MISSIONARIES OF AFRICA

2020 / 01 Special

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The Editorial Board has chosen to makea special issue to offer you all the obituarynotices that we were unable to publish lastyear. It is always with a sense of gratitudethat we read the rich life of the confrereswho have spent their life announcing theGood News of salvation and doing good in the footsteps of their Master and Lord.

I am especially grateful to all theconfreres who take the trouble to write theseprofiles to share with us the witness of thelives of our confreres with whom we havesometimes lived together without reallyknowing them.

Going through these obituaries, one cansee how God’s work unfolds in the variouslives of the confreres and often in a sur -prising way, through events of all kinds. At certain moments in the lives of theconfreres, it was believed that the “flame”was dying out, but no! it was beginninganew and shone again for a long time tocome. It is the work of God! Thank you,Lord, for the lives of all our confreres!

Freddy Kyombo

Proverb: “Just as a busy day gives us a good night’s sleep, a well-lived life leads to a peaceful death.”

Leonardo Da Vinci

SINCE DECEMBER 1912PETIT ECHOSociety of the

Missionaries of Africa

2020 / 01 n° Special 10 ISSUES YEARLYPUBLISHED BY

THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE SOCIETY

Editorial BoardFrancis Barnes, Asst. Gen.André Simonart, Sec. Gen.Patient Bahati Freddy KyomboEditorFreddy Kyombopetitecho@mafrome.orgTranslationsJean-Paul GuibilaSteve OfonikotJean-Pierre SaugeAdministrative SecretaryAddresses and Dispatch Odon Kipiligmg.sec.adm@mafr.orgEditorial ServicesGuy Theunis Dominique ArnauldCorrespondentsProvincial/Sector SecretariesMsola, RomeInternet Philippe Docqgmg.webmaster@mafr.orgArchivesPhotographs provided by theM.Afr Archives are subject topermission for any public usePostal AddressPadri Bianchi, Via Aurelia 269,00165 Roma, ItaliaPhone **39 06 3936 34211Stampa Istituto Salesiano Pio XITel. 06.78.27.819E-mail: tipolito@donbosco.itFinito di stampare gennaio 2020

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“The white sheet”

Why do funeral eulogies and obituaries often seem the opposite of the usual tendency of negative criticism and the search for the “ short-comings ” in others? One has the impression that, once dead, they haveonly qualities; a life embellished by good attitudes, good deeds. Itsounds like a plea...

I remember two recent experiences. One day I submitted to a persona text to be read and asked him to give me his opinion after reading it;when he returned the text to me, he only criticized the spelling mistakesthat had scandalized him... I had to wait until he finished beingscandalized, to point out to him that in fact I was waiting for a commenton the content of the text, and I took the opportunity to tell him that theauthor had nevertheless made the effort to express his ideas in alanguage that is not his mother tongue. It was then that the personbegan to reread the text and was struck by the beauty of the ideasexpressed. The second experience was a “blank sheet” exercise (photo).A friend, who had himself just failed this exercise, showed me a blanksheet of paper and asked me “what do you see?” I suspected a trickyquestion, so I intensely examined the paper and answered in a confident

tone: “there is a small blackdot in the right-hand corner ofthe paper! ”... he said to me:“look carefully, it’s so ob-vious”... and he said to melaughing: “you won’t tell methat you haven’t seen a whitesheet of paper! »... Indeed,thinking about it, it was so obvious!

Yes, I like the idea of aplea. What do we see in the

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lives of our brothers and sisters who pass through our lives and withwhom we share our humanity? Do we only notice the “black dots” thatwe go to so much trouble to find out where they are discreetly hidden?Or, do we manage to notice all that large white surface so bright beforeour eyes?

The confreres, who write the obituaries of those who have gone be-fore us, do a real work of pleading, saying to the Lord: “Good Master,our brother gave a glass of water to one who was thirsty; he put a smileon the face of one who was desperate; he reconciled such and such withyou and with his human family; he visited and helped a sick person, etc.For this reason, welcome him in your goodness”.

It is surprising for an editor, who takes the trouble to look for articlesof interest to his readers, to learn that most of them prefer to read theobituaries first. One can imagine that these readers are interested in kno-wing how God walked with their confreres, whom they had been closeto without perhaps knowing them well. And I can assure you that it gives

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hope to those who are still alive; they realize that the Lord is marvelouslyunfolding himself in our humble lives. When we give our last breath andpeople can sit around what remains of us, they have time to take a serenelook at what our life has been like and in this atmosphere they can noticethis wonderful “white sheet” despite the little black dots scattered hereand there.

No, it is not the fear of the dead or of their ghosts that makes us speakwell of those who have gone before us, but rather an attitude of hopethat leads us to pay homage to them through the evocation of all thegood that we remember of their passage among us. It is a good way topraise God; to recognize in the other that “image” and “likeness” of theCreator who is “Love and goodness”.

I am pretty sure that if a confrere had the opportunity to read his ownobituary through which we evoke his memory, he would be astonishedat all the good that confreres have been able to retain from his life. It isa little like those of whom Saint Matthew speaks (Mt 25:37) “Lord,when did we see you...? you were hungry, and we fed you ? ... ». Infact, in the lives of many of our confreres, the left hand does not knowwhat the right hand is doing; and wherever they have gone, followingtheir Master and Lord, they have done good, they have relieved souls...and that precisely is why they went out. We do well by paying homageto them with these good memories when they leave us.

I encourage the confreres who write profiles to keep on nourishingus with these beautiful testimonies of God’s work in our humble lives.And all this for his great glory!

Freddy Kyombo

Angus Shelton1922 - 2017

Angus James Patrick Shel-ton (known as Gus) wasborn on 29th July 1922

in Lozells, Birmingham and at-tended St. Philips Grammar school,founded by priests of the Birming-ham Oratory, where he obtainedthe London Matriculation. On leav-ing school, he worked for two yearsin a solicitor’s office as a trainee.

In 1939 Gus applied and was ac-cepted to begin his studies with theWhite Fathers. His parish priestwrote of him, “I gladly testify to hischaracter as an exemplary Catholic

youth. He is a daily communicantand my best altar server and in myopinion will give every satisfactionand good example as a clericalstudent – he is always ready andanxious to help in every way anythingfor the good of the Catholic Church”.

He arrived at “The Priory” atBishops Waltham in September1939 and began his philosophystudies, continuing them at St.Columba’s College, Newtown St.Boswells from 1940 until 1944. Areport by the staff at the end of hisphilosophy gives the following ap-preciation, “A very good all roundsubject. Two years working in anoffice has given him more ‘aplomb’than is usual with students in Philosophy”.

Following philosophy, Gus thenwent to Rossington Hall, Doncaster,from 1944 to 1946 to begin Theol-ogy studies. In October 1946, heentered the novitiate in Dorking.The novice master wrote, “A goodcommunity man. Will be an excel-lent missionary and possibly ofoutstanding worth.”

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On completion of his novitiate,Gus continued Theology studies atRossington Hall before moving tocomplete them in s’ Heerenberg inthe Netherlands. He took his Mis-sionary Oath there on the 29th Oc-tober 1948 followed by ordinationto the priesthood also in s’Heeren-berg on the 11th June 1949. Afterordination he had to spend somemonths at Claughton Hall whilewaiting to travel to Uganda to beginhis ministry.

His first appointment in Ugandawas to Bujuni parish in RubagaDiocese in January 1950 where hebegan learning the language. InApril he moved to Mubende parishand in December to Entebbe.

In August 1952 Gus was sec-onded to Masaka Diocese and wasappointed as teacher at Bikira(Kiteredde) Teacher Training Col-lege. He moved to Nkozi in Sep-tember 1954 and from there wassent to teach at Nandere Junior Sec-ondary School in August 1955. Hereturned to Nkozi in September1956.

After 10 years of ordination Guswent on home leave in February1959 and during this time madehis 30 day retreat at Mours, France.During the rest of his home leave,he was very active making Church

Appeals for the British Provinceand helping out in parishes in Wor-thing, Newport and Shanklin.

On returning to Uganda in Oc-tober 1959, Gus worked in Kisubiand later in Mubende. However,this was for a very short period be-cause his office and administrativeskills were clearly recognised andneeded and so in April 1960 hewas appointed Secretary and ViceChancellor to Archbishop JosephKiwanuka, M.Afr (+1966), the firstAfrican bishop of Uganda, in thethen Rubaga Archdiocese (becom-ing part of the Archdiocese of Kam-pala in 1966).

In April 1964 Gus was in Naka-songola and then appointed Superiorof the community the followingyear. He went on home leave inOctober 1966 and afterwards wasappointed to Bukalagi in April1967. By the following Decemberhe had taken up an appointment inEntebbe at the Procure. He thenmoved to the Nsambya Procure asProcurator in 1968.

Pope Paul VI made the first visitof a Pope to Africa in moderntimes. This was his one and onlyvisit to Africa and it was to Uganda,arriving on July 31st and leavingon August 2nd 1969. Gus frequentlymentioned his organisational in-

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volvement regarding the financesand planning of the papal visitwhen I lived with him in communitynearly 30 years later. Definitely,he must have played an importantrole in this regard in his own skilledand quiet way behind the scenes. Icould see when he was narratingthese events that he was pleased tohave been able to contribute in hisown way to this historical visit.

In the early morning hours ofthe 25th January, 1971, mechanisedunits loyal to Idi Amin attackedstrategic targets in Kampala andthe airport at Entebbe where thefirst shell fired by a pro-Amin tankcommander killed two RomanCatholic priests in the airport waitingroom. One of those killed was Jean-Paul Demers, White Father andTreasurer of the Archdiocese ofKampala. Gus duly stepped in asActing-Treasurer to replace Jean-Paul until September 1972 whenhe went on home leave. On return-ing to Uganda, Gus continued asActing-Treasurer for the Archdio-cese of Kampala and also workedat the Nsambya Procure until June1976.

Given the economic and politicalsituation in Uganda at that time,Gus realised the need to hand overthe functions he had in looking

after the finances of the Archdioceseto a local diocesan priest and it isreported that he achieved this be-tween 1972 and 1976 “and suc-ceeded very well,” according toBob Gay who was then the Regionalin Uganda. Gus also decided tonot only hand over his work to thelocal Church but also to leaveUganda permanently after 26 yearsof service there.

He wrote the following in hisletter of resignation to CardinalEmmanuel Nsubuga on 1st May1976: “Since I have been engagedin administration duties for elevenyears and three years in teaching,and with only two years in pastoralwork during the past fifteen years,I am neither mentally nor physicallyequipped for parish work in theprevailing circumstances. I wouldfind the present economic situationand the prevailing shortages im-possible to contend with in parishwork. Furthermore, I am well awareof the fact that I would be muchinclined, and would tend, to imposemy point of view, not necessarilyAfrican, on people. This would notbe acceptable, would lead to frus-tration and to possible serious reper-cussions for the Church locally.”

