyons establishment” on 29th October 1838 (132.2, p. 108) and several contributions by Bro. Louis-Bernardin “for the Lyons hospice” on 7th August, 16th November and 27th December 1839, and on 14th May 1840 (ibid., pp. 115, 118, 120, 125). We may conclude from all this that Bro. Louis- Bernardin took over that establishment in October 1838 rather than in March, and directed it until October 1840. As of the latter date, Bro. Avit places him in two different locations simultaneously. Being convinced that the brothers had directed the Saint- Nizier orphanage in Lyons since 1837, he writes as follows in its annals: “The first director was replaced by Bro. Alexandre, who soon fell ill because of all the problems there, and remained only a short time. Bro. Louis-Bernardin replaced him from September 1840 to March 1841” (214.48, p. 7). Then, in the annals of Thoissy, we read: “Towards the end of 1840, Bro. Gabriel was accused.... Bro. Louis-Bernardin replaced him for a few months....” (214.29, p. 6). Everything leads us to believe that he did indeed go to Thoissy, as his file indicates, because, as we have shown in the introduction to L. 306, the brothers opened the Saint-Nizier orphanage in 1840, not 1837, and its first director was Bro. Alexandre, who left there only in 1846. However, Bro. Louis-Bernardin left the post in the hands of Bro. Célestin in January 1841, to go to direct the boarding school in La Côte-St-André. This first stay at that school lasted only three years, since the. superiors chose him to be directly responsible, under Bro. Jean-Baptiste as Assistant General, for the new province of La Bégude, which had just been created as a result of the fusion of the congregation of. Brothers of Christian Instruction of Viviers with ours. He went there on 3rd May 1844 with Fr. Besson, SM, who was to be the chaplain of that house. Bro. Louis-Bernardin’s duties included supervision of the novices and postulants, and of the house, and also visiting the communities of the province. Unfortunately, none of his correspondence has come down to us. He certainly did not have to face the problems which Bro. Jean-Marie encountered in Saint-Paul-Trois- Château~ under similar circumstances. The province of La Bégude, which III time became the province of Aubenas, developed faster than any other thanks to a large influx of young men. Bro. Louis-Bernardin, well known for his affability and his goodness tinged with naïveté, could certainly claim part of the credit for his own success. None the less, his stay there scarcely went beyond four years. If he was still there on 14th August 1848, as a letter sent to him there indicates, he was gone two or three months later, back to the Hermitage, where the Superiors kept him for a purpose of which we are not aware and which Bro. François does not specify in his letter to the brothers in Oceania (Circulaires, U, p. 416). But the following year, he left the Hermitage: “In December 1849, Bro. Louis-Bernardin arrived from the Hermitage to take over the direction of Beaucamps. He brought with him only two brothers and no provincial, which somewhat disappointed the noble foundress. But Bro. Louis-Bernardin was a religious of strong character, capable of giving the house the impetus people were expecting” (Bro. Norbert, Historique de la province de Beaucamps, p. 37, AFM, 606.01). At that time, the house included a small boarding school, the postulancy and the novitiate; it was the center of a province which was just beginning. Bro. Louis-Bernardin was responsible for the whole sector, as we know from the documents which have been preserved. On 5th November 1851, for example, he wrote to the Brother Superior “We have just been asked for one or two brothers for the Ardennes; the request came from the Marquis or the Count De Vignacourt — I’m not sure which he is — a relative of Madame the Countess, on behalf of the town of Guignecourt, which has 307 inhabitants, very close to

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Mézières.... “We have just admitted a Belgian novice and an Alsatian who knows German. ¿All we need now are a Spaniard and an Italian. It was Fr. Jacquet who sent us the Alsatian: he is 28 and can easily pay for his room and board; he told me he had thought a great deal before taking this step. I would very much like to give the habit to several postulants on the feast of the Immaculate Conception; if you agree, please send me some names.... “Bro. Marie-Protais is getting ready to write to you; he will send you his rule of life.... We were not satisfied with our gardener, and I have just replaced him. Would you put up with the gardener and another male employee, even if they are brothers, sleeping together in the same bed? “Bro. Antiaque has a strong heart but a weak head; he is neglecting cleanliness more than ever, I even have a hard time dragging him out of bed in the morning.... He has got it into his head that he has too much work, but he doesn’t do any at all...” (AFA, 606.01). Two days later, on 7th November 1851, Bro. Anobert gave a report on the way the house was being run: “God is still shedding his blessings on our establishment. This evening, brother director just admitted the twenty-second novice and two or three others are still getting ready to come. I am always very pleased to learn of the admission of a novice or the registration of a boarder. I silently praise the Lord and rejoice in being in a house to which he is pleased to send souls whom he obviously loves in a special way, to form themselves to the practice of virtue. Last Monday, our forty-third boarder arrived; that makes twelve more than our maximum number last year. Impossible for any man of faith, if he knows a little bit about the beginnings of the house, not to see in this the finger of God. “I was recently saying to brother director that I could understand our prosperity. At the outset it was rare that any novice settled down, because the work he was given and the example he received were hardly likely to encourage him. On top of that, he was given no religious instruction at all, which was another reason for his loss of interest in his vocation, which soon became evident; and it is all too true that a lost vocation greatly endangers one’s salvation. God would certainly have been careful not to send any subjects here, where they might run greater risks than in the world. “Today, everything is prosperous because we live like religious; God is giving us proof that he approves of our line of conduct. Thanks to him for that, and honor to our brother director, who has taken the proper means to fill his house and form men. I may be wrong, but I believe his two principal means are his piety and his religious attachment to the Rule. A lesson for anyone who wants to profit by it (AFA, 606.01, doc. 50). The author of those lines was Bro. Louis-Bernardin’s secretary, which should put us a bit on our guard. However, to show the influence he exerted, we can quote this remark from Bro. Marie-Protais, master of novices, writing on 3rd January 1852: “There was a bit less regularity for the exercices of piety while brother director was absent” (606.01, doc. 54). He maintained a very regular, even heavy, correspondence with the superior of the Hermitage, Bro. François (four letters in February 1854, for example) to keep him informed of events, of the situation d individual brothers, of the postulants who were applying...but he never speaks about himself. He gives the impression of a superior who does not have sufficient control over his men, and who governs more patience and persuasion than by explicit orders. For example, on I June 1854, he writes, “Then there’s Bro. Tharcise, who is holding back4 200 francs he received for a novice. In addition, he asked me for 322 francs he owes for school supplies. That makes 522 francs gone (2l4.43,p. 33). Bro. Louis-Bernardin’s stay in Beaucamps did not go much beyond the beginning of 1856. In the annals of La Côte-St-André, Bro. Avit writes, “After a twelve-year absence, during

prefeng-letter.doc 247 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” which he was directing the novitiates in La Bégude and Beaucamps, Bro. Louis- Bernardin once again took over as director of this house in June 1856” (2l4.43. 33). However, according to Bro. Norbert, in the history quoted. As for Bro. Aidant, his successor, took over in May 1855. How can we reconcile these two dates? It seems correct to resumed his direction of La Côte in 1856, because Bro. Leon director of that establishment on 16th March 1856 (RD, 1, p.) Moreover, in a letter to the Countess De la Grandville, dated 27th May 1856, Bro. François wrote that, “Bro. Louis-Bernardin fell seriously ill and we were obliged to use Bro. Patrick in Beaucamps to teach the English students” (RCLA, 3, P. 1111). So, as of that date Bro. Louis-Bernardin was still in Beaucamps. Could he have stayed there after having been relieved of his responsibilities as director? That is not impossible, but it is highly improbable. As for Bro. Aidant, we know that he was director in Vauban until it closed in 1855. On 15th January 1855, Bro. Francois informed the bishop of Autun, “I have decided to close the novitiate in Vauban and to hand over the grant deed signed by Bishop D’Héricourt and Fr. Cham- pagnat, our Founder”. Then he adds at the end of the letter that the Brothers will continue to have the use of the property until it is sold, “and in any case for an additional year so as to be able to take care of the personnel of the house and the furnishings in it” (RCLA, 3, pp. 932-933). Finally, we can say that Bro. Louis-Bernardin left Beaucamps to take over the direction of La Cóte-St-André once again before the end of the 1855-56 school year, in June according to Bro. Avit. He did not have the easiest life in that school, which was the theater of his activities for more than twenty years. On the community level, he did not always succeed in rallying the brothers around him. But it was especially on the material level, where despite his many projects of all sorts for improving the wretched school buildings, that he encountered one setback after another from the superiors, who were not at all inclined to spend money on an establishment which hardly brought in any. He was, however, Bro. Avit tells us, “highly regarded by the people of the city and the clergy of the entire area.... He had many excellent qualities, but administrative ability was not one of them; he had too much confidence in the tradesmen he dealt with, and gave his cooks too much latitude” (214.43, p. 58). “On 28th November 1877, the director received a letter from Reverend Brother Superior General, informing him he was being permanently retired to St-Genis-Laval, something he had been told to expect some time earlier.... Since he was angry at the incessant delays in the repairs to the château, he asked for his immediate transfer. He left La Côte on 10th December...” (ibid., p. 57). He spent his last years in the community of St-Genis- Laval until his death on 7th March 1884 (RD,2,n. 1022). (REFERENCES, pp. 343-347).

LOUIS-PHILIPPE, KING: (1773-1850), a descendant of Louis XIII, was born 6th October 1773 in Paris, oldest son of Louis-Philippe Joseph, Duke of Orleans (called "Philippe Egalité") and Louise Adelaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre. He bore the successive titles of Duke of Valois, Duke of Chartres (after 1785), and Duke of Orleans (after 1793). Madame De Genlis raised him strictly, aiming to make of him "an honest man", respectful of morality, a rigorist in his devotions [i.e., Jansenistic], and enthusiastic about republican virtue and morality. A supporter of new ideas, he was very excited about the beginnings of the Revolution, followed the debates in the National Assembly, and attended the Jacobins club, saying that it was necessary "to learn the tactics of political assemblies and practice public speaking". He chose to serve his country in the traditional manner by commanding a regiment for eighteen years. In that capacity, he

prefeng-letter.doc 248 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” took part in the campaigns of 1792-1793, distinguishing himself, under Kellermann's orders, at the battle of Valmy, and being partly responsible, through his personal courage and enthusiasm, for the victory at Jemappes. He felt that the Civil Constitution of the Clergy had done no harm at all to the dogmas of the Catholic Church, and could not understand the refusal of the "refractory priests", which did not prevent him from saving some of them from execution. He vainly tried to persuade his father not to participate in the trial of Louis XVI, and deplored his vote on that occasion, a stigma which would often be thrown back at him as his son, especially after he mounted the royal throne; but he rejected the theory that his father had financed the Revolution. He believed the monarchy had collapsed under the weight of its own mistakes. After the defeat at Neerwinden (1793) when he was accused of complicity in the defection of Dumounez, he went into exile to escape the vengeance of the "sans-culottes", but he refused to fight against France. While in exile, "he had the good fortune of having to face the problems of life like any ordinary citizen" (G. Hanotaux, Histoire de la Nation française, vol. V, p. 344). In Switzerland, he first gave private lessons to earn a living, something he would boast about later: "Anyone who's been like me, a poor devil living on forty sous a day, always has a knife in his pocket”, he would one day tell Queen Victoria as he peeled a peach in the gardens of the Chateau d'Eu" (idem.). Hamburg, the United States, then Twickenham, England, welcomed him in turn, and he finally found refuge at the court of Naples under King Ferdinand IV, whose daughter Marie- Amélie he married in November 1809; they had five sons and three daughters. From then on, as a "consummate business man", or so he defined himself, he set about rebuilding his fortune through legal claims and even lawsuits. Having thus recovered the Palais-Royal, he made it his residence after his permanent return to France in 1817. There, he lived a princely life, awaiting his moment to take over center-stage. He called himself a Christian and said he was delighted to have a pious wife, but in practice, he was hardly concerned about religion; he favored contemporary theories and spent his time in opposition circles. That was why, when the capital felt the last shock-waves of the crisis which jolted all of France, Lafayette and Thiers could turn public opinion toward him, even though it wanted the monarchy definitively abolished in the country. On the one hand, the people were leaning toward a democratic republican form of government, and on the other. the new middle class were seeking guarantees of peace, as an indispensable basis for the prosperity which their fledgling industrial development gave them reason to hope for. And so Louis-Philippe was first proclaimed Lieutenant General of the Kingdom, on 31st July 1830, and then on 7th August, King of the French. Born of a contradiction, the new royalty embodied in a man as jealous of power as Louis-Philippe "found itself obliged to regain through deception and corruption what it had lost in terms of prestige and authority" (J. Chantrel. Histoire contemporaine, p. 380). That was all the more the ease since this new king was enthroned neither by right of birth nor by the clearly-expressed will of the people, but by "a few outstanding financiers. industrialists and bourgeoisie who were thinking only of material prosperity, wealth, and the spread of commerce and industry, but who had neither the lofty views nor the dignity of the old nobility, nor the patriotic instincts and the generous aspirations of the popular classes. They represented the happy medium, or in other words, mediocrity'' (Chantrel op.cit. p 381). He certainly did have good qualities of mind and dealt: a sure and upright judgment, and lively intelligence; he worked hard at his task. was courageous m the face of danger, and dedicated; but he also had failings which were magnified by the

prefeng-letter.doc 249 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” circumstances of the moment: his short-sightedness, his self-sufficiency which led him to speak without listening his instinct for governing by himself when he really needed to listen to others and get in step so as to set the pace for everyone else. We may wonder what impact the letter he received in late January 1834, from Fr. Champagnat (L. 34), may have had on him, seeing that he had recently signed the school law of 28th June 1833. He certainly was not hostile, but neither did he trouble himself to push the ministry to see that the matter was settled. He had too many other problems clamoring for his attention, such as the April 1834 uprising, and the assassination attempt of July 1835, which was the first of a series of at least five in the space of a little more than a decade. Endless cabinet cases, resulting from power-struggles among the political leaders, made him watchful to see that they not on y did net threaten his throne but on the contrary helped to strengthen It. Towards the end of his reign, he was afflicted with painful family problems: the accidental death of his oldest son, the Duke of Orleans, in the streets of Neuilly in 1842: then the death of Madame Adélaïde "his younger sister, who had such power over him that she was called his Egeria" (J. Chantrel, op.cit., p. 426). Those events drained him to the point where he could not surmount the crisis during which, amid general disorder, he abdicated on 24th February 1848, in favor of his grandson, the Count of Paris, whom his mother, the Duchess of Orleans, could not persuade the Chamber of Deputies to accept. Louis-Philippe succeeded in reaching England, where Queen Victoria put at his disposition the residence at Claremont, Surrey. He died there on 26th August 1850. (REFERENCES, pp. 354-356).

LOUIS-STANISLAS, BROTHER: “Born Pierre Préher, legitimate son of Jean-Baptiste and Antoinette Ferlet, both living, native of the parish of St-Genest-Malifaux, sixteen years of age, attests and declares that by the grace of God (he has) been admitted to the house of Notre-Dame de l’Hermitage, novitiate of the Society of Mary, the 15th day of May, one thousand eight hundred thirty-five, and that on the twenty-second day of the month of July of the same year (he) had the honor of being clothed in the holy religious habit of the Brothers of the said Society of Mary.... (Done) this first day of the month of August, one thousand eight hundred thirty-five at Noire-Dame de l’Hermitage. Signed: Champagnat, Louis-Stanislas, Bro. Bonaventure, Bro. Barthélemy” (RV, 1, pp. XXXXI- XXXXII). On 10th October of that same year, he made private temporary vows for three years, and renewed them publicly on 10th Octobe?1836. As we learn from the letter of 21st December 1836 (L. 34). as of that date he was in Millery, and had been since at least 1st November if not longer, to do the cooking; he would now begin to teach the lower class. His name appears again on a list of the brothers of the Institute in 1837, but it cannot be found anywhere after that. He must have left the Institute before 1839, since he is not on the assignment list for that year. (REFERENCES, p. 356).

MADINIER, JEAN-FRANÇOIS: (1791-1854), was born 27th April 1791 in Rive-de-Gier, Loire. We do not know when or where he was ordained. He was first appointed curate in Trévoux, Am, on 1st October 1816, and on 2nd November 1823 he became parish priest of Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne, Ain. Thanks to the generosity of the Countess de La Poype and the intervention of Bishop Devie, our brothers arrived in his parish in 1836. “Fr. Madinier had praised them so highly, both from the pulpit and in private conversations, that the people stared at them as if they were heavenly beings” (Annales de St-Didier, 214.74, p. 17). The two letters we have from him definitely show the

prefeng-letter.doc 250 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” enthusiasm with which they were preparing for the brothers’ arrival. The first is dated 4th November 1836; here it is in its entirety: “Father, the prospectus you sent me unfortunately reached me only today; it is far from containing everything we would have liked. On the bishop’s advice, I had decided to have all the brothers’ furniture made free of charge, as well as the renovation of the garden. I suggested that from the pulpit on All Saints’ Day, and I already have the offer of more than enough days of work to make all the linen, and more than fifty days promised to dig up the garden; and every day after the first Mass, I write down eight or ten more. So you must send me a detailed list of everything needed for the furnishings of the three brothers you are to send us towards the end of the month. “You must also send me at the same time a list of the dimensions of the various pieces, not forgetting, for certain pieces, that there will one day be five brothers. Put down everything in the greatest detail; put the number and dimensions of the sheets, shirts, handkerchiefs, etc...and what quality cloth. Put down the dimensions of the beds, the number and quality of blankets, curtains, etc.... Put down the dimensions of the benches, and tables: width, height, thickness, etc.... Put down the dimensions and shape of the brothers’ chairs, unless they prefer to have them made themselves when they get here. Above all, try not to forget anything, so that everything can be ready when your brothers arrive; and please send that information directly to me, so that it does not reach me too late, as happened with this prospectus. Address your letter to: Fr. Madimer, parish priest of St-Didier-sur-Chalaronne, via Thoissey, Ain. “Today we are beginning work on the parlor you requested, by the door from the yard. We found a way to make you a dining room twenty-nine feet long by twelve wide, and to put a door in the scullery to give access to the woodshed and the cellar without having to go outside the house. “The bishop is definitely counting on five brothers for next year. You have been able to see for yourself the importance of this school, so we hope you will send us brothers whose piety and education will one day overcome the opposition which has been shown in the town council of Thoissey. As for that of St-Didier, you have nothing to fear; they are all for you. Death has just removed the only two members who might have tried to create an obstacle. I have the honor to be, Father, your most humble and devoted servant, Madinier, parish priest of St-Didier-sur-Chalaronne, 4th Nov. 1836” (AFA, 129.24). The second letter was written a month later, which shows in passing that the brothers did not reach St-Didier until mid-December. Here is the full text: “Father, I did not dare write you to ask you to send us the brothers for St-Didier, since the stairway was not yet finished; the staircase and the kitchen fireplace will be finished by the time you receive this letter. The furnishings are ready, the beds are in the room in town where the brothers will sleep. There are already four writing tables in one of the classrooms. “The garden has been dug to a depth of four feet; they had to remove nearly two thousand cartloads of gravel, with which they filled the playgrounds to a depth of almost two feet, to make them healthier and prevent them from getting muddy. Now they are bringing in cartloads of soil to fill up the garden. All of this has been done by people of good will. Since everyone wanted to participate, I had to divide the parish into eight teams, to avoid confusion, and tell each hamlet what day they could come. Even in spite of that division, on some days there were twenty-five or twenty-seven workers there with pickaxes, shovels, spades, wheelbarrows and a few carts. Tomorrow we are going to invite the ox-cart drivers to come on Monday and Tuesday, so that the garden embankment will be finished before the brothers arrive. “We will announce their arrival sometime this week. So please have them leave as soon as you receive my

prefeng-letter.doc 251 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” letter, everyone is extremely eager for them to come, and people never stop asking me when they will arrive. At the same time, please give us capable brothers, because the devil, jealous of the zeal we have shown for this establishment, has tried to spread his poison in order to paralyze it, but he has not succeeded. It was easy for us to put down the rumors that some were trying to spread, and to show the blunders into which their nasty tongues had fallen. Good brothers, by their capability and wisdom, will do an even better job of crushing these vain efforts of the devil. “As for the school benches, we will wait to order them until the brothers come, for fear of giving the wrong width, height and length. We will order them from several carpenters so they will be quickly made. In the meantime, they can use those from the church. “I am afraid the brothers may not be able to come by way of the Saône; it is so swollen that the steamboats are no longer running, and it is getting higher every day. When they get to Lyons, they could take the Macon stagecoach as far as La Maison Blanche; but then they would still have a Saône which is a league wide [4 kin, 2.5 miles] to cross by boat. They could also go to Neuville l’Archevéque and walk from there, or else take the stage from Trévoux, which goes to Bourg; if they got off at Chatillon-les-Dombes, they would have two good leagues to walk to reach St-Didier, along a major highway. Whichever route they choose, urge them to come as soon as possible; they are eagerly awaited. “I have the honor to be, Father, your most humble and devoted confrere, Madinier, parish priest of St-Dither. St- Didier-sur-Chalaronne, 3rd December 1836” (AFM, 120.25). As we can easly surmise from all this devotedness and fervor, it was Fr. Madinier himself who was the chief instigator in the whole affair. Bro. Avit, who must have known him, since he was often at the school in St-Didier, draws this very laudatory pen-portrait of him: “Fr. Madinier was a holy priest, exemplary in every way, a wonderful singer and a catechist of the sort one rarely encounters. The catechism lessons, which he taught himself every Sunday before vespers, were attended by a large number of men and even more women, who listened eagerly to his fascinating explanations. One look from him was enough to keep the children in a respectful posture and silence. He never got angry or punished anyone, but he often gave rewards, and the children of his division knew the whole catechism remarkably well. On the day of their First Communion, he paid for a breakfast for all the young communicants, and would never accept either compliments or gifts” (ibid, pp. 11- 12). The reply Fr. Champagnat gave him on 20th November 1839 (L 298) may surprise us and lead us to think that the parish priest either did not know or did not approve of his parishioners’ habits, but as we said in the introduction to that letter, since we do not have Fr. Madinier’s letter there is no way we can make any judgment about it. Bro. Avit also tells us about the last years of this priest for whom we could have wished something better: “Frequent epileptic seizures forced him to retire (on 11th September 1852). The brothers served his Mass in the chapel of the Dupont home. Since he had several attacks during Mass, he had to stop celebrating. He died suddenly in June 1854, during one of his attacks” (214.74, p. 9). (REFERENCES, pp. 357-359).

MANIOULOUX, JEAN PIERRE VINCENT: (1796-1863), was born on 31st March 1796 in Saint-Bonnet, Haute-Loire. He was ordained on Holy Saturday in 1826, and the following year was appointed curate in Annonay, Ardèche. In 1830 he was named parish priest of Pailharès, Ardèche; then he taught philosophy for a year (1833) in the major seminary of Viviers, just before being named parish priest of Cheylard in 1834. On 27th December 1839 he wrote to Fr. Champagnat, asking for brothers: “Father, the parish of

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Cheylard, of which I am pastor, presently has nearly 3000 people but no primary school. For a long time, the people and even the civil authorities have manifested their desire to have a brothers’ school instead of a lay teacher from the normal school. However, in 1835, the civil authority preferred to accept a young teacher from the normal school in Privas. They thought the whole situation was wonderful, but it took less than four years to undeceive those who had been too optimistic, and so everyone went back to wanting brothers. The town council even made arrangements in that regard, for at least two brothers to begin with; in a deliberation ad hoc, it voted to have brothers in one way or another after the lay teacher had resigned, unanimously promised the sum of 1000 fr., plus their residence, the school and its furnishings, and all the furnishings the brothers customarily need, for the entire time they remain here. Moreover, I could find money elsewhere if need arose. “Here in the diocese of Viviers we have a brothers’ establishment which is doing quite well, but not so well that it can meet every request, as you know, since you have several houses in our area. So, Father, I am writing to ask you to tell me, as soon as possible, if you could give us two of your brothers, and under what conditions, and when? After I receive your letter we will go into greater detail on this matter, which I would very much like to bring to a successful conclusion. I am, with profound respect and while awaiting the honor of your letter, Father, your most humble servant, Maniouloux, parish priest” (AFA, 129.76). His information about the Marist Brothers was evidently out of date, since he had sent his letter to La Valla, but we do not have the reply which must certainly have been sent to him. In any case, we know the answer was negative, and Fr. Maniouloux, according to Bro. Avit, ultimately got some Brothers of Viviers in 1840. Consequently, we took over that school when the Brothers of Viviers joined us in 1844. But by that time, Fr. Maniouloux had been gone from Cheylard for two years. He was parish priest of Tournon from 1842 to 1844, and was then named vicar general of Viviers. He remained in that office only three years; in 1847 he was named parish priest of Villeneuve-de-Berg, where he died on 5th October 1863. (REFERENCES, pp. 359-360).

MARCONNET, MICHEL; see MICHEL, BROTHER.

MARIE-AMÉLIE, QUEEN: Marie-Amélie de Bourbon (1782-1866), born 26th April 1782 at the Castle of Caserta near Naples. She was one of seventeen children of Ferdinand I, King of Naples, and Marie-Caroline, Archduchess of Austria, daughter of the great Maria Theresa of Austria, Empress of Germany, and sister of the ill-fated Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI. As soon as Amélie was old enough, her mother gave her an excellent governess, Madame D'Ambrosio. She accustomed the young princess to impose little sacrifices on herself, and to love and help the poor. When she was queen, Marie-Amélie would recall her early years with great emotion; she remembered an old priest who taught her the fundamentals of her religion; she remembered that at her mother's request she had been blessed by a bishop who died in 1787, and who was later canonized as St. Alphonsus Liguori. As she became involved in her mother's interests, Marie-Amélie also learned to become, like her, a political woman. Adversity gave the young princess experience beyond her years; her mother spoke to her about the most serious topics, and initiated her to state secrets and governmental practices. On 20th June 1806, she learned from the Naples Monitor of the death of her sister, Princess Marie-Antoinette. Marie-Amélie was plunged into a long period of profound grief. The

prefeng-letter.doc 253 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” present appeared dark, the future darker still. On 31st December 1806 she wrote, "Sicily is under the heavy yoke of the English. Everything is confused, disorderly, and it takes an extremely long time to get any thing done. If God does not extend his all-powerful hand, l fear we will be completely ruined. I wake up during the night, l get up in the morning, always with the same thought: what will happen to me today? What bitterness am I going to encounter? I raise my eyes to heaven and find consolation in our holy religion, in thinking that we are exiles in this world and that there is a better one". The princess lost her oldest sister, Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, in 1807. On 23rd September of that year, her sister Marie Christine married the Duke of Genevois. In June of the following year, Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orleans, came to Palermo and asked for the hand of Marie-Amélie, who was then twenty-seven; the duke was thirty six. In 1814, after the fall of Napoleon, they went to live in Paris. The duke and duchess sailed on 27th July aboard the "Ville de Marseille" and reached Paris on 22nd September, having gone up the Rhône by boat and traveled by easy stages. King Louis XVIII housed them in the royal palace. During the Hundred Days, they again went into exile. At 2:30 a.m. on 13th March 1815, the duchess slipped out of the royal palace with their four children. On 3rd April her husband joined them in London. On 8th April 1817, the Duchess of Orleans returned to France. On 3rd June, she had her sixth child, Marie- Clémentine, in the Château of Neuilly. On 18th July 1818, she had her third son, the Prince of Joinville. On 1st January 1820, she gave birth to the Duke of Penthièvre, who lived only a few years. On 16th January 1822, Marie-Amélie gave birth to the Duke of Aumale, and on 31st July 1824 to the Duke of Montpensier. Those thirteen years, from 1817 to 1830, would prove to be the happiest of her long life. The Revolution of 1830 made her queen. "They placed on my head a crown of thorns", she said. On 1st January 1831, she wrote in her journal, "How much happier I was when I used to go to offer the homage I now receive! But Providence has arranged it this way, and we must go along with its divine decrees; I must fulfill the duties of the state in which it has placed me". As a person, the queen was liked for her charity and for her dignified life. From the very first days of her reign, she went to visit the hospitals of Paris, and she continued to be available to the unfortunate. She was particularly glad to be able to extend her protection to Catholic undertakings. But when she received Fr. Champagnat's letter at the beginning of May 1835, there was little she could do beyond forwarding it to the minister, who actually seems to have been annoyed by the fact that she had done so (cf. L. 59): Marie-Amélie acted prudently and patiently, more by example than by words, and with such discretion and reserve that the ministers were never offended. Louis-Philippe kept no secrets from her and consulted her on everything; the enlightened opinion of a woman whose tact, learning and intelligence he appreciated, was one of those he valued most highly. The influence and authority of the queen eventually became considerable at the court of the citizen-king, and won for her a certain renown. Louis- Philippe abdicated on Thursday, 24th February 1848. On Friday, 3rd March, he and his wife managed to sail on the English ship "Express". King Léopold of Belgium [who was related to Queen Victoria] owned Claremont Castle, where Louis-Philippe had lived in 1815 and 1816: he placed it at the disposal of his parents-in-law. Louis-Philippe died there on 26th August 1850. Marie-Amélie spent her last years peacefully, surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She died on 24th March 1866 while receiving the Last Sacraments. (Taken from Les Contemporains, n° 542.) (REFERENCES, pp. 360-362).

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MARIE-AUGUSTIN, BROTHER: Joseph Drevet, born in August 1809 in Doissin, district of Virieu, Isère, to Pierre Drevet and Anne Bouvier. On 8th May 1835, he was admitted to the Hermitage, and received the religious habit on 26th July of that year (RV, 1, p. XXXXVIU); he made private temporary vows on 4th September (RVT, 1, p. 56), and on 10th October 1836, made public perpetual profession (RVP, 1, p. 27). He is listed second among the group of brothers named to open the school in Saint-Didier-sur- Chalaronne in 1836, under the direction of Bro. Sébastien. We do not know whether he received an assignment the following year, or simply remained at the Hermitage to await the next departure for the missions. The letter of 23rd June 1838 (L. 197) tells us only that he had been named for that departure, and that for important reasons, Bro. François-Régis was to replace him. But it was Bro. Marie-Augustin who finally sailed on 9th September 1838, with Bros. Elie-Régis and Florentin, accompanying Frs. Epalle and Petit (Annales de la Propagation de la foi, I, p. 558; AA, p. 281). Bro. Claude-Marie, writing on 26th July 1842, says that he was then on the Bay of Islands. We have no further information about him, apart from this mention in the register of coadjutor brothers in the archives of the Marist Fathers: “Left the Society after 1842, before ‘67”. (REFERENCES, p. 362).

MARIE-GONZAGUE, BROTHER: Born Jean-Louis Breuil, in Montarcher, district of , Loire, to Louis Breuil and Catherine Dumoulin, said he was eighteen when he received the religious habit on 28th May 1835 (RV, 1, p. XXXVIII), after having already spent six months at the Hermitage, to which Fr. Champagnat admitted him on 3rd November 1834. He made private temporary vows on 10th October 1835, for three years. He is not mentioned in the record of the profession ceremony of 10th October 1836, when all the brothers of the Institute made public vows for the first time, which leads us to think he had left the Institute before that date. The letter of 12th May 1837 (L. 107), to his father, supports that hypothesis. We may presume that he took advantage of his vacation with his family to simply remain at home, without returning his habit or completing the payment for his novitiate. Fr. Champagnat’s letter must have had some effect, since he received the sum of 100 francs on 1st December 1837. (REFERENCES, pp. 362-363).

MARIE-JOSEPH, BROTHER: Born Jean-Pierre Roudet on 25th March 1816 in Longechenal, Isère, to Pierre Roudet and Catherine Lusson, entered the novitiate at the Hermitage on 23rd January 1832 (RE, 1, p. 40); on 21st June he made temporary vows for two years, and then extended that time by another year (RVT 1, p. 34). On 24th September 1835. he renewed his temporary vows for three years (RVT, 1, p. 56), but on 9th October 1837, he made perpetual profession (RVP, 1, p. 29). We cannot be certain what he did between the novitiate and that time; the 1834-35 assignments list a Bro. Joseph-Marie in Valbenoîte, and that seems to be he since there is no one else by that name. We know from a document from St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux that he went to that community on 26th April 1837, and that he returned sometime in May because of an illness described as “delirium of the brain and mental derangement”; there is the added notation, “deceased”. That explains Fr. Champagnat’s comment in his letter of 16th July 1838 to Fr. Mazelier (L. 198), “Bro. Marie-Joseph is still a little crazy”. His name does not appear on the 1839 assignment list, but he could have been resting at the Hermitage at

prefeng-letter.doc 255 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” that time. What is really surprising is that we can find no trace of his death, neither in the register of deaths, nor on the list in volume XIII of the Circulaires. Nor does he appear on the ten-year obituary lists of the town of Longchenal. The only remaining hypothesis is that he died in a hospital or some clinic, but if we do eventually learn where, it will be only by chance. (REFERENCES, p. 363).

MARIE-JUBIN, BROTHER: Born Jean-Baptiste Mérigay on 11th April 1820 in Valbenoîte, St-Etienne, Loire, to Joseph Mérigay and Antoinette Saive, entered N.-D. de I’Hermitage on 10th September 1833. Despite his youth, he received the religious habit the following 8th December, made his first temporary vows privately on 15th August 1834 (RVT, 1, p. 46) and renewed them publicly on 10th October 1836 (ibid., p. 65). On 9th October 1837, he made his perMarient commitment by perpetual vows (RVP, 1, p. 29). As with so many other young brothers, we do not know what he did during the very first years of his religious life, 1836 and 1837. We know from L. 169 that early in 1838 he went to Paris with the Founder, to learn lithography (AA, p. 254). His apprenticeship lasted two months, at the end of which Fr. Champagnat had him spend some time at the school for deaf-mutes (L. 176). His studies in Paris were apparently successful, judging from LL. 181 and 183. According to the letter of 20th May 1838 (L. 193), he returned to the Hermitage alone, while the Founder went to Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise. It is highly probable that Bro. Marie-Jubin remained at the Hermitage in the service of the secretariat; we know he signed several burial certificates in the course of 1839. In the middle of August 1840, he went to replace Bro. Avit in Charlieu, as teacher of the lower class, which means he must have had his certificate of competence. On 24th December 1840, Bro. Dominique, the director in Charlieu, inserts this sentence in a letter to Bro. François: “I am fairly sure that you know that Bro. Marie-Jubin wants more and more to take over, as for me, I want to let him; since he is more capable than I, things can only improve” (AFM, Charlieu file, doc. 2). On 14th March 1841, in another letter, he specifies that, “the lower class has 83 children; Bro. Jubin’s has 18” (ibid., doc. 3). The latter, for his part, “felt he should write to the Reverend to complain about Bro. Director’s excessive economy, about the boarders who were upsetting everything, and about the disunity which reigned in the house” (Annales de Charlieu, 213.8, p. 17). Bro. Louis- Marie, who came to visit the house, “noted that Bro. Marie-Jubin’s complaints were exaggerated” (ibid., p. 18); the visitor’s report “threw a few stones” at the complainer. Both the director and Bro. Marie-Jubin were transferred during the 1844 vacation. Bro. Ignace, the new director, wrote this, among other things. on 25th September 1844: “Neither the mayor nor the parish priest have said anything to us about the changes. People miss Bro. Marie-Jubin more than Bro. Dominique” (Charlieu file, doc. 14). We know that the latter went to Pélussin, but we do not know where the former was sent. He most probably returned to the Hermitage and his work in the secretariat, which seems to be the sense of this remark by Bro. Maurice, the director in Digoin, in a post-script to his letter of 18th January 1845: “If you can spare Bro. Marie-Jubin” (Charlieu file). The superiors must have been able to do so, since in a letter of 6th March 1845, Bro. Marie- Lin mentions Bro. Marie-Jubin’s staying with the community in Usson on his way to Craponne. Had his need to compose school books and music books already made itself felt at that time? Possibly, as we may deduce from a letter from Bro. Canton. He was director of Craponne, and had fallen ill, and Bro. Marie-Jubin was sent to teach his class from February to June 1849. In his letter of 2nd March 1849, Bro. Canton tells Bro.

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François: “Since Bro. Marie-Jubin got here, I have been expecting any day to receive an order to move on.... I think Bro. Marie-Jubin will do well enough; the children gave him a hard time in the beginning, but now he has the upper hand” (AFM, Craponne file, doc. 39). But in his next letter, on 1st July 1849, we pick up a different tone: “Dear Brother Director General, In the space of eighteen days you have sent me two very different letters. In one, you forbid me to teach or study. That prohibition is given me because I hurt one of my associates’ feelings with regard to music. I did not want to let him take the children for practice every time he wanted to; that is what led him to accuse me to you for something which is totally false. But this brother shows clearly that he lacks common sense, since he flatly contradicts himself when he tells you that I am working so hard in history, especially Roman history, and in arithmetic, and that in front of all the brothers he says about me, ‘You’d think he had nothing else to do but that’, meaning give reprimands and visit the classes. “During the nearly five months Bro. Jubin has been here, I have read one volume of Fr. Taillhé’s Roman history, a volume in- 12° which has about 400 pages. I may have studied arithmetic four or five times. When I received the letter in which you forbade me to work, I wasn’t too surprised; but when I received the second eighteen days later, ordering me not only to teach the younger children, but also to become involved with the older ones, and to work hard at bookkeeping, in order to pick up where Bro. Jubin left off...when I read that second letter, I was astonished” (ibid., doc. 40). Even though the zealous informant is not named, we suspect it was Bro. Marie-Jubin, since as we have seen, this would not be the first such instance. He would soon publish an arithmetic book, and later on, the Choix de cantiques. An 1849 assignment list puts him in La Bégude. We do not know what he did there nor how long he stayed. Another assignment list, undated but probably for 1850 or 1851, or maybe even 1852, places him in Digoin. Bro. Avit confirms his presence there, but gives no dates; all he writes in the annals is that, “The ex- Maurice had some good teachers, among them Bro. Marie-Jubin, Bro. Pétrone...” (212.27, p. 14). According to the same source, Bro. Maurice left Digoin “at the beginning of 1851” (ibid., p. 15). Bro. Marie-Jubin may no longer have been there at that time, but we cannot be sure. What we are sure of is that he went to join Bro. Apollinaire at Saint- Augustin in Paris when that establishment was founded, i.e., on 16th October 1853, if we are to believe a prospectus the parish priest had printed. As for Bro. Apollinaire, he wrote on 6th November to say, “We arrived safely in Paris. Bro. Marie-Jubin arrived that same evening”. It appears he was assigned to that school in order to do parish work: take care of the altar boys, and especially the animation of the Masses, to which the brothers were bound. On 24th January 1854, Bro. Apollinaire was already asking for help, because, as he wrote, “You can understand that being totally responsible for these children (orphans): education, food, clothing, toiletries, laundry, altar boys, etc., gives us plenty to do. You can easily understand that Bro. Marie-Jubin doesn’t lift a finger, and is satisfied to teach unconcernedly his little class of eight students. I think you would do well to forbid him to work on his song book which he will never bring to birth and with which he is very preoccupied”. On 4th April he returned to the same subject; this time he gives a detailed description of his immediate collaborator’s behavior “As I have already told you, Bro. Marie-Jubin does nothing but teach his class, but won’t lift a finger to do anything else. All he thinks and dreams about is his music; all he wants to do is run around town to visit the composers. In spite of all I have to do, and my bad legs...I’m the one who has to take the students on walks, because Bro. Marie-Jubin doesn’t want to

prefeng-letter.doc 257 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” go on them with the brothers and children, and he’s never ready when it’s time to leave. If sometimes he does decide to go along, he almost always leaves them to go running off I have no idea where, since he never comes home until long after the others. He stays in bed almost every morning, and I am sure he has not begun prayer with us six times since we have been here. About half the time he either doesn’t say any office or says it by himself. He goes to church services only when he can’t get out of them, and always as late as possible, and he never goes with the students. Finally, apart from his classwork, which leaves much to be desired, since he even spends a good deal of class time on his music, he is no more involved with the students or with the house than if he were a hundred leagues from here. If he at least still did something useful for the congregation, or at least for the musical world —; but as I have had the honor to tell you, he will never produce anything. He is a mountain in labor, which will not even bring forth a mouse. Ultimately, I think that if in time he did manage to do something, it would be so difficult, so complicated, that one would have to have more talent than he and be more of a musician, to be able to play it, because he wants to correct even the greatest masters. “In brief, it has to be one or the other if you want him to work at the hymn book, then you must replace him as a teacher and give us someone who can be of use to the school; and if you want to leave him as teacher, you must absolutely relieve him of his hymns and tell him he must absolutely limit his activity to his students and the needs of the house. Unfortunately, we have in the house a harmonium and a piano, for music lessons. But you realize that they are used by him rather than the students, since he never gives them a single music lesson; he cannot even teach them a hymn-tune. Once he sits down at one of those instruments, there is no danger that he will budge from there, either to go to exercises of piety or to supervise the students, since it is always difficult for him to tear himself away to go eat, and he is hardly ever in the dining room to say grace with the others. He is generally always late and we cannot count on him for order and discipline in the house; he is too apathetic, too slow-moving, and most of all too selfish, he thinks, dreams and works only for himself’ (606.058.21). One must certainly read those lines in the context of Bro. Apollinaire’s excitable character; fortunately, we also have some of Bro. Marie-Jubin’s letters from that same period. Here is one he wrote on 6th November 1853, which helps us to nuance his director’s opinion and strike a happy medium: “Very Reverend Brother Superior General, When you ordered me to come to Paris, you told me that the new assignment you were giving me would not in any way prevent me from continuing my work on the hymns; but I have to tell you that it is almost impossible for me to do, any work on them at all. Even though I have only nine little children, who are about as far advanced as those of the third class in Breteuil, I am still obliged to spend all the regular class time with them, and to be present at a singing class which they have every day from 4:30 to 5:30, in order to supervise them. I am not even talking about the time I have to spend in church on Sundays, feast days and Thursdays, to fulfill the same function at all the services at which they sing. On top of that, I have to nm all the errands for the house, and for the brother cook, whom we do not dare allow to go out; and then there are Brother Direc- tor’s correspondence and accounts, so that I have much less time here than one has in an ordinary establishment. “So, if you want me to work on the hymns, I would ask you to relieve me of my teaching, all the more so since, beyond the personal reasons I have for not doing it, it seems that I cannot at all depend on the good will of those who promised me music free of charge [meaning he would therefore have to compose it himself]. I

prefeng-letter.doc 258 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” would also ask you not to bother me again until the book is finished, since this constant stopping and starting is a real loss of time, which prevents me from doing anything halfway decent. It would be better to drop it altogether” (Merigay file). None the less, Bro. Marie-Jubin remained there the whole school year, until the autumn of 1854, when according to one assignment list he was transferred to Breteuil-sur-Noye, Oise. We no longer find him on the 1856 list, nor those of the following years, until 1873. We may presume he stayed at St-Genis-Laval to work on his books. And in fact, in 1865, two were published: Principes de plain-chant and Principes de musique et de chant, under the name of “F.MJ.” In addition, according to Bro. Avit, “Bro. Marie-Jubin’s arithmetic book, heavily edited by the Rev. Brother, was printed in 1866...(but), being too advanced for the children...(it) was not generally accepted. After twenty-four years it is only in its second edition” (Abrégé des Annales, notebook 7, p. 732). In the annals of La Côte-St- André, Bro. Avit writes, “On 25th October (1871), Bro. Marie-Jubin was replaced as treasurer, by ex-brother Cindée” (214.43, pp. 50, 57). The assignment lists confirm that change, but we lose all trace of him during the next five years, since the lists only very rarely mention the personnel of provincial houses and formation centers. We may presume he was at St-Gems-Laval during that time, since in 1881, on the occasion of the celebration of Bro. Sylvestre’s golden jubilee, he is mentioned as director of that community. His name reappears on the assignment lists from 1883 to 1887, in the community of St-Didier-sur-Chalaronne. He also took part in five General Chapters, from 1862 to 1883, being one of the group who kept challenging the superiors, who wanted to keep more or less secret the Constitutions proposed by Rome (cf. Chronologie, p. 162). The assignments of 8th December 1890 place him m Charly, apparently as director this was a residence for retired brothers and for brothers involved in farm work on the property. According to the annals of that house, Bro. Amphien replaced him as director on 5th November 1891, but Bro. Marie-Jubin stayed there, and died in Charly on 1st January 1897 at the age of 76 years, 8 months and 20 days, of which he had spent 63 years, 3 months and 14 days in community (RD. 3, n° 1704). (REFERENCES, pp. 363- 368).