Back in Britain in June 1976,Gus spent some months on leave

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and helped with Church Appealsand offered his services in parishesin Perranporth and Truro. This wasa time of reflection for Gus abouthis move from Uganda. He did infact correspond with Cardinal Nsub-uga about the possibility of returningto Uganda in September 1977 andreceived a very positive reply. Inthe meantime, Gus had been ap-pointed to the British Province bythe General Council in Rome andthe British Provincial Council hadappointed him Provincial Secretaryand Administrator of the ProjectsOffice. Alan Thompson, the Provin-cial in Britain, on hearing of thepossible return of Gus to Ugandawrote to the Regional in Uganda,“I figure on Gus being ProvincialSecretary as long as I am in thisjob!”

Gus was Provincial Secretaryin Britain from August 1977 toAugust 1978 but then took on thework of Assistant Provincial Treas-urer from 1978 until 1986 at Stor-mont Road in London.

In September 1986 Gus movedto the Promotion house at SuttonColdfield to continue looking afterthe Projects of the Province andalso to take charge of the Promotionaccounts and give help in makingChurch Appeals in parishes in Eng-

land and Wales. In 1987 he wasrelieved of his work with Projectswhich he handed back to the Treas-urer in London. He replaced Fr.Patrick Walsh on his death in 1989as chaplain to the Sisters at St.Paul’s convent on Lichfield Roadand very faithfully celebrated dailyMass each morning until the Sistersclosed the convent in 1997. In 1992Gus decided that he was too oldand too out of touch with currentevents in Africa to continue doingChurch Appeals. At the age of 82in 2004, Gus asked to be relievedof his work on the accounts for thePromotion Office at Sutton Cold-field and organised a smooth han-dover of his work to one of thelong serving secretaries. Gus thencontinued his retirement at SuttonColdfield.

I lived in community with Gusat Sutton Coldfield for 11 years.He was the senior of our communityand we all admired his tremendousdedication to his work, most of itbehind the scenes, in the office forthe missionary work of the Society.When he was 75 years of age hespent many hours setting up thePromotion Office accounts on anew computer accounting systemsince he realised that manual ac-counting was a thing of the past.When anyone was ill or under the

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weather he showed tremendousconcern and was noted for visitingsick confreres in hospital. He keptclose contact with members of hisfamily. He was an avid reader andhad a large collection of books. Heloved listening to music and fre-quently updated his equipment toachieve the best from his collections.Photography was another of hishobbies.

Gus had high standards for him-self and expected high standardsfrom others. This could sometimesbe a source of conflict but he wasvery aware of this. However, whatI always admired about Gus wasthat he would always apologise ifthere had been any disagreementwith anyone not long afterwards.This is typified in the letter of res-ignation he wrote to Cardinal Nsub-uga in 1976: “Finally, Your Emi-nence, since I am well aware that

perfection does not exist in thislife, I ask your indulgence for anyworry I may have given, or sorrowI may have caused during the timeI have served the Church in Kam-pala Archdiocese, and I ask for amoment in your prayers and foryour Blessing”.

Towards the end of 2015, Guswas becoming more frail and neededcare and assistance that could notbe provided by the community atSutton Coldfield. He had alwaysexpressed the wish that when thistime came he would like to belooked after by the Little Sisters ofthe Poor at Harbourne, Birmingham.His wish was granted and he enteredthe care home of the Sisters on13th November 2015. The Sistersand staff at the Home looked afterGus devotedly until his death on13th April 2017.

Chris Wallbank

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José Antonio Olano Zapiain1932 - 2018

José Antonio – or simplyAntonio, as he was knownto his confreres – was born

at home, in the caserío Lizardi, inAstigarraga, a small rural townsome 7 kms. outside San Sebastian,in the beautiful Basque country ofNorthern Spain. The sixth of sevenchildren born to Francisco Olanoand Luisa Zapiain, Antonio grewup in a modest agricultural familyknown and appreciated in the areafor its industry, simplicity and nat-ural piety. Most of his early mem-ories were of a happily bucolic

childhood, occasionally obscuredby family tragedy as when a much-beloved older brother died suddenlyof pulmonary pneumonia while do-ing his military service in Teruel.The unfortunate event left a deepimpression on Antonio, as yet amere child. Until his own death,the scene of the return of the lifelessbody of his young brother to thefamily home for the wake andburial remained fresh in his memory,made all the more indelible by thefact that the day happened to beGood Friday. Another event from his child-

hood – a happier one — which,curiously, lodged in his memoryuntil the end of his life, was that ofhis first deliberate lie. One day, ashe was sitting alone before the en-trance to the caserío, he heardgunshots nearby. Suddenly, bound-ing from the same direction andinto the open door of the housecame a much-frightened and des-perate hare, closely followed a mo-ment later by two hunters in hotpursuit, to all of which the childAntonio had sat in silent and solemnwitness. When the hunters pausedto ask him if he’d seen the animal

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by any chance, Antonio didn’t blink.“That way!,” he assured them,pointing them away from thecaserío. Even 75 years later, Antoniocould still take a kind of childishpleasure in recalling how he hadsuccessfully misled two grownupsand protected the life of an innocentcreature of God. As he told it, itwas difficult to discern which ofthe two results delighted him more.Fortunately, compassion rather thandeceitfulness would become thehallmark of his life.The young Antonio grew phys-

ically strong and healthy, and bythe time he reached adolescencehe was able to be of much assistanceon the family farm. However, toearn extra money, he spent timeworking in the carpentry shop ofone of his brothers-in-law, a fewkilometres from Astigarraga. Heloved manual work, and althoughhis efforts at it were not often evenremotely artistic, they were at leastsolid and durable.Another of his brothers, Ramón,

emigrated to Cuba before the rev-olution. There he found work man-aging a sugar cane plantation andlater met and married a Cubanteacher. Antonio had the occasionto visit them there shortly beforedeciding to enter the seminary.With the arrival of Fidel Castro on

the scene, the couple, as well asmany other non-Cubans, were ex-pelled from the island country withnothing but the clothes on theirbacks. This injustice left a deepimpression on Antonio.In 1952, Antonio decided to ap-

ply for admission to the minor sem-inary of the diocese of San Sebas-tian, in Saturrarán. He was 19 yearsold, a venerable age to be enteringa minor seminary, and his fellowclassmates – some of whom werebarely 11 years old – soon took toaddressing him as abuelo (grand-father). Antonio endured patientlyand serenely, and with characteristicgood humor, this good-natured teas-ing. Given his age and insufficientacademic preparation, studies inthe seminary, especially that ofLatin, proved to be an uphill strugglefor the abuelo. Not only did hehave to learn Latin, but with Vas-cuence (Basque) being his mothertongue, his knowledge of Spanishwas little more than rudimentary.By sheer determination, perspiringprofusely all the way, Antonio man-aged to pull himself up the hillwithout having to repeat any cours-es. His goal, clear and firm: thepriesthood.As time went on, his goal began

to refine itself, due in great part tothe missionary climate then pre-

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vailing in the Saturrarán seminary,as well as to his discovery of theWhite Fathers and theirs of him.Africa seemed to beckon, just asthe mysterious Macedonian some20 centuries earlier had called toPaul in a dream : “Come acrossand help us!” Only this time thevoice was that of Pius XII callingfrom the pages of his most famousencyclical, Fidei Donum. The calldid not fall on deaf ears. In 1959,Antonio, together with three of hisclassmates, applied for admissionto the noviciate of the White Fathersin Gap (France). Yet another new language, and

this one not much easier to learnthan the previous one! However,the help of fellow novices as tutors,the advantage of being in the milieu,and the self-discipline he had honedin the minor seminary wrestlingwith Latin, soon combined to makethe language much less of an ob-stacle. His determination to becomea priest and, now, a missionarygrew firmer, while the seriousnesswith which he strove to live thelife of the novitiate to the full be-came an example for many.In the summer of 1960, Antonio

arrived at the scholasticate inCarthage, Tunisia, to begin his the-ological studies. His would be thelast class to complete the four-year

course leading to ordination in thehistoric landmark before closingits doors and turning it over to theTunisian government. Following his ordination at the

hands of Archbishop Makarakizaon June 29th, 1964, in the chapel ofthe White Fathers’ seminary inLogroño, Spain, Antonio receivedhis first assignment to the Congo-Kinshasa. The volatile political sit-uation there at the time delayedhis departure for Baudoinville (nowMoba) by several months, finallyarriving there on July 23th, 1965.In the space of his first ten-and-a-half months in the country, he wasmoved five times, until, on June10th, 1966, he found stability atlast as chaplain at Sola (Kongolodiocese) where he remained, forthe most part happily, for the nexttwenty-four years. From the beginning, one of An-

tonio’s priorities as a missionarywas to develop a close relationshipwith the people he was sent toserve, especially those in need.This led him naturally into sus-tainable development work. Hiswere not spectacular works, justimportant ones of enablement: fromagricultural advice based on hispersonal experience on the familyfarm in Spain to facilitating theacquisition of adequate materials

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to do a specific job. Early on in hiscareer in Sola, Antonio created asmall agricultural sensation in thearea by procuring, free of charge,from an entrepreneur in Spain alarge quantity of hoes — the sim-plest of instruments but an essentialone for the African small farmer— for distribution among them.On another occasion, he managedto approach near-legendary statusamong the people when, in an effortto teach the farmers the use of ani-mals to facilitate their work, heimported six mules – an animalunknown until then in the area —from Tanzania. He himself metthem in Kalemie, loaded them ontoa train and accompanied them, see-ing to their needs on the journeyof several days to Sola. It was toward the middle of his

period in Sola that Antonio collab-orated as co-founder, together withSister Elizabeth , a Belgian-Polishmember of the Franciscan com-munity in Manage (Belgium), of anew African religious congregation:the Franciscan Sisters of Sola. Thedesire of the co-founders was thatthe life-style of the members ofthe new congregation should re-semble as much as possible that ofthe ordinary women of the townwho daily cultivate the land andlive off its produce. To this wouldbe added the Franciscan charism:

a life of joy sustained by prayer,manual work, and embraced pover-ty. Antonio’s role in the fledglingcongregation was to guide the man-ual work of the Sisters and to over-see the marketing of their producein Sola and in Kongolo, regionalcapital some 30 kms. away. In theafternoons, he devoted himself bodyand soul to the Biblical formationof the Sisters. Jean-Pierre Bossuyt,superior of the Sola community atthe time, praised his intelligenceas well as his choice of readingmaterial: “good solid theology”.Antonio’s involvement with thenew congregation extended to thepractical as well. With all he hadto do, both as an active member ofhis own WF community and thatas co-founder of the FSS, he stillfound time to build the Sisters alarge chapel and several classrooms. “For Antonio,” says a former

Regional Superior of the Congo,“the foundation work of the FSSwas the work of his life. He identi-fied totally with it. It fit his tem-perament and his spirituality per-fectly: a life of manual work, evan-gelical exigency, poverty, reverencefor truth, honesty, personal integrity.It became an integral part of him.Indeed, it was wonderful to seethe joy of those young Sisters,whether at work in the fields, ad-ministering to the needs of the poor

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or in their manner of celebratingthe Eucharist.” When the time camefor Antonio to move on, it wouldcome at great cost to him emotion-ally and psychologically. But thatis another story.... Suffice it to saythat Antonio’s part in what hadbeen for him a beautiful realitysuddenly came to an abrupt endone day, against his will and, cer-tainly from his point of view, un-justly. On October 1th, 1990, Antonio

arrived at Mingana (Kasongo dio-cese), unable to concentrate on hismission there because of the recentevents in Sola which had left himin a “state of rebellion”. The fol-lowing Easter, he returned to Spainfor treatment and a period of recy-cling. On native soil once again and

assisted professionally, Antonio slow-ly recovered his internal peace andstability. It was not easy, but hewas, of course, not a stranger tochallenges in his life. In Madrid,where most of his treatment tookplace, he soon asked to be givenwork in a parish. Arrangements weremade and, within a few months, hewas happily engaged in a smallparish relatively close to the WhiteFathers’ residence then on MenorcaStreet. Soon he was helping out at asecond parish as well. The work,

not overly burdensome, proved ther-apeutic, and his affable personalityand welcoming ways, as well as hisdown-to-earth and — perhaps es-pecially — brief homilies madehim, almost instantly, a favorite withparishioners. On October 28th, 1993, Antonio

was back in the RDC, this time asassistant parish priest at St Barthéle-my Parish in Likasi (Lubumbashidiocese). Two years later, he wasput in charge of the parish and re-mained so until January 1th, 1998,when he moved to Bukavu (MaisonSt. Charles Lwanga) and then, ayear later, to Spain for service inthe Province. Antonio’s final phase in the RDC

began with his appointment to Wa-maza (Kasongo diocese) on July1th, 2003. The following year foundhim, in November, assigned to Kipa-ka, where he would remain untilJuly of 2009. In that year, he beganto experience serious health prob-lems: swollen limbs and extremitiesas well as increasing pain in thelower- and mid-back areas. It wasthought best to send him home fortreatment. Upon arrival in Madrid,he was diagnosed to be sufferingfrom rheumatic polimialgia, a treat-able but, as yet, incurable condition.Treatment was initiated immediatelyand within two months all symptoms

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had disappeared, not to return inhis remaining years. Symptoms ofmore serious maladies soon cameto replace them, however, not theleast of these being short-term mem-ory loss.On February 16th, 2017, Antonio

made his last journey from Madridto our community in Pamplona toawait admission, twelve days later,to a retirement home there run bythe Little Sisters of the Poor. Hewas a bit confused at first but soonsettled in and became a model res-ident: “So obedient,” was the usualcomment of staff members whenreferring to him, while fellow pa-tients found him “pleasant, positiveand always in good humour”. It was not to be a long sojourn.

Seven months later, on September19th, 2018, Antonio suffered a cere-bral hemorrhage that left him par-alyzed on his right side and unableto speak, although he remainedquite lucid most of the time. Thespeech loss would be temporary. Aconfrere who visited him frequentlyduring the last four months of hislife recounts how, at each visit, heand Antonio would sing togetherthe Gure Aita (Our Father in Vas-cuence), and how much Antoniolooked forward to that moment andsang the prayer with all his heart.The paralysis, despite sessions of

physiotherapy, remained with himuntil, on January 12th of the newyear, he received his final and de-finitive Call from the Lord.The following day, the mortal

remains of our confrere were cre-mated and a funeral Mass, presidedby the Assistant Provincial for theSpanish Sector and concelebratedby a dozen priests, eight of themWhite Fathers, took place in thespacious chapel of the rest homein the presence of his only remainingsibling, Ramón, numerous closerelatives, family members andfriends of other White Fathers andWhite Sisters in the area, the entirecommunity of Little Sisters of thePoor and some fellow-residents ofthe rest home. A second funeralMass was held for him in his nativeAstigarraga a few days later. There,in the parish church, before a size-able congregation made up of familymembers, friends and neighbours,where, 86 years earlier, Antoniohad begun his life of faith in itsbaptismal waters, his long journeycame full circle, marked, as are allour lives, as much by its apparentfailures as by its indisputableachievements. May he rest in peace.

Various confreres who knewAntonio at different stages of hislife contrtibuted to this remem-brance of him.

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André Monnier 1922-2018

André was born on the17th July 1922 at Belfortin the Diocese of Be-

sançon, France. His mother wasfrom Alsace and his father wasfrom Switzerland and a protestant.André grew up in a working classenvironment and he liked to boastthat he had worked in a factory.All his life, he would remain closeto the working class world as wellas being involved in the Ecumenicalmovement. His early training tookplace in the Junior Seminary ofLuxeuil-les-Bains and in the Senior

Seminary of Faverny. In July 1943,he was requisitioned to do forcedlabour in Austria. He escaped in1945 and joined a medical unit at-tached to the 1st Armoured Division.In 1946, he came knocking at thedoor of the White Fathers. Therewere so many novices that yearthat the novitiate had to be dividedin two, one group going to MaisonCarée near Algiers and the other toCarthage in Tunisia. André wassent to Carthage and he continuedhis theological studies in Carthageand Thibar. He took his MissionaryOath in Carthage on the 30th January1950 followed by ordination to thepriesthood on the 28th July 1950 atThibar. André was appointed to the cu-

rateiate of Bobo-Dioulasso wherehe began by learning Bambara atNiangoloko. He was then appointedto the Diocesan Junior Seminaryof Nasso where his dedication wasappreciated very much. He got onwell with the junior classes even ifhe suffered somewhat at not achiev-ing perfection. In fact his tempera-ment (typical of those of the Franc-Comtois?) was inclined to be un-compromising and strict with him-

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self and he suffered from not findingthat same kind of discipline in oth-ers! In 1956, he was finally allowedto leave the seminary, where hewas beginning to feel cramped,and joined the Karangasso missionin the Apostolic Prefecture of Sikas-so. He got enthusiastically involvedin parish work. His confreres sawthat they could rely on him and inJanuary 1960 he was given the re-sponsibility of founding the postat Koutiala. He also helped localcivil servants prepare the differentexams. In fact he did this so wellthat he was given charge of the allthe schools in the Prefecture. Theteachers trusted and respected him.Nevertheless, the Regional pointedout he found it difficult to acceptbeing contradicted and that he wasa workaholic who needed to slowdown. In 1963, he was assigned ateaching post in a Teachers TrainingCollege. It was a work he likedand in which he flourished. In 1964, he was appointed to

rue Friant in Paris to work in theoffice of the Pontifical Associationof the Holy Childhood. Those incharge of the office appreciated hisexperience and his dedication. Atthe same time, he gave catechismclasses in state schools in Paris. In 1969, he was appointed to

Niamey in Niger. He would stay

there for six years. He threw himselfinto the pastoral work at all levelsand was at the service of teachers,students, school children, Brothersand Sisters without forgetting allthe activities associated with parishwork. He taught catechesis as wellas assuring a presence with themilitary at Camp Leclerc. His apos-tolic enthusiasm did not flag andhe found many occasion to presentthe Good News. After a sabbatical time out in

1975 to 1976 at the Institut de Sci-ence et Théologie des Religions(I.S.T.R.) of Paris, He returned toAfrica, this time to Bamako inMali. He worked as diocesan chap-lain for teachers. He also liked toact as an intermediary between themissions and the cultural servicesof embassies, which gave him con-tacts with the expatriate world. In1980, he joined the Cathedral Parishin Bamako. He was now approach-ing sixty and had calmed down alot and he found new jobs such aslooking after the flowerbeds anddirecting the choir. In 1982, he didthe Session/Retreat in Jerusalem.In 1991, he asked to return toFrance to be close to his old fatherwho was 93 years old and whowas in a retirement home in Dole. In fact, André was appointed as

Assistant Bursar to our community

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in Bry-sur-Marne. His job was tolook after the purchase of medicinesand pay the bills. However, he didnot find this job fulfilling and hewas anxious to get back into parishwork. The Bishop of Créteil gavehim part time work in the pastoralsector of Villiers-sur-Marne. In1995, the Bishop offered him afull time post in Champigny wherehe resided while being attached tothe community at Vanves. It wasaround this time that he took theopportunity to do the Seniors Ses-sion in Rome (1997). In 1998, at the age of 76 years,

he joined the Mours communitywhere he was to pass the last twentyyears of his life. Although he suf-fered from Arthritis, (joint pain),André was not the person to mopeabout. The Bishop of Pontoise ap-pointed him Diocesan Delegate forMissionary Cooperation. He alsotook on pastoral commitments withthe Equipe Notre Dame and withan Ecumenical group. He was anactive member of the Conti choirand was always ready to help outin the neighbouring parishes. Hejoined a local club for retirees andliked to play card games such asbelotte and tarot. He was also anenthusiastic gardener and enjoyedplanting and maintaining some

1,200 tulip and narcissus bulbsevery year. Any thing of beautyinterested him. He bought art mag-azines and put together albums onchurches, cathedrals and strikingmonuments. He was very interestedin astronomy, regularly buying amagazine specialising in studies ofthe cosmos which he cut up andmade into albums that were hispride and joy. He had unlimitedinterests and confreres were sur-prised to find a number of bookson exegesis, theology, spirituality,history and art in his room after hedied. He was happy, and liked toshare his interests with his confreres.In community, he was renownedfor his many stories. In other words,André lived his last years to thefull, leaving us the memory of ahappy colleague who was alwaysready to cheer up his confreres.He died peacefully on the 11th Feb-ruary 2018 at the respectable ageof 95 years. He left us with a mem-ory of a person in love with life,beauty, creation, community lifeand above all his Lord who willmore than satisfy all his desires.Having donated his body to science,there was no burial. But he wasowed and given a beautiful andjoyful funeral ceremony in thechapel of Mours.

Un confrère

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Jean Lépers1926 - 2019

Jean Lepers was born onApril 8th, 1926 in Bondues,in the north of France. He

was born on a Holy Thursday andwas baptized on Easter Day. Hisparents were farmers in Bettignies,his father’s name was GermainLepers, his mother Marguerite De-lobel. They had 11 children. Jeanwas the eldest. Their grandfather’sbrother was a White Father mis-sionary, he was the one who bap-tized John. After the baptism hesaid to Marguerite Delabel: “Thisone will be a missionary” she an-

swered: “I have already offeredhim to God”. Two of his sistersbecame religious.