MARIE-LAURENT, BROTHER: Born Laurent Moriat, son of Jacques Moriat and Marie Comète, in Neuville-sur-Saône, entered the novitiate at N.-D. de l’Hermitage on 10th December 1834 at the age of 15 (RE, 1, p. 57), received the religious habit on 6th January 1835 (R.V 1, P. XXX-VII), and made first temporary vows for three years on 25th March (RVT, 1, p. 49). He renewed those vows publicly on 10th October 1836 (ibid., p. 65). We have no information about him for the next two years. After making perpetual profession on 10th October 1838 (RVP, 1, p. 30), he went with Bro. Jean- Baptiste and Bro. Africain to found the school in Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise. It was there that he received Fr. Champagnat’s letter of 8th April 1839 (L. 249), which reveals him to be struggling with serious problems whose nature we do not know. He does not appear on the 1839 assignment list, neither in St-Paul nor in any other establishment. The most plausible supposition is that he left the Institute during the 1839 vacations, which is hardly surprising in the context of the above-mentioned letter. (REFERENCES, p. 368).

MARIE-LIN, BROTHER: Antoine Morel, son of Jean-Pierre Morel and Françoise Patouillard, was born on 30th April 1813 in Marlhes, Loire. He entered the novitiate at N.-D. de l’Hermitage on 27th December 1834 (RE, 1, p. 58), received the habit there on

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25th March 1835 (RV, 1, p. XXXVII), made his first private temporary vows for three years on 19th April 1835 (RVT, 1, p. 50) and private perpetual vows on 3rd April 1836; he renewed the latter publicly the following 10th October (RVP, 1, pp. 24, 27). As of that date he had already been working for over a year in three successive schools: Neuville, most likely from May to September 1835; Saint-Paul-en-Jarret, until May 1836; Valbenoîte, until June 1836; and then during the last months of that school year at the Hermitage as a student-teacher (according to his personal file). In the light of that, we can understand why he wrote, on 22nd December 1842, when he had been criticized because the students in the school where he was director were not making sufficient progress, “The children are not improving because the brothers themselves are ig- norant? That is not true. The only ignorant one is the one who ought to be capable of instructing the others, the brother director. Yes, Brother Director General, I am ignorant, it is very true, and you can easily judge my lack of education: poor handwriting, weak in grammar and mathematics, weaker still in religion. What is sadder still is that I am growing old in my ignorance, which increases with age, since I do not have a moment to work at my own education, or else I do not know how to take advantage of those I might have. After all that, how can I show that I am capable and how can I teach anything more? “Judge for yourself, brother, by the lessons I received in the society from the day I had the happiness to enter it until now: four months of novitiate, period. I think I ought to have the right to ask you for my secular clothes back, so I could continue the twenty months of novitiate I still have to make. I am speaking openly, but you know all my desires, oh God, and none of my groans are hidden from you. “Pardon me, please, for this lack of respect. I am not unaware, dear brother, that you cannot do everything you would like to do, and I understand very well that until now you have not been able to do otherwise; I hope the future will be more fortunate. Perhaps this moment I so much desire will come; in the meantime, here I am in my thirtieth year. I think the first thing to do would be to send me to class; I assure you I would have the same inclination and more facility for working at my education than I had at fifteen or twenty. Do not leave me in this state of ignorance, I beg you; now is the time to begin, I believe that the glory of God and the salvation of souls require it” (603.108, doc. 10). From September 1836 to September 1838, he taught in Mornant, then went to direct the school in Ampuis. In the annals of the latter establishment, Bro. Avit has this to say: “According to a note he left, Bro. Marie-Lin replaced Bro. Polycarpe in October 1838. When school reopened on 2nd November, there were 112 children in the two classes. It seems that there had been a class for adults in preceding years. Fr. Brut (the parish priest) was not attached to the idea, but Messrs. Pétitain and Hérard, both benefactors and retired in Ampuis, were very much so. It had been begun to keep them happy. But Bro. Marie-Lin was not pleased with the nine young men who showed up for it, and sent them home. This was his first experience as director, and he did not yet have his certificate of competence. His humility made him exaggerate what he calls his blunders. The districts had already been set up by our venerated Founder, and Bro. Marie-Lin was head of the one around Ampuis.... Exhausted by the heat of that region, Bro. Marie Lin went to breathe his native air in Marlhes in May 1840 (214.3, pp. 12-13). In the annals of Usson, Bro. Avit also records that, “Around that same time (June 1840), Bro. Théophile came to spend a few days in Usson because of illness. After him came Bro. Marie-Un, for the same reason; the latter stayed until vacation time” (213.80, p. 10). He did not remain idle, since according to his file, he obtained his certificate in Grenoble in July 1840. That

prefeng-letter.doc 260 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” same year, as we read in the circular of 10th January (L. 313), setting up the “Conferences”, he was responsible for the section on “arithmetic and the metric system”. Again, the annals of Usson: “After the 1840 retreat, Bro. Innocent was transferred and replaced by Bro. Marie-Un” (213.80, p. 10). This time he stayed for a decade. During that time, according to Bro. Avit, he wrote “about forty letters”, but we suspect our annalist was exaggerating a bit, since we can find only twenty-three. That of 2nd January 1843 ends with the words, “People are very displeased with me in Usson; I mean the principal members of the council; they are even planning to bring back the former teacher who is teaching in St-Pol” (603.108). We will quote textually his letter of 2nd November 1843, since we think it paints the best picture of its author “Dear Brother Director General, we already have thirteen semi-boarders in the house; add to that number fourteen others who are supposed to come until next Sunday, the 4th; 13 and 14 make 26, twenty-six children who will be sleeping here until next Sunday, the 4th, without counting nineteen others who will arrive sometime this month: 26 + 19 = 45; yes, I hope that until the end of November we will have from 45 to 50 children sleeping here. “You can see, Bro. Director General, how much we need a fifth brother, right away, since we will also have more than two hundred extern students at the time I have mentioned, or very nearly that many. The only thing we have to do now is to decide who will supervise these children, who need great devotedness, indefatigable zeal and adequate instruction (since I want and I intend, and it is necessary, that they be taught morning and afternoon, and among them there will be some who already know a little something) on the part of whoever will be in charge of that important matter. Yes, I regard it as the most important thing in the house, since we have children who are very young, 6 to 8 years old, and who consequently require special care. “Very Rev. Bro. Director General, I am not trying to limit your power, but permit me to point out to you that Bro. Euphrone is not the man for the job; the lowest class will need a very experienced brother, since it will no doubt have almost a hundred children and maybe more. If you know, brother, that my choice is not according to God, don’t hesitate to discard it, for the only thing I want is the will of God and his glory. My health is perfect as is that of my fellow-workers who are doing their best to back me up. Please tell Mary every day to watch over our establishment, because I don’t know anything about it. Your very respectful brother, Marie-Lin, Town Teacher, Usson, 2nd November 1843” (603.108). We think the glaring tactlessness of this letter is due, not so much to lack of education or intelligence, but to his strong feelings at the perspective of having a good group of children with whom he can concern himself all day, whom he can form according to his own earnest heart which was filled with God. If he raises the question of supervision, it is because he has already settled it: he himself will take on that task. Several times, he asks for a capable brother to take over his class, so that he could be responsible only for the supervision of the boarders. “Bro. Marie-Lin,” Bro. Avit confides, “was very zealous in recruiting for the novitiate, but he neither studied nor tested ...those he brought there. And he brought them in groups. When one of those groups was about to leave, one of the postulants in it ran and hid. The zealous recruiter knew where to find him, and brought him along none the less. It goes without saying that most of the young men he recruited this way did not persevere. Out of thirty whose names we have (we do not have all of them) five died in their vocation,...five are still in the Institute. ... All the others left, several of them after having given scandal. It would have been better if the latter had never entered the congregation; they would have been at least passable

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Christians here, instead of proving to be bad subjects. When we said as much one day to Bro. Marie-Lin, he replied, ‘I would gladly bring fifty postulants to the novitiate, even though I knew that only one would remain and become a good religious’. After hearing that, there wasn’t much we could say; everyone acts according to the lights he has received” (213.80, p. 18). The superiors judged him capable of forming young brothers, and entrusted him with the novitiate of N.-D. de l’Hermitage in September 1850. Out of humility, according to his biographer (Biographies de quelques frères, II, p. 23), but certainly for other reasons as well, he asked to be relieved of that responsibility and given a more modest one. In 1852, it was he who was sent to found the school in Beaucroissant, Isère. Bro. Marie-Lin devoted himself to that place for thirty years, keeping for himself only the bare minimum for survival. In the annals, Bro. Avit has nothing but praise for the progress of the two classes, and advises the brothers to temper their zeal by taking time to eat and look after their health. Bro. Basilisque was the director’s associate from 1862 on; two years later, he took over the upper class, while Bro. Marie-Lin took the lower and did the cooking. In 1866, the Brother Visitor “found that the kitchen and teaching are too heavy a load for the Brother Director. I would rather see him do only the cooking, because he needs a rest” (214.8, p. 14). The latter tried to obtain another salaried position from the prefecture. After a long discussion, it was granted, but Bro. Marie-Lin was considered too old, and had to stop teaching. On 5th February 1883, the mayor wrote to “Bro. Director General” as follows, “The Minister of Public Instruction, having authorized by a decision of last 16th November, the creation of the post of associate teacher in our town, I am writing to ask you to be good enough to send us a devoted individual who has his certificate of competence. Since several opinions were raised in the town council, in view of the age of Mr. Morel, the present incumbent, who despite his zeal and strong willpower, cannot continue teaching, I find myself obliged to look for a replacement for him. Since he very much wants to remain in the area, most of whose inhabitants owe him their basic education, and since he is very much attached to Mr. Dumoulin (Bro. Basilisque) who has already worked so effectively with him for a long time at this valuable task of education, it would be very painful for him to be separated from people who think highly of him. If he simply retires from studies, while remaining here, he will live on peacefully and happily. I have good reason to hope, Mr. Director General, that you will be willing to give Mr. Morel a worthy successor, sufficiently informed about educational matters, so as not to damage the reputation which our teachers have enjoyed until now. Otherwise, I would have to bow to the will of the majority, and have recourse to other measures...” (AFM 604.010.07). So Bro. Marie-Lin retired there; six years later, in 1889, he had to witness the laicisation of his school. The brothers were driven away, but soon returned to run the free school which had been set up. The new parish priest, in a letter dated 6th September 1889, insisted that both Bro. Marie-Lin and Bro. Basiisque be sent back to Beaucroissant, even if only to live there in retirement, because without them, the new free school would be in danger. The two brothers returned, but only for a year. After the 1890 vacation, Bro. Marie-Un, who needed medical attention, moved to the infirmary in Charly, where he died on 28th February 1891. (Cf. Biographies de quelques frères, II, pp. 21-29.) (REFERENCES, pp. 368-372).

MARIE-NIZIER, BROTHER: Jean-Marie Delorme, born 26th August 1816, in Saint- Laurent d’Agny, to Jean-Antoine Delorme and Pierrette-Rose Renard. A benefactor, Mr.

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Jean-Baptiste Brosse, paid for his novitiate when he entered on 26th August 1833 (RE, 1, p. 47). The usual stages followed: reception of the habit on 8th December 1833 (RV, 1, p. 25); temporary vows for three years on 12th October 1834 (RVT, 1, p. 47); public perpetual vows on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, p. 27). On 16th October, less than a week after the latter ceremony, he left Lyons for Le Havre via Paris (Chronologie, p. 71). The group, made up of Frs. Chanel and Bataillon, Bro. Michel and himself went aboard ship on 23rd December, and it sailed the next day (L. 79). On 8th November 1847, Fr. Chanel and Bro. Marie-Nizier landed on the island of Futuna (cf. Circulaires, I, pp. 298- 300). We reproduce here most of the “Notes” written by Bro. Philogone in November 1890. “Since we have absolutely no details, we will simply recognize, by way of paying homage to Bro. Marie-Nizier’s virtue, that he seemed to us to have filled in providential fashion a triple mission, viz.: 1. He helped the missionary priests as a coadjutor; 2. He was the support and consolation of his brothers; 3. He was the eye of his superiors. “1. He helped the Marist Fathers - Having left for the missions at the height of his physical powers and with all the ardor of a generous soul who gives himself unreservedly to the service of God, Bro. Marie-Nizier willingly undertook anything, and knew how to do everything to meet the needs of the fathers. That was very necessary, because in those islands, everything was in primitive condition: no housing, no furnishings, no industry, no means of communication, not even any tailors, no shoemakers, still less any bakers; everything had to be begun from scratch. That is what he and Fr. Chanel tried to do. They were the only two whites on the island of Futuna. Bro. Marie-Nizier did the cooking, washed the laundry, mended their clothing, dug up a field to grow some vegetables; he also catechized and baptized, sometimes with the father, sometimes alone. That is how he spent his time until Fr. Chanel’s martyrdom on 28th April 1841. The conspirators took ad- vantage of the absence of the brother, who had gone to perform baptisms some distance away, to carry out their diabolical plot: to treacherously take the father’s life, loot his house, and totally destroy it. The brother owed his life to totally providential circumstances.... To revenge himself for something the king had done which had offended him while they were looting the father’s house, a native named Matala ran to meet the brother to urge him not to return home, because they wanted to kill him the same way they had just killed Fr. Chanel. Bro. Marie-Nizier went back the way he had come, and a few days later, on 11th May, he was able to escape death by sailing on an American ship, the ‘Hamilton’, which had just stopped at Futuna. The next day he was on the island of Wallis, where Fr. Chevron was living; he told the latter what had happened to Fr. Chanel. He also wrote to Bishop Pompallier about everything that had happened on Futuna. The converted natives had told him all the details. He stayed on Wallis several years, helping that priest as he had helped the unfortunate Fr. Chanel. When the island of Futuna seemed safe enough for missionaries, Bro. Marie-Nizier returned, together with Fr. Gregel, with whom he stayed for twelve years. Later on, he was sent to Sydney, Australia, where the Marist Fathers established their supply center in a neighborhood to which they gave the name ‘Villa Maria’. There, as everywhere else, brother continually served as the right arm of the fathers, and devoted himself un- stintingly to be helpful to them until the end of his life. “2. He was the consolation and support of the brothers - Who could recount all that these first brothers had to suffer during many long years, from the heat, from the isolation in which they found themselves, from being deprived of everything, even clothing, footwear and food, sometimes going several days without eating.... And...what food: taro, yams, coconuts

prefeng-letter.doc 263 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” or wild fruit, fish, occasionally some rice, never any bread or wine, nor any seasonings. How many occasions there were for becoming discouraged and depressed! Far from their superiors, no one to go to with their needs, except a priest whose coadjutors they were; and often enough that priest would be absent for several days at a time. Well, a good letter which Bro. Marie-Nizier would send them from time to time, made them happy and revived their courage. They wrote to him when they had an opportunity, took his advice and found inspiration in him in the absence of their superiors, to whom they could write only at long intervals. Besides, in those days, letters from Oceania to France took from six to eight months, which meant a year and more for an exchange of correspondence. So Bro. Marie-Nizier’s presence was like a living Providence for his brothers, who had total confidence in him, and with good reason. They received with inexpressible happiness the opinions, advice and encouragement of this confrère who loved them, who wished them well and who was dealing with the same trials and sacrifices as they. 3. He was the eyes of his superiors - It was perhaps in this context, even though it was the least obvious, that Bro. Marie-Nizier rendered the greatest service to the missions. It was he who kept them informed, most especially about the brothers’ situations, the needs they were experiencing in their various localities, and the dangers to which they were exposed. It was he who informed them about the way things stood, about what might he helpful or harmful to them, as well as about the work they were doing. He thus gave them an occasion to give these isolated brothers the advice and instructions they needed to face their difficulties, to sustain them in doing good, to insure the success of their work as well as their perseverance, and to make them more useful to the missionary priests. It was because of this information that the superiors of the brothers were able to sustain them, to preserve them in their vocation and their mission, until Providence gave them the means to improve their situation and to do good on a greater scale. He had the satisfaction of seeing the beginning of that transformation during the last years of his life in Sydney, his last assignment” (Delorme file). Towards the end of his life, Bro. Marie-Nizier contracted various illnesses brought on by both the climate and privation. The doctors advised a more temperate climate and suggested several times that he return to France, but in the face of his strong distaste for that idea, they stopped talking to him about it. All he wanted to do was return to Futuna and die on that island. Finally, at the strenuous urging of the doctors, he had to be put aboard an English ship bound for Europe. During the crossing, his illness increased to the point where it seemed he was close to death. The doctor on board did everything he could for him, with remarkable devotion. When the ship reached London, no one wanted to disembark without first saying a few words of farewell to him. The doctor, before returning to Scotland, his own country, went to see him at the St. Anne’s residence, to which he had been taken, and wanted to confer with his colleague at that house, about the treatment to be followed. The fathers showered all their care and concern on him until the last moment. We know the details of his three last days from the daily correspondence of Frs. Chauvain and Rocher, who took special care of him. On 2nd February 1874, Fr. Chauvain wrote to Fr. Poupinel, “Our Bro. Marie-Nizier is failing visibly. All he can swallow now is a few drops of wine and water. But he is resigned and in excellent dispositions. He is fully conscious, but can hardly speak any more. We are doing all we can. Dr. Du Patriarche came twice to see him. Our own doctor comes every day, but all their treatments and knowledge have no effect” (APM, E 61 418). The next day, the 3rd, Fr. Rocher wrote to the Rev. Brother to give him these details: “Since my

prefeng-letter.doc 264 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” last letter, brother has been failing steadily, so much so that today he has absolutely no strength left. As he requested, I took care of him last night, which was a bad one for him. At midnight, I thought his last moments had come; his eyes became cloudy and he could not make out anything; but a quarter of an hour later he was calmer, and his sight had returned. Every few moments, we have to give him ice-water to drink; that is all he takes or wants to take. He wants me to stay with him all the time, but I must necessarily, and I can assure you, reluctantly, go to Richmond this evening, because I could not sleep a single moment today, and my head is just too heavy and tired. Fr. Chauvain has offered to replace me this evening, which makes me feel good. This is probably the last night. Since he can barely speak any more, and no one can understand him any more when he tries to, he uses a pencil to ask me for what he wants. I took advantage of that fact to get him to write a note to his sister. I am sending it to you so you can forward it to her” (APM, E 61 580). Finally, Fr. Rocher announced to Fr. Poupinel on 4th February 1874, that, “Our Bro. Marie-Nizier fell asleep in the Lord yesterday evening at 10:45. He died without a struggle, and remained conscious until the last moment. He made the sacrifice of his life very willingly; his death was that of a saint. All our fathers were around his bed during his last moments. They said Mass for the repose of his soul. His burial will take place Friday at 9a.m. As l am in a bit of a hurry, since the mail will be leaving soon, I will simply ask you how I should send you his personal effects” (Delorme file). (REFERENCES, pp. 372-375).

MARIE-THEODORE, BROTHER: Born Jacques Cincyr (or Saint-Cyr) in Fleurieux, to Jacques Cincyr and Honoree Decrau, entered the novitiate at Notre-Dame de l’Hermitage on 10th August 1834 and received the religious habit on 6th January 1835, at the age of 15; he made temporary vows for three years on 10th October 1836. Apart from Fr. Champagnat’s mention of him in his letter of 23rd June 1838 (L. 197) to Bro. François, we know nothing about him. His name does not appear on the 1839 assignment list, nor on the profession lists for that year. Presumably, he left the Institute toward the end of 1838. (REFERENCES, p. 375).

MARTIN, BROTHER: Born Joseph Roux on 23rd February 1816 in Saint-Jean- Bonnefonds, Loire, to Joseph Roux and Marie Franchon, entered the Hermitage novitiate on 12th March 1831. He received the religious habit the following 15th August (RV 1, p. X) and on 15th August 1832, made temporary profession for two years; he renewed it for three years on 12th October 1834 and then again publicly on 10th October 1836 (RVT, 1, pp. 40, 65). We believe he remained at the Hermitage to study until 1834, when he joined the community in Ampuis, where the 1834-1835 assignments place him. The following year he was in Millery. We wonder if he returned there in October 1836, because he was eligible for conscription that year, and at the beginning of 1837 he went to Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to place himself under Fr. Mazelier’s protection. The letter of 6th August 1837 (L. 128) shows that he was still there as of that date. We find his name on a list of Marist Brothers who went to Saint-Paul between 1835-1837 (drawn up no doubt towards the end of the latter year); after his name there is the annotation, “has not yet drawn” (his draft number) (AFM, 221.155). That may be why Fr. Champagnat, in the letter mentioned above, called him back, thinking that he could not obtain his certificate of competence the first year. However, on 4th February 1838 (L. 172), Fr. Champagnat asked Bro. François to send him, in Paris, “Bro. Martin’s

prefeng-letter.doc 265 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” ten-year commitment”. Was the latter still at St-Paul? We don’t know, but in any case, he did have two possibilities: being lucky enough to draw a number which would exempt him from military service, or obtaining his certificate. He possibly did both, but be that as it may, we do not know what became of him during 1838 and 1839, apart from the fact that he made perpetual profession on 10th October 1838 (RVP, 1, p. 30). In October 1839 he was named associate to Bro. Hilarion in Bourg-Argental. He stayed there only one year, since in October 1840, he was part of the team that went to take over the school in Cervin. In a letter dated 8th December 1840, Bro. Théodose writes, “Bro. Martin, who was assigned here by Bro. Jean-Baptiste, has had a hard time adapting” (Carvin file, doc. 2). The many letters from that school which have come down to us show that he was there until 1845. A letter from Bro. Nizier on 28th February 1843 mentions that, “Bro. Martin is also tired, especially since he took over a large part of Bro. Anaclet’s teaching” (ibid., doc. 16). On 12th October 1844, Bro. Martin himself wrote, “The classes are doing about the same as you found them. The Rules are observed fairly well. I am doing the best I can to carry out the recommendations of the Bros. Visitors. I have begun to work on the models” (ibid., doc. 26). A few months later, on 9th February 1845, he wrote this: “I was very happy to receive your letter. I am doing my best to follow your charitable advice. I must tell you, however, that since I perform my exercises privately, at least for the evening office and rosary and spiritual reading, I don’t always give them the attention they deserve, since I am obliged to perform them during study, with the result that sometimes I leave out part of them. As for meditation, I am very dry and often enough I don’t know what I’m looking for there. I don’t think often enough about my resolutions. During my free moments, I work at the English-style lettering according to the order I received. I have not yet been able to carry out to the letter the various orders I was given; I have run into several obstacles. I have worked at it, and I work at it every day, but I am often disturbed” (ibid., doc. 31). On 4th August 1845, apparently after a visit, Bro. Jean-Baptiste informed the Superior General about the state of the school, and hinted that the director, Bro. Théodose, should be changed. At the end, he notes that, “Bro. Martin was very tired; he is better now, but he has not recovered completely” (ibid., doc. 33) Four months later, on 29th November, the new director, Bro. Paphnuce, wrote, “Here is (the doctor’s opinion) about our Bro. Martin: this brother, he said, is in danger, but can easily extend his life by faithfully following the diet I have put him on (only bland things which will not upset the blood) and taking all the remedies I have prescribed for him (tub baths, linseed-flour poultices, leeches, and massages with an ointment) to slow the growth of the tumor, and even stop it and cause it to disappear, if possible. At least that’s our hope, because if it ripens, it will burst and spread through his body; that will lead to edema, and he will inevitably die” (ibid., doc. 35). Finally, on 10th April 1846, he announced to Bro. Jean-Baptiste that, “Our beloved Bro. Martin, after five minutes’ agony, fell asleep in the Lord on Saturday, 7th February, at 9 a.m. After saying the usual prayers, we sent the children home until Thursday, urging them to attend the burial, but to go to the church, which did not prevent a very large number of them from accompanying us from the house. We dressed him as at the Hermitage, then placed him on a bed in the parlor. Many people came to show their attachment to him by their prayers and tears. The brothers of four neighboring establishments came to carry him, as is done at the motherhouse. The funeral took place on 9th February at 9 a.m. A Mass without deacon, accompanied by funeral music,

prefeng-letter.doc 266 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” was very solemnly celebrated; and there were more people at that ceremony than there are on ordinary Sundays” (ibid., doc. 37). (REFERENCES, pp. 375-377).

MARTIN, JOSEPH: (1794-1877), born in Beynost, Ain, on 13th February 1794. Ordained on 26th July 1819, on 5th August he was appointed curate in Jujurieux, Ain. On 1st September 1829 he was named parish priest of Belmont, replacing Fr. Jean- Louis Andely who had retired to Serrières. On 5th September 1832 he was named parish priest of Savigneux, Loire, but that appointment never took effect, because immediately after, the personnel files list him as chaplain of the Lyons hospital. The parish of Albigny, Rhône, being vacant through the resignation of Fr. Jean-Marie Souvanon, he was named to replace him on 3rd January 1838. It was from there that he contacted Fr. Champagnat. He must have asked for brothers, but did not have any means to pay them. The Founder suggested that he join forces with the parish priest of Curls, and said he would send one or another brother from Neuville to teach in Villevert, where the children of the two neighboring parishes could go. For reasons we do not know, the project was never carried out (cf. LL. 257, 301, 302). Since we have not found any other appointments, we presume that Fr. Martin remained in that parish the rest of his life. He died on 10th April 1877. (REFERENCES, p. 377).

MATRICON, JEAN-MARIE: (1803-1882) “In the year one thousand eight hundred thirty- nine, on Tuesday 3rd September, the eve of the closing of the annual retreat, Jean- Marie Matricon, the undersigned priest, born in Bessat, Loire, of the legitimate marriage of Jean-Claude Matricon and Marie Farat, on 18th February 1803, made, in the church of the minor seminary of Belley, Ain, directed by the priests of our company, and in presence of a great number of his confreres, after the usual period of trial, the three simple perpetual vows of chastity, obedience and poverty, into the hands of Rev. Fr. Colin, undersigned General of the Society of Mary, the which vows he has promised to observe according to the Rules and Constitutions of the said society” (APM, Registre voeux, p. 12). To reach that definitive stage of his religious vocation, he had previously gone through all those which had led him to the priesthood. In 1821, according to Bro. Avit (we are not sure whether this was before or during his seminary studies), he and Philip Arnaud took Latin lessons from Fr. Champagnat (AA, p. 17). Then he received in turn, from Bishop Gaston de Pins: tonsure, on 23rd July 1826; minor orders, on 24th April 1827; the subdiaconate, on 9th July 1827; the diaconate, that 22nd December; and the priesthood on 31st May 1828. On 11th June, the bishop named him curate in Marlhes. There, still according to Bro. Avit, “he was threatened by some malefactor as he was carrying the Blessed Sacrament to a sick person by night. Others say that some dissolute person, whose victim Fr. Matricon had converted, fired a rifle through the window of his room one night. Whichever, Fr. Matricon was so frightened that he could no longer stand being in parish ministry. He therefore asked Fr. Champagnat to let him join him at the Hermitage, promising to enter the Society of Marist Fathers. The Founder, who was doing as much recruiting as he could, gladly welcomed him” (AA, p. 166). According to the diocesan personnel register, he left the parish of Marlhes on 29th July 1833, but according to Bro. Avit, he did not move into the Hermitage as chaplain until 1835. In any event, all witnesses agree that from 1835 on, he integrated himself totally into the brothers’ community, lived with them the major and minor events of their history, and shared their sorrows and joys for more than forty years. He was there to

prefeng-letter.doc 267 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” welcome Bishop de Pins on the occasion of his brief visit to the Hermitage during the summer of 1837 (AA, pp. 219-220), and to advise Bro. François during the Founder’s stay in Paris (cf. LL. 175, 194, 196); he even participated to some extent in Bro. François’ election, and also in Fr. Champagnat’s funeral; the following year, he was a member of the enlarged council which decided on the fusion of the Brothers of Saint- Paul with our Institute. In later years, when he was the only priest at the Hermitage, his influence, based on past experience, in no way diminished but rather increased. Bro.. François continued to have confidence in him within his own domain, despite an occasional difference of opinion, such as the one he shared with Fr. Colin during 1849- 50: “Fr. Matricon,” he told him, “with whom I shared what you told me about the feast- days for which we asked permission for exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, replied that we would have exposition during Mass only on the feasts of the Blessed Virgin and of St. Joseph. I accepted that decision, even though it seemed arbitrary’ to me, and I would ask you not to tell him that I have mentioned it to you, since that might upset him still more. I let him do whatever he, wants, and I think we get along well together” (AFM, 505.2, p. 450). He returned to the same subject in his letter of 29th June 1850, and showed the same conciliatory attitude. When he sent greetings from all the brothers at the Hermitage, he also included those of Fr. Matricon whom everyone considered a member of the community, as Bro. Nestor testified in his circular of 26th December 1882: “During his long stay among us, Fr. Matricon never failed to edify the community, which had become his second family. He was entirely devoted to us, and we enjoy recalling how helpful his participation in our work was. His prudence and his long experience with people and situations made him a good counselor. His good advice was very helpful to many of our religious and to the whole congregation” (Circulaires, VII, p. 96). Besides serving as a reminder of the great service rendered by Fr. Matricon, this praise was intended to erase the memory of the problems he gave during the final years of his life. Age held in store for him many trials and humiliations, through which God no doubt willed to purify his soul. “Fr. Matricon reached the point where he took an hour and even more to say Mass,” Bro. Avit reports in the Abregé des Annales; “he repeated certain parts, especially the words of consecration, loud enough to be heard, which annoyed the brothers. He also repeated over and over again the formula of absolution, which startled penitents who were not aware of his condition. He soon had to be re- quested not to say the community Mass any longer. From then on, he celebrated in a small chapel...where he was alone with his server. The latter, a young novice, sometimes had to remind him that he had already said what he was repeating. A cough or the slightest movement, would make him lose his place. The server had to put up with it, and sometimes used the time to study his lessons. That lasted about eighteen years” (AA, notebook n° 6, p. 516). Our annalist mentions this in connection with the year 1858. He returns to the same topic when he writes about 1882: “Fr. Matricon,” he says, “died on 28th June at the age of 78. He had spent forty-seven years in the Institute, but as we have already said, his scruples had obliged him to suspend all priestly functions, since he could not get through the consecration or absolution. He was very abstemious, but he insisted that his food be well prepared and served properly. His poor health had made him very prudent, and very careful to avoid anything which might have aggravated his condition. He used very little heat in winter, so when he left his room, he first took a few steps away from his fireplace, then went to the door and left it open for a few moments, before he went out. He was hurt by certain brothers’ lack of consideration, but

prefeng-letter.doc 268 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” he never complained about them” (ibid., notebook n° 7, pp. 779-780). Fr. Matricon apparently understood Fr. Champagnat, his fellow-countryman, very well, and in some ways he prolonged the Founder’s presence among the brothers. (REFERENCES, pp. 377-379).

MAUNIER, ANTOINE CASIMIR: (1805-1882) born 23rd March 1805 in Cotignac, Var, was ordained to the diaconate on 20th May 1826, and to the priesthood on 30th May 1828. He was immediately appointed curate in Beausset, Var. On 1St January 1831, he was named rector of the minor seminary in La Verdière, and on 18th June 1835, parish priest of Callas, Var. He immediately tried to provide a brothers’ school for his parish, but negotiations apparently dragged on (cf. LL. 91, 110) and finally fell through. Fr. Maunier was transferred to the parish of Pyrasse on 14th March 1841, and during 1865, Bishop Jordany appointed him his vicar general. On 1st July 1876, Bishop Terris, the new ordinary of Fréjus, reappointed him vicar general, and on 17th July 1879, conferred on him the mantle of a titular canon. He died three years later on 3rd November 1882. (REFERENCES, pp. 379-380).

MAURICE, BROTHER: On page 41 of the register of temporary professions, we read: “I, the undersigned Brother Thomas, born Jean-Baptiste Thomas, legitimate son of Jean-Baptiste and of Catherine Fuzier, both living, a native of the parish of Longe- Chenal, aged twenty, attest and declare that.. .1 was admitted on the eleventh day of November, one thousand eight hundred thirty-one to the house of Notre-Dame de l’Her- mitage,...that on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred thirty-two, I had the honor of being clothed in the holy religious habit...and that later...on the seventh day of February, one thousand eight hundred thirty-three, in the church of La Valla...I made, privately but voluntarily and freely, for a period of one year, the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.... The twenty-third of March, one thousand eight hundred thirty- three, signed: Bro. Thomas, Bro. François, Bro. André”. That declaration agrees with the one made at the time of his reception. But in the register of perpetual professions, we read: “I, the undersigned Brother Maurice, born Jean Thomas, legitimate son of Jea4l and of Catherine Fuzier, both living, a native of the parish of Longe-Chenal, aged twenty-one, attest and declare that...on the first day of February, one thousand eight hundred thirty-five, in the church of Peaugres, (Ardèche), I made...the three perpetual vows...signed the twenty-ninth day of September one thousand eight hundred thirty-five’ at Notre-Dame de l’Hermitage, Bro. Maurice, Champagnat, Bro. Jean-Baptiste, Bro. Nilamon” (p. 23). On the list of brothers who made public perpetual vows on October 1836, we find, in 54th place: Bro. Maurice, Jean-Baptiste Thomas, Longe-Chenal, 22. However, on the list of the brothers of the Institute in 1837, the name of Bro. Maurice does not appear, while that of Bro. Thomas does; but from the 1839 assignments on, we find only the name of Bro. Maurice. This is obviously the same person under two successive names. We do not know why the change was made; perhaps he asked for it himself in a moment of fervor, or the other brothers asked the Founder to change it, or the latter himself thought it necessary. The fact remains that apart from that first instance, Jean-Baptiste Thomas bore the name of Bro. Maurice during his entire religious life! We have no information as to what he did during the year immediately following his novitiate, but for reasons we will state below, we believe that in November 1833, he opened the school in Peaugres together with Bro. Nilamon. In the annals of

prefeng-letter.doc 269 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” that establishment, Bro. Avit informs us that “the first director was a Bro. Nilamon” (213.35, p. 3). In addition, the 1834-35 assignments indicate for Peaugres: “Maurice, Nilamon”, which seems to indicate that Bro. Maurice was director. We should note that this Bro. Nilamon was Pierre Colombon, who had entered at just about the same time as Bro. Maurice but was four years older than he. Bro. Nilamon should therefore have been director because of his age; but perhaps Bro. Maurice was appointed because of his diplomas and education, or so we may presume from the positions he would soon be given. In any case, as we said above, Bro. Nilamon had signed as a witness at Bro. Maurice’s perpetual profession in Peaugres on 1st February 1835. So we can agree that these two brothers taught together in Peaugres during the two school years from November 1833 to October 1835. After that, Bro. Nilamon apparently stayed there, according to Bro. Avit, but Bro. Maurice had to go replace Bro. Jean- Baptiste as director of the school in Bourg-Argental. On that occasion, Bro. Avit offers the following testimony about him: “Bro. Maurice was something of an architect, geomethcian and painter, or at least he tried to be. It was those talents which brought him here. He was also the head of the district. On 5th November 1836, he gave the Founder an account of his visits to the school in Boulieu, Peaugres and St-Sauveur” (213.85, p. 63). In his letter of 18th March 1838 to Bro. Hilarion (L. 181). Fr. Champagnat asks to be remembered to Bro. Maurice, which shows that he was still in the area, but in October of that year, Bro. Hilarion replaced him, according to Bro. Avit, who states in the annals of Lorette that, “Bro. Apollinaire was replaced by the ex-brother Maurice, who did not stay long” (213.28, p. 3). As can be seen, he is not specific as to the date, and as we have noted in the entry on Bro. Apollinaire, he must have made an error here. Besides, he also mentions ex-brother Maurice among the associates of Bro. Philippe, who was director of the school in Sury-le-Comtal from 1838 to 1840. That does not seem possible, unless it was simply a question of a brief replacement. We may presume that Bro. Maurice directed the school in Lorette during the 1838-39 school year, and that in October 1839, he was named to direct the one in Anse, as the assignment list indicates. That school, opened in 1837, had as its first director Bro. François-Xavier, who was “replaced by the ex-Maurice who directed it...until February 1842”, according to Bro. Avit, who a few lines further, adds, “The ex-Maurice was one of the few learned men we had at that time. He knew geometry and a little painting, which was at that time the ‘non plus ultra’, even among lay teachers, who were no better educated than the brothers in secular subjects, and far less so in religion. One of the exMaurice’s associates told us that as director he preferred his bed to large classes. It may have been for that reason, and also to show off his great store of knowledge, that he began a higher class whose students paid 6 and 8 francs a month. He taught them geography, history, geometry and drawing. At first this class did very well, and earned its creator the title of ‘scholar’. In addition, he was head of the district which included the houses of Anse, Thoissey, St-Didier and Neuville” (214.4, pp. 10-li). In February 1824, Bro. Marie-Auzonne replaced him when he went to replace Bro. Abrosime as director of the school in Digoin. It must have been illness which necessitated Bro. Abrosime’s being replaced during the school year, and the choice of Bro. Maurice can be explained by his competence, since in Digoin, the brothers had to struggle against the lay teachers and the hostility of some of the town councilors. The latter were pleased with Mr. De Salvandy’s prohibition against the opening of a boarding school, but Bro. Maurice got the Marquis De Ia Guiche, who was a deputy, involved, and he persuaded the minister to reverse his earlier decision and

prefeng-letter.doc 270 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” grant the requested authorization. The establishment of this boarding school necessitated the construction of a new building. At the urging of Fr. Page, the parish priest, the brother director threw himself into the project, going so far as to spend community money without the authorization of the superiors. In the process, he ruined not only his health but also the religious spirit of his community. “He had been physically and emotionally unwell for some time,” reports Bro. Avit, referring to the year 1849, “physically, because of the exhaustion resulting from his teaching plus the work and worries involved in the construction; emotionally because of the remarks and even the reprimands the superiors had given him about the irregularities in his house, his dealings with outsiders, his way of acting with his brothers, the second storey he had had added to the new building on his own initiative and against the wishes of the parish priest, and finally about the money he had spent on the construction without permission. His last letters are full of bitterness towards his superiors, whom he accuses of lack of confidence in him, of injustice towards him, and of too readily believing the exaggerated reports of his subordinates. He was replaced at the beginning of 1851 and sent to the North” (212.27, pp. 14-15). He went there to found the school in Fruges, where he stayed until the 1854 vacations; he left the Institute shortly afterwards. (REFERENCES, pp. 380-382).