Jean began his studies inSolesmes, but had to interrupt themto take care of the family farmwhen his father became ill becausehe was the eldest child. Later onhe was exempted from militaryservice as a breadwinner. John wasnot an intellectual, but he had solidcommon sense; he had no degree.He returned to Solesmes, then dida year in Bonnelles, two years inKerlois from 1947 to 1949. Hiscurriculum was quite unique. Afterthe Novitiate at Maison-Carrée, hewent to Eastview, Canada to dohis theology. He was ordained apriest at Eastview on January 30th,1954.

He received his appointmentwith mixed feelings; he had to goto Nigeria. At that time the Fatherswho were in Nigeria were all Eng-lish, Irish or Canadian. Jean Leperswas one of the very first Frenchpeople to arrive there. He was fol-lowed by Fathers Irénée Edmondand Jean Sibiodon. We knew thatJohn was not an intellectual, but

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what bothered him a little was thathe had to do two things at the sametime: perfect his English and learnthe local language, Yoruba. Helanded in Osogbo on February 10th,1955.

At that time, in the diocese ofOyo, the bishop was English: Bish-op Owen Mc Coy. There were noindigenous priests yet. The WhiteFathers moved from one city toanother as parish priests or curates.In 1970 John was appointed parishpriest of Ipetu Ijesha, or rather henamed himself parish priest of thisisolated place. He was happy incommunity, but he wanted to reachthe most isolated, the poorest, atthe risk, of course, of living alone.Ipetu Ijesha was a small town farfrom everything; no post office,no shops, taxis did not reach there,no dispensary. He arrived with thecar his father had bought him. TheProtestant pastor’s car didn’t work,the only one that worked was his.There was no dispensary. When aperson became ill and had to betaken to hospital, only his car wasin working order, so very often hewas used to transport the sick tothe nearest hospital; and he did notdare to refuse. This is how he trans-ported the sick by day and by nightfor more than 6 years.

One day I went to see him inIpetu Ijesha, that was the day Nigeriadecided to drive no longer to theleft, but to the right, that day peoplewere afraid to leave. I took mylittle motorcycle to visit him. Beforeleaving him in the afternoon, Iasked him: “How many times haveyou taken patients to the hospital?“he replied, “I didn’t count,... atleast once a week. Do the calcula-tion; once a week... for 6 years...”

Then I asked him another ques-tion: “financially, how you weredoing”, and he didn’t want to an-swer, sometimes when he came tothe hospital with an anemic child,the nurses asked him to give blood.And he, before returning home,gave a little of his blood, which henever told anyone.

In 1978 the Provincial of Franceasked him to join a community; heannounced to his parishioners hisnext departure. They realized thatJean had rendered them incalculableservices, they wanted to thank himbefore he left. But what to offerhim when you’re poor? They de-cided, with the Protestant commu-nity, to offer him an unusual dis-tinction; the title of “atobatele”, i.e. the one that had always beendestined to be the king of the city.They offered him a beautiful outfit,

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which only the king can wear, ahat typical of the local princes, anda pearl necklace. You may haveseen pictures of him in his typicalhat.

Jean Lepers had to learn theYoruba language like everyone else.Since it is a language with tonalities,some who have a musical ear findit easier to sing it than to speak it.Many young people were able tosing the Sunday Psalm without any

score, only by following thetext. The tones were written in theirheads. You couldn’t say that Jeanwas a good singer, I doubt he hada musical ear; but he certainly hada facility to discover everyone’stalents. In one of his branches, hehad discovered young people whosang well and could only make amelody by following the text. Hehimself had been impressed, whenhe was young, by the representationof Christ’s Passion by a group ofyoung people in Bavaria. He talkedabout it to young people who sangwell. He gave each one the text ortexts they were to sing and askedthem to prepare beautiful melodies.The result was above their expec-tations. After a number of rehearsals,the day of the performance arrived:the result was remarkable: they hadmade a mini-opera in the Yoruba

language. The success was com-plete. This group gave performancesin all parishes and Protestants, An-glicans and other groups askedthem to come and sing in theirchurches. They named this miniopera “iku olododo” (the death ofthe righteous). Every year duringHoly Week, the state televisionbroadcast the video cassette.

The last time Jean returned toNigeria he told me: “This is mylast stay in Nigeria, I won’t comeback... My religious sister and Ihave agreed that when I return toFrance definitively, I will go aschaplain to the retirement home,she is in charge of this retirementhome for the Sisters of Charity.”

For more than 10 years, he stayedin this retirement home where hegrew old, not far from his youngerbrother’s home. His religious sisterdied, she preceded him to heaven.As for him, his health began to de-teriorate rapidly, it was the samesisters who took care of him. In2016, he was to be taken to hospitalfor dialysis sessions. I called himfrom time to time; then he had togo to the dialysis session twice aweek. His voice became weakerand weaker. In the end he didn’trecognize me anymore. He diedlike that, slowly.

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He died on March 25th, 2019Father Bernard Lefebvre and I wentto celebrate the funeral on Thursday,April 28th.

A Nigerian sister who lives inFrance and whom Jean had orientedtowards religious life told me onthe phone: “If Jean Lepers doesn’tgo to heaven, who will? »

Joannès Liogier

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Paolo Costantini1941 - 2019

“Missionary and journalist,lover of Africa.” This ishow Father Paolo Costan-

tini was defined by his colleagueswho worked with him for manyyears in the magazine “Africa”, abimonthly that has now come tothe attention of the public, despitethe invasion of the computer press.There is no doubt that they targetedhis true personality. This profilewill try to draw inspiration from itand explain it, after a glance at hisbackground.

On the way

Paolo was born on October the18th 1941 in Castellarano, in theprovince of Reggio Emilia. FatherMario and mother Carmen Medicilived a serene and solid faith andtried to pass it on to their manychildren. The village quickly re-covered after the war, developingthe ceramic industry. The fatherwent with the flow. A good car-penter, he started a company whereabout twenty workers were em-ployed. In this environment, theadolescent Paolo learned carpentry,took up mechanics, electricity andphotography, and developed a spiritof initiative. Very soon he wassought after for all sorts of smalljobs.

His vocation was born very earlyon. At the age of 11 he entered theminor seminary of the diocese untilhe passed his baccalaureate. Themeeting with a White Father awak-ened in him the desire for the mis-sion. The educators were againstit, but he resisted. After a year atthe Major Seminary in Reggio, heobtained the Rector’s placet to jointhe White Fathers.

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He left for the novitiate at Gapin 1962. The Novice Master, im-pressed by his taste for practicalwork and his passion for techniqueand science, judged him severely.He noted that the “spiritual workin the Seminary (of Reggio) hadnot been very deep and formed inhim the technician more than thepriest and the apostle” and he added“It is necessary to bring him backagain and again to the need for alife of prayer”.

At the scholasticate in Vals,where he arrived in 1963, in a morefulfilling environment, the judgmentchanged. There too the formatorsrecognised that he had to make agreat effort to interiorise his voca-tional choice, but they noted thathe had become aware of this andwas working on it. Paolo revealedhimself to be gifted with an above-average intelligence, but he did notfully value it in his studies, heshowed an upright judgment, astrong will. He was cheerful, heteased willingly, a little too muchon occasion. He was frank andtrue, but a little vain and very per-sonal.

In 1964 he left for his stage inAlgeria, where he spent a year inAïn Sefra, in the middle of the Sa-hara, in a technical college run by

the White Fathers. Algeria was in-dependent, but for a time it stillleft the training institutions in thehands of the Church. Paolo wasappointed by Fr. Deville, the di-rector, as supervisor and boardingschool teacher. He was deeply com-mitted to his work. It is enough toread Fr. Deville’s testimony: “Hisservices were appreciated by all,fathers, teachers, students. All no-ticed his selfless generosity in adifficult and thankless task amongall. It is also necessary to note theseriousness which characterized hiswork and his conduct, even in themost difficult and painful mo-ments...”.

This challenging experience gavehim a new boost when he returnedto Vals in 1965. He became deeplycommitted to his studies and workedon his inner life with constancy.

The final report of Father Ramart,Superior of the scholasticate, twoyears later, is laudatory. He concludedit with these words: “Paolo can becalled to the oath, the sub-diaconateand the diaconate” (May 8th, 1967).The oath was taken at the seminaryon the 27th June 1966 and two dayslater it was the diaconate.

He was ordained priest in hisnative village of Castellarano onJuly the 28th 1967. He was ordained

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by the Bishop of his diocese ofReggio.

Missionary

At the time, the Italian Provinceasked young priests to spend a fewyears in Italy before leaving forthe missions. Paolo was no excep-tion to the rule: he worked twoyears in the minor seminary of Tre-viglio (Bergamo) as a teacher andtwo others in the seminary of Gar-gagnago (Verona) as bursar.

In 1971 he was appointed to thediocese of Kasongo. Paolo left fullof enthusiasm, followed the lan-guage course in Bukavu and wasdestined for the parish of Shabunda.In a letter of January 1973, he de-scribed his beginnings in the mis-sion: “I am doing quite well inKiswahili and I can finally speakwith the people... I spent my firstChristmas in the mission, in a smallvillage in the forest, with 800 Chris-tians. Some of them had walkedthirty, fifty kilometres to be presentat the Nativity Mass. I was deeplymoved when at the Gloria the drumsannounced the Birth of the Saviour”.

Shabunda covered a huge terri-tory, many outstations, bad roadsand a small staff. “I am alone for awhole month,” he writes, “with thepayment of pensions to be made to

the teachers in our schools. I haven’thad a moment of free time... Workis piling up: the catechism to thecatechumens to be prepared, thesafari to be organized... Believeme, the work here is beyond humanstrength. Our mission is one for atleast five fathers, there are three ofus. We were promised another fa-ther, but when?” (Letter of Sep-tember the 19th 1973).

Given his health, courage andabilities, the Bishop of Kasongoappointed Paolo as diocesan co-ordinator of education in 1976.This appointment did not meetwith the approval of his superiors,but Paolo thought of accepting itall the same, since the Bishop hadno choice. He thus became thefirst non-Belgian director of edu-cation. “It’s a job of animatingthe teachers,” he said, “but alsowith a lot of administration andtime at the office and it takes meaway from community life (henow lives in the parish of Kalima)... I found the schools in a pitifulstate, both materially and spiritu-ally. I immediately got down towork, trying above all to eliminatecorruption and insisting that theteachers become aware of theirresponsibility. Then I also com-mitted myself to putting the ma-terial situation back on track, but

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where to find the means? A goodpart of the books have disappeared,many benches have ended up asfirewood, there is no more chalk...But I am not discouraged, what Icannot do, another one, I hope,will continue”. (16th April 1978)

At that time, the Italian provincebegan to ask for the return of Paolofor missionary animation. A strugglethen ensued between the Regionalof Congo and the Provincial ofItaly. It lasted for years, also becausePaolo wanted to stay in Africa orat least not leave before he hadbeen able to put the situation ofthe schools back on its feet.