MAZELIER, FRANÇOIS: (1795-l856), he was born 13th January 1795 in Bourg-de- Péage, Drôme, was ordained on 11th May l817. From October 18l9 until probably the 1822 school vacation, judging from a pocket notebook in which he recorded his expenses, he lived in Paris while doing his literary classical studies. On his return, he was appointed professor of rhetoric in the seminary. In l 824, his ordinary, Bishop De la Tourette, at the request of Fr. Fière, his vicar general, entrusted him with the tiny congregation of Brothers of Christian Instruction, who lacked both a leader and a fixed abode. The next twenty years of Fr. Mazelier's life were inextricably bound up with that of this congregation. What follows is a brief summary of its early history. Fr. Jacques Pierre Solier-Lestang, parish priest of Saint-Paul Trois-Chateaux, had decided around 1820 to establish a school in his parish. Thanks to the help of his parishioners on the one hand, and on the other, to his good luck in finding the kind of teacher he wanted, he was able to carry out his plans. But he soon realized that unless there were a school for training Christian teachers, meaning religious, there could be no guarantees for the future. Presuming that such an undertaking was the responsibility of the diocese, he spoke about it at the chancery. Fr. Fière, being well aware of the problem, took the opportunity to suggest to Fr. Solier that he found such a school himself, since he so well understood how necessary it was. The latter seems to have accepted at first, with the backing of the chancery, which immediately took the necessary steps to obtain a royal ordinance. That became an accomplished fact on 11th June 1823; the authorization gave the members of this future association the right to open schools in the territory of the Grenoble academy (school district), which included the departments of the Drôme, the Isère, and the Hautes-Alpes. However, in view of his age and the concerns which such an undertaking would add to his parish ministry, Fr. Solier demurred, leaving it up to Fr. Fière to see to it that the authorization did not remain a dead letter. The latter took matters in hand, and gathered in his own home the young men who after October 1823 were interested in joining him in order to become religious teachers. But soon enough, he too found the burden too much for him, and asked Fr. Brun, parish priest of Peyrins,

prefeng-letter.doc 271 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” who had been trained in the congregation of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, to carry on the work which had now begun. During March 1824, Fr. Brun brought the young men to his residence to continue their formation. This was only a provisional solution until the vacations, which the young men went home to spend with their families. Meanwhile, the parish priest of Saint-Paul had been involved in buying back for the diocese the former Dominican friary, which property had been divided into several parcels, each of which now belonged to a different individual. He had acquired most of them by the end of 1824, and that November, the little group of about fifteen young men were able to settle into the former monastery, to which Fr. Mazelier welcomed them. From the outset, he took the project to heart, having decided to devote himself totally to its organization, direction and its development, primarily for the good of the diocese. So his bishop was able to congratulate himself in a letter of 8th November 1824, for having freed him to take over the brothers; he also extended Fr. Fière's regrets for being unable to participate in the installation ceremony. Fr. Mazelier had taken the project to heart even though he did not feel prepared for such an undertaking, nor endowed with the charism of founding a religious congregation. He therefore studied the rules of similar congregations, and immediately found himself in agreement with the work of Fr. De La Mennais, who at that time was in the process of founding the Brothers of Christian Instruction of Brittany. He adopted the same name for his own brothers. Besides, since the diocese of Valence maintained close ties with that of Viviers, to which it sent its seminarians since it did not have a major seminary of its own, Fr. Mazelier knew the Brothers of Viviers, who were directed by Fr. Vernet and Fr. Gery. As for the Brothers of the Hermitage, he apparently did not meet them until later; in any case, we have no reason to think he had a copy of their prospectus or knew their regulations. So he began directing his brothers mostly by feeling his way, so to speak, and by following the inspirations he received in prayer and reflection. In those of his letters which have come down to us, we can glimpse certain essential elements of his spirituality. On 26th March 1828, he wrote to Fr. De La Mennais, Our brothers' foundation is going fairly well, thank God, except that I would like to see an increase in their spirit of faith in relation to their various studies, to which they are perhaps too attached, or at least they do not put them on their proper level, beneath piety. I am a bit afraid they do not sufficiently appreciate the quotation, 'Seek first the Kingdom of God, and the rest will come later'. However they are good enough for me to be confident that they will accept the remarks I will give them in that regard, as I have already begun to do. I will not forbid them to have an interest in writing and the rest, but I will tell them to relate everything to God, and to value their studies only to the extent that they promote the glory of God and the accomplishment of their duties" (AFM, 531.31, p. 6). He came back to the same theme in a circular letter announcing the death of a brother: "When brothers appear before God they must have more to show him than pages full of beautiful handwriting. Take advantage of this sad news, brothers, to meditate on death, so that you may be ready to appear before God with your hands full of good works done to please him, works animated by faith, charity, and zeal for his glory, and not just your studies" (AFM, 531.11, n° 17). He had an opportunity to make a statement about the lay character of the congregation when someone offered him a young subdeacon who apparently was unable to continue his studies for the priesthood. He accepted him, but remarked, "However, I would not like anyone to come to join us with the hope of becoming a priest. Until now, the advice of many persons worthy of respect, and many other reasons, have led me to decide not to

prefeng-letter.doc 272 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” allow any studies whatever toward that goal within our congregation" (531.31). However, to Fr. Mazelier, it went without saying that studies were essential for future teachers, an understandable attitude on the part of a professor of rhetoric. He showed his concern for providing a library for his young men, by becoming involved, despite his meager financial resources, with various organizations dedicated to spreading good books. He also provided them with materials for learning drawing and plainchant, to mention only items specifically listed in his accounts. As for the vows, Fr. Mazelier was very respectful of each one's conscience. On 30th December 1826, he confided to his bishop, "There are (some brothers) who have just made vows, but privately and without the others knowing about it" (item.). And on 27th January l835, he sent a circular letter on the subject to the brothers: "The feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, which we celebrate next Monday, should be very special to you, and it should inspire you with great dedication, after the example of the Son of God, who offers himself to his Father in the Temple of Jerusalem. In our community that day, three novices will receive the habit. I recommend them to your prayers. This ceremony is all the more important because in our community, it is held only for those who, having already been tested for a fairly long time, have decided to embrace your state and to consecrate themselves to it by vow, although prudence makes it your duty to test them again before accepting their commitment. "As for the vows, since my trip to Valence before the last retreat prevented me from taking steps to prepare you for them in a suitably special way, no one should make them without having first thought about it with all the attention required by a commitment of this nature: those who had more seriously thought about it were not numerous enough, so we thought of putting off until the following vacation even those who had made private perpetual vows and who would be renewing them publicly in the presence of their brothers. "Now, dear brothers, without wanting to push anyone further than what God inspires him to do, we will still congratulate those to whom he gives the grace of consecrating themselves unreservedly to God, and of thus giving themselves to a loving master to serve whom is to reign. We offer them a beautiful model in the person of Jesus Christ being presented in the Temple and dedicating himself in advance (since he knew in advance the whole course of his life). He dedicated himself there to doing the will of his Father even to his last breath, even to shedding all his blood amid the tortures and humiliation of the cross; he offered his Father his hidden life, his obedience to Mary and Joseph, his miracles of preaching, the contradictions he would have to endure and finally his death which he could already foresee. Mary herself offered to God with her son, that sword of sorrow which the holy old man Simeon had announced would pierce her soul. "O Jesus! O Mary! I unite my sacrifice to yours; bless mine, give me the grace to fulfill it with the holy dispositions you had to honor the heavenly father, to promote his glory and the salvation of souls! Dear brothers, if the model excites us, the reward should encourage us. 'He who receives a child in my name, receives me.' These consoling words are meant for you. 'He who leaves his father, his mother, his brother or his sister, or his wife (or who foregoes setting himself up in the world), for love of me, will receive a hundredfold in this world and life eternal in the next.' 'Those who teach others justice will shine like the stars of heaven in unending eternity.' "These passages of Holy Scripture are well known to you. I am sure that the attitudes they express are already in the hearts of most of you. I invite those to whom God gives the grace of vocation to prepare to make vows at the retreat during the coming vacation. I am not acting too far in advance by having you think about it already. You have two things to do: 1° reflect on

prefeng-letter.doc 273 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” your strength and your vocation; 2° prepare yourselves by prayer, Holy Communion, your meditations, your fidelity to your rule and your charity toward God and the children in the role you have to fulfill with them, keeping in mind above all the glory of God and their salvation. These will both be taken care of during your vacation, in consultation with your superior and your retreat director, and during the holy exercises you will be given. "Vows will be made at the end of the retreat, whether the number of those prepared be small or large. The vows may be either perpetual or temporary. All those who are returning to a school or going to one for the first time, should make them for at least one year; no one is obliged to do any more than that. A good practice for those who have made them for several years is to renew them each year, at least, in the same terms, so that the strength of the 'yes' of their commitment does not begin to fade in their own minds, since they are serving such a loving master. However, they should not get themselves upset, nor do anything out of human respect, but simply follow in all things the inspirations of grace. However, blessed are they who are called to such a holy vocation which brings them close to Jesus Christ and draws down upon them so many graces and such a reward!" (AFM, 531.11, n° I). In the last part of this letter, he urged the brothers to recruit vocations, because there were so many requests for brothers and so little available personnel, even though a number of schools were being directed by only one brother. He drew up a letter in the same vein for parish priests, asking them to make the congregation known, and to add their zealous support "to perpetuate it and spread it, by sending it subjects. People on all sides ask us to open houses, but they do not offer us enough men to form. The difficulties of the present time, which since the July Revolution has not been favorable for the arrival of new novices, should still not hold back those who, together with an interest in teaching, have a desire to consecrate themselves to God in this state. What have they got to lose? The sacrifices they make to enter our house are not all that great, and in any case, they will profit by the education they will receive in exchange. They will not be exposed to any danger. If a new storm arises, they can be of great service to religion, while the tempest lasts, by teaching in secular dress. Even the vows which they may make will be only conditional, in view of the circumstances. Since the institute accepts only novices who can pay for their room and board, it is able to sustain itself by the work and mutual charity of its members who, like the first Christians, hold everything in common" (Cf. Bulletin de l'lnstitut, vol. 24, p. 764). The foregoing text can be understood in the light of the large number of young brothers and novices who did not persevere. When, in the very beginning, he wanted to put his young men face to face with the requirements of authentic religious life, the majority of them left. He was discouraged, but the personal qualities and religious spirit of a small number of them, including Bro. Paul, restored his confidence. Others came to fill the empty places, but a number of them left in their turn, after having obtained their certificate of competence. We have several letters from these young men, asking him for a certificate of good conduct, a recommendation, or a delay in the settlement of the part of their room and board expenses which they had not yet finished paying. We learn from the latter that Fr. Mazelier asked these debtors for the money they owed him because he was short of cash, his assets were vastly exceeded by his debts, in spite of the many gifts mentioned in a number of documents. It was to some extent to help him deal with that situation that the diocese also entrusted him with the parish of St-Paul. Fr. Flandrin fell ill towards the end of 1826, and died on 7th January 1827. On the 13th, Fr. Mazelier wrote a brief note to his bishop, asking him "absolutely not to appoint him parish priest of

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St-Paul, or rather to withdraw the appointment already made" (531.31). But as he later explained to Fr. De La Mennais. My naming me to the parish, Fr. Fière, V.G., had in mind to prevent anyone from easily separating me from the brothers, and also to give them some financial resources. Along with that went my bad health. which usually prevents me even from writing a letter without the help of a secretary" (ibid ). As parish priest, he had to think of getting his church, a former cathedral, repaired, and even though at first he continued to live with the brothers, he eventually had to think about his successor, and so battle with the town authorities to have his residence repaired and enlarged, or better yet, to have another building placed at his disposal, so that he would be at least as well housed as the Protestant minister. For all those reasons, since he apparently felt himself incapable of giving his congregation the impetus he envied in other groups, he first thought of putting it under the patronage of a clerical congregation, but no serious possibility presented itself. And so he became more and more preoccupied with the idea of uniting with another congregation of the same type. It must also be said that, on the strength of the legal authorization flowing from his royal ordinance of 11th June 1823, valid in the three departments of the Drôme, the Isère and the Hautes-Alpes, "included in the territory of the Academy of Grenoble", other fledgling congregations sought to find shelter under his wings. That was Fr. Champagnat's main idea when he first contacted Fr. Mazelier. We have no documentation that gives us any idea how the two priests knew each other. Bro. Louis-Marie, in an article in the Bulletin de l'lnstitut (vol. 24, p. 503) suggests that it was through Fr. Douillet, who was attached to the same Grenoble school district as Fr. Mazelier. But the latter may well have known about the Society of Mary as early as 1829. In fact, when he wrote to the parish priest of Saint-Antoine to request information about a young man who was requesting admission to the community in St-Paul, the latter answered on 17th July 1829: "I have been parish priest of St-Antoine for five months.... When I arrived, Father, I did find in St-Antoine a community of brothers under the name of Mary who were being trained to teach children in rural areas, but reasons known only to His Lordship led to the sending away of the Reverend Father who was the superior of that community. It thus found itself without a head, an urgent situation which forced each member of that community to find some way to earn his own living..." (St-Paul file, 16 bis). The young man in question, whom Fr. Mazelier did receive as a brother, was one of them. In any case, as we know from the letters we have, contacts increased after 1835, but they had certainly begun before that. However, we do not believe one could push them further back than the last quarter of 1834 or even the beginning of 1835, at least judging from what we can gather from the first letters they exchanged (L. 60), and from what we know of Fr. Champagnat, who lost no time putting something into operation once he had made up his mind about it. Normally, it would have been he who suggested their first meeting and gone to St-Paul- Trois-Chateaux, but we have no evidence of such a visit. On the other hand, it is very obvious from Fr. Mazelier's letter of 26th May 1835, that he had visited the Hermitage, most likely during that month. On 13th June 1835, four brothers: Apollinaire, Cyprien, Grégoire and Justin, arrived in St-Paul, opening the way which others would follow year after year until the fusion of the two congregations. In his letter, Fr. Champagnat promises to visit St-Paul, something he seems to have done with Fr. Colin towards the end of 1835, since Fr. Lavarenne, vicar general of Valence, wrote to Fr. Mazelier on 15 January 1836, saying, "I have seen the superior of the Marist Fathers and his traveling companion; I drew only one conclusion from their entire conversation, namely that they

prefeng-letter.doc 275 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” want others to be useful to them and that they are scarcely interested in being useful to others; what they are most afraid of is that we may steal their subjects" (AFM, 531.21, n° 5). It could not have been a question simply of the young brothers; the projected union must certainly have been their main topic of conversation. However, Fr. Mazelier had not waited before seeking information; he asked Fr. Géry to find out "about the congregation of brothers founded in St-Chamond". The latter replied on 30th November 1835 that he had asked one of his friends to look into it, a priest in St-Etienne who had met Fr. Champagnat in that same city, and "was ;;! more impressed by his prudence and piety than by his talents". On 22nd December he sent him the reply of the St-Etienne priest, who t painted him a picture of the Institute as seen from the outside. We can see that Fr. Mazelier was not unattracted to Fr. Champagnat's proposal of fusion, but the idea still left him very hesitant and full J of mixed feelings: pain, on the one hand, at the thought of handing X over to others those whom he considered his own children, and also by: the presentiment that that this would probably be the only way his S work could survive. So he needed time to think and pray, in hopes that s God would reveal his will more clearly through events. That was also the advice he received from Fr. Géry, in the letters we just mentioned: "In any event, Father, the affiliation of the St-Chamond congregation to yours, which is still so small, seems to me a very delicate matter, which you should be in no hurry to conclude". He wrote in that vein to Fr. Colin on 28th March 1836, reacting to the P.S. in Fr. Champagnat's letter of 8th May (L. 65). The latter, Fr. Mazelier points out, "is not satisfied with suggesting an alliance; he wants something more, (namely) that I give him our little congregation to blend it with his own, of which he offers to establish a novitiate in my diocese. It seems to me, Fr. Superior, that unless I am deceiving myself, I am ready to do God's still.... One could say that our rules are the same, but our method of making assignments is different.... Is it necessary, for example, 1° to forego placing men in towns of two to three thousand souls which need two classes, where two brothers, with little furnishings, by our method, would be enough for a parish priest who has the zeal to support them, and where three brothers would be needed, along with a considerable amount of furnishings, according to Fr. Champagnat's method...? 2° to give up the possibility of serving nearly all the parishes of the department of the Hautes-Alpes, whose populations are so tiny that they could not meet the expense of two brothers? To avoid the problem of expenses, can Fr. Champagnat continue to rest satisfied with 400 fr. when the Brothers of the Christian Schools have decided that 500 or 600 fr. are indispensable? ... "There, Fr. Superior, you have the questions which I gladly submit to your judgment, but which must be studied carefully before any fusion can take place. In the meantime, I will be sincerely delighted with any circumstances, any charity in Jesus Christ, any coming together which might unite us more perfectly in the bonds of the Savior, our common master, whose glory both of us have in view. I am in the process of studying whether, in terms of our method of placement in the parishes, it might not be better for us to place ourselves under the wings of some congregation of priests, and by what means I might do so, since there is none in our diocese". Fr. Champagnat, who was informed of the foregoing letter, answered it at the beginning of July (L. 66). As for the idea of placing himself under the patronage of a congregation of priests, an occasion did arise, through a rather curious offer made by a priest from Avignon the founder of an order modeled on that of St. Francis; he suggested to Fr. Mazelier that he enroll his brothers in the Third Order, while preserving the specific personality of his congregation, while he himself would become a

prefeng-letter.doc 276 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” member of the superior council of the clerical order. Fr. Mazelier consulted the bishop, who had Fr. Lavarenne answer him on 11th July 1836: "Before putting your congregation under the patronage of a congregation of priests, you must be well aware of its spirit and lifestyle. There is no doubt a good side to the project, but it also presents many inconveniences. First of all, in a sense it turns your work into an extradiocesan one, which must be avoided as far as possible. In the second place, you could destroy the spirit of your institute by blending it with one which does not have the same aim nor the same outlook. Would it not be better to let your brothers direct themselves under the authority of the bishop of the diocese...? Find out about the Avignon congregation you've told me about; I'll get information about the one from Belley. But I must tell you that His Lordship will never allow you to put yourself under the patronage of the latter group (AFM, 531.21, n. 6). We do not know the results of these investigations, beyond the fact that despite repeated urgings by the Avignon congregation, the project fell through. In addition, during that same period, Fr. Mazelier became aware of another project: the decision by Fr. Ferréol Douillet of La Côte-St-André to integrate his postulants into the St-Paul congregation on condition that the latter would open schools and a novitiate in the diocese of Grenoble, to serve the parishes of that diocese which asked for brothers. It must be said here that at the time, Fr. Douillet was in difficulty, since his foundation was in danger of disappearing (cf. entry on Fr. Douillet). Matters went so far that on 25th January 1837 they drew up an agreement; but it was not signed and so never took effect. It seemed to Fr. Mazelier that the best solution would be to unite his congregation to that of Fr. De La Mennais, something he had been thinking about for nearly ten years. Thinking the time had come, he wrote the founder of the Brothers of Ploërmel an emotional letter, suggesting that he take the Brothers of Saint-Paul into his congregation: "I am going to propose something very important for the glory of God: we have a better reputation than we deserve. It is now a matter of maintaining it, strengthening it, and offering stronger guarantees that it will last. You know that it wasn't just yesterday that I told you that if you had been able to direct our association here through one of your children who was capable of doing so, I would have handed it over to him. Now that God has increased your numbers, you could do even more. Besides, you were good enough to tell me that you had sent six brothers into the (former province of) Berry to spread your work there. Fr. Deshayes has sent several subjects to the diocese of Digne, department of the Basses-Alpes, which is practically our neighbor, since from here it is about 25 leagues to the border and 40 to Mées, the place which has been fortunate enough to receive this precious beginning.... "I am asking you, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to send us some of your subjects, one who could be a good director and visitor of the congregation, one who would be very capable of teaching and who would have his certificate of competence if possible, to train the others...and a third whom I could, if need be, place in Embrun at the head of the preparatory novitiate.... After you have granted those three subjects, I will hand my congregation over to you, if you wish, presuming that at that distance, they can direct it by themselves with your advice; or else, if you prefer, I will continue to take care of it as in the past. I entrust my request to your zeal and to Providence. Another congregation from Lyons asked me to join it so that they could take advantage of our royal ordinance; I did not want to because they go only two by two and I would thereby deprive most of the towns of Dauphins for which we were established, and which can meet the expenses only of a single brother..." (AFM, 531.31, p. 34). On 30th June 1837, Fr. De La

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Mennais replied, "You think I am much richer than I really am: my brothers are not yet quite 400 in number, and not all of them are teaching yet,...and at the moment I do not have a single one to spare.... So please have pity on my poverty, and do not scold me if, despite my sincere desire to oblige you, I do not accept any of the proposals you make in a way so well calculated to touch me.... Could you not find help closer to home? Another priest could handle the details of the work under your direction, and that would lighten your burden considerably. I have still not carried out my plans for the Berry area, and I really do not know when I shall be able to.... My esteemed and holy friend Fr. Deshayes has been more daring and more fortunate. He was recently telling me about his trip to Digne, and I marveled with him at the way Providence so wonderfully blessed his zeal in that instance. Certainly nothing would be more likely to encourage and inspire me also to want to send a few of my brothers far away, but I am held back for the reasons I have just explained to you..., they are so strong and they weigh so heavily on my mind that I cannot overcome them". Fr. Mazelier made one last attempt, this time with Fr. Deshayes, who also gave him a refusal. But fearing that he had not made himself clearly understood, Fr. Mazelier explained to him, on 16th May 1838: "Even though I told you how pleased I would be to place my congregation in your hands immediately, if that were possible, my main intention was to express to you my personal desire and that of those around me to go along with the ideas you were so good as to share with me, together with Fr. De La Mennais, to form one single congregation with the brothers from Mées and others from the south". The two founders continued to exchange letters during 1839, but never came to any concrete decision. As for the Marist Brothers, the letters exchanged during 1839 and 1840 deal almost exclusively with the growing number of brothers whom we wanted to shield from conscription. But on 10th December 1840, Bro. François received a letter from St-Paul, informing him through Fr. Bellier that the bishop of Valence was interested in reopening "the question of the union of the Brothers of Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux with the Marist Brothers". This step was taken without Fr. Mazelier's knowledge (cf. Circulaires. 1, pp. 338-339). After this roundabout communication, Bishop Chartrousse was no doubt contacted directly either by the superiors of the brothers or by Fr. Colin, who must have been informed. In any case, it was the latter who took up the affair again. In early March, on his way to make a retreat at the Trappist abbey of Aiguebelle, he went to see Fr. Mazelier, to discuss the matter with him. Together they drew up a document dated 6th 1841, giving a "Summary of the procedures for the projected union between the Brothers of l'Hermitage. in the archdiocese of Lyons, and those of Christian Instruction of the diocese of Valence". While Fr. Colin was on retreat, Fr. Mazelier, on 9th March, asked the bishop for an appointment for both of them, since he thought that the superior would return to St-Paul and that they would go to Valence together to place the matter before the bishop. However, Fr. Colin returned directly to Lyons without passing by St-Paul; but on his way through Valence, he did stop to find out the bishop's thinking. When he reached Lyons he did the same thing, but the cardinal was absent. Without further delay, on 24th March Fr. Colin informed Fr. Mazelier of his visit to the bishop of Valence, and on 10th April, of the opinion of the cardinal archbishop of Lyons. At the same time, Fr. Mazelier received a letter from Bro. Louis-Marie, dated 9th April in Paris, informing him that the two assistants were seeking government authorization for the Institute, but that according to Mr. Delebecque, they had little chance of obtaining it, and that the only solution would be to take advantage of another congregation's authorization by uniting

prefeng-letter.doc 278 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” with it. Fr. Mazelier, seeing that the matter was being pushed by a determined will, even though it was not his, raised no objections in principle, but on the contrary did his best to collaborate. There followed an exchange of letters and visits which need not be described in detail here. Fr. Colin played an important role during the first stage, because Fr. Mazelier dealt primarily with him. Fr. Mazelier made three requests, based on divergences between the rules of the two congregations; namely, that a single brother might be assigned to a school if circumstances required it; that the superior of the future sector of St-Paul have a certain autonomy, especially in the area of assigning brothers, and that the name of the group henceforth be "Brothers of Mary of Christian Instruction". He also asked that the union not be effected with a great deal of publicity nor during the vacation period. Everything went so well that it was almost entirely arranged by the end of 1841. All that was needed were a few final touches and then the time to circulate the document among the various parties who had to sign it. When Cardinal De Bonald did so on 31st March 1842, it became a fait accompli. Fr. Mazelier felt a sense of relief, but he may still have had a few apprehensions. Towards the end, he had certainly been in a hurry to get it over with, and when his bishop signed the document, he remarked, "You have made a slight change in the title of your brothers, who will henceforth be 'Brothers of Mary of Christian lnstruction'; aren't you afraid that the change may create problems with the government authorization which was given for an association under another name?" (AFM, 531.21, n. 12). Problems, however, did not arise from that quarter, but from the superiors at the Hermitage, who with no bad will on their part, finally dropped the latter part of the new name: "of Christian Instruction", and also directed that province from the center, giving the superior there no more autonomy than any other. When the II General Chapter drew up the Rules of the Institute between 1852 and 1854, the resolutions taken ten years earlier in the document of union were practically forgotten. Fr. Mazelier protested, stressing emphatically the fidelity one owed to his given word. "I would not have gone through with the union," he said, "if Fr. Colin had not come to St-Paul as superior to suggest it, explaining to me that he was not requesting an absorption. I would not have gone through with this union if I had not counted on the superior of the Marist missionaries to guarantee the agreement. The esteemed Fr. Champagnat was a holy priest, he crowned a very generous and very priestly life by a holy death; but even saints sometimes have imperfections. In his case, he was considered to be a man who did not sufficiently keep his word, and Fr. Douillet, the superior of the boarding school in La Côte reproached him for that. Fr. Colin also told me that Fr. Champagnat had been reproached for that. "I had reason to complain about it when he was not exact in fulfilling the condition I had set: that the brothers he sent me to exempt them from conscription were to remain at St-Paul until they obtained their certificate of competence. One day, Fr. Champagnat himself told me, 'People reproach me with not always keeping my word; I make promises, and then, if I can't...'. From those words, I gathered that he did not do it out of malice, but that perhaps he just didn't worry enough about it. I was afraid that his disciples might have absorbed that same attitude. "Fr. Colin defaulted, he withdrew from them. Now that they have an ordinance for the whole of France, the name 'Brothers of Christian Instruction' has disappeared.... There are advantages to keeping one's word before Good and men. What may be momentarily useful may later prove to be disadvantageous for a long time. May the congregation of Marist Brothers prosper and do good.... However, I have been very upset, more for them than for myself, and even though I forgive them, I am not

prefeng-letter.doc 279 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” obliged to approve of what they did. We shall see how things turn out. I pray God not to allow me to offend him. 18th June 1853" (AFM, 531.3, n. 155). Sixteen months later, he spent three days at the Hermitage during the last session of the Chapter. "I was asked to come to the Chapter hall on the last day," he says in a report. "I congratulated them for having understood how they should treat agreements solemnly made, and ecclesiastical authority. That obedience and respect for that authority and for that of the Superiors were an essential condition for living virtuously...." The minutes of the Chapter, for the morning session on 19th May 1854, report that, "At the invitation of the Regime. Fr. Mazelier, canon and vicar general of Valence, who has been here for two days, was introduced to the Chapter at eleven o'clock. Having been invited by the Reverend Brother Superior, as president, to take the speaker's chair, he stood in front of it and gave the members a fairly brief but very fatherly allocution, on the presence of God and the spirit of faith. He then congratulated the capitulants for the way they had received his letter and resolved the difficulty it raised. At the request of the Regime, he humbly agreed to give his blessing to the members of the Chapter. The session was closed at eleven-fifteen. Four members of the Chapter went to ask Fr. Mazelier to promise to send his portrait as soon as possible. After some resistance, he finally agreed" (AFM; RRAC, 5, Reg. 3, p. 182). As the minutes state, Fr. Mazelier had been named vicar general of Valence and an honorary canon by Bishop Chartrousse, in 1847. He died as such, on 26th June 1856. His body was buried in the cemetery of his home town; vixen the city changed the location of the cemetery, Fr. Mazelier's remains were transferred to the chapel of the brothers' secondary school, on 1st January 1899. (REFERENCES, pp. 382-394).

MEGE, ABEL XAVIER: (1797-1887), seems to have been predestined for years ending in seven. He was born in 1797, named parish priest and dean of Morestel, Isère, in 1837, then of Tullins, Isère, in 1857, where he died in 1887. That is all the diocesan archives of Grenoble can tell us about him. We know that during his stay in Morestel, he wrote to our Founder to ask him for brothers (L. 254). Since his request could not be granted, he repeated it at the same time the following year, with no greater success (L. 337). Nor did fate smile on him in 1851, when he wrote again, this time to Bro. François. It was only his second successor who finally obtained brothers, in 1876. (REFERENCES, p. 394).

MENAIDE, MATHIEU: (1782-1855), born 15th August 1782, in Bard, Loire, was ordained on 14th April 1805. The following information comes largely from J.-M. Chausse, Vie de l’abbé Jean-Louis Duplay, notes, souvenirs et monographies sur le diocese de Lyon, plus some additional material from the archives of that diocese. His first assignment was apparently as curate in the parish of St-Paul in Lyons. On 8th October 1811, Napoleon I ordered his Ministry for Worship to drive the Sulpicians out of the seminaries, but the staff of the one in Lyons did not withdraw until 26th December. A new staff, with Fr. Menaide as econome, took over at the beginning of 1812. When Fr. Simon Cattet, parish priest of Saint-André in Tarare, was named vicar general of Viviers in September 1823, Fr. Menaide replaced him in that parish. He found there a clerical jurnorate which his predecessor had established. “The 1830 government tried to get the courts to close it down.... Fr. Menaide defended himself courageously...; a final decree of the royal court of Dijon recognized and confirmed its legal existence” (Chausse, vol.

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2, p. 112). On 29th November 1834, he was named parish priest of Saint-Nizier in Lyons, as successor to Fr. François-Marie Vuillerme, recently deceased, but he did not assume his duties there until 13th January 1835. He wrote to Fr. Champagnat as follows, on 26th June 1835: “Father, the town of Genas, district of Meyzieu, arrondissement of Vienne, would like to have two of your brothers for primary teaching. A lady of my parish, esteemed for her piety, is interested in this establishment. You could not perform a more excellent work, given the locale. The town council will vote a certain amount towards it, or will find the means to obtain the rest of the salary which, I believe, is 400 fr. per brother. The parish priest wants it and he needs them for next September. Please give me your answer, I am counting on its being favorable. I have the honor to be, with most sincere affection, Father, your most humble and obedient servant, Menaide, parish priest of St-Nizier. “P.S. Please be so good as to give me their names, Christian names, ages, whether they have a certificate of competence, and their level of education” (AFM, 129.12). We know from Bro. Avit that Fr. Champagnat answered him, but did not keep the copy, and that he sent the requested brothers that very year (214.35, p. 2). He wrote again, although we do not know the date, to ask for brothers himself, for the orphanage he was planning to open. Fr. Champagnat answered him on 3rd December 1839 (L 306) to ask him to be patient, but the brothers were sent the next year. “Fr. Menaide,” says Bro. Avit, “often came to see them and enjoyed being with them. This good priest tried to make sure that they never lacked for anything’ (214.48, p. 7). He was also known throughout the city for his goodness and devotedness. “During the flood of 1840, he leaped into a fragile boat, and at the risk of his own life, managed to help some poor families who were trapped in their homes by the water. He was a good theologian. His opinion was-often sought, and it bore the imprint of his knowledge and good judgment. Although he was not a fluent speaker, he had a style which touched people and made them reflect on their duty” (Chausse, vol. 1, p. 195). He died on 14th January 1855, not in 1849 as Bro. Avit erroneously states. (REFERENCES, pp. 394-395).

MENU, CLAUDE: (1793-1880), was born in Sury-le-Comtal, Loire, to André Menu and Antoinette Honneyer. He married Marie Rochette, but we do not know the date, since his death certificate, our source for this information, does not give it. According to the 1841 census, his three children, or three of his children: Bernard, Marguerite and Claude, and the latter’s wife, Marie Clavelloux, lived under his roof, on rue de Grenelle in Sury. On 3rd November 1830, Mr. Claude Menu, Sr., was approved by the Ministry of the Intenor as a member of the town council, and “on twenty-second December one thousand eight hundred thirty-six, the town council of Sury, (assembled) for the installation of Mr. Claude Menu, landowner, as mayor of this city, in virtue of the decree of the prefect on the 21st of this month, received the oath which Mr. Menu took, as follows: ‘I swear fidelity to the King of the French, obedience to the Constitutional Charter, and to the laws of the kingdom” pal archives of Sury, Registre des deliberations). On 10th August 1837, he was reinstalled as mayor in virtue of the same prefectorial decree [the terms of all mayors were automatically renewed on the same date], and again on 19th August 1840, in virtue of the decree of the 11th. According to the municipal archives, he continued in office until 1844, even though that was not a year for the renewal of mayors’ terms, and there is no mention of his having resigned or been dismissed. It is not easy to say exactly what his attitude might have been towards

prefeng-letter.doc 281 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” the brothers’ school. Fr. Champagnat wrote to him to request repairs on the school building. We do not have his reply, but we know that he did nothing to improve the situation. He never governed the town again after 1844, even though he was relatively young and had many years yet to live. He died on 14th June 1880. (Cf. L. 211). (REFERENCES, pp. 395-396).

MENUT, JEAN ANTOINE HENRI: (1768-1853), parish priest of Sainte-Sigolene, in the diocese of Le Puy. Two successive numbers of the diocesan Semaine religieuse carried a biography of Fr. Menut, of which we here reproduce the essential elements, omitting the anecdotes which could apply to any number of priests who were proscribed during the Revolution. “Jean Antoine Henri Menut was born in Champclause on 4th January 1768, and baptized the following day by Fr. Queyron, the parish priest. He was the oldest of nine children of Jean-André Menut and Jeanne-Marie Riffard, respectable farmers who were able to educate their large family from the fruit of their labor and their savings. Their faith and virtue were their greatest fortune.... “Jean-Antoine and Jean- Jacques his brother were entrusted to the care of Fr. Lhoste, parish priest of Araules and a relative of theirs.... We do not know if they completed their studies under that excellent teacher, but both went to the seminary of Le Puy to begin their clerical education. Jean-Jacques spent only two years there, either because he was driven out by the Revolution or because he freely withdrew from a vocation to which he did not believe himself called. As for his older brother, he was a deacon when the revolutionary storm broke over France. When he was forced to return to his family, he spent his time teaching his younger brothers, secretly teaching catechism to the children of the area, and helping the priests who remained faithful to God and to the Church. A tall, strong man, he braved every danger under various disguises which kept him from being recognized. He often went to baptize newborn babies or to bring Viaticum to the dying, with his axe over his shoulder and carpenter’s tools under his arm. “However, Mr. Menut, who could see at first hand the spiritual needs of the people, suffered because he could only half-fulfill the functions of a ministry which was so useful for the sanctification of souls. So he and some of his fellow-students made plans to go to Bishop De Galard in Switzerland, to have themselves ordained priests.... They set out with peddlers’ packs on their backs, and after many adventures, our supposed traveling salesmen reached the exiled prelate.... They did not stay long; once they were ordained, they headed back to France. A note from Fr. Menut tells us he was ordained in Saint- Maurice in the Valais. Even though he does not give the date, we may conclude, from the context of this brief document, that it was in September 1795, since he says that on 19th September 1795, he received from Bishop De Galard the broadest possible faculties for the parish of Monistrol and environs. He was then twenty-seven. “The young priest set to work with the energy and tenacity of a true mountaineer. His courage and zeal sometimes led him to act imprudently, but his coolness, presence of mind and intelligence suggested all sorts of ingenious expedients. Nothing stopped him; he seemed to multiply himself as danger increased. But God was about to have pity on France...pnests saw the dawn of better days. Calm followed the storm. To the great delight of the faithful people of Monistrol, Fr. Menut continued freely and publicly as their curate until 1812, the ministry of devotedness and zeal for which he had risked his life a thousand times during the Reign of Terror. “In February of that year, he was named parish priest of Sainte-Sigolene, as successor to Fr. de Rochebonne, who had died on

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30th January at the age of 68.... We will see Fr. Menut initiate all sorts of good works and endow his parish with the most useful and most pious institutions. The education of children was one of his first preoccupations. The little girls of the town began to receive a solidly Christian education from the Sisters of St. Joseph.... But the children scattered among the numerous hamlets of the parish were far from enjoying the same advantages. To fill that gap, Fr. Menut had meeting-houses built in the villages..ind there installed the Béates, to the great satisfaction of their inhabitants.... In the town center, there was only one lay-teacher for the little boys, and his zeal and activity obviously could not meet the need. In 1834, Fr. Menut began construction of the brothers’ house. A letter from Bro. Polycarpe, dated 24th October 1841, tells us that the Brothers of the Sacred Heart arrived several days later. (Cf. the introduction to L. 231 for further details.) “Having provided the inestimable benefits of education for the children, the parish priest of Sainte-Sigolene turned his attention to the poor and the sick. He started to build a hospital. The first stone was laid by Baron Dugas du Villard, mayor of the town, on 29th September 1824. Two years to the day later, ten young ladies took possession of the establishment, under the name of Sisters of Sainte.-Marie.... We may wonder where Fr. Menut found the money to pay for all this construction and cover all these expenses. He began by using up all his inheritance. After that supreme sacrifice, he started knocking on the doors of the largest homes in his parish.... “These external works of mercy in no way led Fr. Menut to forget his care of souls. Convinced of the value of retreats and parish missions, he often asked gospel workers to come to Sainte- Sigolène.... On 22nd July 1824 he established the Confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament, of the Holy Rosary, and of the Scapular; and on 21st July 1840, the Archconfraterrnty of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary.... All the good done by Fr. Menut did not leave the ecclesiastical authorities unmoved. They repeatedly urged on him, as a reward, the most important posts. His modesty and his attachment to his parishioners led him to refuse them all. Instead, on 25th September 1837, he received the mantle of an honorary canon of Our Lady of La Puy.... “Fr. Menut had such painful memories of the dangers he had run and the sufferings he had endured during the Revolution, that he could not think or speak about them without becoming genuinely terrified. When, in 1830, he heard the news of the July Days, he was so frightened that his hair turned white as snow overnight. The events of 1848 had no less effect on him, but he found consolation in the hope that he would die soon. However, that did not happen until five years later, on 7th February 1853. Fr. Menut was then eighty-five years old.” (REFERENCES, pp. 396-398).

MERIGUAY, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see MARIE-JUBIN, BROTHER.

MERLAT, JEAN-BAPTISTE ANTOINE : Mayor of Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise, Rhóne. Since the municipal archives of that city were not accessible when we did our research, we have very little information about him. He was appointed mayor of the city which was then called Saint-Symphorien-le-Château, as successor to Mr. Etienne François de CM- nmbert. From the letter he sent him (L. 22), it appears that Fr. Champagnat contacted him as soon as he took office. This letter shows that the Founder had great confidence in him, although it seems he no longer merited such confidence ten years later. In fact, Bro. Avit, in the annals of that establishment, informs us that, “Mr. Merlat, whom we knew, had been mayor since 1830. Bro. (Ignatius, the director) says (in a letter dated

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14th January 1841) that this mayor, along with one of his neighboring colleagues and the secretary general of the prefecture; had been threatened with a prison sentence, for having illegally exempted young men from military service in exchange for money. Mer-. lat was later accused of having stolen 40,000 francs from the town or from private citizens, either as mayor or as notary. The brothers nerd had any reason to say good things about him. In March 1839, Mr. Merlat, as mayor, sent the brothers away. Bro. Ignatius, the directors stayed on a few days to see to the shipping of their personal furnishings. When the local women found out what had happened, they filled. their aprons with stones and ran to threaten the mayor that they would: stone him if the brothers did not return immediately. Mr. Merlat sent. a deputation to the Hermitage to ask for them. They brought back four, instead of three” (AFM, 214.93, pp. 11, 31). Out of respect for the truth, we must place that version of the fa4 alongside that of the parish priest, who on 27th September 1844, wrote: “For many years we bad only two brothers in our establishment; each of them taught a class. But when the number of children had more than doubled, it was absolutely necessary for us to request a third brother for a third class. Fr. Goulioud, a benefactor of the establishment, was willing to undertake the task. For nearly four years now we have had a third brother, but we have still not reached our goal, since until now we have had only two classes for more than two hundred children...” (AFM, 604.136.06). As for relations between the mayor and the brothers, it would appear, from the letters we have, that they were exactly as Bro. Avit implies. In connection with a situation in which the mayor showed himself extremely prejudiced against the brothers, Bro. Platon, the director, wrote to the superior general on 8th Janauary 1853, “This is the moment to exert your authority with our ugly proud beast of a mayor, the most cowardly man I have ever known” (604.136.25). From 1833 on, however, Mr. Merlat was a member of the general council of the Rhône (Laurent Bonnevay, Histoire politique et ad,ninistrative du Departement du Rhône, p. 183), a post to which he was reelected by universal suffrage in 1848. In addition, one of his letters, in June 1845, bears the heading, “Knight of the Legion of Honor”. The almanacs of the city of Lyons and of the department of the Rhône list him as mayor until 1862, but we do not know when he was replaced, nor even the date of his death. (REFERENCES, pp. 398- 399).

MERLIN, CLAUDE: (1792-1860), parish priest and dean of Saint-Geoire-en-Valdaine, Isère. All we know about him is that he was appointed parish priest of Saint-Geoire in 1830 and remained there until his death at the age of 68, in 1860. As he says in his letter of 27th June 1842, he had to ask three times before he got brothers for his parish: “This is the third time I have had the honor of writing you in order to obtain from you some members of your esteemed congregation to instruct the young people of my parish.” The second time had been toward the beginning of August 1838, since Fr. Champagnat answered him around the middle of the month (cf. L 206). We know from this letter that he had written the first one more than two years earlier. The brothers were sent for the 1843-44 school year, and according to Bro. Avit’s annals, as well as letters concerning that school, they always found in Fr. Merlin all the support they could have hoped for. (REFERENCES, p. 399).

METTON, GEORGES: (1797-?), born 14th July 1797 in Saint-Jodard, Loire, was ordained on 22nd July 1822, then appointed curate in the parish of Saint-Etienne in

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Roanne. On 25th February 1832, he was named parish priest of, Saint-Martin-la- Sauveté, Loire, to replace Fr. Joseph Duran, who had died. His stay in that parish lasted only sixteen months; on 1st July 1833, the chancery entrusted him with the parish of Sury-le-Comtal. He immediately asked Fr. Champagnat for brothers to open a boys’ school in his parish, which they did “during the first days of November” 1834 (AFM, 213.76, p. 6). Further details may be found in the introduction to L. 161. From what Bro. Avit tells us about him in the annals of Sury, Fr. Metton was interested in the brothers, but in a rather “angelic” way, since he took little account of their working conditions nor their material needs. Worse yet, he kept on like that despite repeated remarks and threats to withdraw the brothers (cf. LL. 161, 216, 307). Bro. Avit says he died in 1846, apparently believing that death could have been the only reason for his departure. In fact, on 3rd May 1846, he was appointed parish priest of Saint-Pothin-les-Brotteaux in the La Guillotière quarter of Lyons. We know that he remained there until 1849, but we do not know why he left, nor the date of his death (AAL, Registre du personnel). (REFERENCES, pp. 399-400).

MICHAUD, JACQUES MARIE: (1767-1838), born 5th August 1767 in Moirans, Jura, was parish priest in Barboz, Ain, before being appointed parish priest of Thoissey, Mn, on 25th February 1836. As soon as he was installed, he set about establishing a brothers’ school in his parish. With that in mind, he wrote to Fr. Champagnat on 23rd October 1837, but Bishop Devie had already made the same request twelve days ear- lier, on the 11th. A few weeks later, two brothers from the community in Saint-Didier-sur- Chalaronne went to open the school. Fr. Michaud went to receive his heavenly reward on 21st February of the following year. (REFERENCES, p. 400).

MICHEL, BROTHER: Antoine Colombon, was born in 1812 in Le Mottier, in the arrondissement of Vienne, Isère, to Jean Colombon and Rose Delaura. On 30th August 1831, he was admitted to the Hermitage, where he received the religious habit the following 2nd October (RV, 1, p. XI). His older brother Pierre soon followed him; he was admitted on 11th November 1831 and received the religious habit on 1st January 1832 under the name of Bro. Nilamon (RV, 1, p. XIII). That same day, Bro. Michel made his first vows privately for one year (RVT, 1, p. 28). There is no entry for any renewal of those vows, but on 7th April 1834, he committed himself definitively by private perpetual vows (RVP, 1, p. 18) which he renewed publicly on 10th October 1836 with all his confreres (ibid.. p. 27). He was one of the first group of Marist missionaries who left for Oceania on 24th December 1836 (cf. L. 164). After leaving Fr. Bataillon with Bro. Joseph-Xavier Luzy on the island of Walls, and Fr. Chanel with Bro. Marie-Nizier on that of Futuna, Bishop Pompallier, Fr. Servant and Bro. Michel reached Hokianga, New Zealand, on 20th January 1838. They remained there just long enough to establish a procure, or storage depot, for the missions, under the care of Fr. Servant, and then the bishop and Bro. Michel were off again for Kororareka, on the Bay of Islands. There they established the episcopal residence and the mission supply center, in late June of 1839. Most of the work involved fell to Bro. Michel, who put all of his energy into it. It was soon crowned with success, as is evident from the following comments by Bro. Owen Kavanagh, a Marist Brother of the province of Sydney, who also cites an article which appeared in The Marist Messenger on 1st September 1959: ‘“Two months after Pompal- lier’s arrival, the European Catholics rallied around their bishop and introduced him to

prefeng-letter.doc 285 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” the Maori chiefs...’; however, after a few years of this work, Bro. Michel was not happy with his situation; he confided to a Protestant missionary that he had expected to work at his vocation as a religious teacher and not as a mission ‘man-of-allwork’. He probably took advice from the Fathers and other Brothers who had now arrived and decided to cease being a religious. Returning to Catholic lay life, he continued to work on the mission for another few years; it seems he then moved to Auckland where he worked as a gardener. “We hear of him in 1845 when he produced the first rock melon ever grown in New Zealand. ... Again in 1847 he was witness in Auckland to an important marriage (that of James Maguire and the Raratongan chieftainess, Te Paoro).... “It was as a professional gardener that he earned his living, working for himself and for his clients; in this capacity he was known as ‘Jimmy the Gardener’, and ‘he has followed the pursuit of gardening in various parts of the Colony and has won a high reputation for his skill and care in that business’. “He remained unmarried and at length settled, about 1870, at Reefton, a town in the northwest of the South Island; we know he worked for a Mr. Lee there. ... He continued to work until advancing years compelled him to abandon his favorites pursuit for one less laborious; ‘He has constructed a neat vehicle which he has very ingeniously fitted up as a confectionery and fruit stall, and in this form he now seeks the patronage of the public’. “Antoine Colombon died in 1880; his Death Notice reads: ‘Monday, 14th March, at his residence in Buller Road, Reefton, Antonio Michel, native of France, aged 68 years’. ... His death certificate states that, ‘He had been attended by Dr. Monckton who last saw him on 26th February...and by Father D. Carew, Roman Catholic’.” (REFERENCES, pp. 400-401).