It was in 1982 that he left theCongo. He left with the intentionof returning after a few years inItaly. In fact he will never seeShabunda and Kalima again.

Journalist

The return home was motivatedabove all by vocational promotion,and Paolo worked there for twoyears. In 1986 the council of theprovince appointed him director ofthe magazine Africa in Treviglio.At first he had no collaborators,the editorial staff had only onecomputer... He quickly put into ac-tion his know-how, his sense ofinitiative, his photographic abilities.

But it’s too much for one person.Three years later, he has a heart at-tack which forces him to stop hiswork. To have a break, he goes toIreland where he takes a year’ssabbatical. The three years’ expe-rience at the magazine still left himwith the desire to continue in jour-nalism in the service of the missionand Africa.

The sabbatical year having re-stored him to health, the Generalateentrusted him with the realizationof a project that had been on itsmind for a long time: to set up aninformation service on Africa, es-pecially for the European press,which was very poorly informedabout the situation and the futureof the Continent. It was Paolo him-self who suggested that this initiativeshould be opened in Brussels, ratherthan in Rome, as the White Fatherswanted. This is the birth of ANB-BIA (African News Bulletin) anews agency that every week pres-ents the main news concerningAfrica. Paolo is assisted by an Eng-lish confrere, Dick Calcutt, respon-sible for the English edition. Theinitiative was a success. Paolo al-ways aimed at providing informa-tion that was as objective as possi-ble, and at the same time respectfulof Africans. The missionaries inAfrica regularly received this bul-

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letin and kept up to date with thenews of the Continent.

This second journalistic experi-ence of Paolo, ends in 2004, whenthe Generalate ends ANB-BIA. Twoof the main reasons for this werethe financial weight and the dispro-portionate distribution of “social”information when compared to print-ed paper. For Paolo, as one canimagine, this was a hard blow, buthe accepted it and returned to Italy.

For two years he worked forJustice and Peace and collaboratedwith the magazine Africa. In 2006he was appointed provincial bursarand in 2009 when Fr. Claudio Zuc-cala left for the mission, he tookover the direction of the magazine.This was his third and final expe-rience as a journalist. Two importantfacts to be noted during this periodwhich lasted until 2019: the ex-pansion of the lay collaborators ofAfrica and finally the handing overof the magazine to them.

During this long period, Paoloused all his experience and know-how to make Africa known throughthe magazine. He organized meet-ings in Treviglio and Milan towhich specialists of the AfricanContinent were invited. These werein-depth seminars, which the mag-azine echoed.

Time went by and he realizedthat at the point where we were,Africa could no longer be managedby the Italian White Fathers. Theywere few in number and advancedin age. It was time to hand over tothe laity. This happened in 2017-2018

There were numerous criticismsfrom the confreres of the Sectorand from many readers. It is truethat it was a necessary step, butPaolo did not prepare the commu-nity for this change and did not in-volve it sufficiently. He would havebenefited from the advice of theconfreres, who did not contest thefact of putting Africa back into thehands of the laity, but wanted toensure a choice of journalists closerto our perspectives and to confermore authority to the Father Coun-sellor of the magazine. Paolo de-fended himself by affirming thattoday a missionary magazine musthave a more lay style if it wants topenetrate today’s culture. Perhapsmore time and experience wouldhave helped Paolo to find a suitablebalance, but time was lacking. It istrue that for some months he hadbeen feeling a serious fatigue, butno one could have thought that hisdeparture for his eternal Easter wasso close. He had been hospitalized.The doctors after a careful check-

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up didn’t consider his conditiondangerous and let him go home.During the night a confrere knockedon his door , no answer. He enteredand found Paolo collapsed on hisarmchair, lifeless.The parish church was full of

friends and acquaintances for the

funeral. There were many movingtestimonies. But they all came downto what the colleagues had writtenabout him in the magazine: Mis-sionary, Journalist, Lover of Africa!

Aldo Giannasi

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Jean FISSET 1923 – 2019

It was at Lyons-la-Forêt, be-tween Rouen and Beauvais,in the Diocese of Evreux

(France) that Jean Fisset was bornon the 26th October 1923. He wasthe third child in a household ofseven children. At Baptism, healso received the names of Marieand Albert. His father was a so-licitor. He studied at the De LaSalle Brothers secondary schoolin Rouen and passed his Baccalau-reate in Philosophy/Literature in1941.

His deeply religious family back-ground oriented him towards mis-sionary life from an early age butthe German occupation preventedhim from leaving immediately.Charles de Foucauld with his vo-cation for the Muslim world at-tracted him at the age of 13. Ameeting with some White Fathersfrom the area (Jean-Marie Hébert,Louis Roujon) and a retreat withthe Jesuits led him to a meetingwith the French provincial. He ex-pressed his wish to live his faithoutside the Christian milieu inwhich he had grown up. He wentto the Seminary of St Sulpice (theDiocesan Seminary for Paris) tofinish his Philosophy and begin hisTheology. He also began to learnArabic with some Lebanese co-disciples. In September 1943, heentered the novitiate then locatedin Tournus, after which he beganhis second year of Theology at LesAndelys in Normandy. In March1945 after the liberation of France,he was called up for military service.

However he contracted a seriousbout of meningococcal meningitisin Nevers. He survived thanks to

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the care he received not far fromthe shrine of St. Bernadette. How-ever the illness left its mark on himand he would suffer from pain inhis joints (especially the knees) andrecurrent bouts of tiredness through-out his life. This meant frequentholidays in France especially duringthe summer months. However hewas well enough to join the scholas-ticate in Thibar (Tunisia) and hecompleted his theological studiesthere. He took his Missionary Oathon the 28th June 1947 followed byordination to the priesthood on the2nd February 1948 also in Thibar.Those in charge of his trainingnoted his lethargic nature and acertain shyness, understandable giv-en his fragile health. However, theyappreciated his tact, good manners,sound judgment, kindness, helpful-ness, and his deep piety.

His first assignment was an an-swer to his prayers: Algeria offeredhim its vast Saharan spaces from1948 to 1951: Ghardaia, Djelfa,Touggourt, and Biskra. His goodknowledge of Arabic oriented himtowards our Institute of La Manoubanear Tunis in 1951. This establish-ment founded in 1926 by Fr. Mar-chal was the centre where newlyarrived confreres could learn thelanguage and Arabic culture. Withits library and the IBLA magazine,

a veritable who’s who of WhiteFathers passed through its doors in1936 including Fathers Lanfry,Mercier, Becquart, Dallet, De-meerseman, Letellier, and Renon.From 1951 to 1953, Jean Fisserwas there both as a student and asa tutor. He was appointed superiorof Laghouat in September 1953.After spending 10 years of studiesand working on the ground, hewas, according to Bishop Teissier,the best Arabist and connoisseurof life in the Sahara.

Jean returned to Algiers in 1957to take up the post of Regional Su-perior. He would remain in that of-fice until 1972. Along the way, hebecame curate General of the Dio-cese, and took out Algerian citi-zenship like Cardinal Duval. Hewould be a big support to the Car-dinal through extremely difficulttimes especially during the fightfor independence (1954-1962) andagain in the period after 1976 whenfundamentalist Islamic currentswere sweeping across the countryand would lead to the deaths of anumber of confreres, a White sisterand two French lay associates. Car-dinal Duval died on the 30th May1996 just a week after the kidnap-ping and assassination of the Thib-herine monks.

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Jean Fisset welcomed a largenumber of young fathers to Algeria.He guided them with a great dealof kindness. He was the Regionalof Maghreb and Secretary of theRegional Episcopal Conference ofNorth Africa. He resided on ruedes Fusillés in the Ruisseau quarterof Algiers. He did the long Retreatin Villa Cavalletti near Rome inJanuary 1964 and in 1972, he spenta year in Damascus studying Byzan-tine liturgy. He was an ex-officiomember of the General Chapterheld in Rome in 1967.

When he returned from Dam-ascus in 1972, he moved out andup to Les Glycines – Centre d’É-tudes Diocesain of Algiers with itslibrary, magazine and languagecourses. He was its superior from1975 to 78, and then from 1979 to1985, he was in charge of the WhiteFather researchers such as Frs.Deville, Desjeux, Georgin, Reesingand G. Demeerseman. It was duringthat period that in order to befaithful to his mission as a Formator,he accepted, in addition to hisArabic courses, the post of Lecturer(in Arabic) on Latin Epigraphy inthe Archaeology department of theUniversity of Algiers. It was anopportunity for him to dialoguewith his students and to share hisfaith on a daily basis. He happily

quoted, in Arabic, texts from Islamicor biblical culture such as those inthe 2nd letter of John (God is love.4,16) or Ibn Tufayl (12th century):What is important is not what mansays about his faith, but what hisfaith says about him!

An unexplained arrhythmia(heart rhythm disorder) in August1983 and a benign operation inNovember 1986 were followed bycardiovascular complications andanticoagulant treatment. Regulartrips home for leave or medicaltreatment meant that Jean himselfbegan hinting of a definitive returnto the Province. He wanted to becared for at home and, as far aspossible, and after a sabbatical rest,to continue his relations with theworld of the Maghreb: media, ac-ademics, students, oriental church-es... He thought of going to Vanves,Maisons-Alfort or rue Friant. Infact, he returned to France in No-vember 2001 and was appointedto Maisons-Alfort. He moved torue Friant in July 2006. He wasable to read, write, go out a bit, re-ceive many visitors, much appre-ciated by his family and later oncame visits from his past pupils orconfreres, friends and correspon-dents. In May 2007, on the occasionof his 60th anniversary of his oath,he came back to his approach to

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the Muslim world and the manytransformations taking place, writingon the subject in Voix d’Afrique,n° 62 and 86: Chemins de vie auMaghreb : Vivre avec eux m’aévangélisé !

Jean’s chronic tiredness and thecare he required meant a move toBry-sur-Marne in November 2006.His long journey ended there onHoly Thursday 2019 (18th April2019). During his stay in Bry, hehad been appointed Assistant Su-perior in 2010 and remained so until2015. Right to the end, he kept hisfraternal concern for the most dis-tressed, handicapped or visually im-paired. In June 2017 for the 70th an-niversary of his Missionary Oath,he detailed the reasons he had forgiving thanks, inspired by the lifeand person of Fr. de Foucauld. “Likehim, I felt in spiritual communionwith these believers turned togethertowards the Most High, recognizingthe discreet action of the Holy Spiritin upright and sincere hearts... Howmany times have I discovered myselfin the Maghreb in the very situationof Jesus in Palestine, striving tolook on those whose lives I shared,

the gaze of one who was not ashamedto be identified as their brother.”