MICHEL, BROTHER: Born Michel Marconnet in Boisset, Loire. He was one of the eight postulants whom a former Brother of the Christian Schools had brought to La Valla towards the end of March 1822 (RE, 1, p. 1). According to Bro. Avit, he put on the blue “habit” in 1824 at the same time as Bro. Jean-Baptiste (AA, p. 47); the latter says he received the habit on 5th October 1822, and we have no reason to believe Bro. Michel did not receive his on the same day. He does not appear in any vow register, because there were none in those days, and when they were started in 1829, he was no longer around to write his entry (cf. AA, p. 48). That also explains why he is not on the list of those who made public vows in October 1836, when all the brothers then in the Institute did so together. We find him mentioned in the letter of 1st December 1823 (L. 1), as being in Bourg-Argental. In the annals of Mornant, Bro. Avit writes, “The school...was opened, we believe, on 2nd November 1826.... The first director was an ex-brother Michel; all we know about him is his name” (AFA, 214.56, p. 7). In describing the affair of the cloth stockings. Bro. Jean-Baptiste specifically names Bros. Augustin and Michel as the fomentors of that incident (Life, pp. 161-170). Even though Bro. Avit puts Bro. Jean-Louis in the place of Bro. Michel, we hold to the first hypothesis, which therefore leads us to state that Bro. Michel was dismissed from the Institute sometime in October 1829, on the day following the settling of the incident which according to all reports, took place at that time. (REFERENCES, pp. 401-402).

MICHON, JEAN-CLAUDE: (1791-1854), was born in 1791 and became parish priest of Saint-André-le-Bas in Vienne, Isère, in 1827. “He was,” Bro. Avit tells us, “a man of prayer, study and dedication. At that time the city had a mutual school with at least two hundred children, but the way religion was taught was nothing to brag about. It hurt Fr.

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Michon to see his parishioners exposed to the religious indifferentism of that school. In 1833 he asked Fr. Champagnat for three brothers. They were sent...” that same year (AFM, 214.107, p. 1). For reasons peculiar to the locality, the brothers stayed there only until 1837 (cf. topographic entry for “Vienne”), but by then, Fr. Michon was no longer there to defend his school. He left Vienne in 1835, not, as Bro. Avit thought, because he had died, but because he was named a titular canon in Grenoble, where he ended his days only nineteen years later, in 1854. (REFERENCES, p. 402).

MICHOUD DE LA TOUR, LOUIS JOSEPH : Mayor of Brangues, Isère. The only information the municipal archives could give us is that he was mayor of that town from 1830 to 1852. (Cf. L. 114). (REFERENCES, p. 402).

MILLERAND, SÉBASTIEN: (1792-1867), parish priest of Semur-en-Brionnais, was born 29th May 1792. We know very little about his early priestly career. He was superior of the minor seminary in Semur before he replaced Fr. Bonnardel as parish priest of that city in 1836. In 1851, he was named a titular canon, and later, vicar general, and then vice-officialis. In 1866, toward the end of his life, he is mentioned as dean of the cathedral chapter. He died on 29th September 1867. (Cf. L. 178.) (Information provided by R. Gauthey, archivist of the diocese of Autun.) (REFERENCES, p. 402).

MILLOT, THEODORE-MARIE; see ANTHELME, BROTHER.

MIOLAND, JEAN-MARIE: (1788-1859), was born on 25th October 1788 in the parish of Saint-Nizier in Lyon, to Jean Mioland, a merchant, and Marie-Anne Clair. He received his earliest education from his mother, and then, at the age of eight, from a former Josephist with whom he stayed only one year. From 1797 to 1801, he attended the day- school run by Fr. Dupuy, a clandestine priest, and from 1802 to 1805, the boarding school of a Mr. Ray, where one of his classmates for two of those years was Honoré Greppo, future vicar general of Belley. On 12th October 1805, he entered the seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, where he again met his friend. After one year of philosophy, he returned to Lyons and lived with his mother until 1807. On 19th April of that year, he entered St. Irénée, where he did his first year of theology and received the tonsure on 23rd May. He remained at that seminary until 1816. In 1807-1808, he did his second year of theology, and received minor orders on 24th July 1808. He did his third year of theology in 1808-1809, but received no orders that year. His fourth year of theology, 1809-1810, ended with his ordination to the sub-diaconate on 22nd July 1810. After that, he spent two extra years at the seminary, studying on his own and taking courses in the department of theology. He was ordained to the priesthood on 29th May 1811. Two days later, he was appointed spiritual director of St-Irénée, where he taught ceremonial from the beginning of the next school year until 1816. During the 1814 vacation, he stayed at St-Sulpice in Paris with Frs. Cattet and Cholleton. On 17th June 1816 he was named su- perior of the group of priests who moved into the former Carthusian monastery; for all practical purposes, he acted as superior general of the priests of the Society of the Cross of Jesus, under the watchful eye of Fr. Bochard, at least until the arrival of Bishop de Pins. The latter, after receiving Fr. Mioland’s pledge of total obedience, confirmed him in his function as superior of the diocesan missionaries, and named him an honorary canon and a member of his council. In September 1825, Fr. Mioland, together

prefeng-letter.doc 287 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” with Fr. Baudry, preached the pastoral retreat for the diocese of Belley. In April 1833, he went to Rome with Fr. Carraud, the former prefect apostolic of Martinique to seek the Holy See’s approval of the rules of the Society of the Cross of Jesus. On that point, he could not overcome the resistance of Cardinal Fesch, who considered this work to which he had given birth to be strictly diocesan, with no need of papal approval. After his return, and during their annual retreat on 4th October 1833, the society changed its name to that of the Priests of St-Irénée, which it still bears, together with its strictly diocesan character Fr. Mioland continued as its superior until 1838. On 22nd April 1837, having already refused the diocese of Verdun in 1836, he was obliged to accept that of Amiens, to which he was appointed by a royal ordinance of 22nd November 1837. On 22nd April 1838, he was ordained bishop by Bishop De Pins; he took possession of his see on 25th May 1838. After refusing several archdioceses, including Auch, Lyons, Rheims, Tours and Aix, he was approved as titular archbishop of Sardes, and coadjutor with right of succession to Archbishop D’Astros of Toulouse. He took over that see on the latter’s death on 29th September 1851, and governed it for eight years, until his own death from a stroke on 17th July 1859. He is buried in his cathedral. (Cf. J. Coste-G. Lessard, OM, IV, pp. 315-316; L. 194, n. 3.) (REFERENCES, pp. 403-404).

MOCQUINT, LOUIS: (1801-?) was probably born somewhere in the vicinity of Saint- Chamond, since there is no mention of his family in the archives of that city. He may have done his medical studies in Paris, since he had his thesis published there: “Considération sur divers points de chirurgie”, Paris: 1830 (Diana, Rec. Mém. et Doc., vol. XV, p. 123). The 1841 census shows he resided on the Grand’rue in St-Chamond, with Antoinette Matagrin, his wife, and Catherine Chirat, their housekeeper (ADL, 49 M 22, cens 1841). The civil registry mentions the death of a little girl on 22nd February 1851, the daughter of Louis Mocquint and Antoinette Matagrin (ADL, 208.25, RD, n° 38). Mr. Mocquint was one of the members of the Grand Cercle [a club] of St-Chamond (Bertholon, Histoire de St-Chamond). According to L. 77, he was a friend of Fr. Champagnat’s. Since there is no mention of his death in the archives of St-Chamond, we presume he must have retired to his native village to spend his declining years. (REFERENCES, p. 404).

MOINE, FRANÇOIS FLEURY: (1761-1838), he was born 18th September 1761 in Montagny-sur-Loire. Since was ordained before the Revolution, which obliged him, like so many others, to live in hiding, there are few extant documents about him. On a list of clerics in the district of Roanne who, in conformity with the law of 26th August 1792, had declared they wanted to leave the kingdom, we find: “F. Fleury Moine, former curate in Boisset, 3-8 September 1792, township of Renaison -destination: Savoy” (Fr. Brossaud, Histoire du Département de Ia Loire, vol. 1, pp. 496-497, A.L.) Fr. Cattin states that he was parish priest of Perreux, adeported then returned to his parish, a zealous priest, loved and esteemed by all.... When the Concordat was signed he was replaced in Perreux” (Cattin, Mémoires pour servir a l’histoire ecclésiastique, p. 156). For his part, Fr. Courbon had this to say about him: “Former parish priest of Boisset, a native of Montagny, about 46 years old [42 according to his date of birth], good moral conduct, average interference, great zeal, piety, submissiveness, humility, much teaching ability, very good character, very good health” (Tableau Courbon). On 26th April 1837, he sent the following letter to Fr. Champagnat: “Father Superior, A multitude of more or less

prefeng-letter.doc 288 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” imperative circumstances have prevented me until now from carrying out a project which for a long time has been one of my most urgent desires, that of having in my parish a brothers’ school to instruct the boys, just as I have some of the first Sisters of St. Charles who came into our region to instruct the girls. Today most of the difficulties have disappeared. Nearly everyone is asking for brothers, and insistently so, and in the opinion of our superiors, it is your brothers we should ask for. I can therefore send you directly and with all sorts of security and confidence, an earnest and urgent request. “Please allow me to point out to you, Fr. Superior, that Perreux, for which I am requesting brothers, and of which, though unworthy, I am parish priest, is a district seat near Roanne, with a population of nearly 3000 souls. I can assure you, Fr.- Superior, that there is an infinite amount of good to be done in this parish where I have been working since my return from Italy in 1797. You can imagine how eager I am, before the end of my long career, to see the foundation of an establishment which, had I been able to make it at the same time as that of the Sisters of St. Charles, would have enabled me to do much more good than I have been able to.... “I know both Frs. Colin very well. If you will honor me with a reply, please be so good as to remember me to them and offer them my humble respects, and send me their address so that I can write to them. Fr. Courveille had urged me to join him at the time he was speaking of his foundation; he even wanted me to leave for Rome since I knew the place and the language. If I had known then that the Fathers Colin were founding a similar establishment, I would have greatly regretted not having entered it. But I shall be compensated by your Marist Brothers when we have them. I am praying to Mary, our loving Mother, to see to it that at least two of her beloved children come here by All Saints...” (AFM 129.31). Many letters and negotiations followed before Fr. Moine saw the arrival of three brothers on 14th November of that year (Cf. LL. 129, 134). From the exchange of letters in December 1837 {Cf. L. 163), we can see that he was very interested in the school and the brothers, but that he somewhat overdid the burden he imposed on them. He must have heeded Fr. Champagnat’s warnings, because a year later (L. 234), Bro. Dominique had only good news to share about that school. Unfortunately, Fr. Moine was no longer there to join in the rejoicing, since he had died on 17th March 1838. He was replaced by Fr. Joseph Beneton (q.v.). (REFERENCES, pp. 404-405).

MOISE, BROTHER: “Louis Fouet, from Sougraigne, district of Couiza, department of the Aude, legitimate son of Pierre and Marianne Baillat, possessing a certificate of good conduct, and a third-class certificate of competence, thirty-three years of age, entered” the novitiate of N.-D. de l’Hermitage on 18th May 1834 (RE, 1, p. 51) and received the religious habit on 13th July (RV, 1, p. XXIX). There is no mention of him in the vow register, which may very well mean that he did not make profession, since he may have been assigned to a school even as a novice, in view of his age and his diploma. Letters 48 and 53 tell us he was in Millery during the 1834-35 school year. On the 1835 list, he appears in Saint-Symphorien d’Ozon, but there is nothing to confirm that he went there, and if he did, how long he stayed there. In his letter of 16th July 1838 to Fr. Mazelier (L. 198), Fr. Champagnat informs us that he “stayed two years in our house”, i.e., in the Institute. From that, we may conclude that he left during the 1836 vacation at the latest. The fact that in 1838 he asked Fr. Mazelier to accept him for his congregation, as this letter implies, shows that he was one of those men who go from one religious house to another hoping finally to discover their vocation. Judging by his birthplace, his request

prefeng-letter.doc 289 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” for admission to our congregation may not have been his first try. If he had told Fr. Champagnat his real situation from the outset, which is not unthinkable, that could explain why he never took vows, despite the favorable recommendation he was given. (REFERENCES, pp. 405-406).

MOLLIN, ANTOINE: (1799-1857), parish priest and dean of La Côte-St-André, Isère. The diocesan archives of Grenoble could give us only three dates: he was born in 1799, appointed parish priest of La Côte-St-André in 1837, and died as such in 1857. We know from one of Bro. Louis-Marie’s letters that Fr. Berthier, his predecessor, had been appointed vicar general on 30th November 1836. Fr. Mollin’s appointment must have followed soon after, but he was not installed until sometime between mid-February and mid-March (cf. LL. 94, 99, 101). He had the misfortune to arrive when the school was in a state of crisis; judging from subsequent events, he did not get particularly involved, but left Fr. Douillet to handle it. (REFERENCES, p. 406).

MONCHALIN, MICHEL; see BASILE, BROTHER.

MONDON, JEAN-BAPTISTE: (1759-1833), he was born on 28th November 1759 in Feurs, Loire. He was a notary in his home town, but we do not know when he began his career. Nor do we know when he married Jeanne Vellias, nor whether they had any children. He was appointed mayor on 1st September 1830, but his term ended on 2nd May 1832, even though he had been appointed for three years. Since he died on 18th June 1833, it may well be that he resigned for reasons of health (AM, Feurs, October 1882). During his short term as mayor of his hometown, he had the unpleasant task of dismissing the brothers from the school which they had been running for only two years. The reason he gives-the expense of maintaining the brothers is certainly not the real one; the whole matter may be involved with politics, but we do not know if the initiative came from the mayor or some of his councilors (cf. L. 21). (REFERENCES, p. 406)

MONTEILLER: Here is some information about the Monteiller family, who lived very close to N.-D. de I’Hermitage and therefore were in contact with Fr. Champagnat. - Pierre-Marie, born 13th June 1784, husband of Catherine Chapelon. In 1824 he sold Frs. Courveille and Champagnat a piece of land which became the N.-D. de l’Hermitage property. It is possible that L 18, written by Fr. Champagnat to “a neighbor” in 1830, was addressed to him. He died on 7th September 1864. - Hyppolyte, born in 1814 in Saint- Chamond, Loire, son of Pierre-Marie Monteiller and Catherine Chapelon. He was a maker of laces, and husband of Marie Pierrette Motiron, born in 1819 to Nicolas François Motiron and Jeanne Marie Girard. It is he of whom Bro. Avit speaks when he mentions Mr. Motiron’s son-in-law (AA, p. 203). He died at Les Gaux, in the town of Saint-Martin-en-Coailleux, on 19th May 1884. - François-Etienne, son of Pierre-Marie Monteiler and Catherine Chapelon; employed in the Assaly steeiworks in Lorette, in the town of Saint-Genis-Terrenoire; husband of Françoise Moulin. - Joseph, born 1st November 1841 to François-Etienne Monteiller and Françoise Moulin; a merchant living near the Hermitage; husband of Antoinette Louat. He was a witness for the introduction of Fr. Champagnat’s cause, as was his aunt, Marie Pierrette Motiron, widow of Hyppolyte Monteiller. In his testimony, Joseph states that he lived for 25 years with his aunt and uncle, who had no children. He also took over the lace-making factory from his

prefeng-letter.doc 290 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” uncle, as its seal states: Fabrique de lacets, Monteiller-Motiron, Monteiller successeur. (REFERENCES, p. 407).

MONTEUX, CLAUDE; see BASIN, BROTHER.

MOREL, ANTOINE; see MARIE-LIN, BROTHER.

MORIAT, LAURENT; see MARIE-LAURENT, BROTHER.

MOTIRON, NICOLAS FRANÇOIS: (1770-1836), he was born in 1770, but we do not know where. Nor do we know the names of his parents, since that information is not listed in the civil register. He first married Jeanne Marie; they had one son, Antoine François, born 23rd September 1817, and one daughter, Marie Pierrette, born in 1819. She became the wife of Hyppolyte Monteiller. We presume that his wife died fairly young and that he remarried, because his death certificate states that he was the husband of Claudine Fécon. The 1841 census gives us the list of his children who were then alive and living at home: Marie Pierrette, Charles-François, Gabriel, Jeanne-Antoinette, Nicolas-François. Antoine-François, his son by his first wife, is not mentioned, no doubt because he had already left home. We also learn from the civil register that he had another son, Charles, who died in 1837 at the age of four and another daughter, Anne, born that same year. Mr. Motiron started out working for Mr. Richard Chambovet, and then struck out on his own, as Mr. Richard Ennemond states: “My chief employee, Motiron, left me in 1822 and built a new factory for himself” (Bertholon, Histoire de St- Chamond, p. 89). This factory stood along the Gier, upstream from the Hermitage. It is he of whom Fr. Champagnat is speaking in Letter 18. After his death on 10th November 1836 (Civil registry, St-Martin-en-Coailleux, Registre de décès, 1836, no 13), his widow brought her aged parents to live with her, and continued to direct the business until her son Charles-François took it over. (REFERENCES, pp. 407-408).

MOURGUE, JEAN; see COLOMBAN, BROTHER.

NILAMON, BROTHER: “Pierre Colombon, legitimate son of Jean and Rose Deleuras, from Le Mottier, district of La Côte-St-Andre, 22 years of age”, entered N.-D. de l’Hermitage on 8th November 1831, seven months after his brother Antoine (Bro. Michel) who was three years younger than he (RE, 1, p. 38). The following year, he went through all the stages in the space of ten months: reception of the habit on 1st January (RV, 1, p. XIII), temporary vows on 26th April (RVF, 1, p. 20), perpetual vows on 7th October (RVP, 1, p. 17); he renewed the latter publicly on 10th October 1836 (ibid., p. 27). After he had spent the 1832-33 school year either at the Hermitage or as cook in a community to round out his two years of novitiate, Fr. Champagnat entrusted him with the foundation of the school in Peaugres “at the end of 1833” (AFM, 129.15). Bro. Avit specifies that he was its first director (AFM, 213.35, p. 3), but on the 1834-35 assign- ment list he appears as associate to Bro. Maurice (q.v.); the letter of 18th March 1838 to Bro. Hilarion (L. 191) does not give us any clearer information. A bit further on, Bro. Avit writes: “In 1839, Father placed Bros. Sébastien and Adrien here. The first...replaced Bro. Nilamon who had just left the Institute after running into debt.... It appears that the Founder had threatened to close the house and that he had written in that vein to Fr.

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Artru, but we do not have his letter. The parish priest replied as follows on 5th January 1840: ‘Father Superior, do not suspend the classes; there could be no more inopportune moment to do so, because the spirit of opposition which is still trying to stir up trouble here would not fail to profit by the interregnum of our Marist Brothers by working to replace them with some lay teacher like those from the normal schools, and to place a major obstacle in the way of one of your establishments which is already old and on the verge of producing the most advantageous results for you and for us. It is true that you have not always had reason to be satisfied with it, but the disillusionment from which we are suffering at the moment is the result of the bad administration of ex-brother Nilamon; it would be unjust to victimize us because of that. That poor young man had extraordinarily abused the confidence we placed in him, you and I, which he had certainly merited during the first three years of his stay in my parish. Instead of amusing himself by buying beautiful books for the boarders, and abusing the financial advantage they at first gave him by arbitrarily reducing the monthly fees paid by the other children of my parish, he would have done better to maintain the established rates. Then there would not be the deficit which we will have a hard time overcoming this year. But these are all things of which I was totally unaware. I would like to be able to help pay the debts of ex-brother Nilamon, but our building program is going to absorb all our meager resources...” (AFM, 213.35, pp. 6-7; 129.77). (REFERENCES, pp. 408-409).

NOAILLY, JEAN-MARIE: (1782-1862), was born 8th April 1782 in Chambort- Longessaigne, Rhône. He was ordained on 25th April 1805 and assigned the next day as curate in Saint-Jean-Soleymieux, Loire. Two years later, on 26th June 1807, he was appointed parish priest of Marcilly-le-Pavé, in the district of Boen, Loire. On 14th August 1817, he was named parish priest of Saint-Paul-en-Jarret, Loire, as successor to Fr. Joseph Acquier, who had just died. “As of that date,” Bro. Avit recounts in the annals of Saint-Paul, “there were two certified lay teachers. Fr. , who must have been dissatisfied with them, bought a little house near the cemetery and wanted to give it to the Institute.... Fr. Noailly also provided the minimal furnishings which Fr. Champagnat required in those days. We think he paid the down-payment on which the Founder insisted, but we have no proof. The town created all sorts of headaches for this good priest.... Since the classrooms were small, Fr. Noailly had others built the second year. They looked out over the cemetery. The civil authorities used that as a pretext to pester the parish priest again.... “Bro. Xavier, who is presently (1885) the dean of the survivors from the time of Fr. Champagnat...directed this school (from 1828) until 1853.... What we said above is based on a memorandum he wrote. He also adds: In the beginning the brothers suffered a great deal from the point of view of poverty.... They were persecuted by the lay teachers who stirred up the people against them. The only one who was totally on our side was Fr. Noailly, the parish priest. He was a man of firm character, he stood by us everywhere and on every occasion. “He housed us in a building where the brothers stayed for a long time. The classrooms were on the floor above. The second year, he wanted to build others, but when the material was all in the yard and the workers had just begun, the village policeman and the gendarmes came and warned them to stop. The material remained scattered around the yard for seven or eight months. The classrooms were put up during the vacations, but they were only provisional. “A year later, Fr. Noailly was transferred to La Guilotière, which greatly saddened the brothers and sisters. But he did not abandon us; every year, at New

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Year’s, he sent us bags of rice, baskets of grapes and figs, or cloth, such as pieces of linen or pocket handkerchiefs. When I went to see him, he very generously put me up. One year there were two of us; we stayed two days and all we spent was 75 centimes for our travel. When I was at the Hermitage, Fr. Champagnat asked me, ‘You went to see Fr. Noailly; what did he give you?’ I replied, ‘He gave us hospitality and rosaries, and paid for our coach” (AFM, 213.67, p. 3). He had been named parish priest of La Guillotière in Lyons on 1st October 1829, to replace Fr. Camille Neyrat who had been transferred to the parish of St-François. He remained there until his death on 22nd June 1862 (AAL, Registre du personnel).(Cf. L. 35). (REFERENCES, pp. 409-410).

PACOME, BROTHER: "Jean-Marie Revoux, from La Valla, thirty-seven years of age, legitimate son of François and of Marianne Valla, possessing a certificate of good conduct and morals, knowing how to make shoes, entered the house as a novice" on 12th April 1834 (RE, I, p. 52). He received the habit on 13th July 1834 (RV, 1, p XXVIII) and made temporary vows for three years the following 12th October (RVT, 1. p. 47). On 10th October 1836 he made public perpetual profession like all his confrères (RVP, 1, p. 27). According to Bro. Avit (AA, p. 174) it seems he was employed at the Hermitage before he entered the novitiate, which was merely a hiatus in his professional work as a shoemaker, which he continued after the novitiate and until his death on 9th or 10th January 1839 (RD, 1, p 16, n° 50), under the circumstances described by Fr. Champagnat in his circular of 13th January 1839 (L. 238). (REFERENCES, p. 410)

PAGE, ANTOINE-MARIE: (1780-1864), honorary canon, dean, former parish priest of Digoin, Saône-et-Loire. All we could find about him in the archives of the Autun chancery were three dates: 1780, the presumed year of his birth; 28th July 1817, his appointment as parish priest of Digoin; and 25th May 1864, the date of his death. We also found the date 28th August 1862, when Fr. Etienne Lapalus was appointed to replace him, so we know he was parish priest of Digoin from 1817 to 1862. Given the length of his stay there and the fact that the school in Digoin was really his life work, we will quote here the substantial information which Bro. Avit gives us in his annals of that establishment. “Fr. Page arrived to take over the parish in 1816.... (Obviously, he was a year off.) Seeing that his twenty-four years of prayer, zeal and virtue had not produced all the success he would have liked, (Fr. Page) got the idea of working for the regeneration of his parish through the children” (212.27, p. 4) How did Bro. Avtt, counting backwards from 1837, come up with twenty-four years? Could Fr. Page have been ordained in 1813. since he says he was a late vocation? That is possible, but we have no proof. On 21st February 1837, he wrote to Fr. Champagnat: “I have the honor to inform you that at its last meeting, our town council voted to have brothers in Digoin.... Since I still think that it will be your brothers who will serve our parish, I intend to go visit you after Easter. Meanwhile, Fr. Superior, please prepare us three excellent subjects, capable of overcoming the prejudices which have existed against your brothers in many places...” (129.28). Fr. Champagnat answered on 1st March (L. 97). It seems that Fr. Page did visit the Hermitage and that Fr. Champagnat persuaded him to be patient a while longer, since there were no further letters from him until 1839. But in July of that year, he apparently made up his mind to obtain Marist Brothers, come what may. He must have written early in August; we do not have that letter, but Fr. Champagnat’s letter of the 12th (L 264) looks like a reply. The same holds for the letter of 29th January

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1840 (L. 316). Fr. Page wrote again on 11th May 1840 to show that he was going ahead with his plans, in the assurance of obtaining brothers; perhaps he also had it in the back of his mind to put pressure on the superior, so to speak, to send them. Here is his text, in full: “Father Superior, What with having to see that people made their Easter duty properly, and having to prepare some for confirmation and first communion, I have not been able to write you as I should, to tell you how our affairs are going. As I had the honor to tell you on my last visit to the Hermitage, I have leased a really beautiful house, with courtyard and garden, five rooms on the first floor and two lovely study rooms below; it is well built and nicely located. I have had the garden seeded, to await the brothers you were good enough to promise me for the beginning of the coming school year, if we were ready to receive them. “The day before yesterday, our administration decided to build the school according to the same plans we had already had drawn up. I told our mayor that since the town would already have enough to do for the construction of the building, I would take care of raising enough money for the school’s first year of operation. He agreed to that arrangement. And, Father Superior, we really want the brothers this year, because the mayors are up for renewal, and if we are unfortunate enough to get one who decides to be stubborn about having unsuitable teachers, we will be pushed back for a long time if the brothers are not already settled in. Once they have taken over, no one will be tempted to entrust our children to teachers they find repugnant. That is also the opinion of our sub-prefect whom I saw lately, as well as of His Lordship our bishop, who stayed with me two nights and who gave his approval for the leasing of a house and for the house which I in fact leased. That is also the opinion of all our people; just about everyone is awaiting our brothers for the start of classes, and I hope, Father Superior, that you will fulfill our hopes and fulfill them well, for we need, as you can well imagine, a good choice, and in the light of your kind promises, I am absolutely counting on that. “It is with that confidence that I have the honor to be, with profound respect, Father Superior, your most humble and most obedient servant, Page, parish priest of Digoin. P.S. I offer to all your brothers the assurance of my respectful friendship” (129.79). In his reply ten days later, on 21st May 1840, Bro. François tried to convince him, using specific examples like Usson, Saint-Martin-la- Plaine and Perreux, that starting out in a rented house would mean problems later on. To start this establishment off on a solid foundation, the planned construction had to be completed first, and then when everything was ready, the brothers would be sent. Fr. Page had not yet received that letter before writing again, on the 23rd, to repeat that he was absolving the town from responsibility for the first year’s salary in view of the cost of the construction of the school, and that consequently, he had gathered pledges from his parishioners, which meant he could guarantee both the initial expenses of the school and the brothers’ salaries. He added that the inspector had visited the school and found the children very much behind, and that he had decided to send lay-teachers if the brothers did not come that year. It was therefore imperative that they be sent for All Saints. Bro. François replied on 5th June, saying that he absolutely had to hold to the terms of his previous letter. To that, Fr. Page reacted as follows: “When I read your letter of the 5th, on the 10th, my arms fell to my sides and I almost became discouraged, because waiting another year to start our establishment would probably mean postponing it for eight or ten. Once teachers from the normal school have settled in Digoin, it will not be easy to get rid of them.... “Father Superior, everyone is so eager to have the brothers this year, that if they definitely are not coming, everyone here will be

prefeng-letter.doc 294 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” completely confused and their enthusiasm will go right to the bottom of the well. Something which I and my parishioners have so long desired cannot be put off any longer without harm to religion and the success of our undertaking.... You know, Father Superior, that since I made up my mind to have brothers, I have never wavered in my choice; I looked to your congregation, which is under our divine mother.... “What joy you are going to arouse in our hearts; we will express to heaven our wishes for everything you could need, and I am convinced that the most holy Virgin will second them on your behalf and ours. It is already a year now since I leased the above-mentioned house and I have got nothing out of it. I would be very unhappy to have to let it go; in all of Digoin we would not find another one so suitable, until such time as the one being built by the town is livable...”. After four pages, 20 x 26 cm, in that tone, he adds a postscript: “Please pardon me for going on so long, but it is a heart broken by sorrow which is speaking and which has returned to you to solicit once again your affection towards us. I very much hope that the most holy Virgin, my mother and my patroness, will obtain for us a favorable reply. I have not informed my parishioners about your last one, and I hope to be able to announce to them with joy, Fr. Superior, the one with which I hope you will please honor me” (219.81). Bro. François let himself be moved, but a month later, his council stiffened its resistance, and set down as a minimum condition the guaranteed cooperation of the town council. The guarantee was given, and so at the end of October 1840, the three brothers arrived in Digoin to begin classes on 9th November. As can readily be seen from this correspondence, Bro. Avit was not wrong in saying that, “Fr. Page was not a man of letters. Education was rare in those days, the seminaries had barely been reorganized, and he had begun his studies at an advanced age. Nor was he an orator, which did not prevent him from staying in the pulpit a long time.... Although he was not erudite by any means, he was simple, humble, mortified, zealous, very upright, and totally dedicated to his holy ministry...” (212.27, p. 5). “Once, when his bishop came to visit, Fr. Page said to him, ‘My Lord, shall we share a crust of bread?’ His Grandeur, who had not quite been brought up on crusts of bread, was offended by the question, and became prejudiced against the good parish priest, but he soon got over it and came to esteem the holy man as he deserved” (ibid., p. 7). The courage he would display in the face of future trials would well justify that praise. The construction to which the town council had committed itself five years previously was still not finished, for reasons we do not know. On 19th November, Bro. Maurice, the director, wrote to Bro. François that land had been acquired for the construction of a school, and that Fr. Guillier, prefect apostolic of French Guiana and former parish priest of Digoin, was covering most of the expenses so that the congregation would not have to contribute anything. “On 22nd May 1846 (Bro. Maurice announced) that the construction had begun in January,...that Fr. Guillier had just retired in Digoin and that he could not give more than 8000 fr. that year, that 6000 had been borrowed and that the parish priest was having a hard time finding the rest. His letter of 14th January 1847 states that he had paid something for the construction from the finances of his household...” (ibid., p. 9). Then they learned that Fr. Guillier, who had died suddenly in April, had left nothing in his will toward the construction. “To meet the debts hanging over the building project, the parish priest had a circular letter printed in 1849, and sent it to his priestly confreres. ‘I am in a very bad situation,’ he said. ‘After eighteen months of fruitless efforts, I cannot see any other way to get out of it except by appealing to everyone’s generosity. A venerable priest, Fr. Guillier, prefect apostolic of Cayenne, retired in Digoin, had

prefeng-letter.doc 295 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” undertaken, in 1846, to have a large house built for the school and boarding division of the brothers whom I had recently brought to my parish. He was depending on his salary as a former prefect to pay for it; therefore, over a period of years. Unfortunately, those years were not granted to him: he died leaving me with an unfinished house and a debt of 25,000 francs. What a burden! “‘How can I pay it, when the interest alone eats up all my income? How can I repay both the workers and the creditors? I have nothing, and my parish, battered by floods, peopled entirely by workers (3500) cannot do anything either. Shall I have the sorrow of seeing this house, destined to form many young people to the knowledge and virtue whose lack is so strongly felt, unable to be completed or sustained, despite its legal existence and our joyful hopes? Shall I have the grief of seeing it collapsed, destroyed, perhaps expropriated? Oh, venerable brothers, help me!...’ “That appeal brought him 2000 fr. that year.... The good Father began to travel through most of France begging. We really do not know what he encountered on his long and painful travels. The bishop had him named a first-class parish priest, which entitled him to a salary increase of 300 fr. Harassed by his creditors, and not having a penny, the holy man did not know what was to become of him, when Providence sent him Fr. Ischié, a missionary from French Guiana and a friend of the late Fr. Guillier, who lent him 18,000 fr., only 10,000 of them at 5 %. Fr. Page and the brother director signed a promissory note for the loan.... “Fr. Ischié fell ill, and asked for the interest on his money and part of the capital. Since Fr. Page could not go begging again and did not have the money, he advised him to contact the Hermitage. The Superiors replied that they had warned Fr. Page not to count on them. Bishop De Marguerye had succeeded Bishop D’Héricourt in the see of Autun. ... He advised Fr. Page to sell us the building on condition the Institute would be willing to accept it. Fr. Page would gladly have done so, but he did not know where to get the interest which Fr. Ischié could no longer do without.... The Superiors, with good reason, did not want to burden themselves with either the capital or the interest, so the projected sale fell through. So Fr. Ischié went to Digoin, reached an understanding with the parish priest, and on 10th March 1854, through a deed received by Mr. Villié, a notary in Digoin, he surrendered his capital of 20,000 fr. in return for a life-annuity of 1200 fr., with a clause stating that if the grantor died before 1862, the said annuity would be paid to his heirs until that date. “Fr. Page had agreed to sign this document to make Fr. Ischié wait a while, and to prove his good will, but the good holy man found it impossible to pay the annuity, even though his personal expenses had been reduced to a bare minimum. His meals were more than frugal, and his clothes were so worn out that good people pitied him. Most of his parishioners joked about it and did not appreciate his dedication. Then there was question of ceding the building to the town. The latter accepted on condition that the Institute would pay the annuity, and that once the annuity had been acquitted, the town would be free to dispose of the building as it saw fit. That was not acceptable to either Fr. Page, the chancery or our superiors. “Things stayed that way for the moment. Fr. Ischié died at the end of March 1856. He had had the foresight to send to the Autun chancery (he lived in l’Aveyron) a will in which he renounced his pension of 1200 fr. for the eight years (sic) still remaining on his annuity, in favor of Fr. Page, on condition that he make a one-time payment of 7000 fr.... So Fr. Page could relax, pay the debts he had contracted, and see a bit better to his personal well-being. For ten years he had had to endure severe privations and long, painful travels. The contradictions he had endured for the sake of his work, from the town, from his creditors, from our superiors.. .had

prefeng-letter.doc 296 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” caused him a great deal of suffering” (ibid., pp. 12-13) In 1858, feeling the effects of his age, he wanted to sell the house he owned to the congregation. Our superiors let the affair drag on, and it was not settled until 1864. Meanwhile, Fr. Page had submitted his resignation, although be remained in the town. His curate, Fr. Lapalus, replaced him, not in 1863 as Bro. Avit states, but in August 1862 as we said in the beginning. “Fr. Page died in May 1864, in the parish residence, where he had reserved the right to end his days” (ibid., p. 27). (REFERENCES, pp. 410-415).

PASCAL, ANTOINE; see BONAVENTURE, BROTHER.

PASCAL, BROTHER: Born Jean Louis Chapelon on 15th February 1819, in Saint- Genest-Malifaux, to Claude Chapelon and Jeanne Martel, had been admitted to the Hermitage as a novice on 16th May 1835, and received the religious habit on 26th July. Contrary to what one might expect, his name does not appear on the list of brothers who made public temporary vows for the first time on 10th October 1836, but only on that of 9th October 1837 (RVT, 1, p. 69). He renewed those vows the following year, even though he had made them the first time for three years (ibid., p. 70). The letter of 5th January 1838 (L. 168) tells us that he was in St-Didier-sur-Rochefort where he must have been since - the previous November, and that his health was not good at all, since he was recovering from an illness which may have been the reason why his profession was delayed. He does not appear in the 1839 assignments, most likely because a relapse necessitated his staying at the Hermitage. And, in fact, the circular of 4th February 1840 (L. 318) informs us of his death several days earlier. He was buried in the cemetery at the Hermitage on 31st January. He was not yet twenty-one. (REFERENCES, p. 415).

PEALA, JEAN-FRANÇOIS-RÉGIS: was one of three Péala brothers who were priests in the diocese of Le Puy: Claude-Augustin (1789-1853), Pierre (1792-1875), and Jean- François-Regis (1798-1876), the only one who had any contact with Fr. Champagnat. He was born on 3rd September 1798 in Tence, Haute-Loire, and was ordained in 1819. We have been unable to find his curriculum vitae for the years preceding his appointment as parish priest of Tence on 21st July 1828. In 1837, he decided to establish a brothers’ school in his parish. We may presume that he first contacted Fr. Champagnat in person: at least that is how one can interpret the first sentence of the letter of 24th September 1837 (L. 136). In any case, the Founder was answering a formal request and gave the parish priest every reason to hope. But when he repeated his request the following year, he was told that on the one hand, it would be impossible that year, and on the other, that the bishop had just given Craponne priority over Tence (L. 212). A new request, in 1839, received a positive reply, but only for the following year (L. 283). But in 1840, there were new problems, this time financial (LL. 335, 338). After all that, it is hardly surprising that Fr. Péala turned to the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, who went to Tence that same year. He was named an honorary canon in 1843, but stayed in that same parish until his death on 10th April 1876. (REFERENCES, pp. 415- 416).

PEIGNEAUX, JEAN-FRANÇOIS-CLAUDE ; see FRANÇOIS-XAVIER, BROTHER.

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PEMEN, BROTHER: Born Pierre Ardin, to Joseph Ardin and Marie Sause, in Marnans, in the district of Roybon, Isère, entered N.-D. de l’Hermitage on 17th September 1835 at the age of 23 (RE, 1, p. 64), received the religious habit on 25th March 1836, made private temporary vows for three years on 13th June 1836, and renewed them publicly that 10th October (RVT, 1, pp. 63, 65). He made perpetual profession the following year, on 9th October 1837, (RVP, 1, p. 29). He appears on the 1837 list of brothers, but there is no indication of where he was assigned. Fr. Champagnat’s letter of 8th April 1839 (L. 249) announces his death at the end of March. He was buried in the cemetery at the Hermitage on 30th March 1839 (RI), 1, p. 17, n. 54). (REFERENCES, p. 416).

PERENON, PIERRE ; see PIERRE-MARIE, BROTHER.

PERES, MARIUS FERDINAND: (1800-?) notary and mayor of Cabannes, Bouches du Rhône. We know nothing of his origins, but he was certainly not from that region. The birth certificate of his daughter Christine Léonore Corali, born 28th January 1836, tells us he was then thirty-six years old, as was his wife Anne Aube. They subsequently had two other children, neither of whom survived: Denis Leon Victor, born 7th February 1837, died on 23rd August that same year; Seraphine Emile, born 14th October 1838, died 27th January 1840. Mr. Péres served as notary in Cabannes from 1835 to 1847. In that capacity, he wrote to Fr. Champagnat early in 1840, to ask for brothers (L. 324). On 3rd March 1848, he was named mayor of that city, replacing Mr. Callixte Castagny, but he stayed there only 23 days, since on 26th March he was replaced by Joseph Roubaud. We have no indication why that happened. All hypotheses are possible, but he was most likely transferred to another city in 1848, even though he did not find someone to take over his practice in Cabannes until 1851. In any case, there is no notice of his death in the civil registry of Cabannes. (REFERENCES, pp. 416-417).

PERRET, ANTOINE; see LIGUORI, BROTHER.

PEZANT, JEAN: (1811-1880), born 17th May 1811 in Chanonat, Puy-dc-Dome, studied theology at Saint-Sulpice in Paris. At the beginning of 1839, he requested admission to the Society of Mary, in which he made profession on 7th January 1840 (APM, Registre des professions). The following 18th February, the “Rhin”, a corvette of the royal navy, sailed with him, Fr. Tripe, and Bros. Claude-Marie (Bertrand) and Ammon (Duperron) for the Maori mission of Waikato (APF, XII, 207). For more than forty years, Fr. Pezant exercised his apostolate in the missions of Oceania. At ten o’clock in the evening of 22nd December 1880, he peacefully surrendered his soul to God (APM, doc. 16, PEZ). (Cf. L. 318). (REFERENCES, p. 417).

PHILIPPE, BROTHER: was born Jean-Baptiste Tardy on 8th September 1800 in La Valla, Loire, to Jean Tardy and Anne Oriol. On 7th May 1827 he entered the novitiate at the Hermitage and received the religious habit the following 18th October (AA, p. 82). He did not make temporary vows until 2nd October 1831, when he did so for three years; he renewed them for a similar period on 12th October 1834 (RVT, 1, pp. 23-24). He made his definitive commitment by public perpetual vows on 9th October 1837 (RVP, 1, p. 29). His first years in the Institute are lost in the shadows. He appears for the first time on the 1834/5 assignment list, but in two different places. He was first set down for

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Bourg-Argental; then his name was crossed out and moved to La Côte-St-André. Should we deduce from this that he was at the first school during 1834-35 and at the second during the following school year? That hypothesis seems more plausible than simple indecision as to where to place him; since the list was dated 1834, and then 5 was written on top of the 4, we presume it was first used in 1834, and then in its revised form, in 1835 (AFM, 113.17). He was apparently assigned to Valbenoîte in 1836, since in the annals of that establishment, Bro. Avit writes that, “In 1837 there were four classes and four associates: Bros. Philippe, Maxime, Alexis and Romain” (213.81, p. 8). We are not sure if he stayed there the entire school year, since according to the annals of Sury-le-Comtal, he must have taken over as director of the school in that city, replacing Bro. Jean-Chrysostôme, who had held that position since November 1834, and of whom it is said that “after about three years, he had to retire to the Hermitage” because of illness (213.76, p. 8). “The new director,” Bro. Avit goes on to say, “was pious, mortified like all the first brothers, very zealous in his classroom, where he shout- ed continually like a deaf man; that did not prevent him from living to be eighty. His guiding principle was that his associates, no matter who they were, should be old enough to take care of themselves; consequently he gave them very little direction” (ibid., p. 9). He was still there on 9th September 1839 as we know from L. 267, and also on 2nd October 1839, at which date he paid into the caisse commune in the name of Sury (AFM, 132.2, p. 117). The assignments of that year named him there for the following one. However, Bro. Avit has him leaving there “after the 1840 retreat” (ibid., p. 10), but arriving at his next assignment, Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne, “in October 1839” (214.74, p. 20). Since the only authoritative document we have is the assignment list just quoted, we will follow it, and say that Bro. Philippe was transferred in 1840. “He was also,” Bro. Avit tells us, “a rigid religious, with an iron constitution, unparalleled dedication, and a habit of shouting in class loud enough to be heard a kilometer away. He had little formal education, but was a zealous teacher, and taught his students subjects he barely knew himself” (ibid., p. 20). He did not have his certificate of competence; in his previous post he had acted under the name of Bro. Jean- Chrysostôme, but we do not know who covered for him in this one. His first concern, apparently, was to establish a boarding division, which he housed as best he could in the available space. “[The Revolution of] 24th February 1848 had strong repercussions in St-Didier. There were threats to burn down the house.... Bro. Philippe already had a band and a music teacher, an ardent republican named Thiébaud. To restore the courage of the students and their parents, who were frightened by these developments, Bro. Director thought he could permit an extra outing, and at the urging of Mr. Thiebaud, the band led the way. This “parade” was a marvelous success, and won the republicans over to the brothers.... But Bro. François was not pleased and gave Bro. Philippe a sound scolding.... He was replaced at the 1851 vacation.... He left vivid memories here. He was very much esteemed, both as a religious and as a teacher, even though he still did not have his certificate, which he obtained the following year at the age of 52” (ibid., pp. 2 1-22). Perhaps he had a year off to prepare for it, since he does not appear again until 2nd November 1852, when he opened the school in Saint-Etienne-de-Saint-Geoire, in the Isère. Both the assignment lists and Bro. Avit place him there until the end of the 1860 school year (214.75, pp. 7-8). He then became director in Saint-Laurent-de- Chamousset. There, the annals tell us, “Bro. Philippe transformed the brothers’ quarters into dormitories for the students. All the brothers had left was their study hail.... Here, as

prefeng-letter.doc 299 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” in all the schools he directed, Bro. Philippe was totally devoted to his own students but paid little attention to the other classes, the accounts, or directing his associates. He claimed they had reached the age of reason. He yelled like a madman in class, and any remarks made to him about it fell on deaf ears.... He was already hard of hearing, but literally so when anyone warned him about any of the foregoing” (214.85, pp. 8-9). Bro. Avit also tells us that he was replaced by Bro. Anastase in September 1863, but he did not open the free school in Marboz, Am, which seems to have been his next assignment, until November 1864. We do not know what became of him in the interval, unless the dates are once again incorrect. He remained there less than four years, since he was replaced during 1868 for unknown reasons. The fact that he had started a boarding division in his school, against the superiors’ wishes, certainly had something to do with it. That was the end of his apostolic career, since he went to spend the rest of his days in Saint-Genis-Laval. Here are Bro. Avit’s last comments about him: “Bro. Philippe is the one who became discouraged at the Hermitage despite the fatherly words of the Founder; he insisted on leaving but remorse quickly brought him back. He was hard on himself, but often too easy on the brothers who were his associates in the different schools whose direction was entrusted to him. He was a great advocate of boarding schools; he founded the one in Saint-Didier, then expanded the one in Saint- Laurent-de-Chamousset. We have already said he set up the one in Marboz despite his superiors. “Even though he was poorly educated, he was a very good teacher and had good results. He had a special gift for imparting what he knew and even what he did not know. We saw that several times while inspecting his class, in which he shouted loud enough to be heard far off. if he did not have that defect, he could have continued his career until 90, rather than stopping at 80. He had been a carpenter, and he practiced that trade at the motherhouse during his last years.... One could say that he starved to death, since his stomach refused any kind of food. He practiced the devotion of the six Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory be’s, and recited them many times every day (AA, mss, notebook n° 7, pp. 761-762). He died “at St-Genis-Laval on 10th January 1880, at the age of 79 years, 4 months and two days, of which he had spent 52 years and 8 months in community” (RD, 3, n. 875). (REFERENCES, pp. 417-419).