He had chosen himself, from asearly as 1992, it seems, the textsfor his funeral which took place inBry-sur-Marne on 3rd May 2019.The chapel of the house was quicklyfilled with his two families: that ofhis relatives who provided the read-ings (Ephesians 1:3-13 and the Em-maus story from Luke 24:13-36)and the songs (prayers of Fr. deFoucauld and Little Theresa); andthat of his fellow missionaries fromthe White Fathers and White Sisters.Bishop Claude Rault, Bishop Emer-itus of Laghouat presided over thecelebration and G. Demeersemangave the homily, introducing severaltestimonies from his friends andfamily. Bishop Tessier, former Bish-op of Oran and Archbishop Emeritusof Algiers, could repeat: “I givethanks to God who has placed meat the service of a Church whosemembers meet the other, acrossborders, as the heart of their fidelityto Jesus and his Gospel. Is this nota very up-to-date aspect of the uni-versal mission?”

Philippe Thiriez

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Joris Vankrunkelsven1927 - 2019

Joris - officially registeredunder the name of Georges- was born in Antwerp on

June the 19th, 1927. His father wasa doctor working for the Fomulac(Medical Foundation of the Uni-versity of Louvain in Congo) inKatana, Congo, but the family ac-tually lived in Kayanza, Burundi.After a year in Modern Humanitiesat Saint-Jean Berchmans Collegein Antwerp, Joris moved on to theGreek-Latin Humanities. In 1946he joined the White Fathers in Boe-

chout, a term late due to pneumonia.His brothers Louis and Jan (+1992)soon followed him there. Givenhis rather fragile health, the superiorsfirst sent him to the scholasticatein Heverlee. He did his novitiatein Varsenare in 49-50 before re-turning to Heverlee, where he tookhis missionary oath on the 29thSeptember 1951 and was ordainedpriest on the 12th April 1952. In1954 he obtained an application“in Pedagogical Sciences” at theUniversity of Leuven, “with dis-tinction”. His formators appreciatedhis good and happy character andunderlined his spirit of service.They saw him as an intelligentman, but not always realistic: hewas a man of duty, rather reservedand shy, rather nervous and impul-sive. He was very attentive to others.He had a very nourished spirituallife.

On March the 30th, 1955 Jorisflew with Sobelair via Bujumburato Bukavu. In Mwanda-Katana helearned Mashi and became treasurerin July 1955, first in Burhale andtwo years later in Kabare. In July1959 he was appointed headmaster

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of the Kabare Teacher TrainingCollege. At the beginning of 1961he became a professor at the minorseminary of Mugeri until his de-parture on leave in August. It washigh time for him to leave, becausehe had almost had a nervous break-down several times. His doctorprescribed a calmer lifestyle andenough rest. After the great retreatin Via Cavaletti he was sent inJuly 1962 as curate to Ciherano,where he became parish priest inJune 1963. A year later he becamesuperior and chaplain of the Fo-mulac and professor in Katana.During his leave in 1967 Schrammeand his mercenaries occupied thearea. The missionaries had to fleefor their safety and Joris had topostpone his return to Congo. Hemoved to Heverlee and took coursesat the university as a “free student”.As he had to postpone few moretimes... finally he never returnedto Africa.

When Father Jacques VanNieuwenhove, who was part of theteam of our first cycle in Leuven,was unexpectedly appointed pro-fessor at Lumen Vitae, Joris wasasked to replace him. He alsoworked in the chaplaincy of St.Peter’s Hospital. Before acceptingthis appointment, Joris insisted onthe need to contact his bishop Mgr

Mulindwa and his Regional FatherLeen first, proof that his heart wasstill very attached to the Congo. InNovember 1971, his state of healthforced him to go to rest, first inour community of Berchem andthen in that of Heusy. The numberof hospital stays increased, first inVerviers - where he was in a comafor 36 hours - then in Sint-PieterHospital in Leuven, Saint-Micheland Sainte-Elisabeth in Brussels.In 1973 he slowly recovered inHeusy. He gave retreats and recol-lections and was Sunday curate,first from the community on LincolnStreet in Brussels, then from ourcommunity at the Jesuits of Hev-erlee. In 1975 he went to live alone- on the explicit order of the provin-cial, and became involved in theDutch-speaking pastoral care ofthree parishes in the municipalityof Etterbeek, Saint-Antoine, Sainte-Gertrude and Notre-Dame du Sacré-Coeur. In 1982 he worked for theCommittee of Missionary Institutes(CIM), where he was in charge ofaccountancy and “Progressio”, theproject department. He complainedthat he was obliged to occupy alousy apartment. After thesession/retreat in Jerusalem at theend of 1986, he was appointed forpilgrimage reception and account-ing. He liked Jerusalem very much.At the end of December 1991 -

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Joris was in Belgium for healthreasons - a replacement was ap-pointed without his knowledge. Itwas a blow to him.

Joris took a time of rest inStabroek, where a confrere, JanBlockx, was parish priest. In De-cember 1992 he moved to a placeunknown to the provincial for along time, first in Kalmthout, thenin Hoevenen. From time to timehe spent a few days in the commu-nity of Varsenare or Antwerp. Hehimself admitted that at that timehe was “rambling”. It was a difficulttime for him. Fortunately, he kepthis trust in a few confreres. Hecontinued to write about catechesisand the proclamation of the Word...A large part of his day was devotedto meditating and explaining theWord of God, each page beginningwith a small cross in the left corner.He prepared all his homilies inwriting: hundreds of homilies, hand-written or typed, in French or Dutch,kept in a series of binders. He livedby the Word of God. He was very

critical for Christians and priests,a little rebellious and bitter at times.In January 2009 he finally agreedto join the rest home of the LittleSisters of the Poor in ‘t Kiel, wheresome confreres were already pres-ent. He continued to write, amongother things, a whole retreat, in-cluding daily homilies... During allhis life, his deep faith allowed himto hold on.

On May the 8th, 2019, Joris wasrushed to St. Augustine’s Hospitalin Antwerp, where he died thatvery evening. A confrere who knewhim well wrote: “Now he finallyfinds the peace he could neverenjoy during his life...”

The funeral took place on Mon-day, May the 13th in the Sainte-Anne chapel of Keizerstraat inAntwerp. He had identified thepeople to invite, selected the read-ings and indicated the people whoshould read them. He had also pre-pared the homily. Faithful to himselfto the end..., happy at last.

Jef Vleugels

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José Tomás Gomez(1948-2019)

Jose was born on November12th, 1948 in Fuenta laHiguera, in the Province of

Valencia, in southeast Spain. Hewas the last of a family of 4 children.His parents were not believers. Itwas there that he spent his firstyears, but in 1964, at the age of16, he left for France to meet oneof his brothers who lived inToulouse. He finished his secondarystudies at the Ozanam Institute,before following the formation ofthe Diocesan Major Seminary for

two years. After that, he took astep back and prepared a master’sdegree in Spanish at the Universityof Toulouse, while continuing tobe part of a vocational researchgroup. Having taken root in France,he asked to have both Spanish andFrench nationalities.

In 1975 he was admitted to theformation house of the Missionariesof Africa in Strasbourg where hespent two years before making hisSpiritual Year in Ottawa. He didhis missionary formation internshipin Algeria, in Ouargla. Then he re-turned to Strasbourg to finish histheology. He is a good student andan active member of the community,although quite personal. He waspart of the group that moved fromStrasbourg to Toulouse, where hetook his missionary oath on Sep-tember 25th, 1981, before returningto Spain to receive priestly ordina-tion on December 6th, 1981. Heasked for the double incardination,within the Society and in the dioceseof Toulouse. He was then a memberof the Province of Spain, but in1984 he asked to be part of theProvince of France, which he knew

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better and where he felt more com-fortable.

After spending a few months ina parish in the south of England tolearn English, he began his mis-sionary life in June 1982 in Malawi,in the parish of Mua. His experienceas an intern in the Sahara did notprepare him for this kind of life.He had a little trouble adapting,but he gave it with all his heartand found happiness. He was ap-pointed professor at the minor sem-inary of Mtendere. As the Provinceof Malawi needed a confrere trainedfor the meeting with Muslims, givenhis Saharan experience, he wasasked to attend the PISAI coursesfrom 1986 to 1988. He then returnedto Mua, on the shore of LakeMalawi, but a year later, his be-haviour forced him to leave thecountry and he had to return toEurope. It was the end of his mis-sionary life in Africa. He was 40years old, and put his talents at theservice of the Society in Europe,especially in the field of Islamic-Christian encounter.

His first engagement in Europewas in Madrid, where he was askedto assist Father Emilio Galindo,director of the Darek Nyumba Cen-tre, which was set up to help Arabstudents in Spain (Petit Echo 1988,

p 140-142). José loves the com-munity of Menorca where he lives,and he appreciates Darek Nyumba’sproject, but he has difficulty col-laborating with the director andasks to be appointed in France, hisprovince.

At this time the Province ofFrance has just opened a parish inSt Gratien, north of Paris, in thediocese of Pontoise. The bishopasked to appoint a confrere whocould devote himself to meetingwith the migrants and Muslims whoare numerous in this sector. Joséaccepted this proposal and the bishopappointed him curate of the parishand in the service of the pastoralcare of migrants and the encounterwith Islam. It was moving in bothdirections, but José was quite per-sonal and had difficulty collaboratingwith diocesan structures. He wasmore comfortable with initiativesthat he controlled himself in severalcities in the area. Similarly, his par-ticipation in the parish team leftsomething to be desired. In com-munity, he had his own scheduleand ways of living. He spent timereading and training for themarathon. It must be said that thedisease he contracted in Malawirequired a rather important follow-up which tormented him and tookhim time. His stay in St Gratien

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was interrupted by the Roman ses-sion “Au mi-temps de la vie” inwhich he participated in 1997-1998.

Jose said he really enjoyed thissession to review his life and wasready for a new beginning. Havingcompleted its contract with theDiocese of Pontoise, the Provincethought it was time to offer him anew challenge. In 1999 Jose wasappointed to the Vanves community,which brought together confreresfrom various ministries in Paris.He was able to help Father J-MGaudeul with the administrationof the magazine “Se Comprendre”.He also got involved in the dioceseof Nanterre, always in the field ofIslamic-Christian encounter. Hishealth had its ups and downs, buthe assumed, and adapted to hisnew community. Unfortunately, in2001 the community was called todisappear. Jose took the opportunityto do the retreat session fromJerusalem.

Upon his return, he joined an-other community in the Paris sub-urbs, which had taken over respon-sibility for the parish of Montreuil.It was a recent foundation of theProvince, which was open to Mus-lims, especially Malians. He washappy there and made many friends,but his health continued to deteri-

orate. His hospital stays were in-creasing and his chemotherapy ses-sions were exhausting. He neededrest and agreed to join the houseon rue Verlomme. He was a helpfuland pleasant colleague. He likedto tell stories and often made thecommunity laugh. He continued toread and his general culture dazzledthe confreres. Still as sporty asever, He kept fit by walking orrunning. Despite this, his healthcontinued to deteriorate and hos-pitalizations were increasing.