PICCOLET, MARIE-FRANÇOIS: (1765-1851), born 30th July 1765 in Saint-Julien, in Genevois, Haute-Savoie, was ordained in 1791 and named curate in the Vallée d’Aoste. In 1795 he became a missionary, then was parish priest successively in Garger, Ain; Saint-Cergues, Haute-Savoie; and Feigeres, Haute-Savoie. After Saint-Louis in Le Mont-de-Chambéry, where he was director from 1808 on, in 1815 he became spiritual director of the secondary school in Evian, where his brother Marie-Jacques was principal. Both were benefactors of Evian, which owes to them the school of the Sisters of St. Joseph and that of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. They were active throughout the whole region, as we know from the letter of 12th May 1839 (L. 252) which concerns the parish of Cluses. Marie-François stayed at that school a long time, even beyond 1839, since for lack of information to the contrary, we presume he remained there until his death on 1st April 1851. (REFERENCES, pp. 419-420).

PIE, BROTHER: Born Benolt Renou, to Antoine Renou and Marie Denise Crozet, landowners in Marboz, in the district of Coligny, Am, entered the Institute on 21st September 183,1 at the age of 25 (RE, 1, p. 38). He received the religious habit, on 1st

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November that same year, and made temporary vows for three years on 25th December (RVT, 1, p. 29). On 7th October of the following year, he made perpetual profession privately, and then publicly on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, pp. 16, 28). As of the latter date, he already had behind him the opening of two schools: the first in Lorette, in 1834, founded by Messrs. Thiollière and Neyrand for the children of their workers, the second in Pélussin in November of the following year. Bro. Avit states that in the latter post he “used another’s certificate”; then he adds later on, “Pélussin was my first assignment, and ex-brother Pie my first director. Piety, regularity and love of study were not his strong points. He liked to travel, and was glad to leave us io supervise the boarders on Thursdays, Sundays, and other days when there were no classes. I was replaced by cx- brother Brunon in May 1839. Bro. Director came to the Hermitage to get me back, and he was not well received.... Bro. Director led the singing in church, even though he was not obliged to, and there were enough other singers” (Annales de Péussin, 213.36, p. 6). In his letter of 4th February 1838 (L. 172), Fr. Champagnat asks Bro. François “if Bro. Pie has been changed; what was the effect of the change?” Bro. Avit’s testimony may perhaps give us the reason for that plan, which in fact was not pursued, as we can see from the number of payments made to the caisse commune by Bro. Pie during 1838, 1839 and 1840. Also, the fact that in the circular of 10th January 1840, he is designated to preside, in the absence of the Brother Assistant, at the conference in Pélussin (L. 313, vol. 1, p. 569) shows that he was still there at the time. We know he was transferred during the 1840 vacation, but we do not know his next destination. We meet him again three years later, in the annals of Terrenoire, where Bro. Avit is very evasive about him. “On 25th September 1843,” he says, “Mr. Génissieux informed the Rev. Brother...that he had seen the new brothers assigned to his school and had high hopes for them. The letter does not give their names; we believe that one of them was Bro. Pie, the successor of Bro. Benoit” (AFA, 213.78, p. 6). Several letters written from Terrenoire and signed by Bro. Pie show that his supposition was correct. Here are two of those letters, which show the kind of person he was. On 15th February 1846, he wrote, “Reverend Brother Director General, Please tell Bro. Jovinien before I get there that it was a good thing he came to see you since you want to transfer him. I will tell you the reasons later. I have often told fat Bro. Eugène to go see you at the Hermitage. He himself told me several times that he wanted to go, but when the time comes, he no longer wants to! I don’t know if he is afraid of something, but he keeps postponing his trip. I am afraid you may have to make two changes instead of one, because as far as I am concerned, I am very tired. I have a cold which is draining me and my class which is wearing me out. I have 67 children to myself, and they are more difficult to control than 100 in other places, and there is no one to help me. Please ask my old father to come to the Hermitage; you can suggest to him what we talked about. Your servant, Pie” (AFM, 604, Terrenoire file). Four days later, on 19th February 1846, Bro. Jovinien had been changed but his replacement did not at all meet Bro. Pie’s expectations, so he quickly wrote again: “Reverend Brother Director General, After having carefully examined the brother you gave me, I see that he cannot possibly fit here in Terrenoire. He is absolutely too clumsy; he makes everyone laugh. You know that the people of Terrenoire are very mischievous and that the brothers need all their authority and all their reputation in order to do any good. It is impossible for him to do so; the children make fun of him. Please believe me, with the deepest respect, dear brother, your most humble and most obedient servant, Bro. Pie” (Idem.). We do not know what became of

prefeng-letter.doc 301 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” the brother in question, but we do know that Bro. Pie was transferred eight months later. Bro. Avit, who was then director in Bougé-Chambalud, Isère, says himself in the annals that he was “replaced by ex-brother Pie who had been my First director in Pélussin in 1838”. That was in 1846, when Bro. Avit opened the boarding school in Roussillon (214.63, p. 4). “This new director,” he goes on, meaning Bro. Pie, “was not very capable, but he was a great faker. He acted on the strength of his brother’s certificate. (He) wrote to Bro. Assistant on 18th July 1848, as follows, ‘Dear brother, You tell me that I must send you Bro. Tobie, as I agreed with Bro. François. Well, I am doing so by keeping him, because I did not agree to anything. Besides, I cannot send him without receiving someone else; and why change him now with the vacation approaching? If you have to make changes in Bougé, you can do so at the time of the retreat, if in fact there is one this year, which I doubt. However, I would like to know a little in advance, because I will keep my boarders until the end of September. We almost always have someone sick here. Now that Bro. Tobie has recovered, the brother cook has taken his place. He has a terrible cold from which he has been suffering for over a month. He is a little better, but I thought he was going to die.... Please recommend us to our Good Mother during the month of August. I renew the assurance of my respectful devotion, and I am...’. “His previous letters were full of humble and submissive sentiments. In them, he requested the readmission of his brother, the ex-Célestin, who had been dismissed from the Institute for a very serious reason. He himself made his own expulsion mandatory by a similar happening in April 1849. The parish priest so informed the superiors. Bro. Avit had just been put in charge of the visits in the Centre as he already was of those in the South. Since he was at the Hermitage when the parish priest’s letter arrived, he was sent here to get more information. The incident had been noised about and there was risk of a major scandal. When the people saw Bro. Avit returning, they thought he had come to stay. They reached an understanding and worked to hush up the whole thing as a favor to him. After a month, everything was calm again, and Bro. Théodat came to take over the house, while Bro. Avit resumed his visits” (214.14, pp. 14-15). (REFERENCES, pp. 420-422).

PIERRE, BROTHER: “Born Jean Souchon in Boisset, Haute-Loire, legitimate son of Jean and of Marguerite Montagne, entered the house of La Valla on 14th October 1827 at the age of 27, giving the sum of 520 francs for his room and board” (RE, 1, p. 4). On 2nd August 1830, he states that he was admitted to the Hermitage on 20th October 1824 (which is impossible since the house was not yet habitable), and that he received the religious habit on 3rd April 1825, and made temporary vows for three years on 10th June 1830 at the age of 29 (which does not tally with what Fr. Champagnat wrote down at the time of his admission) (RVT, 1, p. 15). That was probably not his first profession; we know that the registers were not maintained regularly until 1829. He made perpetual profession privately on 2nd April 1832, and publicly on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, pp. 15, 27). He spent his whole life doing manual work, first at the Hermitage, and then apparently at Saint-Genis-Laval. It may have been the Founder himself who had him take up masonry, a trade in which he eventually became a “master” (AA, p. 250). As early as 1827, the Founder got him involved in putting up a two-storey building to house the various workshops (AA., p. 80). Later, after 1835, Bro. Anselme became his helper, mainly to mix mortar for him (ibid., p. 175). When he writes about Bro. Pierre’s death, Bro. Avit relates these anecdotes about him: “Once, when he was making his chapter of

prefeng-letter.doc 302 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” faults to the Founder, he accused himself of having broken silence just about continually. He was hard of hearing. Since one brother remarked that he had the habit of spitting on his hands, the Founder urged him to correct himself of that little eccentricity. Bro. Pierre thanked him, spat on his hands before kissing the floor, got up and went out. Having spent most of his life as a mason, for better or for worse, at the end he was a gravedigger. One day, while he was helping to lower a coffin into the grave, he said out loud, ‘You’ve had it!’ He was also in charge of the pantry, and never let himself be won over by the flattery of the gourmets” (AA, mss, notebook n° 7, pp. 630-63 1). When the General House was transferred to St-Genis-Laval, he must have followed, but we do not know exactly when. In any case, he died there on 15th March 1868 at the age of 70 (RD, 5, p. 30). (Cf. LL. 172, 196). (REFERENCES, pp. 422-423).

PIERRE-JOSEPH, BROTHER: Born Pierre Rode on 11th November 1809 in Saint- Amant-Roche-Savine, Puy-de-Dôme, to Claude Rode and M. Roche, entered the novitiate at the Hermitage on 13th May 1835, received the religious habit on 26th July, and made temporary vows for three years that 1st November (RV, 1, p. XXXXVI; RVT, 1, p. 60). On 10th October 1836 he made public perpetual vows (RVP, 1, p. 25). A late vocation, with little education, Bro. Pierre-Joseph spent his entire life at manual work. Besides the masonry he did with Bro. Pierre, he was a metal-worker and locksmith (AA, p. 250). According to Bro. Avit, “he was a disciple of Fr. Champagnat, an excellent reli- gious who devoted himself quietly to various manual employments” (AA, mss, notebook n° 7, p. 631). He died at St-Genis-Laval on 20th September 1868 (RD, 5, p. 32). (Cf. LL. 172, 196). (REFERENCES, p. 423).

PIERRE-MARIE, BROTHER: Born Pierre Pérénon on 3rd October 1804 in Viriville, Isère, to Joseph Pérénon and Marie Girier. On 27th October 1832, Fr. Champagnat entered his name for the novitiate at the Hermitage, noting that he “has followed a regular course of studies and has his certificate of competence” (RE, 1, p. 43). On 2nd December that year, he received the religious habit (RV, 1, p. XX). On 12th May 1833, in the church in Bourg-Argental, he made temporary vows for two years; he renewed them, no doubt at the Hermitage, on 29th September of that same year, for two years and a half (RVT, 1, p. 42). The fact that he made his vows in Bourg-Argental indicates that he was then at the school in that city; according to his personal file, he had been there since December 1832. On 12th October 1834, he made perpetual profession before being named director of the. school in St-Genest-Malifaux, which opened that year. “A zealous recruiter for the novitiate, Bro. Pierre-Marie sometimes too easily accepted those who presented themselves. Among the many postulants he brought to the Hermitage, one, Bro. Pascal, died; only Bros. Euthyme, Bassus, Basin and Jean are still with us.... On 25th April 1838, Bro. Director gave a letter to Bro. Rémy, his associate, who was going to the Hermitage.... In it, he begged the Rev. Father (sic) to choose him for the missions of Oceania. He was in fact chosen...”, but lie did not leave St-Genest until the 1839 vacation (Annales de St-G.-M., 213.49, pp. 6-7). His file tells us that while he was waiting to leave for the missions, he stayed in Lyon-Saint-Nizier from March to November 1840. That would make him the first director of that orphanage, which is mentioned in L. 306 (cf. introduction to that letter). On 8th December of that year, he embarked for New Zealand with five other brothers from the Hermitage and some Marist Fathers. According to Fr. Gallagher, Bro. Pierre- Marie worked near the

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Bay of Islands for five or six years, then had to return because of his health. The available documents do not give precise dates but agree that his return was spread over 1845 and 1846. In August 1846, according to his file, he became director of Lyon- Chemin-Neuf. Even though the annals of that establishment do not mention him before 1848, we believe his file to be more credible, because it could not have been drawn up except on the basis of information supplied by the brother himself. He left there to be director of the school in Nantua in 1850-1851. Then the superiors thought of him to take over the orphanage which Madame de Rocca wanted to open in Bois-Sainte-Marie, in the town of Varennes-sous-Dun, Saône-et-Loire. He stayed there for the entire life-span of that institution, from 1851 to 1860, to be precise about the dates which Bro. Avit only approximates (AFA, 212.52, pp. 1-2). From November 1860 until the 1862 vacation, Bro. Pierre-Marie directed the school in Néronde, Loire, which had been entrusted to us. Bro. Pantaléon, his associate, taught the first class, and he, as director, took care of the second. After the 1862 retreat, Bro. Macédonius took over as director of that school and Bro. Pierre-Marie was entrusted with the direction of the school in Noyant, Allier, where he remained for six years, until the 1868 vacation. That was his last assignment as director. He stayed at his next post, the school in Decize, only nine months, because he fell ill and had to be taken to the infirmary at St-Genis-Laval in July 1869. He received such excellent care that in October he was able to join the community in Valbenoîte. According to his file, he was an “extra” there, which for all practical purposes means he was retired. He must have stayed there until nearly the end of his life, returning to the Hermitage only to die, which he did on 25th August 1873. He was buried in the community cemetery on the 27th, according to the official report of the ceremony (RD. 1, p. 74, n. 255). (REFERENCES, pp. 423-424).

POCACHART, BENOITE (SISTER SAINTE-GERTRUDE): was one of three young ladies from Saint-Laurent-d’Agny whom Fr. Champagnat sent to Mother Saint-Joseph as candidates for the Marist Sisters (L. 25). She spent thirty years in that congregation. She was at Sainte-Foy, Lyons, in 1844 (cf. ASM, Sainte-Foy 190, Act of Consecration of 21st November), and left from there in 1862 to take care of her elderly father who was seriously ill. She stayed with him for two years, during which time it seems no one thought of regularizing her canonical situation. When he died in 1865, she immediately prepared to return to her community. The superior general, Mother Sainte-Ambroise, did not think she could permit her to do so and submitted the case to the bishop of Belley, who considered the situation too delicate for him to intervene. She was therefore not readmitted to the congregation (ADB, Soeurs Maristes file; Correspondance de Mere Saint-Joseph, Rome, 1965, p. 77). (REFERENCES, p. 424).

POISNARD, CLAUDE; see ETIENNE, BROTHER.

POISNARD, JACQUES; see ISIDORE, BROTHER.

POISNARD, PIERRE; see SIMON, BROTHER.

POLYCARPE, BROTHER: Born Joseph Ducarre on 25th May 1805 in Brangues, Isère, to Claude and Aimée Richard, entered Notre-Dame de [‘Hermitage on 16th April 1830 (RE, 1, p. 33) and received the religious habit on 27th June (RV, 1, p. VIII). A year later,

prefeng-letter.doc 304 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” he made temporary vows for three years, on 9th June 1831 (RVT, 1, p. 22), but waited only five months before making perpetual profession on 2nd October (RVP, 1, p. 14); he renewed the latter publicly on 10th October 1836 (ibid., p. 28). In the Abrégé des Annales, Bro. Avit devotes a page and a half to this brother (pp. 104-105). We will not quote them here, but we will remark in passing that saying he “entered the novitiate at the age of 30” is a rather broad approximation! The dates in his personal file sometimes disagree with those given by Bro. Avit; we will give preference to the former, since the latter could easily make mistakes in reporting events fifty years later. As of November 1830, Bro. Polycarpe had resumed his profession as a teacher, in Saint-Sauveur-en- Rue, where he stayed only one year; from there he went to La Valla, where he spent even less time, since he left there in April 1832 to take over the school in Ampuis. In the annals of the latter establishment, Bro. Avit presumes “that the school became a town school around 1834 or 1835, under Bro. Polycarpe”, but he offers no proof of that. He then records the following incident: “Our venerated Founder often went on foot to visit his brothers in the schools. He arrived one Thursday at 4 a.m., and found the three brothers in bed with colds. He reprimanded them fairly gently for that. But then when he found a supply of finest quality bread, he became very angry. Bro. Polycarpe pleaded economy, pointing out that the bread was so dry it had to be broken with a hammer, and then soaked in the soup. .1 admit the economy,’ replied the Founder, ‘but it’s against the spirit of mortification. I don’t know a single parish priest in the diocese who eats bread this good.’ Bro. Polycarpe considered himself told. According to a memo he left, he was replaced by Bro. Marie-Un in October 1838” (214.3, p. 12). However, his personal file dates this transfer in 1839, and Bro. Avit himself, in the annals of Perreux, says that “in October 1839, Bro. Polycarpe replaced Bro. Innocent in Perreux” (213.38, p. 12). We will hold to the latter date. The new director did not know at the time that he would be staying there twenty years. Bro. Avit perhaps gives us one of the reasons: Bro. Polycarpe’s simple manners and naive frankness were very pleasing to the nouveaux riches. They were happy when he visited them, and he asked straight out for what he needed. This was why the Marquis-de-Tardy gave him a cask of wine, and the Count- de-Champomay and Mr. Merle allowed him to take whatever he liked from their beautiful gardens. Bro. Polycarpe lacked for nothing. He also made good use of the generosity of Mile. Du Bretail. Fr. Bénéton, the parish priest, was always devoted to the community, but Bro. Director’s style was too simple for him” (213.38, pp. 12-13). On 24th April 1844, Bro. Polycarpe wrote to Bro. François as follows: “Dear Bro. Director General, I am going to give you a brief account of the bishop’s reception in Perreux. We went to see him the day he arrived. We stayed about two minutes; he did not even ask us to sit down. He praised the children in church, and in class he found that they knew their catechism well and that they behaved well in church. In class, I had one of the children make a little speech, which he did marvellously. Then he visited the downstairs rooms and the surroundings of the house. He took me aside to give me a lecture. He advised me to respect the parish priest, and told me to advise the brothers with me to do the same; but he said those few words with chilly displeasure. I replied that I did not believe we had offended the parish priest in any way. I concluded from all that that someone had prejudiced him against us. I can tell you, brother, that this year we have done our very best to help the parish priest in every way and as much as we could. Since your visit all the brothers have gone to confession to him. I was very embarrassed to find His Lordship so cold without having given him any reason to be so. That and other

prefeng-letter.doc 305 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” misfortunes, involving my poor relatives, have simply overwhelmed me with grief. I have just been informed of the death of my poor brother, who after making his Easter duty on Holy Thursday and working on Friday and Saturday, died on Easter Monday of a stroke. My poor father, who is over eighty, is terribly broken up; he is all alone now with his daughter-in-law and two young children. Almost all my other relatives have died in the past few years; my sister and my two brothers-in-law are dead”. That is one of the score of letters we have from Bro. Polycarpe. They are generally brief, direct, unaffected, to the point, speaking about a second topic before finishing the first, to which he often returns to complete his thought. He wrote as he spoke, without worrying about mistakes in spelling or grammar. The language he uses with his superiors is direct, frank, without flattery or emotional outbursts, but always respectful. Here is one he wrote for New Year’s 1846: “Perreux, 1st January 1846, Dear Brother Director General, I am writing to tell you to take Bro. Constantin out of here as soon as possible, or at least to tell me what to do with him. His supervision is hopeless. He told the brother that if I sent him to the Hermitage he would go home. What I am afraid of is that you will lose two instead of one. Bro. Gervais who was doing so well before the other one came, is now becoming disgusted with teaching. He often talks with Bro. Constantin. I would be very sorry if Bro. Gervais left, because if he had not fallen into bad company, he could become a good subject. In any case, do whatever you think best. I believe it is high time to remove Bro. Constantin to save Gervais. Bro. Héraclius wishes you a Happy New Year, as do I. I have the honor to be your most humble servant, Bro. Polycarpe”. Bro. Avit summarizes in four points the remarks he made on his visits to the community in Perreux: “1) Bro. Polycarpe was zealous about teaching catechism and recruiting for the novitiate; he had already brought a number of good subjects there. “2) He raised two or three pigs every year. To keep him happy, we had to begin our visit every year with those ugly animals and compliment him on them. “3) Even though he was very dignified, his relationships with his brothers, his students and outsiders were always marked by great simplicity. The parish priest thought he was too gullible and acted too much like a peasant. Several light-headed associates often enough played dirty tricks and regrettable practical jokes on him.... When he realized he’d been had, the brother director would get very angry, but the slightest little kindness calmed him down. ‘These good for nothing brats are really giddy,’ he used to say, ‘but their hearts are in the right place.’ He was very adept at dealing with rich people, to get wood, food, even money from them. His students often asked him to give them ‘Deo gratias’ during meals, just so they could laugh at the way he very seriously said, ‘Beccamus Domino’! “4) (As for keeping accounts, he never could.) His purse was in his pocket all year long. When someone gave him money, he put it in his pocket. If someone asked him for money, he took it out of his pocket. When he came to the retreat, he handed in whatever he had in his pocket. Several unscrupulous tradesmen, who knew how he acted, deceived him and made him pay the same bill two or three times. The good brother could never bring himself to believe that reasonable men would do such a thing...” (213.38, pp. 17-18). Bro. Polycarpe left that school at the 1859 vacation, to become director again in Ampuis. “Since he was already an old man and tired of teaching, he did the cooking here. In spite of his age and the fact that he was very fat, he was not afraid to swim across the Rhône” (214.3, p. 16). When he changed schools, he did not change his habits regarding financial administration, and his confreres, there as elsewhere, took advantage of his naiveté to play tricks on him. “The people of Ampuis loved him dearly...because he was so good-natured, and also

prefeng-letter.doc 306 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” because of his good spirit and his piety. They gave him more vegetables and fruit of all kinds than he and his associates could eat. He said that these gifts came to about 600 francs worth every year. He even reached the point of insisting that people bring him only choice produce which had been washed beforehand” (ibid., p. 17). The authorities, however, had finally had enough of his unpolished manners. He remained there, none the less, until September 1867. He next spent two and a half years in retirement at the boarding school in Neuville, then went to the provincial house in St-Genis-Laval, where he spent the rest of his life at housekeeping chores until his death on 11th June 1880 (RD, 3, n. 883). (Cf. LL. 63, 205). (REFERENCES, pp. 424-428).

POMPALLIER, JEAN-BAPTISTE-FRANÇOIS: (1801-1871), first bishop of Auckland. Born 20th Frimaire Year X (11th December 1801) in the parish of Saint-Louis in Lyons, to Pierre Pompallier, a man of independent means, and Franchise Pompallier. His father died on 30th August 1802 and his mother married Jean-Marie Solichon. He did his secondary schooling at the clerical juniorate of Saint-François in Lyons. Between 1816 and 1826, his family lived in Vourles. On 2nd November 1823, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Montrouge, but his name does not appear on the 1824 lists. In 1825-26 he studied philosophy in Alix, and in the autumn of 1826, entered Saint lrénée, where he did three years of theology. He received the tonsure on 10th June 1827, minor orders on 22nd December 1827, the subdiaconate on 31st May 1828, the diaconate on 20th December 1828, and the priesthood on 13th June 1829. On 24th June he was appointed curate in the parish of La Madeleine in Tarare, but he did not go there, since Etienne Séon, who knew that he wanted to join the Marist aspirants, agreed to take a curate's appointment in his place, which he did in Charlieu from November 1829 to December 1830. As for Pompallier, after replacing Fr. Courbes in Vourles in July-August 1829, he entered the Hermitage that September. In January 1830, he came with Fr. Bourdin to give the students retreat at the minor seminary in Belley. He may have returned to that city for Lent; in any case, he was there the following September for the election of Jean-Claude Colin as central superior. From 3rd to 8th December 1830, he participated in the gathering of Lyons priests who were Marist aspirants, played a determining role in the compilation of the rules drawn up there, and together with the others, elected Marcellin Champagnat as provincial rector. During Lent of 1832, he preached in the Beaujolais region; on 29th April he received faculties for the entire diocese, and in October, he made several trips into the Forez region. In November 1832, with the approval of Jean-Claude Colin, he became chaplain for the men of the Third Order of Mary in Lyons, and also for the boarding school of Frs. Colard, Delaunay and Dominget at Fourvière, which was moved to La Favorite in the summer of 1833. While in Lyons, Pompallier was the normal intermediary of the Marists with the archdiocese. He tried unsuccessfully to bring the Marist Sisters into the archdiocese, and to unite the Little Brothers of Mary with the Viatorians, but succeeded in having Fr. Cholleton appointed to deal with Marist matters in the archdiocese of Lyons. His main field of activity, however, remained the institute of the brothers of the Third Order, for whom he drew up detailed rules and whom he governed with authority in his capacity as their spiritual director. But difficulties quickly arose between himself and Fr. Colard, the rector of the institute, whom he dismissed and who had to leave the house during the spring of 1834. At that same period, the lease on the Fourvière house was cancelled, and Pompallier, who until then had been living there, had to move to La Tour de

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Fourvière, a house which had been rented on 10th April 1833 by Fr. Colard, and whose lease Pompallier had placed in his own name. He went from there every day to La Favorite, and during the 1834 riots he even staved at the boarding school, but it was at La Tour that the meetings of the tertiary brothers were held. In July 1835, Pompallier was sounded out by Fr. Cholleton about becoming head of the mission of Western Oceania, which had been suggested to Fr. Pastre by the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith; he obtained Jean-Claude Colin's approval, and in March 1836, was officially proposed to the Vatican. His appointment as vicar apostolic of Western Oceania, approved by the Holy Father on 17th April, was sent in a brief of 13th May 1836. Pompallier then went to Rome, where he was ordained on 30th June and received instructions about his mission. Even before the trip to Rome, he was concerned with finding volunteers for the mission. He was present at the gathering of 20-24th September 1836, but instead of vows, he made a promise of attachment to the Society. On 30th September, in Saint-Chamond, he gave Fr. Champagnat power of attorney (APM, personnel file), and on 3rd October he blessed the new chapel at the Hermitage (AFM, Mémorial ecclésiastique, p. 9). He left Lyons for Paris on 10th October, and left the capital for Le Havre on 11th November. Having sailed on the "Delphine" on 24th December 1836, he reached the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, on 10th January 1838. Misunderstandings quickly arose between Pompallier and Fr. Colin, and in 1846, the former went to Rome to defend his point of view. On 20th June 1848, a pontifical brief created two dioceses in New Zealand: Auckland and Port Nicholson. Another brief under the same date named Pompallier apostolic administrator of the former see. On 3rd July 1860, he became bishop of Auckland. On 18th February 1868, he left New Zealand, arrived in Paris at the end of July, presided on 12th December at a departure ceremony of missionaries at the seminary of the Society of the African Missions in Lyons, and then went to Rome where he submitted his resignation. He was then named titular archbishop of Amasia. He retired in Puteaux, Seine, where he died on 21st December 1871. (OM, IV, pp. 337-339, where further bibliographical references may be found. Cf. also LL. 15, 45, 67, 69, 75, 83, 109, 173, 194.) (REFERENCES, pp. 428-429).

PORTE, ANTOINE ; see ZACHARIE, BROTHER.

PRADIER, HENRI: (+1853), priest of the diocese of Le Puy. The only information we have about him is the few details which Fr. G. Massebeuf, archivist of the diocese of Le Puy, was able to gather after much research. From 1834 to 1841, he was curate in Felines, about 30 km from Le Puy. In 1840, as a member of the Administrative Council for deaf-mutes, he participated in meetings on 9th April, 6th May 25th May and 15th June (Registre du C.A., Bros. of the Sacred Heart, Espaly). In 1845, during his time as curate in Saussac l'Eglise (1842-1853) he was named an honorary canon. It is at that time that the letter H appears after his name, but his full Christian name is never mentioned. In 1854, the list of priests deceased during 1853 mentions, "Pradier, honorary canon, 49 years old", who was still only a curate. Fr. Gabriel Massebeuf, after reading the Founders letters to Fr. Pradier, offered the following explanation: "This clarifies everything concerning the relationship between Pradier and the Institution for deaf-mutes in Le Puy. In February 1840, Fr. Pradier wrote to Fr. Champagnat, who replied on the 22nd of that month (L. 327). He probably came to Le Puy in March, as he says in that letter but was unable to accept the project for 1840-1841 for lack of brothers

prefeng-letter.doc 308 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” trained for that sort of work. Since Le Puy could not wait that long the diocese turned to the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. Fr. Pradier then withdrew from the affair, since he attended a council meeting for the last time on 15th June 1840. The foundation was finally made in 1841, with the Sisters of the Presentation for the deaf and dumb girls, and the Brothers of the Sacred Heart for the boys". (REFERENCES, pp. 429-430).

PREHER, PIERRE ; see LOUIS-STANISLAS, BROTHER.

PREYNAT, JEAN-FRANÇOIS-MARIE: (1786-1872), born 13th April 1786 in Saint- Christo-en-Jarret, Loire, to Denis Preynat and Benoîte Ravachol, married Antoinette Merley, daughter of Mathieu Merley and Antoinette Martin (AM, Reg. décès). They had seven children. At the time of the 1841 census, two were living at home: Jean-Baptiste and Mathieu. The former was apparently the eldest, since he is mentioned in both parents’ death certificates. Since he is described as a farmer, he evidently succeeded his father in cultivating the family property, in the hamlet of La Choltière in the town of Sorbiers (ADL, 49 M). By prefectorial decree of 16th September 1830, Jean-François Prey-flat was appointed mayor of Sorbiers. A new decree of 22nd September 1831 confirmed him in that office, but two months later, on 11th November, he asked the sub- prefect to find someone to replace him (AM, Registre délib.). His request was not acted upon, since he remained in office and was reappointed in 1837. Letters 47, 73 and 153 give us sufficient information about his conflicts with the brothers during that period. There is no evidence that he was hostile to them; he simply did not know how to deal adroitly enough with circumstances. He was reappointed to another three-year term in 1840, but it was Prosper to be his last. By prefectoria! decree of 9th August 1843, a Mr. Remilleux was appointed to succeed him; he took office on the 26th. Mr. Preynat died at home on 22nd October 1872 (Reg. décès, n° 58.18.72). (REFERENCES, pp. 430-431).

PROSPER, BROTHER: Jean-Baptiste Vial was born in Saint-Sauveur-en-Rue, to Pierre Vial and Jeanne Moulin. He was admitted to the Hermitage novitiate on 17th April 1836 at the age of 17, and received the religious habit on 3rd October (RV, 1, LVIIl). On 22nd May 1837 he made temporary vows for three years, and five months later, on 14th November, he was part of the team, with Bro. Justin as director, which took over the school in Perreux. The admissions register (RE, 1, p. 71), notes that he had previously begun to study Latin, but he still did not have his certificate of competence, which according to L. 249, he obtained only in 1839, in Grenoble. At that time he had been in Firminy since November 1838. He was transferred once again, for the 1839-40 school year, which he spent in Saint-Symphorien-d’Ozon, Isère. This is how Bro. Avit describes his time at that establishment: “It was thought that sending Bro. Prosper (to this school) in 1839 would enhance its reputation. He was the scholar of the day, but pride had crushed his piety. He had delusions of grandeur, and replaced zeal with love of ease. He inflicted barbarous punishments on his students, such as hanging them by their feet, and hitting them with a stick, with the signal, etc. That sort of behaviour practically emptied the school” (214.92, pp. 4-5). He could not have remained there long. After that, we lose all trace of him; normally, he should have renewed his temporary vows or made perpetual profession, but there is no mention of him in either of those registers. He must have left the Institute during 1840. The admissions register has this notation after his name: “16th April 1841: received 236 fr.”, which may indicate that after he left he paid

prefeng-letter.doc 309 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” what he still owed, since he had paid nothing when he entered. (REFERENCES, p. 431).

PRUD’HOMME, MATHIEU-PIERRE ; see THEOPHILE, BROTHER.

QUANTIN, FRANÇOIS-XAVIER: Mayor of Genas, Rhône. Despite all our research, all we could learn about him was his first name. We have three letters he wrote to Fr. Champagnat, which show that he was mayor of Genas at least from September 1835 to the end of 1837; according to Bro. Avit, he apparently remained in office until 1848. It was he who brought the Marist Brothers to his town. We can learn something about his personality from the way in which he requested them: “The mayor of Genas, district of Meyzieu, arrondissement of Vienne, Isère, to Fr. Champagnat, director of the normal school of the Brothers of Mary of Noire-Dame de I’Hermitage. Father, I have the honor to ask you to grant and send us immediately and as soon as possible two of your students to be primary teachers in this town. “The town council has decided that as primary teachers we would take two of the brothers who are under your direction; that the town would give all the annual resources it has for the primary school and that outstanding persons of the town will commit themselves to providing the balance to reach the total of the 800 francs which are required annually for the salary of two brothers besides their housing, garden and their basic furnishings, except that it will fall to the town to collect the appropriate fees from the students who are able to pay. I am therefore writing to ask you urgently to please send us two suitable subjects so that the establishment may from the outset please all persons and win over those who until now have doubted that the teaching could be superior or even equal to that of the primary teachers from the ordinary normal school who are the only ones in each town. “Our town has already had, for several years now, an establishment of the Sisters of St. Joseph, for the girls. These sisters are very satisfied, as is the town. The same, I hope, will be true of the brothers’ establishment. The town is well situated and very healthful. The population is sixteen hundred souls. “Please send me a brief reply immediately, so I will know whether or not we can count on your sending us two brothers at once, or if we cannot count on them, so that we can set about obtaining a primary teacher for our town. In the meantime, I have the honor to be, with great respect, Father, your obedient servant, Quantin, mayor. 7th September 1835. ” We included his second letter in the introduction to L. 105. He wrote the last one on 18th November 1837, to request the return of the brothers, who would not go back there unless they were given suitable housing. “We were very upset,” says the mayor, “by the delay in the repair work, but you know that work for the town can never be speeded up like work done for private citizens. So we will be at least two weeks behind this year, but I hope that your brothers’ vigilance will quickly make up for this lost time. Please, I beg you, give our Bro. Préher (Bro. Paul) plenty of support, so that the establishment may flourish, as we hope it will. ” According to Bro. Avit, the brothers were apparently satisfied with the way Mr. Quantin collaborated with them, all the more so since his successor, after the 1848 revolution, was not at all well-disposed toward them. (REFERENCES, pp. 431-432).

QUERBES, LOUIS: (1793-1859), He was parish priest of Vourles, Rhône. In 1835, he founded the Clerics of Saint Viator, to be teachers of Christian doctrine. Their patron was a 4th century lector and catechist in the cathedral church of Lyons. By the time of

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Fr. Querbes’ death, there were already three provinces of his society in France and Canada. They taught in both elementary and secondary schools, and also ran a publishing house which printed schoolbooks and educational magazines. Bibliography: Robert, Vie du Père Louis Querbes, Fondateur de l’Institut des Clercs de Saint-Viateur, 1793-1859, Brussels: Dewit, 1922. Lestra, Le Père Querbes et les Clercs de Saint- Viateur, Paris, Lyon: Emmanuel Vitte, 1942. Bernard, Histoire des clercs de Saint- Viateur au Canada... 1807-1882, Montreal, 1947. Rivard, St. Viator and the Viatorians, Chicago, 1916. New Catholic Encyclopedia, Viatorians, XIV, 637-638. (REFERENCES, pp. 432-433).

RAPHAËL, BROTHER: Jean-Baptiste Chol, was born 12th May 1818, in Saint-Laurent d’Agny, to François Chol and Pierrette Dupont. His sister, Marie-Pierrette, became a Marist Sister under the name of Sister Sainte-Angele. On 26th August 1833 he was admitted to the novitiate of N. -D. de l’Hermitage, where he received the religious habit on 8th December. According to our registers, he waited until the 1837 retreat to make temporary vows; that does not appear to be an oversight. On the one hand, the encouraging words which Fr. Champagnat sent him via Bro. Louis-Marie on 2nd January 1837 (L. 80) seem to go much further than their literal meaning. On the other hand, in one of the Founder’s notebooks, which contains what appear to be outlines for conferences and for council meetings, the name of Bro. Raphaël appears as one point among others to be discussed in council. That would have been around the time of the 1837 retreat, because the next two pages contain the same list of brothers authorized to make vows which appears in the minutes of the profession ceremony of 9th October 1837. Bro. Raphaël is the last one on the list (AFM, 132. 4, pp. 33, 36). He did in fact make temporary vows for three years on 9th October 1837 (RVT, 1, p. 69) and perpetual vows two years later, on 13th October 1839 (RVP, 1, p., 32). In between, he had been assigned to two schools. He started out in the community in Vienne as cook; he also took care of the lower class. According to his personal file, he left there when the brothers withdrew from Vienne in 1837, but the letter mentioned above leads us to think that in January 1837 be was already in the community in La Côte. Moreover, when his file card says he left La Côte in September 1839, it apparently contradicts what we read in LL. 202 and 260. As we said in the introduction to the latter, we think that the former concerns Bro. Raphaël, and that we must deduce from it that he did not pass the examination for his certificate in September 1838. From the second, it appears he fell ill in the meantime, returned to either the Hermitage or La Côte to recuperate, and then returned to Fr. Mazelier to continue his studies. According to his file, he left Saint-Paul in September 1840 and remained at the Hermitage as a student-teacher until May 1841. For lack of documentation, the logic of that sequence of events escapes us, but we still have to accept it as valid. He almost certainly finally obtained his certificate, because he could hardly have been director of the school in Firminy without it. But there, too, for lack of specific dates, we run into further difficulties. As we have just seen, his file dates his transfer to Firminy from May 1841. But Bro. Avit claims it was in May 1840. He went there to replace Bro. Jean-Pierre, who died suddenly that year. In fact, the death register says he died on 8th March 1840, in Firminy (RD, 1, p. 19, n° 61). We note that these successive errors could be corrected if we moved back by one year the four dates given in his personal file, which would put his departure from Vienne in September 1836, from La Côte in 1838, from St-Paul in 1839, and from the Hermitage in May 1840. The

prefeng-letter.doc 311 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” examination for his certificate could possibly have occasioned his six-to-eight month absence from Firminy. Since he was the official town teacher, Bro. Raphaël stayed there a long time. According to Bro. Avit, he would have been transferred from there in the beginning of June 1852, but Mr. De Chambarihac, the mayor, asked that he remain, and the superiors acceded to his request. In the beginning of the 1862-63 school year, the authorities tried to laicize the school; they came up with a pretext aimed at repudiating the town teacher, namely, Bro. Raphaël. In the last days of November 1862, Mr. Micheletti, the primary-school inspector, invited the brother director, in the presence of the mayor and of Fr. Champagnat, to mix the paying and the free students indiscriminately in all six classes; until then, the common practice just about everywhere was to separate them. Not to push matters too quickly, it was agreed that the inspector would return the following month to examine the students, after which the mixing would take place. The inspector did reappear at the end of December, but only as classes were letting out. Since he would be unable to return again, he told the Bro. Director not to wait for the examination but to mix the students himself in the first days of January. Without actually refusing, Bro. Raphaël expressed his fears that the classroom furniture would not be ready at that time. The inspector did not reply, and the brother, not suspecting anything, took his silence for tacit consent Around 15th January, the inspector reappeared, looked in at the door of each classroom, except the director’s, and saw, without going in, that the mixing had not taken place; but he said nothing to anyone. On 30th January 1863, without previous warning, there appeared the prefectorial decree of dismissal, motivated only by the statement that. “Mr. Chol, having been invited to put an end to the offensive separation of the free students from those who pay the school fees, did not follow that order and has persisted in his regrettable obstinacy” (AFM, 603, Firminy file, doc. 6). The whole matter created a great sensation in town. Cardinal Dc Bonald, archbishop of Lyons, wanting to find out what had happened, wrote to Bro. Louis-Marie, who answered on 6th March 1863: “That school has in effect been suspended since 25th February. After the dismissal of the brother director, the town was compelled to choose between the brothers and lay teachers. The town council, by a majority of one, voted for the latter. So I recalled the seven brothers we had in that town and I had the necessary declarations drawn up for the opening of a free school. I hope that there will not be any opposition raised, and that once the requisite month of investigation has passed, i. e., on 25th March, the brothers will be able to reopen their classes” (RCLA, 4, n° 3. 82 1). Bro. Callinique did in fact reopen the school in another building, which only made the opposition more virulent. As for Bro. Raphaël, he went to take over the school in Courpières after the 1863 retreat. Everything went well there for the first seven years, but in 1871, the report of the visitation presaged a new storm for the brother director. “I found,” the Bro. Visitor states, “the town administration absolutely unfriendly toward Bro. Raphaël. At its meeting of last Sunday, it suppressed the salary of the fourth brother. The mayor, whom I saw this morning, flatly demanded, in the name of the council, the removal of the brother director. He was going to write to St-Gems in that vein. After having done all I could to change his mind about this immediate change, I was able to obtain a delay until the next vacation, in the interests of both the school and Bro. Raphaël. I earnestly requested to have Sunday’s decision revoked, and to continue the salary of all four brothers. He promised me he would insist on it with the council, but he does not think he will succeed. Out of sixteen members, four were for the brothers’ What has offended these gentlemen,

prefeng-letter.doc 312 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” especially the mayor, is that: 1. Bro. Raphaël dropped several children from the school roll; 2. He remained on good terms with the former mayor, the major antagonist of the present one; 3. Bro. Raphaël was too insistent with some of the councilors on having the fourth brother’s salary paid immediately; 4. Last year, Bro. Raphaël had promised, before the entire council, that he would bring them a certified brother, which he has not done;- 5. The mayor also accuses him of having insisted on having a distribution of prizes at the beginning of the last vacation, when they had agreed there would not be any. “He says, among other things, that he is not serious enough. Bro. Raphaël may be in the wrong in some of those areas, but they are certainly being exaggerated; there is jealousy on the mayor’s part and imprudence on Bro. Raphaël’s. But it seems that once this mayor has got an idea in his head, there is no changing it. “After the visitation, Bro. Raphaël wrote to Bro. Assistant: ‘I am going to take steps to put myself back in the good graces of the mayor, by showing him all the sorts of attention I know he is fond of. If I do not succeed, the only thing left for me to do will be to ask you to put me with Bro. Marie- Amédée to take care of the cows and chickens; they, at least, will not be so sensitive”. Since he could not get back into the mayor’s good graces, Bro. Raphaël was replaced at the 1872 vacation (212. 14, pp. 11-12). He then spent a year, according to his file, on Rue Mi-carême in Saint-Etienne, as a private teacher. In the beginning of November 1873, he and two other brothers took over the school in Saint-Maurice-sur-Loire. Even there, Bro. Raphaël did not find the sky free of clouds; new trials were awaiting him. The brothers were poorly paid; to make ends meet they had to take in boarders, cultivate the garden in order to sell vegetables, and raise animals. All of that meant overwork. In addition, the prefecture was unwilling to hand over the school fees, because there, as elsewhere, anyone wearing a cassock was looked at askance by the civil authorities. As director, he faced up to all this with courage. On 17th October 1875, he wrote: “I am determined to remain at my post, even if that means eating nothing but black bread and drinking nothing but water. I find courage and strength in one of the eight Beatitudes: ‘Blessed are those who suffer persecution. ’. The wolf in the fable may have disputed the lamb’s right to the clear and limpid waters of the brook. But I hope that with the help of God, those who are plotting in secret will never make me an apostate” (213. 63, p. 9). In these same annals, Bro. Avit reports that, “The republican inspectors, disdaining the experience of their elders, and not finding Bro. Raphaël a sufficiently strong believer in the crazy ideas of the day, demanded his replacement as official teacher in that school as of the 1883 vacation. He had even been condemned two years before, and was functioning only in virtue of the tolerance of Mr. Leleu, the primary-school inspector. Bro. Baumer was therefore named the official teacher, and Bro. Raphaël bravely accepted the kitchen, while continuing as director of the house (That same year), when the brother director celebrated 50 years in community, . all the neighboring confreres insisted on honoring him on that occasion. They took advantage of the vacation to come, twenty-four in number, to congratulate him and dine at his table” (ibid., pp. 10-12, passim). From 1884 until 1892, the assignment lists place him in Saint-Maurice-sur- Loire. In 1887 he seems to have even resumed teaching, no doubt in the lower class, since he was alone with Bro. Baumer for several years. In 1892, even though he had been suffering from a cold since the beginning of January, he kept on teaching until the Monday before his death, which occurred on Saturday, 20th February, at one a. m. (RD, 2, n° 1382). (Cf. also, Biographies de quelques Frères, vol. 2, pp. 41-45). (REFERENCES, pp. 433-436).

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RAYMOND, JEAN-ANTOINE; see ANTOINE-REGIS, BROTHER.

REMILLEUX, JEAN; see HYPPOLITE, BROTHER.

RENDU, (BARON) AMBROISE MARIE MODESTE : (1778-1860), was born in Paris on 25th October 1778. “His father, one of the most outstanding notaries of the capital, saw to it that he received an education which was both liberal and according to the profoundly religious traditions of the family” (Buisson, Dictionnaire de l’éducation, voL 2, p. 2573). He would later give proof of both strict morality and an instinct for respectful independence, while remaining faithful to the great traditions of the Church of France. In 1795 he entered the Ecole Polytechnique, which had just opened; he was then seventeen. When the Directory ordered the students of that school to take the oath of hatred for royalty, Rendu sided with the rebels and so had to leave the school in February 1796, before he had completed his studies, for being “unworthy of profiting by the republican education which was granted him by the nation”. He left not only the school, but the sciences, and began to study the arts. He went to take courses at the “Ecole des Quatre-Nations”, where Louis De Fontanes was one of his professors. They soon developed a sincere mutual friendship, because of the similarity of their religious and political convictions. The Fructidor coup d’état (4th September 1797) cost the student his teacher, from then on they stayed in touch by correspondence. Under the Consulate, once he had finished his studies, Rendu joined the editorial staff of the periodical Le Mercure. On 10th May 1806, the Emperor Napoleon founded, “under the name of The Imperial University, a group exclusively responsible for teaching and public education throughout the Empire”. He thought of this “group” as something like a congregation, directed by a single head, aided by associates, all animated by the same “spirit”; he even wondered whether he should require the superiors to live the common life and observe celibacy. His decree of 17th March 1808 set up this University, and Fontanes was named its Grand Master. “I have made you head of the order,” Napoleon told him; “choose your own men, that’s your business” (A. Prost, L’enseignement en France, p. 25). His choice fell on Ambroise Rendu and Philibert Guéneau de Mussy, two friends who had been inseparable since their expulsion from the Polytechnique, and both protégés of Fontanes. “In a sense,” he wrote to the Emperor, “they are the eyes and arms I need to see and to set in motion the great machine with which you have entrusted me” (Eugène Rendu, p. 35 of his book devoted to his father). “The Grand Master relied on their powerful capacity for work, their dedication in the face of every trial. Ambroise Rendu studied and analyzed the reports of the general inspectors, and summarized their main conclusions; with the help of Guéneau de Mussy, who like his friend was the executor of the ‘top secret’ plans of the leader, he organized everyone involved in higher education and in the secondary schools” (G. Rigault, Histoire generale de l’!nstjtut des FF. des Ecoles Chrétiennes, vol. IV, p. 119). Ambrojse Rendu lost no time in combining the functions of member of the Imperial Council and that of Inspector General. In that way, no decision could be made without passing through his hands in one way or another. He played a major role in the organization and operation of the “Napoleonic University”. That institution, jealous of its monopoly over education, exercised immense power, in virtue of its relative independence within the operational framework of the Empire. Having been established by the Emperor, it fell with him in

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1814. It was opposed, not only because its founder had been banished from the country, but also because it took full advantage of its alliance with the Catholic Church, and because its monopoly status contradicted the principle of liberty which was so dear to the revolution. Having thus lost his job, Ambroise Rendu did not remain idle. He became the defender of the university, not so much for the sake of the structure itself, it would seem, as to preserve the education of the masses. With that in mind, he was the inspiration behind the ordinance of 29th February 1816, which regulated primary education until 1833. From 1817 to 1830, he acted as deputy general prosecutor of the Royal Court of Paris. While his former organization was being restructured into a five- member commission, he wrote his first great work, Essai sur l’instruction publique, whose three volumes appeared in 1819. “The ordinance of 22nd July 1820 enlarged the commission from five to seven members, and added to it Fr. Nicolle, Rendu and Poisson, one to replace Royer-Collard who had resigned, the other two to occupy the new seats” (A. Gamier, Frayssinous, p. 31). Two years later, when Frayssinous became Grand Master, he kept Rendu on his council. The latter was primarily responsible for elementary education. He called the attention of the authorities to the little schools, especially those of the Church, the only ones that could be counted on in that area. In that context, he was very much interested in the congregation of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, whose defender and protector he became. That did not prevent him from favoring the mutual method of teaching, which he lifted out of the political and secular setting into which people had always tried to place it. He saw in it, in the social context of his day, the means to offer the greatest number of the children of the masses the primary instruction which the State was not yet capable of guaranteeing them. He was also in favor of commercial and industrial studies, as well as the study of living languages. In a word, if he wanted all the children of France to be educated, that education, according to him, had to meet the needs of the new age which was being born from the evolution of the sciences and industry. Following the logic of his principles, according to which everyone must have the opportunity to receive an education, we find Rendu involved in promoting and organizing orphanages and foundling homes, as well as on the administrative council of the Royal Institution for the Deaf-Mutes of Paris. It was under the latter title that Fr. Champagnat contacted him to request free training for two of his brothers in that form of apostolate (L. 235). The request could not have embarrassed him, since on the one hand it was right in line with his concerns, and on the other hand, given his influence, his backing would certainly carry the request through (L. 334). However, the education of the children of the people was not his only concern. During the thirty years he was involved in public education, he also worked in other areas, especially the training of teachers, from whom he expected obedience and for whom he demanded respect. Another area to which he devoted a great deal of energy was that of the universities, which he wanted to see inspired by the Christian religion. “The university,” he said, “was religious with courage under Bonaparte, religious with wisdom and simplicity under Louis XVIII, and must necessarily be religious or it will cease to be” (A. Gamier, Frayssinous, p. 42). In 1841, he reorganized the faculty of theology, and established the Catholic Circle [an organization dedicated to the works of mercy]. The struggle for freedom of education found him fully armed and ready to defend the religious congregations. Ambroise Rendu returned to private life in June 1850, somewhat embittered by the realization that as public education developed, it was becoming more and more secularized. During the last ten years of his life, he studied

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Hebrew, translated the psalms and wrote a commentary on them. In the beginning of 1860 he was afflicted with paralysis of the tongue; he died on 12th March of that year. (REFERENCES, pp. 436-439).

RENOU, BENOÎT; see PIE, BROTHER.

REVOL, AUGUSTIN: (1798-1868), born around 1798, was appointed parish priest of Bougé-Chambalud, Isère, in 1822. That is all we could find in the diocesan archives of Grenoble. In the annals of that school, Bro. Avit fills in some of the blanks: “Fr. Augustin Revol was named parish priest of Bougé and Chambalud, which were then united, on 1st March 1822. He was only twenty-three. Before that, he had spent six months as chaplain of the Sisters of Roussillon. When he arrived, the two parishes of Bougé and Chambalud were still united (The parish) probably had only itinerant teachers who came from the Briançonnais region during the winter, like all the towns in that part of the country. The parish priest was not satisfied with so little and took steps to get something better” (214. 14, p. 3). A benefactress, Mademoiselle Esther, daughter of Count Dc Revol, helped him carry out his plans. But it was only in 1839 that he contacted Fr. Champagnat to ask for brothers. Letters 253, 269 and 289 give us a good bit of information about the negotiations which rapidly went in favor of the parish priest, who soon found himself in financial difficulties because of the death of his benefactress. “(He) had put together some of the furnishings, but many, essential items were still lacking. Like nearly all his confreres, he was not a skillful buyer, and the 1000 francs (received from his benefactress) were not enough. In addition, the town council’s vote of the first 400 fr. of the down-payment ran into opposition at the prefecture. The parish priest proposed to the superiors taking in a certain number of boarders, whose fees would go toward buying the rest of the furnishings and repaying the 400 fr. he had borrowed and given to the Bro. Visitor for the said down-payment. The superiors’ reply must have been negative” (ibid., pp. 5-6). None the less, the brothers opened school on 2nd January 1840. In September 1843, Bro. Avit himself arrived to direct the school, so he is well able to tell us about the parish priest whom he knew for three years. “The first time,” he says, speaking of himself in the third person, “that Bro. Avit went to Mass, he was astonished to see his parish priest acting as both cantor and celebrant. He went to the sacristy afterwards and said to him, ‘Is that the custom in this diocese?’ ‘No, but I have no cantor. Can you sing, brother?’ ‘A little, Father. ’ And the good priest began to jump up and down with joy. ‘From then on, Bro. Avit sang the Mass every day for three years, and could do whatever he wanted with his parish priest. Like most of his confreres, Fr. Revol had no set hour for Mass. The brother spoke to him about that. ‘Ring the bell for Mass whenever you want, and I’ll say it,’ he replied. Bro. Avit did just that” (ibid., p. 7). On 27th [sic] August, the feast of St. Augustine, Bro. Avit wanted to have a grandiose celebration for Fr. Revol. “It was ten p. m. Bro. Avit had forbidden the sacristan to ring the Angelus. They had to be careful lighting the yard of the priest’s residence so as not to attract his attention. When all the lights were lit, Bro. Avit climbed the bell-tower, a child entered the parlor whose shutters had remained closed, and made a little speech to Fr. Revol. The good man had never received such compliments in his life and could hardly believe his ears. Another child handed him a bouquet. The people outside fired their guns while Bro. Avit rang the Angelus bell and the carillon. When he came down, he found his parish priest so moved that he could not say a word

prefeng-letter.doc 316 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” without crying. ” (ibid., p. 12). Another time, he came to see Bro. Avit and asked him, “Do you know how to play the ophicleide [a now-obsolete bass wind-instrument]?’ ‘No, Father. ’ ‘That’s too bad. ’ ‘Why?’ ‘The lay teacher in Agnin wants to sell his brand-new ophicleide, and I would have bought it. ’ ‘Buy it anyway. ’ ‘But you don’t know how to play it. ’ ‘That doesn’t matter. ’ Fr. Revol brought him the instrument a few days later. Bro. Avit looked at it carefully, as well as the instruction book, then played the scale right off. The parish priest jumped for joy and said, ‘You tricked me!’ ‘No, I never played this instrument before. ’ ‘That’s unbelievable!’ ‘The priest practiced every day for several months but still could not play the scale correctly, even though he was the best cantor in the diocese” (ibid., pp. 12-13). While he was pleased that the First Communion he had prepared had gone very well, Bro. Avit adds, “Still, one thing annoyed me: when the children went to thank their esteemed pastor, he gave them a very long speech to prove to them that they owed me more than they did him, and, not content with being so self- effacing in front of the children, he went so far as to say from the pulpit that I had done more than he for the children. What modesty! If he hadn’t done more than I, I’m not quite sure what would have happened” (ibid., p. 14). “In 1867, Fr. Revol asked to retire at St- Genis with his nephew, and offered to pay 300 fr. for each of them. The superiors could not permit that. He died on 10th January 1868. He had governed the parish for 46 years, and that of Chambalud concurrently with Bougé for nearly 20. “When he arrived, he found his parishioners crude and very vulgar. There were many public disturbances. Being young and energetic, he acted almost militarily against these disorders and sometimes found himself in embarrassing situations. He apparently sometimes had to use his fists and a stick. One day when he was reprimanding some young men who were disturbing the peace, they grabbed him, put him into a trough next to a pump, and tried to give him a bath. The old-timers tell various stories of this sort, which they may have made up or exaggerated. - “Briefly, Fr. Revol founded the sisters’ convent and the brothers’ school, and did a great deal of good in this parish. The parishioners missed him, not only because of his many beautiful virtues, but also because of his knowledge of medicine. Nearly all of them went to see him when they were sick, and with good results. Especially during a fever epidemic, he worked night and day helping them, and saved almost everyone he took care of’ (ibid., p. 19). (REFERENCES, pp. 439-441).

REVOUX, JEAN-CLAUDE ; see PACOME, BROTHER.

RICHARD, CHARLES-FRANÇOIS: (1772-1851), “he was born on 9th August 1772 in Bourg-Argental, where his father Jean-Louis Richard occupied a high position, was 21 when he set out with the National Guard from Saint-Etienne and Montbrison to relieve the people of Lyons who were besieged by the armies of the Convention. His detachment was almost totally destroyed, and it was only a miracle that Charles- Francois escaped alive. But he was condemned and had to flee for his life. “We find him shortly after at the siege of Toulon where he served with distinction. Suchet, who later became a marshal of France, was his batallion commander and became his friend. After the siege (November 1793), Charles-Francois, by now a lieutenant in the infantry, returned to Marseilles with his batallion; there he found his father, who had also been proscribed. Suchet did not hesitate; he saved the father from proscription the same way he had saved the son: despite his advanced age, he recruited him into the same batallion. “In 1795, Charies-Francois Richard, after the Treaty of Campo Formio, was

prefeng-letter.doc 317 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” discharged and returned home near death. Once he had regained his health, he gave up his military career, and with 6000 francs as capital, he set himself up in St-Chamond as a maker of padous —narrow ribbons, half cotton, half silk, which were widely used by both sexes in their hats and hairdos. In 1798, he married Mile. Chamboret from St- Chamond; this marriage offered many advantages to his business. In 1804, though, his business underwent a disastrous crisis: knee breeches and pigtails went out of style, and padous along with them. He had to look for something else, so he tried using the small looms used for making edgings to manufacture flat laces like those which were already being imported from Germany. “Since that also proved a failure, he went to the Conservatory of Arts and Trades in 1807, to study German looms. He found three of these looms in a second-hand store, bought them for 390 francs, had them shipped to St-Chamond and set up in the Terrason mill in Rue du Béal. Mr. Richard himself put them in working condition. He perfected them, bought others, had new ones built, and by 1811, had eighty-two looms functioning in the Granjon factory on the Place Saint- Jean in Saint-Chamond. In 1813, he bought a waterfall in La Vignette, and had a factory built there; it began operating in 1815. The next year, he installed in it the first steam- engine ever seen in the department of the Loire. The big Izieux factory, today the property of Manufacteurs Réunies, makers of laces, was built in 1819. “After a long period of trial and error, and very difficult beginnings, which he overcame through intelligence and perseverance, the new industry had been established, its products were selling at a large profit, and supply could not keep pace with demand. Other industrialists took advantage of what Richard had done, and opened similar factories The three small looms which Charles-Francois Richard bought in a second-hand store, turned out to be the beginning of the great lace-making industry” (Echo d’Izieux, August 1899). He became well-known throughout the region for his professional activity, his inventiveness and organizational skills, and also for his qualities of soul which made him always ready to help the needy. For a long time, he was a member of the Saint- Chamond town council, and in 1827 he became its head. Two years later, the town of Izieux asked for him as its mayor, but he stayed there barely two years. He received the medal of the Legion of Honor in 1831. Fr. Champagnat could hardly have ignored someone so influential in the political and social life of the valley of the Gier, a Christian whose success had not stifled his charity. He mentions him in his letters of late 1834 (L. 50) and 30th April 1835 (L. 57), giving us a glimpse of a man of wise counsel who could offer both good will and support. In 1839, Charles-François Richard handed over his factories to his three sons, Ennemond, Louis and Jules; the first-named in particular carried on his father’s reputation, making even further strides along the road he had opened by dint of courage and ingenuity. “Burdened with years and illness, Charles- Francois Richard died in 1851, surrounded by his children, leaving to posterity the memory of a prodigiously active life, uncommon intelligence and rare good-heartedness” (ibid. ). (REFERENCES, pp. 441-443).

RIGAUD, PIERRE, SJ: He was born in Cébazat, Puy-de-Dôme, in the diocese of Clermont-Ferrand, on 9th December 1795. He was ordained around 1817, and soon felt called to religious life. On 16th January 1825, he made his vows in the Society of Jesus, and then became spiritual director at the secondary school in Billom. After spending eight years in various houses of his order, he was named superior, a function he exercised for twenty-one years in different communities. The first was that of La

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Louvesc, where he arrived in 1833. During October 1836, he wrote to Fr. Champagnat to ask him for brothers, because he was also pastor of the parish. He renewed his request in his letter of 10th March 1837, which the Founder answered on the 21st (L. 103). He repeated it a third time the following 6th November: “Reverend Father, Permit me to renew my request for two of your brothers to instruct the children of La Louvesc, and that you let me know, as far as you can, a firm date when they will come to take possession of the house we have prepared for them. You had given me some hope, Reverend Father, that we could expect these brothers around last Easter, but since the house was not then ready to receive them, I did not think I ought to urge you again, but I think it is habitable now, and after all, we have extra rooms in the parish priest’s residence to house the brothers during the winter season. I have the honor to point out to you, Reverend Father, that our people here are hardly reasonable; they even go so far as to complain out loud that your brothers are not here yet, but that proves how much they want them. ” (AFM, 129. 41). On the 14th of that month, Bro. François answered him as follows: “Reverend Father, We are sending you a copy of a letter from Fr. Vernet, vicar general of the diocese of Viviers, to Fr. Cattet, first vicar general of the diocese of Lyons, who was good enough to share it with us. It appears, according to this letter, that our establishments in the Vivarais would create problems for the diocesan administration, which would be totally contrary to the purpose of our society, which is to second the zeal of the bishops for the good of their dioceses. Our negotiations with you, relative to the school in La Louvesc, must therefore be completely broken off. But we urge you not to forget our Institute in your prayers and your Holy Sacrifices, before the good Father Regis, so that the Society of Mary, following the footsteps of the Society of Jesus, and thus working together for the glory of God and the salvation of souls on earth, may deserve to be associated with it in heaven. ” (RCLA, 1, p. 69). Fr. Rigaud, out of politeness and submissiveness, did not push matters any further, and no doubt offered to others the house he had prepared. Besides, at the end of October 1840, he was sent as superior of a group of six Jesuits, to found their mission in North Africa. They set up two communities, one in the city of Algiers, the other in Constantine. Fr. Rigaud was superior of the first for three years, from 1840 to 1843. The beginnings seem to have been disappointing since none of them spoke Arabic, as we can see from the sadder-but-wiser words he wrote after they had been there several months: “What a poor unfortunate mission we have here! Send some of our young men to start studying Arabic immediately. Here, practically shut up within the city limits, we could cry for being among Africans but without ears or tongue” (Les établissements des Jésuites en France, depuis 4 siècles, Part l, p. 159). After serving as superior of the community in Constantine, he returned to France to take over that of La Louvesc again, apparently until 1854. During the last eight years of his life, he exercised his apostolate in southern France, until his death in Aix-en-Provence on 8th February 1862. (REFERENCES, pp. 443-444).

RIOCREUX, MARCELLIN: (1791-1869), was born on 24th June 1791 in Saint-Didier-la- Séauve, Haute-Loire. We have only fragmentary information about him, because all but a few of the registers of the diocese of Le Puy were destroyed in a fire. Since he reached the required age of twenty-four in 1815, Fr. Riocreux must have been ordained that year, especially since he is listed as curate in Dunières, with the curious notation, “before 1816”. In any case, Dunières was his first assignment. From 1838 to 1846 he

prefeng-letter.doc 319 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” served the parish of Saint-Ferréol-d’Auroure, Haute-Loire. It seems that as soon as he arrived there, he became concerned with establishing a school, and with that in mind, he wrote to Fr. Champagnat towards the end of 1839 to ask for brothers. However, his request was apparently so vague that nothing could be settled (L. 304). We also know that from 1846 to 1848, he served the parish of Lissac, and that he died on 27th May 1869, in Bessamorel, Haute-Loire. (REFERENCES, p. 444).

RIVAT, GABRIEL; see FRANÇOIS, BROTHER.

RIVET, JEAN-CHARLES: (1800-?), Prefect of the Rhône. We could find only a few fragmentary bits of information about his life, and practically nothing about himself personally. Since in any case he played a very minor role in the life of our Founder, we will simply give a few dates from his curriculum vitae: -1800, 19th May: born in Brive-la- Gaillarde, Corrèze; -Married, two children; -Attorney at the royal court of Paris; -1828-29: sub-secretary at the Ministry of the Interior; -1830, August: sub-prefect in Rambouillet, Seine-et-Oise; -1831, March prefect of the Haute-Manic, in Chaumont; -1833, February prefect of the Gard, in Nîmes; -1834, September private secretary in the Ministry of the Interior; -1835, 4th April: prefect of the Rhône, in Lyons, replacing Mr. de Gasparin. (ADR, 2M3, Préfets; ci. also Hodieu, Nomenclature lyonnaise). He remained in the latter post until 23rd May 1839, when Mr. Hippolyte Jair was appointed prefect of the Rhône. It was during that period that Fr. Champagnat was led to ask him, on 6th July 1837, to be allowed to keep the one-twentieth withheld from Bro. Abel’s salary (L. 119). We know that Mr. Rivet later held a seat in the National Constituent Assembly from 4th May 1848 until 27th May 1849, and that he represented the department of the Rhône in the following Legislative Assembly. He was an officer of the Legion of Honor. (REFERENCES, pp. 444-445).

ROBICHON, JOSEPH-MICHEL: (1777-?), He was born 5th October 1777, in Givors, Rhône. His ancestors came from the Haute-Saône, where a Mr. Robichon, no doubt his grandfather, ran a glassworks in Miélin. It was in 1749 that he “came to settle in Givors, at the confluence of the Gier and the REóne, since he could find there the sand he needed for melting glass, and he could get charcoal from Rive-de-Gier” (ADL, 57. 2406, p. 381). At that time, his company was named “RobichonEynard”. It lasted until 1814, when Joseph-Michel’s father bequeathed it to his sons, of whom the last, Joseph- Michel, became the director. He moved the business to Rive-de-Gier, under the name of “Robichon Frères”. All the records concur in praising the prosperity of this company, which produced 36,000 bottles and 18,000 sheets of glass a day in 1830 (Industries de St-Etienne, St-Chamond et Rive-de-Gier, 1830, p. 109). So Mr. Robichon became an important personage in his city and throughout the region. When the first stretch of railroad tracks linking Givors with Rive-de-Gier as far as La-Grand-Croix was inaugurated on 28th June 1830. he “published a critical statement against the railway company” (Gerval, Naissance du chemin de fer, sheet 1). He may have done so out of conservatism, or to defend the interests of the canal. In any case, it did not prevent, and may even have favored, his being named mayor of Rive-de-Gier, perhaps as early as 28th September 1830, but definitely before 30th December 1831 (ADL, 7M, 53 and 54). The record of that event lists him as “manufacturer, mine-owner, merchant, town councilor of Rive-de-Gier, elector, carried as n. 3860 of the last list for a tax of 1030 fr.,

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25 centimes, member of the general council” (idem. ). He exercised that last function until 1842, but was replaced as mayor in 1837; on 9th May of that year, he signed as town councilor. Fr. Champagnat knew him well during that period; around mid-January 1837, be thanked him for the gift of a case of glass, either made to order or a purely spontaneous gift (for it was certainly not the first time he had made such a gesture) (L. 88). He appears to have been a rich industrialist, ready to share part of his wealth, especially on behalf of the needs of the Church. And, in fact, we find. him, in 1838, president of the vestry-board of his parish, of which he remained a member until 1857 (G. M. Madinier, Monographie de Ia paroisse St-Jean-Baptiste). A royal ordinance of 29th April 1839 reappointed him mayor of his town; he took office on 13th May, and was reappointed on 20th November of the following year, to put him into the normal cycle of mayoral appointments. He was again reappointed on 20th October 1843, resigned a few months later, and was replaced by Mr. Claude Gaultier who was appointed by royal ordinance of 29th May 1844 (ADL, 7M1). He remained on the town council until March 1848. The 1841 census data inform us that he was a widower, living alone in Rive-de- Gier, with two housekeepers: Jeanne-Marie Brosse and Jeanne-Marie Front. In view of his age and family situation, he probably planned on handing his business over to others; it was ultimately absorbed by “La Société des Verreries” in 1853. Since the ten- year obituary lists from Rive-de-Gier do not mention Mr. Robichon, he must have died elsewhere, perhaps in Givors, his hometown, but we cannot be certain of that. (REFERENCES, pp. 445-446).

ROBITAILLE, FRANÇOIS : (1800-1886), He was born 9th June 1800, in Fruges, Pas- de-Calais. He was ordained on 25th July 1824 and served as parish priest of Audrehem before being appointed professor of sacred scripture at the major seminary of Arras in July 1826. He was appointed parish priest of Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise on 27th September 1837, with the title of honorary canon and the powers of a vicar general for that arrondissement. He must have shared his plans to open a brothers’ school in his parish with Mr. Delebecque, his parishioner, who worked closely with the Minister of Public Instruction. While his parish priest was writing to the Brothers of the Christian Schools (AFA, 216. 13, p. 4), Mr. Delebecque, finding himself in contact with Fr. Champagnat, asked him for some of his brothers, and got them through force of circumstances (LL 193, 221, 222). The Founder profited by his being in Paris to visit St-Pol in person. Without even trying to, he quickly won over Fr. Robitaille, who seemed delighted to receive the Marist Brothers and who admitted his genuine friendship for their Founder and his whole undertaking. Bro. Avit, recalling the expression used by Fr. Champagnat in his letter to Fr. Robitaille (L. 222), ‘You will be their support and their father”, immediately adds, “The later conduct of this outstanding priest fully justified our venerated Father’s prediction” (216. 13, P. 5). In July 1852, not in 1854 as Bra Avit mistakenly states (ibid., p. 10), Bishop Parisi named Fr. Robitaille rector of the major seminary of Arras, but he stayed there only two years, until April 1854. As of that date, he became a titular canon, while serving as chaplain of the Bon Pasteur hospital in the see city. In 1876 he was dean of the cathedral chapter, and in 1884, a member of the academy of Arras. He died in that city on 27th November 1886. He had written extensively for Biographie catholique and various scientific publications. He was respon- sible especially for the creation of the diocesan yearbook in 1864, and of the weekly

prefeng-letter.doc 321 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” newspaper of the diocese of Arras and of Boulogne-Sainte-Omer in 1866. (REFERENCES, pp. 446-447).

ROCH, GABRIEL MATHIEU: (?-1827) He has left little trace. The diocesan personnel register, which begins only in 1804, does not mention him. According to Vachet, in Prétres du diocese de Lyon, p. 713, he was appointed parish priest of Saint- Symphorien-le-Château, Rhône, in 1803, having been a missionary before that. The Tableau Courbon has this to say about Fr. Roch: “Former parish priest of Volognat, Ain. 50 years old. takes care of Brindas, 15 km from Lyons. reconciled two years ago (1800). was episcopal vicar of Royer. means: zeal, piety”. The “Royer” just mentioned is un- known. Fr. Jomand, archivist of the archdiocese of Lyons, presumes he was a Constitutional bishop in a neighboring diocese. Fr. Roch died in St-Symphorien-le- Château on 23rd April 1827. Fr. Champagnat dealt with him at the time of the foundation of the brothers’ school in his parish (L. 22), but afterwards he hardly ever intervened, nor did his successor, Jean-Claude-Barthélemy Payet. School matters were handled by the mayor. (REFERENCES, p. 447).

ROCHE, PIERRE LOUIS: (1790-1837), was born on 14th May 1790 in Saint-Just-en- Bas, Loire. On 14th March 1813 he was ordained, then appointed curate in St-Etienne. He was later named parish priest successively in Saint-Romain-le-Puy, on 20th July 1817, and Saint-Didier-sur-Rochefort, on 14th December 1834. In the annals of the latter school, Bro. Avit writes, “The parish priest, Fr. Jacquet, died in 1837. Fr. Louis Roche, his nephew, heir and successor, died that same year” (213. 46, p. 4). Two of those statements are false. First, Fr. Roche’s uncle and predecessor was not named Jacquet, but Jean Conquet, according to the diocesan personnel register. Second, he did not die in 1837, but on 29th September 1834, according to the register of deaths in the archives of the archdiocese of Lyons. His nephew, Fr. Roche, who did indeed succeed him, quickly wrote to Fr. Champagnat on 9th June 1835: “Father, I am pleased to write to you about an establishment of brothers for the instruction of young boys. I have been working at this for a long time, and I have finally reached a point where success is guaranteed. So I am taking the liberty of asking you if it would be possible for you to supply us with three brothers for next All Saints. The parish is eagerly awaiting them; I would be very glad to maintain and profit by that enthusiasm. Here is some basic information which should please you:-. 1. The population of the parish is two thousand six hundred souls; 2. This is an area of faith, religion and piety, which can become a nursery of subjects for your foundation; 3. There is absolutely no other establishment of this type in any of the nearby parishes or even those at some distance; 4. The establishment will be funded by a perpetual foundation and consequently independent even of the temporal administration which is often enough uncooperative. “For the moment I will limit myself to that information and I am counting on your prompt reply. Since I have no doubt it will be a hearty yes, please tell me when I can come to see you, or if we can count on your visit to go over the details and give you more complete information. While awaiting that privilege, I have the honor to be. ” (AFM, 129. 11). We may presume that his uncle had already been thinking about such plans. “On 25th March 1825,” Bro. Avit tells us, “in the office of Mr. Meynet, a notary, Fr. (Conquet) had given the vestry a gift of 300 fr., on condition that a service be held every year for the repose of his soul. On 20th March 1837, in the office of Mr. Coste, Fr. Pierre Louis

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Roche. ratified that gift and added to it 18,170 francs, the total of the various amounts owed to Fr. (Conquet), his uncle, by a certain number of debtors. Fr. P. Louis Roche handed over to the vestrymen the title to all outstanding debts, with the obligation for them to obtain payment thereof and receive the interest thereon, from that day forward, reserving to himself the interest already due. He also gave 2900 square meters of property, on which the house was built. “These gifts were made with the following conditions: to pay the annual sum of 917 fr., in perpetuity, for the upkeep of three brothers of the Order of Mary, assigned to the free primary instruction of the young people of the towns of St-Didier-sur-Rochefort and of La Côte-en-Couzan: ‘This annuity of 917 fr.,’ the document states, ‘is given to be added to that of 300 fr. which the vestry is already able to set aside annually for the same purpose’” (213. 46, pp. 5-6). We know from the letter of 5th July 1837 (L. 118) that Fr. Roche was already ill at that time, and according to Bro. Avit, he died later that same year (213. 46, p. 4). (REFERENCES, pp. 447-448).

RODE, PIERRE; see PIERRE-JOSEPH, BROTHER.

RONIN, JOSEPH; see JEAN-LOUIS, BROTHER.

ROSSARY, JEAN-BAPTISTE: (1794-1863), was born on 17th January 1794, in St- Chamond, Loire. He was ordained in Lyons on 27th July 1817, and appointed the next day as curate in Saint-Genis-Terrenoire; on 7th September 1828, he was transfered to the parish of St-Pierre in St-Chamond, where Fr. Dervieux was parish priest. On 15th October 1829, he was appointed parish priest of St-Paul-en-Jarret, Loire, to succeed Fr. Jean-Marie Noially who had been transferred to La Guillotière in Lyons on the 1st. When he arrived in his new parish, Fr. Rossary found that the brothers had been in the school for three years. The rough draft of the letter which Fr. Champagnat sent him in February 1834 (L. 35), implies that he was not very much impressed with the brothers. After more than four years in St-Paul-en-Jarret, during which time he certainly must have made several visits to his home town, he apparently still had not visited the Hermitage. In addition, he was negligent in paying the brothers’ salary, despite the contract signed by his predecessor, and he would have preferred the Brothers of the Christian Schools. A sentence from a letter which Bro. Xavier wrote to Bro. François confirms these suspicions. “You know,” he says, “how difficult our parish priest is, especially in what concerns the ‘little brothers’, and how difficult it is to go to confession more than once every two weeks” (Letter of 25th April 1842, AFM, 603, St-Paul file, n. I). But he stayed in that parish 32 years, until his resignation on 10th September 1861, when he entered a clergy retirement home in Vernaison, as we know from a passage of the Notes historiques on that house: “Fr. Rossary, born in St-Chamond, former parish priest of St- Paul-en-Jarret, died on 13th July 1863, at the age of 70, after having spent three years in this house”. Since the diocesan personnel register confirms all the above dates, we must relativise the statement that he spent three years in Vernaison. (REFERENCES, p. 449).

ROUCHON, JEAN-BAPTISTE: (1761-1844), parish priest of Valbenoîte and Marist aspirant. Born 15th May 1761 in the hamlet of La Roche in the parish of Saint-Just-lès- Velay (today Saint-Just-Malmont), Haute-Loire, in the archdiocese of Lyons, to Denis

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Rouchon, a farmer and landowner, and Claudine Berger. Major seminary at Saint- Irénée. Received the tonsure on 9th June 1781, minor orders on 21St December 1782, the subdiaconate on 14th June 1783, the diaconate on 5th June 1784, and the priesthood on 21st May 1785. He was curate in Saint-Romain-de-Popey, Rhône, where his signature appears in the registers from 26th November 1788 to 29th June 1791. He refused to take the Constitutional oath and emigrated to Italy; he received faculties in Ferrara on 24th October 1793, spent two years in Rome, then returned to France, where his signature appears in the parish register again from 19th October 1797 to 18th December 1802. It may have been then, at least at more dangerous moments, that he sought refuge with the Duplay family in Rebaudes, in the parish of Jonzieux (cf. Chausse, vol. 1, P. 31). At the time of the Concordat he was ministering in Chambon- Feugerolles, and on 23rd February 1803 (ADR, V 2) he was appointed parish priest in Valbenoite. The parish church was in a former Cistercian abbey, which he purchased on 12th June 1817. There he gathered seven young men, who at the time of the mission in St-Etienne in 1821, made contact with Fr. André Coindre and went to Les Chartreux retreat house for a retreat from 24th to 30th September 1821 with some other aspirants, the first members of the congregation of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. After one month of novitiate, four of them returned to Valbenoîte to run a school under the direction of Bro. Ignace, a Sacred Heart Brother from Lyons. However, difficulties soon arose between Frs. Coindre and Rouchon; shortly after Christmas 1821, the latter broke with Fr. Coindre and invited his subjects to form an independent congregation (Bros. of the Sacred Heart, Historique de l’Institut, 1821-1 956, Rome, 1956, pp. 8-13, doc. 151, par. 2). Since the attempt was not working out well, Fr. Rouchon brought his brothers to La Valla in 1822, thinking they might join those of Fr. Champagnat, but the difference between the two groups was such that there was not even any mention of uniting (doc. 754, par. 36). In March 1824, he suggested to the archdiocesan council that the Little Brothers of Mary be established in his house, but there was no follow-up (doc. 23, 96). From then on, the story of Fr. Rouchon becomes one of repeated attempts to set up a stable group in the abbey he had bought for the purpose. In November 1826, he suggested offering the parish of Valbenoîte, to three missionaries, but the archdiocese postponed action. On 20th June 1827, he was authorized to give his house to the Vincentians, but there was no follow-up there either. On 9th October 1827, he wanted to hand over his benefice as parish priest to his nephew, but again action was postponed. At the beginning of that school year, Fr. Champagnat sent him four brothers for his school. On 23 July 1828, his nephew, Fr. Faure, was appointed in his place, but less than a year later, on 3rd June 1829, he was transferred to Lupé and Fr. Rouchon resumed his pastorate. On 6th November 1828 he wrote to Fr. Champagnat, who had made a few comments about the brothers’ living conditions: “Father and dear confrere, We were starting to prepare living quarters here for my two old men, when the idea came to me of putting a door in the corridor, which would block all communication with the brothers’ rooms; that goes along perfectly with your request that one of the windows be replaced by a door. Bro. Stanislas will tell you that this way, the brothers will enjoy complete privacy. “I am far from blaming your prudence, and you may be sure that I would not have tolerated this proximity except that the age and moral rectitude of these good people reassured me that there was no possibiity of any sort of scandal or danger. I would go even further and say that it seems that God, who knows how to draw good even out of evil, has used this bit of irregularity to prevent even greater problems.

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According to what I have just learned, if these two unfortunate men were not here, my poor school would have become a den of iniquity, all the more so since your statement about your brothers’ regularity reassured me completely about their conduct. But when hypocrisy is carried that far, it would have been difficult for you not to have been de- ceived. The one whom I thought was the most irregular was the least guilty because he was the most sincere. May God have mercy on these poor unfortunate people! “Believe me, I very much feel the grief you feel over this scandal, which is not public knowledge here. The worst of it is the terrible outrage to God, who will none the less know how to use even this disorder for his glory and the salvation of your brothers I thank the Lord for inspiring y*i to send us Bro. Hilarion. Even though I had no well-founded motives, I could not shake off a certain uneasiness which led me to ask you for Bro. Hilarion, who I hope will put order in the house, which I will visit often now that we are three. I almost wanted to stay there and live there, if that were possible. Tell me what you think, and believe that I am, very sincerely, Father and very dear confrere, your devoted servant, Rouchon. P. S. Greetings to Frs. Séon and Bourdin.” On 15th October 1829, he gave all of his property to the archdiocese, with the express condition that the latter establish and maintain “a home for the education of the indigent young men of the parish of Valbenoite, to be directed by teachers chosen by His Lordship the archbishop, and if- possible, by the most capable of those known under the name of Brothers of the Hermitage of Our Lady, near St-Chamond” (Valancogne law-office, St-Etienne: St-Gire file). On 3rd February 1830, the archdiocesan council advised him to make a pure and simple donation, but Fr. Rouchon seems to have held to the document he had already signed, which never took effect, however, because the government refused to authorize the donation (Reply of the sub-prefect of St. Etienne to Mr. Saint-Gire, 24th March 1831: APM, Econome General’s office, Valbenoîte file). In any case, it is clear that as of the end of February 1830, Fr. Rouchon intended to make the Marists the beneficiaries of his generosity (doc. 79 [2141, par. 2). Having had one of them as a helper at Easter (doc. 81 [216] par. 1), in November 1830 he negotiated a more stable arrangement under which Etienne Séon went to Valbenoîte as curate in January 1831, followed in September by Jacques Fontbonne. The basis of this agreement was that Fr. Rouchon would give his house to the projected Society on condition that the latter give him curates for the rest of his life. In September 1831, he participated in the retreat of the Marist aspirants in Belley, but Jean-Claude Colin thought he would do better not to affiliate himself with the group. In the autumn of 1832, the community of clerical aspirants in the archdiocese of Lyons settled officially in Valbenoîte with Fr. Séon as superior. On 13th October 1835, through the mediation of Fr. Cholleton, a corporation was set up on behalf of the archdiocese, between Fr. Rouchon and Frs. Séon, Pierre Colin and Champagnat. That corporation was replaced by another, established on 22nd March 1840, between Fr. Rouchon and Frs. Séon, Lagniet and Terraillon. On 13th February 1844, Fr. Rouchon confirmed the latter arrangement in his last will and testament; he died shortly thereafter, on 3rd March. In 1848, his natural heirs attacked the will and the charter of the corporation, but the Society of Mary worked out an agreement with them, which was drawn up in Marlhes on 6th May 1851 and signed in Lyons on 21st June. (Cf. LL. 44, 109). (REFERENCES, pp. 449-452).

ROUDET, JEAN-PIERRE; see MARIE-JOSEPH, BROTHER.

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ROUMESY, ETIENNE; see JEAN-FRANÇOIS, BROTHER.

ROUX, JOSEPH; see MARTIN, BROTHER.

ROVONON, CLAUDE MARIE: (1798-1891), born 9th March 1798, was ordained on 17th July 1821, then appointed as professor and prefect at the minor seminary in Verrières, before becoming a missionary based at the Chartreux retreat house in Lyons. On 31st January 1833, he was named parish priest of Caluire, Rhône, replacing Fr. Claude Darnichon who had died. Even in areas close to large cities like Lyons, there was a felt need for teachers. So the parish priest wrote to Fr. Champagnat during 1837. He unfortunately had no success, at least not from that source (L. 139). He stayed in that parish, according to Vachet, until 1871, when he became chaplain of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in the Croix-Rousse area of Lyons. He was in his nineties when he died on 29th April 1891. (REFERENCES, p. 452).