Getting on in years, the timefor retirement had come. He feltthat he was weakening and he re-alized that it was time to join acommunity where he could rest athis ease. In 2014 he asked to goto Spain and was appointed to thecommunity of elders of Benicas-sim. But the place wass very iso-lated, and, not being happy in thecommunity, he withdrew to hisnative region, Sagunto, where heowned a home. This was notenough to restore his morale. Tothe surprise of the confreres, heasked to leave the Society and tobe secularized. This was a longand painful process, and Jose didnot see the outcome. He livedalone, had little contact, even withhis family, and died alone. It wasonly on July 6, several weeks after

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his death, that he was found lyingin his house. The doctor declaredhim “dead of natural causes” onJune 1st. The funeral was celebratedby confreres from Benicassim inthe presence of some family mem-

bers and friends. A sad end of life.Let us hope that Jose was able tolive his last moments in trust, andthat the eternal Father receivedhim warmly into his Kingdom.

François Richard

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Patrick Fitzgerald1925 - 2019

Father Patrick Fitzgerald or“Fitz”, as he was univer-sally and affectionately

known, was born on the 22nd July1925 in the naval town ofPortsmouth. His father died whenFitz was still a boy but his motherremained alive and well for manyyears. His early formal educationtook place at St. John’s, Southseaand St Joseph’s, Beulah Hill, bothwell-known Catholic schools. In-formally, the military and naval at-mosphere in Portsmouth were in-fluences on Fitz’s life as evidenced

by the impressive library of warbooks that he collected. His char-acteristic fearless proclamation ofstrongly held views was modelledon the Churchillian power of per-suasion. Discipline, defiance, de-termination! The loss, in action, ofhis older brother at the outbreak ofthe war, caused Fitz to ponder andask, ‘why him and not me’? Whatis the role of Providence in ourlives? Things do not happen byaccident but “there’s a divinity thatshapes our ends, rough them howwe will”. It is in the light of thisProvidence that Fitz pursued hisvocation. When Fitz joined theWhite Fathers he followed the well-trodden path of studies startingwith philosophy at St Columba’scollege and Rossington Hall from1944-1946. For his novitiate hewent to Broome Hall 1946-1947.From there he continued with hisstudies in the scholasticate inCarthage and Thibar 1947-1950before returning to Monteviot, Jed-burgh, for his final year, 1950-1951, before ordination. Fitz wasordained priest, as were so manyother White Fathers, in the beautifulScottish border town of Galashiels.

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His first appointment saw him goto King’s College, London, to obtaina degree in Latin in order to teachin our junior seminaries. Firstly,he spent a little time at St. Colum-ba’s before going to the Priorywhere he eventually took over theresponsibility of being headmasterfrom the late Fr. Frank Moody.Fitz earned the respect of the stu-dents as being firm and fair. Hispassion for sport, especially hisbeloved ‘Pompey’ football team,helped him relate easily to studentswho shared the same passion. Hisattempts to introduce the studentsto a little musical culture were alsoappreciated. He was also a verygood teacher of Latin. One quota-tion, from the many letters of con-dolences, illustrates the point afternearly sixty years, “ He taughtLatin to the half dozen A-level stu-dents so effectively that I find Ican I can still proclaim the openingwords of Cicero’s “Pro Archia”:“Si quid est in me ingeni, judices…!” It was during his time at the Pri-ory that Fitz started helping out atweekends at St. Margaret’s Parish,Twickenham. This relationship withSt. Margaret’s continued like agolden thread throughout the tap-estry of Fitz’s life. Through hispreaching, robust and challenging;through his commitment to Justiceand Peace; through his pastoral

care, Fitz brought inspiration tothe lives of many. The presence ofmany of St. Margaret’s parishionersat his memorial Mass was a tributeto this. And Fitz was equally gratefulfor the support and encouragementthat the parish gave to him bothhere in the U.K. and in Africa.

In the early sixties Fitz wasasked to prepare himself to becomerector of St. Edwards, our recentlyopened scholasticate in Totteridge,London. He was sent, firstly, tothe Gregorian, in Rome, to obtainhis licentiate in theology. Aftergraduating, he went to teach forone year in the scholasticate ofKipalapala, Tanzania. He lovedthe experience! Nevertheless hewas called back to St. Edwards tobe rector in September 1964. Forthe next twelve years he was verymuch involved in the affairs ofthe scholasticate and helping withthe running of the Province. Thesetting up of the Missionary Insti-tute in London took place duringFitz’s watch. Those tumultuousand contentious days of post-Vat-ican 11 were exciting times fortheological institutions but therewas tragedy, too. One of Fitz’sgood friends and theological men-tors, Charles Davis, chose to leavethe Church, to mention but oneexample. Fitz kept a firm hand on

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the helm during these exciting andchallenging times.

And then, from 1976 until 1991,Fitz was asked to go to Zambia.He prepared for this by takingcourses in Community Develop-ment and Personal Human Relations(PHR). He held a variety of officesduring this period but was able todevote a lot of his time and effortto giving courses on PHR. Manycommunities of Religious (maleand female), many parishes andgroups of lay people benefittedfrom Fitz’s knowledge, experienceand inspiration.

Then, in 1991, he was asked toreturn to the U.K. as Provincial Sec-retary. He performed that task withhis customary energy and diligencewhile getting more involved in issuesof Social Justice which so touchedhis heart. Fitz, now 70 years old,moved to Oak Lodge in 1994.. Dur-ing that time Fitz was very muchinvolved in Pastoral and Social min-istries. He was a great campaignerfor Amnesty International; he wasactive in the World Development;together with his friends from St.Margaret’s, he lent vigour and de-termination to the Jubilee Year,’Drop the Debt Campaign’, demon-strating in Birmingham and Cologneat the G7’s meetings.

Over many years Fitz had alwaysshown hospitality to an American-based priest/scholar from the Philip-pines, Fr. Constantino, who wasdoing his doctorate on ‘The Cloudof Unknowing’. Fr. Constantino fi-nally prevailed on Fitz to accepthis invitation to come and visithim in the USA. And so Fitz foundhimself in the parish of Bellport,New York. A new world! He feltcompelled to share, with this greatand generous Church, his knowl-edge and experience of the Churchin Africa. He wanted them to bemore aware of the opportunitiesand challenges facing the develop-ing world and social justice. Hepreached and practiced ‘A Call toSolidarity with Africa’. And so itwas, that together with his parochialand pastoral responsibilities, hehelped set up a Fair Trade campaignand store in 2001. Eventually, in2004, Fitz was appointed to ANA(PE 10/04). However concerns be-gan to emerge concerning jurisdic-tion, insurances, both health andtravel, and community living. Fitzwas appointed back to PEP in2007(PE 7/07), to Corfton Rd. inorder to promote issues of J&P inso far as his health allowed him. In2010 he was appointed to the com-munity of Little Ealing Lane.

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Fitz had built up a wide circleof devoted friends during his visitsto the USA. They were attached tohim and were grateful for his min-istry in preaching, visiting, consolingthose in need and his prayerfulsupport. He was also deeply at-tached to them. His help at theparish of the Immaculate Concep-tion in Westhampton Beach wasmuch appreciated. Nancy and BobGiglio, parishioners in the parish,had become very close friends ofFitz. They welcomed him into theirhome with generosity and supportof every kind. Fitz’s visits to theUSA became prolonged becauseof medical operations and travelinsurances. The Missionaries ofAfrica had approved Fitz’s visitsat first but, as he approached his90s, the Superiors of the Sector

and the Province judged it just andprudent for Fitz to remain in theU.K. Sector. In spite of heartfeltappeals from his friends in theUSA, the authorities here in theEuropean Province insisted that theresponsibility of care and commu-nity remained in the hands of theU.K. Sector. Without the permissionof his Superiors, Fitz returned tothe USA where he finally died onthe 26th June 2019. On Friday the30th August a memorial Mass forthe repose of the soul of PatrickFitzgerald was celebrated in LittleEaling Lane. The Mass was wellattended by many friends from St.Margaret’s, Twickenham, and sev-eral of his former students, not for-getting the different communitiesof the White Fathers and WhiteSisters.

Un confrère

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Guy Martin1926 - 2019

Guy was born on Septem-ber 22th, 1926 in Car-leton-sur-Mer in the

Gaspé Peninsula. His parents, Eu-gène Martin and Léonie Bernard,had eight children: three girls andfive boys. Guy was their first child. He received his elementary ed-

ucation first in a private schooland then at Carleton Convent.Then, he began his classical

course at the Séminaire de Gaspé.All the physical, literary and spiritual

activities offered were of interestto him. This participation led himto chair several circles and move-ments of the college. Among otherthings, he was diocesan leader ofthe Catholic Student Youth. And as the years went by, he

thought more and more about thepriesthood. He was particularly at-tracted to missionary life. His con-tacts with White Fathers put thefinal stop to his search.He was admitted to the novitiate

of the Missionaries of Africa onAugust 2nd, 1948 in Saint-Martinde Laval, north of Montreal. It was at the scholasticate in

Eastview, a suburb of Ottawa, nowVille Vanier, that he was assignedon August 13th, 1949 for his theo-logical studies.During these four years, his keen

and penetrating intelligence, ex-cellent doctrinal and practical judg-ment and strong and generous willwere highlighted. He became moreand more open and jovial. He wasa good worker and had solid piety.However, his formators found hehad, for his colleagues, an authori-tarian and demanding tendency.

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He took his missionary oath onJune 26th, 1952 at Eastview andwas ordained a priest at Carleton-sur-Mer on January 28th, 1953.In September of that same year,

he left Canada to study Canon Lawin Rome where he obtained a doc-torate. After his studies, he was ap-

pointed to the diocese of Tabora,Tanzania, in 1956 to be parishcurate. He writes: “I really enjoyedthis simple life, full of activities,because we had many outstationsto visit. These new converts livedtheir faith with the fervour of thefirst Christians. “In September 1958,he was appointed professor at theMajor Seminary of Kipalapala.There he taught moral theology andcanon law. But this did not last.The following year, in 1959,

Guy was recalled to Canada at ourtheological house in Eastview. Hestayed there for ten years. Havingarrived fresh from Africa, his teach-ing had a very pastoral touch illus-trated by many examples of life. His provincial wrote about him

in 1965: “He is very appreciatedby scholastics as a professor ofCanon Law: he is very clear and atthe same time very concrete. Theexamples he provides are typicallyfrom Africa. »

Gradually, his theology and spir-ituality took a conservative and eventraditionalist direction. But this de-velopment of his personality hasnever called into question his deep,intangible attachment of faith to hisGod, who was the heart of his life. In 1963, the Archbishop of Ot-

tawa entrusted him with the positionof chaplain of Mont St-Joseph, acollege for girls, supervised byabout thirty nuns.In 1967 and 1968, he was called

to Rome as an expert to the Chapter.Then, in September 1968, he re-turned to Eastview. In 1969, hewas appointed to the Ottawa ChurchCourt in the Matrimonial Court asa judge. And he is also asked to bea judge of the Court of Appeal inMontreal. He must therefore travelto Montreal every 15 days.In 1970, it was decided that the-

ology courses for scholastics wouldnow be given at the University ofOttawa. And so his academic careerended.In 1972, the General Council

asked him to become Attorney Gen-eral of the Society. After six monthsof work, following his own rec-ommendations, the position wasabolished. He was also a memberof the Committee for the review ofour Constitution.