ROYER DE LA BASTIE, JEAN FRANÇOIS HENRI: (1766-1849), was born on 27th November 1766 in St-Chamond, Loire. In 1792, he emigrated to Coblenz, then to England, Belgium and Switzerland. Five years later, in 1797, he returned to France; on 19th May of that year he married Marguerite Claudine Sophie Philibert de Fontanes (1777-1810). in St-Chamond. They had four children. He was named mayor of Izieux sometime in 1808 and remained in office until 1829. From 1815 to 1830, be was a member of the electoral college of the Loire. As mayor, Mr. Royer de la Bastie published several decrees regulating the social life of his citizens. Since it gives a good picture of the attitudes of the mayor and the life of the people of those days, we quote at length from the decree of 30th October 1827: “We, Mayor of the town of Izieux, knight of the Royal Military Order of Saint-Louis, in view of the various ordinances, laws, decrees and regulations concerning roads, the police, public safety, and public health; whereas the maintenance of order, of the public peace, of respect for morals and religion, of obedience to the laws, are the first obligations of a citizen; . Do hereby decree: Art. 1 - All persons who arrive in this town in order to settle and work here, are required to present themselves at the town hail to make their declarations. Art. 2. Art. 3 Art. 4 - All tavern keepers and others who sell wine or alcoholic beverages are forbidden to do so after eight p. m., from 1st October until 31st March, and after nine p. m. during the other months of the year. They are also very strictly forbidden to sell drinks during the time of church services. Art. 5- All landowners, farmers and tenants are forbidden to house or to take in, by day or by night, any beggar, vagabond or vagrant. Art. 6-It is forbidden for anyone to organize a dance without written authorization of the Mayor. Art. 7 - It is strictly forbidden for persons of either sex to bathe in an indecent manner and to remain naked on the banks of any stream in this town. Art. 8 - All persons are forbidden, under pain of the penalties set down in the penal code, to disturb public order and peace for any reason whatsoever, to fire pistols on the main road, as happens only too often at weddings, and which could cause serious accidents, or to create offensive gatherings under the name of shivarees [rowdy mock serenades in honor of newlyweds] (Art. 479 of the Penal Code). Art. 9 - It is expressly forbidden to play any game of chance in the streets, in the squares, or inside homes Art. 10 Art. 11 - It is expressly forbidden to throw or have someone throw, garbage, straw or manure, in the streets of the town and those of the hamlets of the township as well as on the main road. Art. 12 - It is forbidden

prefeng-letter.doc 326 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” to throw any dirt, gravel, or slag from the factories into either of the brooks which run through this town, or to soak hemp in them. Art. 13 - There is a very express prohibition against building any fires in the streets and squares of the town, without having first received written permission. Art. 14 - To eliminate any way in which butchers could let blood run in the streets, it is forbidden for them to bleed any cattle, either in the public streets, or hung by the feet from the hooks in their shops. They are enjoined not to let any garbage remain in front of their shops and to observe the utmost cleanliness. Art. 15 - It is very explicitly recommended to homeowners and tenants to have the chimneys of their houses swept every year. (REFERENCES, pp. 452-454).

SERVANT, CATHERIN: (1808-1860), Marist Father, born 25th October 1808 in Grézieu-le-Marché, Rhône, to Jean-Antoine Servant, a land-owning farmer, and Antoinette Blanchard. He was at the minor seminary in Alix in 1828-29 and was exempted from military service on 14th April 1829. He entered St-Irénée at All Saints 1829, did his three years of theology there, and began a fourth year at the end of 1832. He received the tonsure on 5th June 1830, minor orders on 18th December 1830, the subdiaconate on 26th February 1831, the diaconate on 17th December 1831, and the priesthood on 22nd December 1832. He must have obtained permission shortly after that to join the Marist aspirants, because as of the beginning of January 1833 he was in Valbenoite; his signature appears on the books on the 4th and the 11th. However, he was assigned to the Hermitage, where he was expected on the 24th. He served as a temporary replacement in St-Chamond in early October 1833, but returned to the Hermitage, where he signed the mortuary register on 16th November 1833, and on 10th April and 9th July 1834. He made the November 1834 eight-day retreat in Belley with the other Marist aspirants. He remained at the Hermitage until at least August 1836; as of 17th February 1836, Fr. Pompallier considered him a sure candidate for the mission in Oceania. That 24th September, he made his vows in Belley, and on 24th December he set sail from Le Havre for Oceania. He arrived in New Zealand on 10th January 1838, and stayed there until 1842, when he replaced Fr. Chanel on Futuna, whose history he wrote from 1842 to 1856. He then went to Upolu, Samoa. In 1859 he left for Sydney to recover his health; he stopped on Futuna en route, and died there on 8th January 1860 (OM, IV, 353). (Cf. LL. 56, 67, 164). (REFERENCES, p. 460).

SIMON, BROTHER: Pierre Poisnard, born around 1818 in Villvocance, near Annonay, Ardèche, to Mathieu Poisnard and Marie Seux. Two of his brothers entered the congregation before him: in 1822, Claude, who became Bro. Etienne; and in 1826, Jacques, who became Bro. Isidore but did not persevere. Pierre entered the novitiate at N. -D. de l’Hermitage on 8th October 1832 (RE, 1, p. 47), received the habit on 14th June 1833 (RV, 1, p. XXII), but apparently waited until 10th October 1836 to make his first temporary vows, since there is no mention of him in the profession registers before that date, He renewed those vows on 9th October 1837, for three years (ibid., p. 69), but on 10th October 1838, he made perpetual profession (RVP, 1, p. 30). We know nothing more about him until 1840. In the annals of Chavanay, Bro. Avit tells us that Bro. Laurent “was replaced in October 1840 by Bro. Simon, the brother of Bro. Etienne. The new director was an excellent religious, a zealous teacher, but his health was poor. He was in order with the law” (213. 0, p. 7). From that we can deduce, especially in view of his youth, that he had studied for a while, almost certainly at the Hermitage, to prepare

prefeng-letter.doc 327 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” for his certificate of competence; he may also have spent some time in the infirmary, since it is surprising “The boarding division in La Grange-Payre was closed, and in its place there was set up a class called “for the brevet”. Both young and old brothers were in it, spurred on by Bro. Sylvestre. All of them came to spend Sundays at the Hermitage. To stimulate them, Bro. Sylvester had placed a beautiful gilded frame in the parlor. Every Saturday, he displayed in it his students’ compositions. This really upset the older brothers, whose work was always the poorest. They got together one Saturday night, smashed the frame and threw the pieces into the latrine. In the morning, their teacher informed Bro. Louis-Marie. At Communion time, the Bro. Assistant forbade those who had destroyed the frame to approach the Holy Table. Everyone from La Grange-Payre stayed in his place. “The whole affair created a great stir in the house. Inquiries were made, unsuccessfully. Bro. Sylvestre moved heaven and earth. He could not eat, drink or sleep. But the old brothers were worried. Bro. Jean-Baptiste arrived three days later. He said that the old brothers were the strong heads of the Institute. They didn’t grasp what he meant, so they were very happy. They were sent back to the schools. News of what had happened leaked out. When he was asked about it, Bro. Dominique answered, ‘That little bugger, that little brat, was making fun of the old men; they shook him up; good for them. ’ Bro. Dominique didn’t realize that Bro. Jean-Baptiste did not approve of what the old brothers had done, and that he had put them back in the schools because he thought they were too old to do serious studies” (mss., notebook 4, pp. 355-356). The 1848 assignments, along with another list presumably for 1851, show Bro. Sylvestre in La Grange-Payre. But on a third one, possibly from 1855 or 1856, we find him in St- Genis-Laval. He himself states that, “Bro. François, after submitting his resignation, retired to the Hermitage where he was director of the house for a number of years. I was teaching there at the time. ” (MS. p. 3). When the assignments lists begin to bear specific dates and mention the brothers who were actively employed in St-Gems-Lava!, we find him, in 1878-79 and 1885-86, as director of the Special [as the scholasticate was then called]. He was replaced the following year, 1886-87, and his name does not appear elsewhere, which leads us to suppose he had retired to the infirmary. Speaking of the celebration of Bro. Sylvestre’s Golden Jubilee, Bro. Avit tells us that this had never been done for anyone before 1881. But “that year, the old men at the motherhouse celebrated Bro. Sylvestre’s with a little something extra at dinner. That was all. Bro. Marie-Jubin, who was director at the time, excused the ‘extra’ by saying that Bro. Sylvestre had promised not to do it again” (AA, mss, notebook 8, p. 851). A few pages previously, our annalist had given this testimony about him: “Bro. Sylvestre, who, without intending to, had played a dirty trick on the Founder in 1832. and who had taken the wheelbarrow up to the attic in Ampuis, later became a habitual smoker. He smelled of tobacco from ten meters away, and unpleasantly fumigated his confrères during meetings. He was a zealous teacher all his life, but his methods could have been more practical and more on his students’ level. He especially loved to teach catechism and obtained permission to do so until the end” (ibid., p. 846). Bro. Sylvestre died at St- Genis-Lava! on 16th December 1887, at the age of 68 years, 11 months and 4 days; he had spent 56 years, 9 months and 4 days in community (RD, 3, n° 1164). (REFERENCES, pp. 460-462).

TACHON, JEAN: (1770-1850), He was born in Vauban, Saône-et-Loire, on 16th July 1770, and baptized that same day. His parents were Noël Tachon and Marie Charrin,

prefeng-letter.doc 328 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” laborers in the hamlet of Hussy-le-Rouvray (Reg. cathol., FO 149, municipal archives of Vauban). He married Françoise Lamure; they had at least one son, Benoit, who was born around 1803 according to his father’s death certificate. Appointed mayor of Vauban, Jean Tachon signed the Régister of deliberations from 1st August 1835 to 2nd October 1843, on which date he himself installed his successor, Jean Jugnet (AM, Reg. des délib. ). Seeing the brothers installed in the château above his town, he requested some for his boys’ school (L. 333). The boarding school which was opened “sometime in October 1840” (AFA, 212. 54, p. 6) must have given him great satisfaction. Ten years later, on 1St November 1850, Jean Tachon died at the age of 80 (AM, Eta: civil, 1850, n° 21). (REFERENCES, p. 467).

TAMET, JEAN-FELIX; see SYLVESTRE, BROTHER.

TARDY, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see PHILIPPE, BROTHER.

TERRAILLON, ETIENNE : (1791-1869), Marist Father. Born 16th April 1791 in St-Loup, Rhône, to Guillaume Terraillon, a farmer, and Agathe Chirat. He did his secondary schooling in St-Jodard, where we find him in the sixth class in 1807-08, in the fifth in 1808-09, and studying the classics in 1810-11. He must have done his first class there in 18 11-12 [i. e., the second year of the second cycle, or the next-to-last year of secondary school]. The following year, he was in the first division of the logic students in Verrières, and at All Saints 1813, he entered St-Irénée. There, he did his three years of theology, receiving the ton-sure, minor orders and subdiaconate on 6th January 1814, and the diaconate on 23rd June 1815. During his last year, Etienne Déclas told him about the projected Society of Mary; he became one of its first adherents and took part in the meetings of the aspirants, about which he would later supply a number of details. On 22nd July 1816, he was ordained to the priesthood with most of his companions, and on the following day, he took part in the ceremony at Fourvière, assisting the celebrant, Jean-Claude general. For all that, he did not decide to give up his parish immediately. He resigned only on 20th November 1839, although in the meantime he faithfully participated in all the group retreats, and sent the Marist Sisters a first-class recruit, Marie Mortier, who as Mother Saint-Ambroise, would become the second superior general of the congregation. After November 1839, and during the entire time of Fr. Colin’s generalship, he resided in Puylata with the title of assistant and responsibility for confessions. His outspokenness and the ideas he had acquired during his long years as a diocesan priest led to many difficulties with Fr. Colin, who treated him fairly roughly. He was the only one of the original members of the Society who did not ask the Superior General to retract his attempted resignation on 9th September 1845. In 1846, he was appointed to represent Fr. Colin before Cardinal Dc Bonald, in the matter of the parish of Valbenoite, but brought down on himself a violent outburst against the introduction of parish ministry in the Society. At the Chapter of 1854, he was not elected assistant by the capitulants, but was appointed personally to that office by Fr. Favre. However, two years later he handed over his responsibilities to Fr. Lagniet and took the latter’s place as provincial of Paris. After three years in that office, he was sent to retire at Bon- Encontre, which proved to be his final residence. He was there with Fr. Mayet, and had the opportunity to give him an account of the origins of the Society, adding further details to the one he had already drawn up, most likely around 1842, at the request of Fr.

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Maîtrepierre. In 1864, having been a member of the Chapter of 1860, he received a copy of Fr. Mayet’s first memoir, minus one page which contained comments about him. Not having been elected to the Chapter of 1866, he did not receive the second memoir, and apparently did not become involved in the ensuing controversy. He died at Bon- Encontre on 5th November 1869 (OM, IV, pp. 355-357; we have quoted the text in its entirety, except for the references). (Cf. LL. 2, 4, 7, 30, 88, 170, 182, 194). (REFERENCES, pp. 467-468).

TERRAILLON, ETIENNE: (1786-1837), Parish priest of Amplepuis, Rhône, was born 22nd July 1768 in Panissières, Loire, to Pierre Terraillon and Claudine Jomand. From 1784 to 1786, he studied the classics with his uncle, Jean-François Jomand, parish priest of . In 1790, he received the tonsure on 28th March, minor orders on 29th May, and the subdiaconate on 18th December. Although events prevented his being ordained to the priesthood immediately, he still exercised his ministry as a subdeacon, which led to his arrest in August 1794. After four months in prison, he returned to his uncle’s in Mannges on 9th December. Table N° 2 of the various missions [a listing similar to the “Courbon Table” mentioned elsewhere] has this to say about him: “Without reproach, was of great service in the missions as a deacon. He has worked effectively since the beginning of his ministry. (REFERENCES, p. 469).

THEODORE, BROTHER: He was born Benoit Brossier, on 5th November 1815 in Estivareilles, Loire, to Jean Brossier and Marie Crépet. He was admitted to the Hermitage on 2nd January 1834 (RE, 1, p. 49) and received the religious habit “in November of the same year” (RV, 1, p. XXXVIII). On 25th March 1835 he made his first temporary vows, for three years (RVT, 1, p. 49). All we know about this brother is what we find in the letters of Fr. Champagnat (LL. 154-157, 174). There we learn that he taught in Chavanay, in a new building. Bro. Avit tells us that, “The house had been rebuilt in 1835” (2l3.9,p. 4). So he must have been there in 1836, which does not exclude the possibility of his having gone there as early as November 1835, and having stayed there for the first months of 1837. He was in Valbenoîte in 1839, since he was one of the six signers of the petition sent to Fr. Champagnat “to inform him about a number of abuses on the part of the brother director (Bro. Liguori)” (AFM 121.11). He must have been there from the beginning of the school year in November 1838, but he did not stay there long, because he died on 25th May 1839, at his parents’ home in Estivareilles, where the Founder must have sent him to rest (RD, i, no 57, p. 18). (REFERENCES, p. 472).

THEODORET, BROTHER: Born Jean-Baptiste Guillaume Champagnat on 23rd April 1820, in Marlhes, to Barthélemy Champagnat, our Founder's brother, and Marie Clermondon. On 3rd May 1834, his uncle admitted him to the novitiate at the Hermitage (RE, 1, p. 51), and gave him the religious habit on 13th July (RV, I p. XXVIII). On 28th May 1835 he made his first temporary vows, for three years; he renewed them publicly on 10th October 1836 (RVT, I pp. 52, 66), and again for three years on 11th October 1838 (ibid. p. 70). He must have received Fr. Champagnat's letter of 12th August 1838 (L. 205) in Amplepuis. since that is where Bro. Polycarpe was at the time. Bro. Théodoret must have been there since at least November 1837, if not earlier. On the other hand, it is hard to see how he could have been in Valbenoite in 1838, as Bro. Avit

prefeng-letter.doc 330 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” says he was (213.81, p. 8), unless it was for only a very brief period, since he was not one of the signers of the petition mentioned in connection with Bro. Théodore, above. However, changes during the school year were not unusual in those days, especially for the young brothers. In the annals of Perreux. Bro. Avit states that, "Bro. Polycarpe replaced Bro. Innocent in October 1839. Bros. Gérasime and Théodoret were his associates" (213.38, p. 12). If we accept 1839 as the date of Bro. Polycarpe’s transfer (cf. his biographical sketch), we cannot then challenge that of Bro. Théodoret. He appears to have staved at that school hardly more than a year. Again according to Bro. Avit, he was "led astray by an uncle under the pretext of caring for his mother (his father had died on 2th January 1838: cf. L. 180). The actual date of his leaving the Institute is unknown, but it was presumably sometime in 1840. He died as the result of an accident in 1849, after receiving the Last Sacraments" (AA, p. 17). (REFERENCES, pp. 472- 473).

THEODOSE, BROTHER: Born Jean-Baptiste Defour on 21st March 1816, in Saint-Just- Malmont, Haute-Loire, to François Defour and Jeanne Dupuis. After he had finished his primary education and made his first communion, his father counted on him, as the oldest of four children, to help him on the farm. He, however, wanted to study. Although the family were not rich, they sent him to the school in Jonzieux until he was 15, and then to Fr. Petit, parish priest of St-Victor, who taught him Latin, since he wanted to be a priest. When Fr. Petit was transferred, Jean-Baptiste returned home; his family did not want to interfere with his vocation, so they let him go to the minor seminary in Monistrol. When lack of money prevented his going on to the major seminary, the parish priest of St-Victor advised him to go to the Little Brothers of Mary. On 3rd March 1836, Fr. Champagnat welcomed him to the novitiate of Notre-Dame de l’Hermitage (RE, 1, p. 70), gave him the religious habit on 3rd July (RV, 1, p. LVII), and allowed him to make temporary vows for three years on 10th October (RVT, 1, pp. 64, 66). On 9th October 1837, he made his definitive commitment by perpetual vows (RVP, 1, p. 29). At that time, since he had been exempted from military service for being “too short”, according to his personal file card, he had already completed his first year of teaching in two different schools: first, La Côte-St-André, from October to December 1836, and then Millery for the rest of the year. At the latter, according to his biography, “He proved to be an excellent educator and left his students with memories they enjoyed recalling forty years later, as can be seen from this testimony from an aged rural dean: ‘We loved and respected Bro. Théodose very much. Since he had studied Latin, developed his memory and cultivated his mind, he knew many edifying stories which he often told us and which did us a great deal of good. This excellent religious had a great deal to do with my priestly vocation’. Another of his most distinguished former students from Millery, Bishop Thibaudier of Soissons. says he was happy to find Marist Brothers in his diocese and was grateful for having been Bro. Théodose’s student. He still liked to talk We should note that the writer of that letter was on the side of the brother director, against the other brothers who were backed up by the civil and religious authorities as well as certain brothers from Beaucamps, notably Bro. Cyprien, the director of that house. As for Bro. Théodose, he did not dramatize the situation, put up with his trials with a certain stoicism, and was mainly sustained by his strong religious spirit. In his letter of 5th February 1844, he tells boy someone had accused some of the brothers of maltreating the children but that they had finally uncovered the source of these rumors, which had

prefeng-letter.doc 331 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” been started by some of the students who had been paid to calumniate their teachers. His letter of the following May gives a picture o the overall situation: “While nothing really out of the ordinary is going on, we are impatiently awaiting the Brother Visitor, who will give us news of the community, encourage us, advise us as to how we should act in this situation which becomes more difficult every day. We are all in good health. Bro. Anaclet even seems to have become a proficient cook. “We still have the same number of children, apart from three or four who were admitted free of charge to the (lay) boarding school; but these are students known for their lack of ability and their misbehavior The director of the boarding school, who was considered to be under interdict, has just been reinstated, thanks to a certain group of people who are opposed to the parish priest and the mayor. However, in spite of all the efforts to support him, things are going very badly for him. “The mayor has left us pretty much in peace this year. But the rumors that went around that we were maltreating the children, and the attention the authorities paid to them, have made our children extremely difficult and arrogant. A number of students, even among those from poor families, thought they could intimidate us by complaining the authorities about the supposed ill-treatment they received from us. They got what they deserved for their calumny: they were expel from school. Mr. Vincent, the inspector, whom you know, has been here. In changing localities, he has also changed his colors; he said nothing to us, good or bad, but he scrutinized everything very carefully. Both the prefect and the sub-prefect have visited our classes and appeared very satisfied. “I am very much afraid that bad spirit is taking hold of Bro. Nizier and Bro. Odillon. They are conniving secretly against me and against Bro. Anaclet, whom they detest. They have tried to win Bro. Martin over to their side, but without success. “I have always been on my guard against them, given their secret desire to control things, as they boast about having done elsewhere. I even told them, kindly, and in private, how wrong they were to form a little group apart; they have always denied everything, and even tried convince me by pretending to be at odds with each other, but their conduct has always proved that they are secretly conniving. Besides, Bro. Odillon is always the spokesman for Bro. Nizier, who is always much on his guard. They never miss an opportunity to disparage anything that is not of their doing. “For the rest, Bro. Visitor will see what can be done when he is on the scene. They have not done any studying for a long time. They amuse themselves with various trifles which are not suitable for them, despite my remarks, and their attitude at community prayer is extremely nonchalant. I defer to your prudent judgment in all this. I am telling you about their defects; I certainly have equally serious ones which I should have told you about first, but they are so well known here that others can tell you about them better than I can...” (ibid., doc. 22). During the retreat in Beaucamps at the beginning of September 1844, and then after he returned to his post, he became more aware of the plots being hatched around him. Giving an account, on the 12th of that month, of an interview he had just had with Fr. Robitaille, the dean of St- Pol, he wrote, “According to the definite information which Father says he sent you, it is certain that the mayor is not at all pleased with me, and still less the priests of Carvin who were very surprised to see all of us, the same ones, after the retreat, and especially me. From Beaucamps, Bro: Cyprien stayed in touch with the mayor, who, urged on by my enemies, is expecting me to be changed without fail at Easter, as you had given him reason to hope. That is exactly what those gentlemen want, and he will have every chance of succeeding in Carvin. As a result, with the general agreement of both civil and ecclesiastical authorities, as well as of a good number of brothers, he is going to be-

prefeng-letter.doc 332 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” come director in Carvin. A request to that effect has been drawn up for you by the Rev. Dean.... Bro. Cyprien will become director in Carvin with Bro. Pascal, and I will go to take his place in Beaucamps with Bro. Martin. “That post was offered to me as one which would become very important, seeing that the novitiate will be there, and that Madame the Countess is going to take care of it. So, to console my self-love, after having made me go down one step they want me to go up another.... My expulsion from Carvin is indispensable; you cannot go back on it, and besides, it’s better to do it now than later. The establishment would definitely suffer, and even though no one can bring specific accusations against me, I could never make myself acceptable to those gentlemen, whose hearts are embittered against me.... “I am always perfectly calm about all this. I place myself in the shade of that Divine Providence that seeks my greatest good, and at the feet of that Good Mother who has never let her children be lost, no matter how unworthy they may be. Your obedient Bro. Théodose...” (ibid., doc. 24). The transfer took place, not at Easter, but at vacation time. On 4th August 1845, Bro. Jean-Baptiste wrote to Bro. François, from Carvin, “It would be good if Bro. Paphnuce could arrive here before the Assumption, so that he can make the retreat and become acquainted with Bro. Théodose’s affairs. The latter has not done any better this year than in the past; his establishment is going down steadily...” (ibid., doc. 33). While Bro. Paphnuce was taking Bro. Théodose’s place, much to Bro. Cyprien’s disappointment, Bro. Théodose went to found the school in Préaux, in the Ardèche. The following year, he was transferred again, this time to Crémeaux to replace Bro. Anastase, who had founded that school nine months earlier. Even though the brothers were lacking many things, and renovations on the old châteaux which served as the school building had not been completed, Bro. Théodose stayed there five years. The people appreciated him, Bro. Avit reports, “because of his simple, frank and cordial manner.... Despite everything he had to do, he did them many favors, like regulating their clocks, surveying their fields, acting as secretary for them, and giving them wise advice about how to handle their material affairs” (213.14, p. 6). After the 1851 retreat, Bro. Théodose was named director in Viriville, where he remained for twenty-one years. According to Bro. Avit, “he was supposed to do the cooking. After that, as he did until his departure, he kept busy surveying people’s land, singing Mass at the convent, regulating the clocks in the area, doing some of the secretarial work at the town hail, etc.... He did all this with charming good humor, at the same time as he administered a legacy (a sizable one which had been given to the diocese for the school).... The report (of the visit of 1st March 1863), requested the Bro. Assistant to see to it that the Bro. Director went out less often, that he be more exact in keeping his accounts, that he do a better job of making the parents pay the school fees, that he stay out of other peoples’ affairs: letters, deeds, plans, surveys, etc..., and that he spend more time with his brothers, following them up and helping them better” (214.10, p. 16). The report of the 1870 visit also notes that, “The brother director was carrying on his various trades and also supervising the boarders. He had even acted as mayor for three months. The parish priest, Fr. Crozier, had at first taken an aversion to him. One day he gave him a rather sharp reprimand about what he called his tactlessness. The brother replied, ‘Thank you, Father. I will try to correct myself, but please take into consideration that I am full of defects’. From that moment on, the priest held him in the highest esteem” (ibid., p. 18). After the 1872 vacation, Bro. Théodose was replaced by Bro. Placidus; he then spent a year doing manual work at St-Genis-Laval before going to St-Martin-de-Fontaines,

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Rhône, as director in 1873. He “humbly agreed to do the cooking while being director of the school and house.... As he had done in Viriville, he regulated people’s clocks and surveyed their fields.... The parish priest, Fr. Béraud, did not think very much of Bro. Théodose. He respected him as a religious, but found his manner too simple. Still, the good brother did all he could to please him” (214.61, p. 20). The town voted to laicize the school. Bro. Théodose had the sad honor of closing it in 1881. “From then on, even though he was 65, an age at which most laymen and even brothers think about enjoying some peace and rest which they think they well deserve, we find him always ready to go wherever anyone wanted to send him, with the good grace and docility of a child. First he was sent back to Carvin, Pas-de-Calais, which he had left in 1845, where he was given the mission of opening a free school to replace the laicized public school. He spent two years there (1881-83); then he served successively as teacher, or in whatever other function he was given, in Clamart (1883-84), St-Romain-en-Jarrez (September- November 1884), Lorette (1884-86), La Valla (1886-88), the Hermitage (April 1888- 1891), St-Didier-sur-Rochefort (1891-92), again at the Hermitage until April 1896, and in St-Georges-en-Couzan (1896-97). In September 1897 he returned to the Hermitage, where he did whatever sort of work his health permitted until God called him to the place of rest and peace on 28th March 1899” (Biographies, vol. 3, p. 127). (Cf. LL. 74, 183). (REFERENCES, pp. 473-478).

THEOPHILE, BROTHER: Pierre Mathieu Prudhomme, was born 14th September 1808 in Longechenal, Isère, to Pierre Prudhomme and Anne Thomas. He was admitted to the novitiate of N.-D. de l’Hermitage on 6th March 1833 (RE, 1, p. 46), and received the religious habit there on 14th June (RV, 1, p. XXIII). He no doubt took his first vows that same year, but there is no mention of it in the Régisters. That must have been an oversight, because it is hard to believe that Fr. Champagnat would have sent him to a school in November, as we know he did from his letter of the 10th of that month (L. 32) if he had not made profession. We cannot be totally sure whether he stayed in Millery until September 1834, as his personal file indicates. On 12th October 1834 he made perpetual vows, which he renewed publicly on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, pp. 20, 28). The letter he received in Marlhes on 12th July 1835 (L. 61) leads us to think he had gone there either towards the end of 1834 or early in 1835 at the latest. He must first have studied for a while at the Hermitage, because neither his age nor his trade as a tailor had prepared him for teaching. According to his file, he spent the 1835-36 school year in Viriville before returning to the Hermitage to serve as tailor there (AA, p. 250). The letter of 20th June 1838 (L. 196) as well as his signature in the mortuary Régister that year, confirm his presence at the mother-house during that period. On 5th December 1839, Fr. Champagnat brought him to Vauban for the opening of that novitiate. In the record of that event, he is mentioned as the associate of Bro. Cassien, the director (Précieux Régistre, p. 1). It was there that he was so terrified by noises in the night that he began to have epileptic fits, as Bro. Avit recounts (AA, p. 312); he had to leave that house six months later, in May 1840, and go to the community in Usson for a few days’ rest (AFA, 213.80, p. 10). His file does not mention his time in Vauban, and places him in Mornant as cook from 1839 to 1844; Bro. Avit, on the other hand, in the annals of the latter establishment, has him arriving there in October 1841 to be director as well as cook (214.56, p. 10). Since Bro. Avit himself was his associate from 1842 on, we can take his dates as being exact. “Bro. Théophile was replaced by Bro. Gonzague

prefeng-letter.doc 334 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” in 1844,” he says a bit further on, but he does not say where he went next (ibid., p. 14). According to his file, he spent successive academic years in Boëns-sur-Lignon, Loire (1844-45), St-Jean-Bonnefonds, Loire (1845-46), Grigny, Rhône (1846-47), La Valla, Loire (1847-48), and Chaumont, Puy-Dôme (1848-49). But in the annals of Chavanay, Bro. Avit writes that, “Bro. Marcel was eventually replaced by Bro. Théophile after the 1847 retreat. He taught the lower class and did the cooking” (213.9, p. 1). We also have a letter which Bro. Théophile wrote from Chavanay 23rd July 1838, which certainly seems to confirm our annalist’s words. A bit further on, he adds that “Bro. Théophile was withdrawn in October 1848” (idem.). That was done in order to make him director in St. Lattier, as we know from the following letter, which we quote verbatim, despite its occasional vagueness. [The original also contains a good deal of untranslatable French slang.] “Very Reverend Brother, Please excuse me for taking so long answer your esteemed letter of 10th April in which you asked me if could do without Bro. Darius during the summer. At that moment, I could not see how we could do so; it would have been impossible for us to let him go, since he did not lack for work, any more than the rest us. Besides the cooking, his daily routine, since the departure of Bro. Vendicien until now, has been to teach reading to my class while I teaching writing, and after the reading, to teach a division in arithmetic in Bro. Auguste’s class. “Now, strictly speaking, we can do without him, but not with some degree of apprehension in view of my poor health. What makes me most apprehensive is the kitchen, because of the fire of which I terribly afraid especially during the very hot weather. St-Lattier is well enough laid out for one not to catch cold when it’s warm. “As for Bro. Athanase’s promise, I don’t know what to tell you, except that I will give you the purse just as it is, but I expect I will have borrow a bellows and blow into it in order to fill it, but don’t let that worry you. I find in the account books that the house owes 300 fr. and I have to pay 400, and as for what is owed to the house, the figure is 600 fr., but we will barely get back 500, and with our trinity of boarders, we will certain be able to pay our bills. We are already down to a pair, a will soon be down to a single one, and that single one will give us more headaches than our bills; but what can we do? Still, we intend to keep it, because we hope it will germinate and bear fruit. These details will give you some idea of what you can expect. “The silkworms have just about emptied our classrooms, but a certain number gave us reason to hope they would return afterwards. The inspector visited us at the end of April; he appeared to be satisfied. “Brother, I would like to know if we are entitled to the profits from the three mulberry trees in the middle of the terrace. The man whom we sold the leaves last year has not paid us in full; his argument is that the foliage belongs to the town and not to us, and that he has much right to it as we do. The town has never used the foliage. “Would you allow us to close our school year with a little assembly, if the mayor gives us money for the prizes? We have already spoken to him about it and he would like there to be one. Here are the skits we are thinking of putting on: 1. ‘Terror in the Village, or Ignorance and Knavery’; 2. ‘Filial Love’; 3. ‘Gratitude’; 4. ‘The Strawberries’. They have all been presented, even several times, in different schools. We have not yet decided which one we will present, if your fatherly goodness is willing to let us. “I would also like to ask you to be so kind as to give me permission to go home by way of La Côte-St-André; it is only an hour and a half’s walk from here. Here are my reasons for making this request. I have several nephews who want to taste the sweetness of the religious life. I would very much like to know their thinking so that I can share it with you. “And in concluding my letter, I recommend myself to your humble and

prefeng-letter.doc 335 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” fervent prayers, as well as to those of the community, for I need them urgently. Please accept, dear brother, the very sincere sentiments with which I am, in Jesus and Mary, your most humble servant, Bro. Théophile. St-Lattier, 27th May 1849” (AMF 604; St- Lattier file, doc. 21). We do not know exactly how long Bro. Théophile stayed there. In the annals, Bro. Avit claims that, “A thick veil prevents us from seeing what happened here between the 1848 vacation and that of 1853. We do not think Bro. Théophile was director all that time. We presume Bro. Auguste replaced him” (214.84, p. 11). For lack of further documentation, we repeat what the same author says elsewhere, which more or less corresponds with Bro. Théophile’s personal file. In the annals of Chamont, Puy- de-Dôme, he writes, “The superiors replaced Bro. Eusèbe...with Bro. Théophile in 1852; he was to be director and cook; and Bro. Marie-Capiton...(was replaced) by the excellent Bro. Numérien. The latter soon replaced his superior” (212.19, p. 8). In fact, the annals of Genas imply that he went there in October 1853, to be director and cook. Then, the annals of Allevard, Isère, inform us that, “After the 1854 retreat, Bro. Théophile replaced Bro. Eustache as director, while doing the cooking, and Bro. Clémentin was his successor as the officially recognized teacher. The latter.. .was intelligent and well- disposed, and succeeded perfectly here. But the same thing happened as almost always happens when the director is the cook and not the official teacher. The associate found a thousand excuses to appear in public. The director, who was made to be a Trappist, being more regular than intelligent, complained. So there was a certain uneasiness between him and his associate. The latter took offense, left the Institute and went to the Brothers of the Holy Family. “From 1855 to 1861, there are no written records. All we know is that Bro. Nazianze succeeded Bros. Théophile and Clémentin” (214.1, p. 14). From September 1856 to September 1859, says his personal file, he was working at the Hermitage. We have no reason to challenge that, except for the last year. According to Bro. Avit, he founded the school in St-Marcellin, Loire, on 26th November 1858: “Bro. Théophile had no certificate of competence and did the cooking. His associate (Bro. Eugénien) was the official teacher of the school, which was a town school and a paying one.... Bro. Théophile was an excellent religious but by then he had very little health left. He was withdrawn at the end of the year, and Bro. Eugénien took over as director” (213.59, p. 6). It is only then, from 1859 to 1864, that his personal file puts him in Allevard. It is hard to explain that five-year difference in dates, but for lack of documentation we cannot tell whether the error lies with Bro. Avit or with the file card. However, both more or less come together again to place him next in Grand-Serre, Drôme: “He replaced Bro. Amédée as director (in October 1862)...and did the cooking. He was a good religious, very devoted, but not able to follow up the classes, nor answer the parents, since he was neither sufficiently educated nor sufficiently informed about the students” (214.107, p. 7). When the town council voted to laicize the school in 1865, the brothers were withdrawn, but Bro. Théophile stayed on a while long to protect the interests of the congregation during the liquidation process. Bro. Avit notes his move to Le Péage-de-Roussillon on 29th July 1866, to teach the lower class; that October, he supposedly replaced Bro. Epaphrodite as director in Grigny, although his personal file, has been noted, places him there in 1846. Was this his second assignment there, or is there a twenty-year error on the part of Bro. Avit the file? The latter confirms that he was in Le Péage-de-Roussillon from 1866 to 1867, and then puts him in Roussillon from 1867 to 1871. That in turn is confirmed by the assignment list which indicates that he was at the latter school for the 1869-70 school year. Then, again acording to Bro. Avit,

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“Bro. Philadelphe was replaced (in Bessenay) in March 1871, by Bro. Appellis as teacher and by Bro. Théophile as director and cook.... The two associates did not put up with his cooking very long. At the next vacation, Bro. Appellis decided to take on the directorship, and Bro. Théophile was employed elsewhere”. But on the following page of the annals, we read: “1872 - Bro. Théophile is doing his best to direct the house while doing the cooking, but he suffers because the place is so drafty” (214.11, pp. 20, 21). Both his file and the assignment list confirm his presence in Bessenay during the 1871- 72 school year. He spent the next four years in Paris-Plaisance, and the 1876-77 school year in Arbresle, before retiring permanently to the Hermitage as of October 1877. He stayed there until his death on 24th September 1884. He went to reap the reward of a life which humanly speaking was rather unusual, full of humble tasks for which he was hardly prepared —among which the function of director only increased his humiliations — continually on the move without settling anyplace, changing community twenty-one times in forty-three years, keeping all the while, it seems, a peaceful soul and a heart overflowing with quiet love of his God. (REFERENCES, pp. 478-481).

THERME, ANTOINE; see GÉRASIME, BROTHER.

THIOLLIERE, ANTOINE ETIENNE: (1796-1876), Iron-master in St-Chamond and Lorette, member of the Commission for Arts and Trades, was born on 7th Brumaire Year V (28th October 1796) to Jean-Claude Thiollière (1763-1818), a merchant in St- Chamond, and Louise Regnault. “The Thiollière’s are a very old family from Saint- Etienne, whose known lineage goes back to Jacques Thiollière, who was born in 1560. One of his descendants was municipal magistrate of St-Etienne in 1760” (information supplied by A. De Feydeau). During the last century, the family held several fiefs in the Forez region. Their coat of arms was “argent, with a chevron of gules accompanied by three quintains of the same” (silver, with a red chevron and three red target-posts). Later, some of their descendants settled in both Saint-Galmier and Saint-Chamond. It is one of the latter who is the subject of this biography, but our research has turned up nothing about his childhood or his studies. We know that he had a brother, Eugène, who was a friend of Rossini, the composer of “The Barber of Seville”. He also had two sisters: Louise and Pierrette-Elisabeth, who married the two Neyrand brothers, Guillaume and André. The two Thiollière brothers, Antoine and Eugène, entered into partnership with the two Neyrand brothers, to run their ironworks. It would appear that this partnership was formed very early, because in 1816, “the brothers Neyrand and Thiollière” obtained the first patent on metallurgical importation in the Loire, “for a procedure connected with the conversion of iron into ribbons” (of sheet-metal). An ordinance of 10th September 1823 authorized them to build a factory in St-Genis- Terrenoire. On 23rd November 1823, Antoine Thiollière married Marie-Pierrette-Sabine Angimeur, in Lyons. They had two children: Eugène and Louise. The family lived at 14, Grand’rue in St-Chamond. Antoine had three terms on the consultative Commission for Arts and Trades: 1830-33, 1836-43, 1848-53. We do not know how Fr. Champagnat came into contact with Mr. Thiollière, since there is no documentary evidence on the subject. However, it is not impossible that their relationship dated from the time of the building of the Hermitage, or even from the time when the brothers were making nails, which was also one of the specialities of the Neyrand-Thiollière factory, and for which Antoine was specifically responsible. In any case, to have become the greatest

prefeng-letter.doc 337 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” benefactor of the Institute by 1837, his gifts must have been spread out over a number of years. When the school in Lorette was established for the children of his workers, Bro. Avit already describes him as an outstanding benefactor. To show his gratitude, Fr. Champagnat made an agreement with him, under which they shared mutually in each other’s spiritual merits — what today we call affiliation (L. 85). It is very difficult to calculate the value of his gifts since they were of different kinds, and no record of them was kept before 1837. According to the account book, he made three contributions of 1000 fr. in 1837, and then 3000 fr. a year from 1839 to 1841. According to Avit, he gave a gift of 9000 fr. during the construction of the chapel at the Hermitage in 1836 (AA, notebook 6, p. 542) and covered a debt of 22,000 fr. in 1840 (ibid., notebook 3, p. 231). According to the testimony of Bro. Stanislas, his gifts to Fr. Champagnat totaled 100,000 fr. His deep and sincere affection for our Founder cannot be doubted. He was one of the notables who signed Fr. Champagnat’s burial certificate on 8th June 1840. He never lost interest in the latter’s work, as we know from his correspondence with both Bro. François and Louis-Marie. The former, in a letter written early in 1842, thanks Thiollière for “another gift” forthcoming from his pious and liberal charity, and then promises him the prayers of all the brothers for the cure of his son Eugène. That December, at his request, the brothers founded the school in St-Médard, where he owned the property of a of a former Benedictine priory (AFA, 213.64, p. 3). He does not seem to have been very generous in supporting that school, since he gave the brothers only the bare minimum for the buildings and for their salary. They had to accept those conditions out of gratitude for his previous generosity. He would continue to be no less demanding, as we can see from this letter of 31st August 1843: “Dear brother, here we are at the time of year for the changes of personnel which you think ought to be made in our establishments. Fearing that you may be thinking of moving elsewhere the brother who directs the school in St-Médard [Bro. Malachie], I am writing to ask you to keep him at that establishment, where I believe he is necessary. Things are going well and I attribute that smooth running to the character of this brother, which by reason of his very wise combination of moderation and firmness, is perfectly adapted to the people whose children he has to direct. Besides, there is perfect harmony between us, the parish priest and him; those are two precious benefits which we should not risk losing. So I hope that you will not upset me by refusing my request, and that the establishment in St-Médard will stay as it is. An adult class in St-Médard would be a good addition which would bear fruit; I would be very happy if one could be started there. I do not think it would overburden the brother director and that his zeal would lead him to accept the work eagerly. Think about it, discuss it with the brother, and if it can at least be set up, decide to do so will be very grateful. Please accept....”. He was given full satisfaction on every point. Beginning with his letter of 17th August 1886, and except for that of 15th September 1868, Mr. Thiollière adds the title “mayor” to his signature. He seems to have remained mayor of St-Médard practically until his death, although he still continued to spend time in St-Chamond. The Superiors’ letters were most often addressed to him at the latter residence, and they never fail to mention the gratitude the Institute owed him for his many kindnesses. The last of these, according to Bro. Avit, was a loan of 10,000 francs, on which he more often than not refused the interest, and even abandoned the capital around 1870 (213.64,p. 11). On 10th January 1865, Bro. Louis-Marie thanked him for having been so kind as to inform him of the illness of the brother director of St- Médard, and to ask for an additional brother to care for him. Then he added, “I thank you

prefeng-letter.doc 338 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” heartily, Sir, for such fatherly concern. I can see from that how interested you are in our brothers, and it is a joy for me to tell you that the memory of your generosity will always live in our hearts.... You are one of our most outstanding benefactors; it is a duty and a consolation for us to associate you with all the good it is given us to do, as religious or as an Institute” (RCLA, vol. 4, n. 4176). Antoine Thiollière “died on Wednesday 24th May 1876 at 9 p.m., at his residence at 14, Grand’rue”, in St-Chamond (death certificate, Etat Civil, St-Chamond, n. 138). Bro. Louis-Marie, superior general at the time, did not fail to mention the fact in his circular of 29th June 1876 (Circulaires, IV, pp. 329-331). On 3rd June, he had expressed his condolences to Mr. Eugène Thiollière, in the following words: “Sir, with all my heart I share your sorrow, and that of your whole family at the loss of your wonderful father, Mr. Antoine Thiollière. God has called to Himself a holy and fervent Christian, the friend of the poor, the friend and supporter of all good works, to reward him eternally for a life filled with so many virtues. “In him, the Little Brothers of Mary have lost one of their benefactors, he who more than anyone else shared by his gifts and his prayers in the trials of Fr. Champagnat, our Founder, and for thirty-six years, those of his two successors. His abundant alms constantly came to our aid and helped us overcome our most trying needs. For twenty-one years I myself witnessed and received them at the Hermitage, and since the transfer of the motherhouse, one of my greatest consolations has been the kind and generous memory which led him to extend his pious generosity to the house of St-Genis-Laval. It is therefore a duty for all the Little Brothers of Mary, a felt need out of love and gratitude, for them to join their prayers to the prayers of the family and of so many pious souls who have such precious memories of the esteemed departed. We will do so in all our provinces; but we will also hold a solemn service at the motherhouse and at the Hermitage. “We will all be happy to extend to you, Sir, to Madame your mother who is so greatly bereaved, to Madame your wife and your beloved children, the feelings of prayerful gratitude and religious affection which we promised to the venerable departed. Please accept, with the expression of my deepest sympathy, etc. (Signed): Bro. Louis-Marie, Sup. Gen.” (RCLA, vol. 6, n. 6672). (REFERENCES, pp. 482-484).

THOMAS, JEAN; see MAURICE, BROTHER.

THORIN, CLAUDE-MARIE: (1762-1843), was born in Quincié, Rhône, on 4th May 1762. The “Courbon Table” describes him, in 1802, a former curate of Mornant. On 7th February 1803, he was appoint as parish priest without benefice of Montréal, Ain; and on 1st July 1817, of Les Etous, in the parish of Beaujeu, and at the same time, as curate in Fleurie, which is rather astonishing. From there, he was transferred to Lancié, Rhône, on 1st January 1809, as parish priest, to succeed Fr. Claude Guérin who had resigned on 31st December 1808. He retired after thirty years in that ministry, on 28th February 1838. He may have stayed there — Lancié is only a few kilometers from Quincié, his home town. In any case, early in August 1839, he asked Fr. Champagnat for brothers for Lancié (L, 265), describing himself as the former pastor of that parish. Although he repeated his request on 19th November (L. 295) he had no greater success. He died four years later, on 21st October 1843 (AAL, Régistre du Personnel, Régistre des Décès). (REFERENCES, p. 485).

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TIMOTHEE, BROTHER: Gabriel Valla, was born on 11th October 1803 in Unieux, Loire, to François Valla and Antoinette Largeron. He entered the Hermitage novitiate on 17th September 1829 (RE, 1, p. 34), received the religious habit there on 18th January 1830, and made his first private temporary vows that 11th November (RVT, 1, p. 20). On 2nd October 1831 he made private perpetual vows, which he renewed publicly on 10th October 1836 (RVP, 1, pp. 12, 28). He was sent to the community in Neuville in November 1830, probably immediately after his temporary profession; the following year he was transferred to Ampuis. From 1832 to 1834 he was at the Hermitage, most probably doing manual work. That is why Fr. Champagnat chose him when Fr. Colin wanted a cook (OM, Extraits, doc. 131 [OM, doc. 325]). He left for Belley on 20th October 1834, and gave great satisfaction (ibid., doc. 132, p. 330). “In June 1836, the Belley census lists him as a brother at La Capucinière” (OM, IV, p. 357). At the beginning of October that year he traveled to the Hermitage to make his retreat and his public perpetual vows with his former confrères. “In 1839, when the coadjutor brothers were separated from the Marist Brothers, he found himself placed in the first category and expressed some displeasure about that” (idem.). Fr. Champagnat tried to calm him with his letter of 1st February 1840 (L. 317), but without success, since the idea of returning to the Marist Brothers haunted him until 1844. That year, he saw the will of God in his sudden cure from an incurable disease: since he had been cured by St. Joseph, he should remain a “Joseph Brother” (OM, III, doc. 819, 183, and note 1, p. 323). He remained in Belley until 1856, then went to the Toulon residence as cook. He died there on 13th January 1871. (REFERENCES, p. 485).

TOUZET: A priest, chaplain of the hospital in Aigueperse, Puy-de-Dome, diocese of Clermont-Ferrand. There is nothing about him in the diocesan archives, but a few of his letters have been preserved. On 7th July 1837, he requested authorization for the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart. On 20th November 1838, he announced that the parish priest of Aigueperse had just had a stroke; he then went on to request a dispensation from a third announcement of marriage banns. He wrote again the next day to announce the death of the parish priest. On 12th March 1839, in his capacity as chaplain, he. requested faculties to hear confessions during paschal time, “as I have been doing since I have been at the hospital”. In the first three of these letters, his signature is accompanied by that of a Fr. Fafournoux, curate. From all of that we can deduce that he was chaplain at the Aigueperse hospital and that he helped out in the parish when necessary. In that context, we may wonder whether, when he wrote to Fr. Champagnat to ask for brothers, he did so in his own name or in that of the parish priest. All we can tell from the replies he received (LL. 100, 285) is that he had first gone to the Hermitage, and that he was responsible for a ministry for which he was requesting brothers. Since things never went beyond that stage, we have no further information. (REFERENCES, p. 486).

TRIPE, JEAN-ANDRÉ: (1797-?), Marist Father and missionary, was born 22nd February 1797 in La Garde, Var. He made profession on 7th January 1840 and on 19th February sailed from Brest, bound for Oceania with Fr. Pezant and Bros. Claude-Marie and Ammon, on the corvette “Rhin” of the royal navy (APF, XII, 207; cf. L. 318). The Marist Fathers’ profession Régister bears this notation: “Left the Society in 1847”. This is the only information available about him. (REFERENCES, p. 486).

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TRIPIER, CHARLES-JULIEN: (1761?-1846), He left few traces, since the good works he left behind say little about the man himself. He was born around 1761, no doubt in Neuville-l’Archévêque (today Neuville-sur-Saône) where the family resided during the Revolution, according to M. Cattin. “Neuville,” he writes, “contained a large number of fervent Catholics who sheltered priests with edifying eagerness. The most outstanding were the worthy Mrs. Tripier and all her children, so well known for their dedication to good works” (Mémoires, p. 59). Charles-Julien, having become manager of the estates of the Marquis De Boufflers, who at that time owned the Château de Villeroy above the town of Neuville, decided to reside in Curis-au-Mont-d’Or. He never married, which allowed him to devote himself very extensively to charitable works, following the inspiration of his deep Christian faith which he lived very authentically. Among his accomplishments, the school in Neuville is perhaps the most important. First, he donated the building in which the brothers established themselves, and then he saw to the maintenance of the school. This is what he wrote to Fr. Champagnat on 1st September 1828 when school was only two years old: “Fr. Superior, we were informed by your brothers in Neuville a the day when they must leave us, and since the finance committee to meet immediately to discuss the lack of funds in the treasury find some way of meeting that deficit, said meeting could not be I until yesterday, since the mayor was absent. “The first matter on the agenda was to decide how much we should give them for the current year, because, someone said, ‘We asked only two brothers, not three, so we owe them only eight hundred francs’. But realizing that you were obliged to send a third, because the one who was sick, and that having allowed him to remain without asking you to withdraw one of the three, we ought to pay a thousand francs. “To carry out this resolution, we had to proceed to appeal to members of the council, of whom only four out of twelve were present. At my suggestion, the mayor gave 50 fr., I gave 50 fr. and the parish priest 50 fr., Mr. Armand only 5 fr., and Mr. Mauteguay, 5 fr. None the less, these small sums, together with what the treasurer had on hand, gave us a total of only 932 fr. So we still needed 68 fr., which we ask, myself in particular, and the parish priest to advance us. “But since the treasurer did nothing at all about giving them to brother director, I decided to do it myself, not wanting them to have to go away angry and bring you the least complaint on this subject. Upset as I was by this lack of enthusiasm on the part of the administrators properly for upholding this enterprise by the means at their disposal, even by the discouragement which some of them manifested, I thought in the presence of God, that I ought to renew my own courage upholding this good work for the glory of God and its utility for young people of Neuville and its environs, and to make myself protector, so to speak, because I can see that the more we are, the less gets done. “So, father, here is what I still have to do to work this out with you. The brothers themselves will collect the fees from their children each month, even in advance if you think it proper. Presuming, as I have reason to, that they were unable to collect the eight hundred francs the two brothers for the first year, 1829, I will get something, I think from the parish vestry through the parish priest, and from the town through the mayor. And if that is not enough, I will advance the money myself; you can count on my word, Father. “I am even convinced that this school will flourish as you desire, to my great satisfaction and that of all the parents of these young people. I am sure you realize, as I do, that in order to revive this neglected school, you absolutely must send back to me the same brothers, especially the first one who, since he knows

prefeng-letter.doc 341 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” all the parents of the children, he has already directed so well, will also have great influence over them to see to it that their children bring in their monthly fees in advance, which another brother absolutely could not do. That is because those who do not care about this school, as well as any enemies it may have, would skillfully seize upon the fact of new brothers coming, either to refuse to pay the monthly fees in advance, or to frustrate the brothers and do everything they can to thwart them in order to nullify this good work. “I definitely expect that by fulfilling these wishes of mine, you will have every reason to witness the prosperity of this school, as I myself already see it, relying on the divine protection which God always grants to those who place all their hope in him. I would have liked to visit you immediately to discuss more fully this important matter which I definitely want to uphold, but an indispensable trip to Paris, to which I am called by Mr. De Boufflers, obliges me to postpone my meeting with you for three weeks or a month, perhaps less if my errands can be cut short. “In any case, I am depending on you to send me the brothers whom I am urgently requesting for the first days of October, so that the children will not lose the effects of the trouble the brothers take during the year by a too long vacation which would become very detrimental for them, thus leading the parents, upset at seeing their children giving way to dissipation and dissoluteness, to decide to enroll them elsewhere. Please be so good, Father, as to accept the respect of your devoted servant, Tripier” (AFM, 129.3). To the very end, he carried out his promise to support this school no matter what. Here is Bro. Avit’s testimony about him in the annals of the Neuville day-school: “Mr Tripier took the director aside and told him, ‘Brother, when you need anything, come see me; I will take care of getting it. I do not want you to suffer, and I would be very hurt if your timidity left unfulfilled my desire not to let you be in need of anything’. “The brother director took full advantage of the generous offer he had just been made. On every occasion, he went to Mr. Tripier, whether for the needs of the community, or to obtain books, school supplies or even clothing for the poor children. He never requested a charitable deed from him in vain. One day, the brother director asked him for fifty francs; after he had counted and placed on the table five rolls of one hundred francs each, this generous benefactor joined his hands, looked up to heaven and said, ‘God, thank you for the favor you have done me in letting me use this money you have given me, to do good deeds. I know that of myself, I could never perform such a virtuous act’. Then he said to the brother director, who seemed amazed at such language, ‘Yes, brother, God is doing me a great favor in letting me give you this money. I regard it as a special gift that the divine goodness has given me the desire to distribute my possessions as alms, and to use this base metal which damns so many souls to make people bless God and to help the poor who are my brothers. How many men who are richer than I, give nothing or very little because they have not received the precious gift of stripping themselves and giving! God, give me the grace to recognize this advantage you are giving me, and never let me make myself unworthy of it and so force you to take it away from me’. “This incomparable man was the father of the poor and gave them his entire fortune, which was a large one. At the end of his life, he to appeal to his family to meet his needs, and he had taken such vantage of the grace which God had given him of distributing wealth as alms, that after his death, not enough money could be found in his home to pay for his funeral” (214.59, pp. 20-2 1). In the Abrégé des annales, we read another testimony which shows the more “human” side of the man. A brother director “went to Mr. Tripier for 200 fr. He got very upset and gave him a good kick. “I’ll take that for myself’, the brother answered, ‘but now you have to

prefeng-letter.doc 342 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” give me 400 fr. instead of the 200 which I requested for school.’ Mr. Tripier gave him the 400 fr. without saying a Word ( (op.cit., p. 78). The brothers were very conscious of this good man’s generosity. Bro. François, in a letter to the brother director, probably in closes with these words: “Please give my sincere respects to your parish priest and to Mr. Tripier, and assure them of our affectionate remembrance and our well-deserved gratitude for everything they are doing for the brothers and for society” (505.2, p. 321). During Mr. Tripier’s last illness, the brothers of Neuville took turns going to Curis to sit with him until his death on 5th January 1846. funeral was very solemn. The brothers and all the students, first in a solemn Mass in Curis, and then in Neuville in both the church and the cemetery where his body still lies. (Cf. 5, 131). (REFERENCES, pp. 486-489).

VACHER, XAVIER: (1801-1879), He was born in Prades, Ardèche, 22nd April 1801. He was ordained to the subdiaconate on 23rd December 1826, and to the priesthood on 22nd December 1827. At the beginning of 1828 he was appointed curate in St-Marcel d’Ardèche, and 17th September 1837 he was appointed its parish priest; his brother was appointed his curate. He wrote to Fr. Champagnat early in 1840, asking for brothers. A pleasant reply led him to hope he would have them after a delay “four or five years” (L. 327). In his letter of 31st April 1851, Vacher says that he made his request “to the Fr. Superior of the Hermitage, more than seven years ago”. So he had respected the delay was given before returning to the attack, but once again he had no success. His perseverance in pursuing his plans, on behalf of which had written several more letters at the beginning of 1850 and l851, finally brought him victory. In November 1851, three brothers opened the school in St-Marcel, for which he had nothing but praise during his remaining years in that parish. He died there on 11th March 1879, among the parishioners whom he had never left during his entire priestly life. (REFERENCES, p. 489).

VALLA, BENOIT; see AUGUSTIN, BROTHER.

VALLA, GABRIEL; see TIMOTHÉE, BROTHER.

VENET, JOSEPH-MARIE: (1793-1872), He was born on 27th May 1793 in Cleppé, Loire. After his ordination on 12th June 1824, he was appointed curate in Brignais, Rhône, on 1st July, and then in Belleville, Rhône, on 5th June 1828. He was appointed parish priest of Aveize, Rhône, on 15th December 1831, but stayed there barely three years, since on 24th April 1835 he was entrusted with the parish of Mornant, Rhône, left vacant by the death of Fr. Jean Decoeur on the 16th of that month. When he found the Marist Brothers teaching in the parish school, he took a strong liking to them, as can be seen from the laudatory testimonial he gave them on 15th March 1836, on officially- stamped paper. But perhaps he expected too much from them in return for the little he paid them, if we are to believe Fr. Champagnat’s letter of 5th November 1838 (L. 225). The difficulties must have been smoothed over, because on 30th December 1844, he sent the following letter to the Superior: “Very dear Brother, our two classes have been absolutely full for a long time now and a good number of children are still asking to be admitted. The parents go from my house to the mayor to get them accepted; there are perhaps 25 or 30 children like that. The mayor asked me to write you to request a fourth brother, so that we can have another class, at least for two months. By accepting all

prefeng-letter.doc 343 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” those who are asking to come in, and diminishing the other two classes a bit, we could make a third which would certainly be large enough, and your brothers would not be so tired. The parents are shouting on all sides that we need to hire a lay teacher, that there would be more than enough to keep him busy, etc.... You know what a problem that would create for us. “As for the building, we will do whatever we can, and all for the best. You know that the quarters your brothers are occupying are only provisional, and that we hope to provide something much better. The mayor we have now is very well disposed, so I am asking you, let us do all we can to keep him happy. I am therefore hoping that instead of sending us only one brother to replace the unfortunate one who left today, you will send us two. As for the brother who has just left, please treat him gently. This mistake may be very useful for him, and he may become a very good religious. I am very annoyed that I did not see him before he left; I would have given him a great deal of encouragement. Believe me, he needs a great deal of consolation. “Please accept the sentiments of esteem and respect with which, etc...” (AFM 604.086.02). In another letter written twenty-five years later, on 3rd December 1869, the parish priest speaks for his parishioners to request that the brother director, who had just been transferred, be allowed to stay there, so it would not seem that his attitude toward the brother had changed. Unfortunately, at that moment his life was nearing it end. On 28th June 1872, he returned to the God whom he had serve faithfully for forty- eight years. (REFERENCES, pp. 490-491).

VERCHERE, JEAN; see ALPHONSE, BROTHER.

VERDIER, FRANÇOIS: (1789-1858), He was born on 22nd July 1789 in L’Hôpital-sous- Rochefort, Loire. He was ordained to the diaconate in Lyons by Bishop Simon of Grenoble, on 23rd June 1815, the same day as Fr. Champagnat. They were also ordained to the priesthood together on 22nd July 1816 (OM, I, doc. 49, p. 218, n. 46). While serving as non-resident parish priest of Marcoux, near Boën, Loire, he was appointed parish priest of Bourg-Argental on 25th January 1832 and approved on 23rd February. Unfortunately, that is all the information the personnel Régister of the archdiocese offers about him. Jean Badol, in Porte du Forez, in speaking of “the popular François Verdier” mentions that he was an honorary canon of Nancy, Toul, Bordeaux and Lyons (op. cit., p. 42). He found that the brothers had been teaching in Bourg- Argental for more than ten years. Continuing what his predecessor had begun he took care of them as best he could, as can be seen from his letter o 10th May 1833. Even though Bro. Avit included it in the Abrégé des annales (pp. 127-129), we think it interesting enough to quote here it its entirety. “Father and dear friend, I have learned that you intend to withdraw one of your three brothers. I do not think that two are enough for the school. I will tell you frankly that last year I heard complaints about many little things: that not enough care was being taken of the children, that they were not learning, that the brothers did not insist enough on being respected, or even that they maltreated the children. “You know what rumors can do in respectable society. It was question of nothing less than sending your brothers away and finding enough money to bring in those of the Christian Schools about whom some people were boasting a great deal. Being a new parish priest in town ready to erupt, I was very careful on that occasion, as on many others, not to imitate the parrot in the fable, who talked a lot and was therefore sold for a good price. I imitated the crow who said nothing, but thought a good deal, and

prefeng-letter.doc 344 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” still got his reward! In a word, all the noise and my own feeble reflections led me to keep a close eye on you house, without appearing to, because we live in a time when it suffices to let your intentions be known, even the good ones, to see them immediately thwarted. “I ordered your brothers never to maltreat the children, to punish them only rarely; I advised them to send them to me when they were not pleased with them, and not to take them back without a note from me, and in those cases I am careful to have the child’s father and mother come in so that I can give them a lesson myself. I do not know if I am a good teacher; only two or three came to see me, and I have not seen them again. “My curates and I give them a really hard time during catechism, and both the fathers and the mothers, the masters and mistresses of the house, in the confessional. We have already begun to have catechism again every Sunday; that inspires the children to learn and consequently to go to school. So withdrawing a brother would mean paralyzing the good done in your school in Bourg-Argental and starting the wrangling all over again. Think about what you ought to do. I am not trying to create problems for you. I am telling you all this simply so that you will know what is going on, and that if your school does well and runs briskly, people will take an interest in it, and that may mean some increase in salary for your brothers in the future. But when you squeeze the eel too much, it escapes. “I am writing you very simply and in great haste. I am not sure you will be able to read this, but friends can forgive each other anything. We are still making plans with our friend Sèyve, who is doing well, to go to see you, but I don’t know when; we will let you know. Please don’t speak to anyone about anything I have written to you, not even to your brothers; it might upset and irritate people whom you, like me, have good reason to treat very tactfully. I am pleased with your brothers; I may have been very abrupt with them, they can tell you whether I have or not, but I believe I must do that for the sake of the public good. Tibi totissimus, Verdier” (AFM, 129.6). This letter, which irritated Bro. Avit, at least shows us one side of its author’s character — determined, confident, perhaps even a bit odd. He remained parish priest of Bourg-Argental until his death, which occurred in Lyons on 13th January 1858. (REFERENCES, pp. 491-492).

VERNET, JEAN-ANTOINE; see ADRIEN, BROTHER.

VERNET, JOSEPH-LAURENT-RÉGIS: (1760-1843), He was born in Villeneuve-de- Berge, Ardèche, on 20th September 1760, “to a well-off, honorable, Christian family. His father, a rigidly honest merchant, had an older brother a priest, who baptized Régis. His mother’s name was Anne Genton; she was one of those mothers who in their simplicity, know more about raising children than all the theorizers” (Vie de M. Vernet, p. 2). She had raised five children; two of her three sons, Régis and Charles-Laurent, became priests. After receiving the first elements of an education from Fr. Roux, young Régis was enrolled in the Aubenas secondary school the same year (1773) his priest uncle replaced the Jesuits, who had been suppressed by Clement XlV, as director of that establishment. It was during his three years at that school that he heard the call to the priesthood. In 1776 he entered the philosophy section of the major seminary which was then located in Viviers. He then did his theology in Bourg-St-Andéol. Faced with the dilemma whether to prepare for parish ministry in the diocese, or to follow Fr. Olier and teach in a seminary as a Sulpician, Vernet chose the latter, around the beginning of 1784 he went to Paris to make his novitiate. On 18th December of that year, he was

prefeng-letter.doc 345 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” ordained by Bishop Dupont d’Albaret of Sarlat. Shortly after, his superior, Fr. Emery, entrusted him with the vacant chair of dogma in the Toulouse seminary. He was still there when the Revolution began to shake the Church in France. Driven out of the seminary in 1790 with all his colleagues, he at first took refuge with his family, and then went to live in Viviers. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy, signed by the king on 26th December 1790, and the oath it demanded of all priests, found him in the rebel camp since he uncompromisingly rejected both, despite the example Bishop De Savine of Viviers gave his priests by taking the oath which separated him from the Church of Rome. Irritated by the presence of Fr. Vernet in his episcopal city, he pushed his perfidy to the point of denouncing him to the police “as an agitator, a counter revolutionary, who had sold out to the nobility” (op. cit., p. 44). To evade his pursuers, Vernet fled to Lyons, intending to cross over into Switzerland. But, having learned how dangerous the border crossing was, he decided to hide in the city of Lyons, disguising himself, under the name of “Allard”, as a merchant like his father, which permitted him to correspond with the latter without arousing suspicion. He spent his days carrying on a clandestine ministry. In that way he live through the siege of Lyons from 8th August to 9th October 1793. Especially after the surrender, he felt his place was next to the guillotine, to give a discreet final absolution to its many victims. His courage and sang-froid enabled him to foil all attempts made to capture him. When Robespierre paid with his own head on 9th Thermidor (27t1 July 1794) for all the atrocities he had had committed, Fr. Vernet once again took the road to the Ardèche where Bishop D’Aviau of Die, who had just accepted the post of administrator of the diocese of Viviers had named him first vicar-general of that diocese. From then on, he used all his capacity for work and all his energy to rebuild the material and moral ruins the tempest had left in its wake. His first concern was to bring back to the fold the priests who had left it by taking the oath This task necessitated constant travel around the diocese, and many letters and circulars; it had to be done clandestinely, all the more so after 27th October 1795, when the Directory took over the government and rekindled the Terror and the persecution. When both died down from exhaustion and disgust, Bishop D’Aviau left his Roman exile to return to the priests and faithful of his diocese. Fr. Vernet, however, continued his ministry, valiantly putting up with contradictions, numerous calumnies, even days in prison, all of which were brought on him by his zeal for the renewal of the church in the Ardèche. He was ably seconded in this difficult task by Fr. De Besses, the former vicar general of Bishop De Savine. “His conciliatory manner, his unfailingly friendly welcome, made up among his confrères for the impression of aloofness produced by Vernet’s coldness and reserve. He knew better than Vernet how to combine firmness with a smiling gentleness which touched hearts and immediately inspired confidence” (Ch. Jolivet, La Revolution dans l’Ardèche, p. 540). During 1797, with the support of Fr. Vernet, Mother Rivier laid the foundation of a new congregation in Thueyts: the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary. When Pope Pius VII signed the Concordat on 16th July 1801, the diocese had already regained its vigor, but it lost its identity, becoming part of the diocese of Mende, under Bishop Chabot. Fr. Vernet offered him his resignation, which was not accepted. On the contrary, it was the bishop who resigned three years later, and was replaced by Bishop Maurel de Mons, a former vicar general of Bishop De Savine. A new resignation by Fr. Vernet was once again rejected, even though he was carrying the combined functions of first vicar general, rector of the seminary, director and founder of the Sisters of the Presentation, and founder of the brothers, the opening of whose novitiate he had celebrated some

prefeng-letter.doc 346 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” twenty months previously, on 21st October 1803. In addition, he was on the threshold of a period in which he not only had to create new institutions but also enlarge existing buildings. First there was a new wing on the seminary to house the philosophy students; then the building in Bourg-St-Andeol which he had just bought at a very high price and which had to be renovated to house Mother Rivier’s sisters; later, the seminary chapel. For each of these, he roughed out plans, had them drawn up by an architect, followed the work closely, all the while doing everything necessary to collect funds to pay the workers at the end of each week. Being a man of great experience and robust constitution, Fr. Vernet dealt with everything, starting projects, turning them over to other trustworthy people to carry out, after firing them with his enthusiasm and supporting them when they ran into difficulties. Having been driven out of the seminary by the emperor on 8th November 1811, because he was a Sulpician — Napoleon was hoping to overcome the resistance of Fr. Emery — the intrepid vicar general used the time at his disposal to draw up the rules of his congregation of sisters. He installed them in their new home in Bourg-St-Andéol toward the end of 1815. After the return of the royal government, when it came to revising the concordat, Fr. Vernet did not fail to take steps to have the diocese of Viviers reestablished. This was done in 1822, and on 6th August 1823, he enthroned Bishop Molin, who died two years later on 25th July 1825, but not before having obtained a royal ordinance authorizing the Institute of the Brothers of Christian Instruction. However, the latter vegetated, because Fr. Vernet, being too much taken up with other things, had entrusted the brothers to Fr. Rick and was only rarely involved with them. He was led to take more an interest in them, both by the fact that the authorization would exxpire if not used, and by the urging of his new ordinary, Bishop Bonnel. Since Fr. Richard was already ill, Fr. Vernet entrusted the work to Fr. Boisson, with Fr. Rivière as his assistant. The Revolution of 1830 frightened Fr. Boisson, who let the brothers return to their families until the storm passed. Only a few came back. The project languished, like Fr. Boisson’s health, until 1833, when he handed it back to Fr. Vernet, who by then was free enough to take matters in hand. The following year, he sent his young men to the novitiate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Avignon, to be trained for both religious and the apostolate according to the methods of St. Jean- Baptiste de la Salle. “Fr. Vernet recalled the little colony from Avignon after a novitiate of three months and a few days, and ordered them to stop, on their way back, at the Sisters of the Presentation in Bourg-Saint-Andéol. Fr. Vernet went there, gave each novice his religious name and the Constitutions, based on those of Avignon.” Bro. Paul was appointed director, and Fr. Rivière, superior of the house. “Fr. Vernet, who had made sacrifices for the subjects sent to Avignon, and who had given orders and his plans to Bro. Paul, now expected to see everything go along beautifully. He counted on this work, which had been so inconsistent until that point, now taking on certain consistency and beginning to develop. But it was just the opposite, because of the conflicts which arose between Fr. Rivière and Bro. Paul.” When he was informed of that state of affairs, only much later and by a lay teacher he had hired, Fr. Vernet reacted angrily, keeping Fr. Rivière in his position but sending Bro. Paul, whom he blamed for everything, to a school. Fr. Boisson died on 24th August 1835, and Fr. Vernet began to think about moving the brothers’ novitiate to Viviers, which he did in June 1837. When he was urged to take over the Viviers novitiate, Rivière accepted only on condition “that he would be sole master of finances, that he would have a free hand in choosing candidates, and that Fr. Vernet would give him authority in whatever concerned

prefeng-letter.doc 347 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” community”. In the face of that attitude, Fr. Vernet did not insist; let Fr. Rivière return to Notre Dame in Bourg-St-Andéol, and decided that from then on the superior of the brothers would never again be a priest. Fr. Rivière had hardly settled into his new assignment when he received the letter whose contents we have summarized before Letter 148. Unfortunately, Fr. Vernet did not see that this priest was totatally lacking in religious spirit, nor did he suspect all the frustrations he was going to cause him. Bro. Marie was named director of the Viviers community; he was a man about whom it was said, “This young man may make a good teacher, but he will never be a good religious”. Fr. Vernet finally realized that, removed him, and put in his place Fr. Géry, who had come from the seminary of St-Sulpice in Bordeaux. So he was obliged to go back on his solemn declaration to Fr. Rivière, until such time as a brother was sufficiently prepared. During the period from 1837 to 1839, seven establishments were founded: Serrières (1837), Le Teil (April 1837), St-Désirat (November 1837); Quintenas (April 1838), Thueyts (June 1838), Largentière (October 1838), and Le Cheylard (June 1839). The brothers were young and poorly trained; many left during their first three years in the apostolate; most of the ones who stayed were as good as those of Fr. Champagnat. Early in 1843, Fr. Vernet, sensing that he did not have long to live, entrusted his community of brothers to Bishop Guibert, who had been bishop of Viviers since 1841. His first inclination, based on only partial information, was to dissolve the congregation and send the brothers home; once he had spoken with them, however, he changed his opinion. He saw no other way to guarantee their future than to integrate them into a similar Institute. The Marist Brothers accepted them, both men and assets, by an act signed on 15th April 1844. Fr. Vernet had already died on 4th May 1843. His heart was buried in the convent of the sisters in Bourg-St-Andéol, next to that of Mother Rivier, while his body, carried to Viviers in a hearse, rests at the foot of the cross in the seminary cemetery. (Cf. Vie de M. Vernet, presumably by Sr. Marie-Arsène, Lyons: Perisse, 1848.) (REFERENCES, pp. 492-496).

VIAL, JEAN-BAPTISTE; see PROSPER, BROTHER.

VIAL, JEAN-MARIE: (1793-1875), He was born 5th March 1793 in St-Martin-en-Haut, Rhône, was ordained on 23rd July 1820 and immediately named curate in Thorins, Saône-et-Loire. Eight years later, on 20th October 1828, he was appointed parish priest of Juliénas, Rhône, as successor to Fr. Clement Rayonnet, who had died on 23rd September. The deanery of Pélussin having fallen vacant through the death of Fr. Antoine Mouche on 10th April 1834, Jean-Marie Vial was appointed to that post on 6th May. On 2nd September 1835, he sent Fr. Champagnat the following letter: “Father, the last time I had the pleasure of seeing you in Pélussin, you gave me reason to hope that you would stop off again on your way back and stay for a while at my residence in Pélussin. I was looking forward to that in order to chat more explicitly with you about the projected establishment of your brothers in Pélussin. Since your business prevented you from fulfilling my hopes, I am taking the liberty of writing to you on that subject, and I am repeating the entreaties I made to you in Pélussin to send brothers at All Saints to the new house in Pélussin. Notwithstanding its smallness, in the hope that eventually the house could be enlarged if its capacity is indeed seen to be insufficient. Besides, I think the house is ten, or at least five, feet longer than you first believed. “You recall that my request was motivated by the fact that that there was still not a single official town

prefeng-letter.doc 348 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” teacher in Pélussin, even though there were three teachers there, and that if your brothers arrived on time, we could hope to have them recognized as town teachers, and as such, have them allotted the two hundred francs required by law, which would augment their resources. I have the honor to inform you that there is still not a single town teacher. Not only that, but Mr. V. Verdelet, whom the committee wanted to name, has now embraced another career. A new motive to hasten the establishment of the brothers so as to forestall the presentation of another candidate. “Please, Father, be so good as to honor me with a prompt reply so that I and Mr. J. Du Colombier will know whether we can count on having two brothers of your congregation here at All Saints. Accept, Father, the assurance of the respectful esteem of your most humble and most obedient servant, Vial, parish priest of Pélussin” (AFM, 129.13). Two or three months later, the brothers arrived to open the school in Pélussin. “On 23rd February 1844, Fr. Vial, parish priest, complained that Bro. Anastase was not following his advice, that he was avoiding him and consulting a young, inexperienced curate, that the brothers were hitting the children. He requested that the director be replaced by an experienced and more docile brother. Having known Fr. Vial, we think he was a rather short-sighted priest” (AFA, 213.36, 8). Around 1848, he became parish priest of the new church of St- Jean which had just been built. He was replaced in Notre-Dame parish by Fr. Antoine Collard, but he kept the title of dean, which by that very fact became attached to the new parish. Since the brothers’ school was located in the latter, Fr. Vial continued to be their pastor, but had fewer and fewer direct dealings with the boarding school which was taken care of by Mr. Jullien Du Colombier. Fr. Vial died on 10 August 1875. (REFERENCES, pp. 496-497).

VICTOR, BROTHER: Benoît Lay, was born on 13th December 1816 in Saint-Just-en- Chevalet, Loire, to Antoine Lay and Claudine Planche. He was admitted to the novitiate at N.-D. de I’Hermitage on 22nd July 1830 (RE, 1, p. 36), received the religious habit on 2nd February 1831 (RV, 1, p. IX), and made first temporary vows on 31st May (RVT, 1, p. 21). He renewed those vows for three years on 2nd October 1832, again for three years on 24th September 1835 (RVT, 1, p. 58), and once again for three years, publicly this time, on 10th October 1836. On 9th October 1837, he made perpetual vows (RVP, 1, p. 29). Normally, as of July or October 1832, despite his age, he should have either gone to cook for some community, or remained at the Hermitage to continue his studies, but we have no information on that point. It is only in 1837 that we pick up his trail again. At the beginning of that year, as he was then of age for military service, he left for St- Paul-Trois-Châteaux. From Fr. Champagnat’s letter of 26th July 1837 (L. 122), we learn that the drawing gave Bro. Victor number 21, which apparently designated him as “leaving”. Consequently, if he did not wish to “leave”, he would have to stay at St-Paul until he had acquired his certificate of competence and signed his ten-year teaching commitment. That is why the Founder, in his letter of 4th August (L. 126) insists that, despite his poor health, the brother must “hold out” until the September examination (cf. L. 128). It seems that he did in fact pass the examination, according to a document from St-Paul (AFM, 221.155), which also states that on 21st December 1837, he was in Viriville, Isère. And that, in fact, is where he received the Founder’s letter of 12th August 1838 (L. 204). Before the end of that year, Bro. Victor opened the school in Les Roches de Condrieu. “He was,” says Bro. Avit, a very talented subject for that era, with polished manners, and a jovial character, but very conscientious, even scrupulous” (214.45, p. 7).

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On 15th June 1840, he wrote the following letter from Les Roches: “Very dear Bro. Director General, The death of our good Father Supenor did not surprise me, but it saddened me terribly, and I spontaneously mingle my tears and sorrow with the tears and sorrow of the whole community. We have suffered a great loss; I could almost say an irreparable loss. Oh, how much I hoped for the prolongation of the life of our esteemed founder, how much I am suffering from such a loss! But I hope and have good grounds to hope that if he was so helpful to me during his life, he will be even more so after his death”. Then, after requesting that Bro. Basin be changed at the next vacation, he ends by saying, “When one is lacking in virtue, knowledge and health, and especially when one has such poor helpers that one is forced to carry out part of his confreres’ duties.... I will stop there; I don’t want to reawaken in you too negative thoughts about me. I leave everything, I submit everything to Providence and to your wisdom, and I am for life your most obedient servant...” (AFM 604.104.01). He wrote again on 3rd May 1842, “Very Reverend Brother Director General, Bro. Victor is honored to offer you his most profound homage and at the same time to inform you that Mr. Benoît Lay, town teacher of Les Roches, has just been authorized by a ministerial decision dated 20th April last, to add a boarding division to his primary school. “You will not be displeased to learn that today, the 3rd, I received a visit from His Lordship the Bishop of Grenoble. He was full of praise for the brothers in La Côte and Grand-Lemps. “Very Reverend Brother Director General, if you are agreeable, please grant me the four following permissions: 1. to have three mattresses restuffed; 2. to buy 25 kilos of corn husks; 3. to buy a pitchfork; 4. to go on an outing with the brothers as far as Lorette. I am asking this permission more for Bro. Dydime than for myself; he go could up to St-Genis-Terrenoire for a few minutes, if you will let him. “We have about one hundred children in our classes. Bro. Frédéric, Bro. Dydime is still Bro. Dydime, Bro. Victor is still Bro. Victor, that is to say, the most miserable and the unhappiest of mortals, and also the most devoted of your servants, Bro. Victor” (AFM, 604.104.02). The following year, “after the 1843 retreat, Bro. Victor went to direct the house in Viriville; he was replaced here [in Les Roches] by Bro. Pothin” (AFA, 214.45, p. 11). But in the annals of Viriville, Bro. Avit has Bro. Victor arriving only after the 1845 retreat. An undated assignment list, which is probably from around 1845 — either the 1844-45 school year, or 1845-46 — puts Bro. Côme in Viriville and Bro. Victor in La Valla. In the annals of the latter establishment, Bro. Avit is vague for lack of documentation, but indicates Bro. Victor’s stay there without dating it. “Of the many brothers who taught in this school between 1st November 1824 and 1st November 1847, the only ones we can name are Bros. Louis, Hilarion, Clément, Damien, Prosper and Victor, as directors; Jean, Côme, Astère, Amphion and Pétrone as associates.... We know that their residence (was) very dilapidated. Every wind blew freely through the place. The brothers put up with all that very gallantly, and two of them, Bros. Victor and Pétrone, had even put pinwheels in front of a number of crevices. These new toys, which were almost always in motion, cheered them up and induced them to be patient. Bro. Victor was very cheerful. Bro. Arnphion, his associate, did not like wine; so the one drank the water, the other, the wine. When he was admonished by the Rev. Brother, Bro. Victor laughingly answered, ‘Our drink is according to both the rule and charity; my confrère drinks water because he does not like wine, and I deprive myself of the water so he can have it all” (213.23, p. 9). It is very hard to say exactly when Bro. Victor left La Valla to take over the school in Viriville. We have seen that Bro. Avit says it was October 1845, adding that “Bro. Côme remained as

prefeng-letter.doc 350 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” associate” (214.106, p. 13). But he also states, in the annals of Boën, that Bro. Côme opened that school on 4th November 1844. However, we do have several other definite reference points. Bro. Côme wrote a letter from Viriville on 12th November 1844. Also, his death certificate explicitly states that he died in Boën on 5th October 1846. The first letter we have from Bro. Victor in Viriville is dated 8th January 1846. Consequently, his transfer must have taken place sometime between the end of 1844 and the beginning of 1846. In the light of some letters from the mayor of Boën, we are inclined to situate it in late November or December 1844. On 26th January 1849, Bro. Victor wrote to the “Most honored Bro. Superior, since Bro. Evagre appeared yesterday, the 25th, at the brothers’ residence in Viriville, with an authorization signed by you to breathe his native air, I welcomed him as charitably as possible. Since his letter of obedience in no way recommends him to the brothers of the surrounding area, and since I know that the little favors I did him last year were maliciously interpreted by those who have a talent for ex- aggerating everything, I am writing to ask you to indicate the line of conduct you want me to follow toward him this year, so that by carrying out your intentions in detail, and the orders you may wish to give me, you will have no reason to reprimand me. I would like your reply to be clear and precise, and such that, if need arises, I can show it to Bro. Evagre. If you have something personal to tell me, please be so kind as to write it on a separate sheet. “For some days now I have been suffering from very painful twinges in the head, especially at the base of the skull; sometimes the pain is so intense that I cannot read even very large characters, and I am obliged to act by instinct rather than reflection; that is to say, I act almost without being aware of what I am doing. I obtained some medicine with a prescription from the doctor; I will begin taking it next Monday, but I am not very confident that it will be effective. “The best remedy for my illness, as I have told you, would be to give me the administration of a very small establishment where I would have nothing else to take care of but my class and my religious exercises. These boarders give me work and worries which are beyond my strength, at least for the moment. It’s not that I don’t love the boarders a great deal, or that I cannot succeed with them as well as anyone else, but I would need to be well backed up by suitable personnel. Don’t think that laziness has anything to do with the proposal I have dared to make; if my health improves even a little, you will see that I can work as hard as anyone else...” (AFM 604.152.17). Bro. Avit claims that, “The denunciations...alleged against him had some basis in fact, in the sense that he went out a lot, that he received many visitors, and often served drinks. In all of this, he was thinking only of putting the school on a solid footing. Nevertheless, he was replaced by Bro. Théodose toward the end of 1851” (2 14.106, p. 15). We believe his transfer was motivated far more by his health than by his behavior, since he died at the Hermitage on 23rd April 1852. (REFERENCES, pp. 497-500).

VILLELONGE, JEAN-LOUIS ; see DOROTHEE, BROTHER.

VINCENT, NICOLAS: (1800-1865), He was born 25th May 1800, in Hondreville, Meuthe-et-Moselle, was ordained in Nancy on 26th February 1825, and appointed parish priest of Manonville, Meuthe-et-Moselle, in May. On 5th December 1830, he was named parish priest of Flavigny-sur-Moselle. We may presume that before turning to the Marist Brothers, he had asked for brothers from other congregations, who, being unable to fill his request, had suggested N.-D. de l’Hermitage, where he had no success either

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(L. 325) In any case, we could not find any other letter from him. He died in his parish on 22nd March 1865 (AD of Nancy). (REFERENCES, p. 500).

VINCHENEUX, FRANCOIS-LÉON: (1804-1866), He was born on 27th February 1804 in Esclavelles, Seine-Maritime, to a family of farm workers who earned a modest living. After studying at the seminary in Rouen, like all the clergy of that diocese, he was ordained on 31st May 1828. He was appointed parish priest of St-Rémi-de-Dieppe that same year. “Under a rather rough bark, he concealed a heart of gold and the soul of an apostle”. What this enthusiastic soul, in which burned the true sanctuary lamp, enjoyed most of all was the ministry of the word. His originality gave his works a special character and his words unique turn of phrase. On 21st November 1835 he was appointed parish priest of Tréport. At that period, that little city of sailors and fishermen was undergoing a complete transformation. Fr. Vincheneux “was always a match for whatever circumstances and for the needs of his ministry. First of all, he took care of the young and their education. In that context, he wrote to Fr. Champagnat at the beginning of 1837, asking for brothers. He went at it, as we can see from the Founder’s replies, in somewhat singular fashion, which did not further his cause any (LL. 98, 111). His second preoccupation was the sick, the disabled and the aged “He himself laid the foundations of a hospice-hospital to which he soon added an orphanage, a workshop and a foundling home.” In 1856, he began to think about restoring his church. The work cost him more than 70,000 francs, and was barely finished when he died on 14th November 1866. (Adapted from Fr. Cochet, “Notice nécrologique sur l’abbé Vincheneux”, in Vigie de Dieppe, 23rd and 25th November 1866 of which a copy was generously sent us by the diocesan archives Rouen.) (REFERENCES, pp. 500-501).

ZACHARIE, BROTHER: “Antoine Porte from Boisset, district of Bas-en-Basset, legitimate son of Antoine and Elizabeth Dorat, 17 years of age, in May, with a certificate of good moral conduct, knowing how to read a little, entered the house (the Hermitage) as a novice on 14th January 1834” (RE, 1, p. 50). He received the religious habit on 6th January 1835 (RV, 1, p. XXXI), made his first temporary vows for three years on 1st November (RVT, 1, p. 62) and public perpetual vows on 10th October 1838 (RVP, 1, p. 31). We have very little information about this brother. Since he was never a director, he is barely mentioned in the annals. There is no indication that he stayed in St-Paul, at least not before 1837. The first time he is mentioned is in the circular of 13th January 1839, in the postscript for Pélussin, which tells us he was there. The 1839-40 assignments put him in Firminy. For the next thirteen years we have only six assignment lists, of which only two are really dated. Accordin to these lists, Bro. Zacharie was in turn in Terrenoire, Anse, St-Jean-Bonnefonds in 1841, the St-Etienne orphanage, and Les Roches-du-Condrieu for the 1851-52 school year. He must have been in other schools as well, since he seems to have been transferred every year. His last residence was Ampuis, since his death certificate indicates that he died there on 30th January 1853 (RD, 1, p. 47). In his letter of convocation for the second session of the Second General Chapter (April 1853), Bro. François recommends him to the prayers of the brothers and gives a few details about his death: “This brother succumbed to a lingering illness which had been sapping his strength for a long time. His death was as peaceful as it was edifying. His joy at dying in the Society of Mary, his confidence in God, his desire and

prefeng-letter.doc 352 cepam “Répertoires”, Raymond Borne/Paul Sester, Translated by Leonard Voegtle, as “References” hope to see him soon and be eternally united to him, never wavered for an instant” (Circulaires, II, p. 171). (Cf. L. 238). (REFERENCES, pp. 501-502).

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