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At that time, the Canadian epis-copate thought of him to send himto work as an auditor at the Rote.But after prayer and reflection, heasked to forget his name.Guy returned to Canada in 1973

where he was appointed Officialat the Matrimonial EcclesiasticalCourt for the Archdiocese of Ot-tawa. In 1981, the Archbishop ofOttawa wrote to the Provincial :“He gave our court a reputationthat extends to Rome. He thus ren-ders an incomparable service tothe Church » and proposed a thirdfive-year term. During this period, he also led

several retreats for religious com-munities. He continued his ministryat Mont Saint-Joseph, but only withthe nuns, who now numbered seventy. In 1976, he began to experience

health problems. His blood pressurewas far too high. He was treatedand continues his work while re-ducing some activities.In May 1982, illness forced him

to abandon all his activities at theecclesiastical court and he came toreside in Quebec City. He experi-enced ischemia that slightly para-

lyzed his left side. A little later, se-rious diabetes broke out. His sisters,who lived quite close to our homein Quebec City, assisted him ad-mirably during this long period ofillness.But despite the fact that he was

getting weaker, his spirit of serviceremained intact. Who could countthe hours spent in the receptionservice at the White Fathers’ Housein Quebec City? And the confrereswere happy to come and see him.In 2016, he was admitted to the

Fathers of the Blessed Sacramentinfirmary in Ste-Foy, not far fromour Quebec City residence. Fol-lowing the closure of this infirmaryon June 17th, Guy came to the careunit of the Cardinal Vachon Resi-dence in Beauport, a suburb ofQuebec City, a residence that hadwelcomed his brothers earlier.It was there that, on July 2th,

2019, Guy entered the eternaldwelling promised by God Our Fa-ther. The funeral was held onWednesday, July 10th, 2019 at Notre-Dame-de-l’Espérance Church inQuebec City. He was buried inNotre-Dame-de-Belmont Cemetery.

Jacques Charron

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Pierre Gouin 1932 - 2019

Pierre was born on October5th, 1932 in Batiscan inthe diocese of Trois-Riv-

ières. He is the only son of Georges-Henri Gouin and Laurette Théoret.

The day after his consecrationas bishop in Uganda, Bishop La-coursière, visiting his parents inBatiscan, said to Peter: “When yougrow up, I will come and get you.“Peter was then four years old.Twenty-one years later, in 1957,the bishop attended his first mis-

sionary departure to Africa. He hadkept his word.

Pierre did his primary studiesat the school of the Holy Martyrsrun by the Marist Brothers.

At the age of 11, his parents en-rolled him in the scouts of hisparish. Pierre will one day say thatthe experience of Scouting was byfar the most significant of his life.He went through all the steps andstages until he became commis-sioner for cubs, for scouts, then incharge of training chiefs, passingby the Road... to finally earn the 4log wooden badge. It was a secondand wonderful family for him.

After his classical studies at theJesuit College Saint-Charles-Garnierin Quebec City, he entered thenovitiate of the White Fathers inSaint-Martin on August 4th, 1952.

The following year, he beganhis theological studies in Eastview,Ottawa. It was very well appreci-ated. He was intellectually giftedand had a good organizational skills.He possessed good moral qualitiesand was loved by his confreres.

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He took his missionary oath onJune 16th, 1956 and was ordaineda priest on February 1st, 1957, al-ways in the same place.

As Pierre felt comfortable inschool, in the fall of the same year,he was sent to London to study ed-ucational sciences for two years.Then, after a short vacation inCanada, he left for Northern Rhode-sia, now Zambia. He worked as acurate in a parish in the diocese ofMansa for two years to get in touchwith the culture of the country.

Then, in 1962, he was appointedto the administration of the diocesanschools: this included the appointmentof teachers, the construction andmaintenance of schools, the distri-bution of salaries, the purchase ofequipment and furniture, the trans-portation of teachers with their fam-ilies and property, etc. Pierre summedup this nine-year stage in the fol-lowing words: “Active life, very ac-tive. So fruitful and happy too!....and a team life as we dream of inour Constitutions. We got along per-fectly. ». Peter gave himself entirelyto his task on weekdays and on Sun-days he would celebrate the Eucharistin hospital or prison, an apostolatehe loved very much. He has alsoserved as a Scout troop leader andScout Commissioner for the Province.

As he was very professional inhis work, he was assigned to thedirection of the country’s Catholicschools in the capital, Lusaka. Hewas barely 39 years old. He re-mained in this position for six years.Among other things, he did a greatdeal of work to ensure that the Na-tional Bishops’ Secretariat hadsources of income so that it couldbecome financially self-sufficient.He succeeded in this seeminglyimpossible task.

In 1978, a letter from the Provin-cial of Canada would give a wholenew direction to his life. Indeed,his skills as a director were requiredin Canada. Pierre managed to ne-gotiate a two-year stay, which hespent founding a new parish in thesuburbs of Ndola, where he saidhe had lived the most beautifulyears of his missionary life. “Thankyou Lord for this time of grace. Ifelt so close to people. Finally, theadministration is over! »

At the end of August 1979, itwas with great difficulty that hefaithfully accepted to leave Zambia,which he loved, to come and workat the provincial bursar’s office inMontreal. After a few months ofinitiation, he became provincialtreasurer for six years, a missionhe accomplished with tact and ded-

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ication. He also became a memberof the provincial council and re-mained there for several years, hap-py to help the province with hiskindness and expertise. “I was veryhappy during these years even ifthe kind of work was not very ex-citing. I believe that the most beau-tiful aspect of a function such asthat of provincial treasurer is thatof service. Every moment of everyday, regular hours as well as over-time, is spent in the service ofothers, the Society and the diocesesof Africa. »

In 1987, Pierre went to Jerusalemfor the session and the great retreat,an experience that enriched him alot on the spiritual level. He cameback to us to perform differentfunctions in the province, especiallyin relation to administration, wherehe excelled.

Also at that time in 1989, hewas chosen to work in missionpromotion. But the following year,he had to make a serious stay inhospital and needed a year to regainhis health. In 1992, he returned tomissionary and vocational anima-tion.

Pierre remained a resource manin the house, especially for the con-freres who came from Africa onleave. Always helpful, affordable,friendly and efficient, everyone feltcomfortable with him.

He also kept good contacts withhis cousins and dear friends. Hewas serene, loved to be of serviceand loved life. Pierre was a happyman.

In early 2019, Pierre began tohave serious health problems. Hehad difficulty swallowing and couldnot keep the food that made it tohis stomach. Finally, at the hospital,a cancerous tumour was diagnosedin the esophagus. Impossible tooperate on. It was a shock for himbut he accepted his condition withserenity and prepared for the greatmeeting that took place on July 6in Sainte-Dorothée after three daysof intense pain. Pierre was buriedat St-Martin Cemetery in Laval,near Montreal.

Pierre, a very big thank you foryour great quality of presence andservice among us.

Jacques Charron

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Johannes (Hans) Gülle1934 - 2019

Father Hans Gülle was bornon April 15th, 1934 inPaderborn. His parents

gave him a good Christian educationwith his brother and two sisters aswas customary in Paderborn. Duringthe Second World War he attendedschool in Paderborn. After six yearsof primary school he attendedTheodorianum High School inPaderborn in 1946. In Novemberof the same year he changed schoolsagain and went to the White Fathers’school in Riet-berg. In 1949 hewent to the White Father’s High

School in Grosskrotzenburg andthen returned to the Theodorianumin Paderborn, where he took thestate examination in 1955.

From 1955 to 1957 he studiedphilosophy with the White Fathersin Trier followed by the novitiatein Heeren-berg in the Netherlandsand then went to Totteridge nearLondon in England for the studyof theology where he took the per-petual missionary oath on February2th, 1961. On July 8th, 1961 he wasordained a priest in his originalparish in Salzkotten. From August1961 until January 1962 he followedthe pastoral course in London andthen left for Tanzania where hewas curate successively in the Ka-banga, Mulera, Nya-ronga, Mabam-ba and Kakonko parishes in thediocese of Kigoma.

All this time he had kept intouch with his family, acquaintancesand benefactors through reportsand circulars. He received manyencouraging reactions from themand many ideas for his projects,above all for “Justice and Peace”in his actions. And he kept in touchwith them until his last days. He

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considered Tanzania his secondhomeland. During the 130th Jubileeof the Diocese of Kigoma he co-operated especially. According tohim, this jubilee should not onlybe a reminder of memory, but a re-newal of faith and an encourage-ment to spread this faith.

In July 1978 the territory aroundKigoma was closed due to cholera,which had caused the death of hun-dreds of people. P. Gülle had toleave this territory and returned toGermany for health reasons. OnApril 1st, 1979, he was engaged bythe Diocese of Münster for mis-sionary animation in that diocese.On 4th March1980 he was also ap-pointed superior of the White Fa-thers’ community in Münster.

Since his health was then stabi-lized, he returned to Mabamba,Tanzania on 1st July1983. On 4thMarch1980 he participated in thecourse for ongoing formation andthe great retreat in Jerusalem, andon 11th October 1986 he was againin Mabamba. On 4th August 1989he fell ill with typhoid and had tobe treated in Germany. From 1stSeptember 1994 he started a sab-batical year and on 1st May 1995he was still in Mabamba. On 6thSeptember 2006 he attended the70+ course in Rome and then re-

turned to Mabamba again. On 1stJanuary 2010 he received the Pon-tifical Order “Pro Ecclesia et Pon-tifice” awarded by the ApostolicNuncio and on 24th January 2010the medal “Bene meranti” togetherwith conferences and catechists. P.Gülle was also gifted in music. Heplayed the organ in Trier until hislast days. In Africa hunting washis passionate hobby in his sparetime.

On 29th March 2012 he fell illagain and returned permanently toGermany. He lived in the commu-nity of Hörstel. He still helped inthe pastoral care of the surroundingparishes, but his strength was di-minishing. In 2017 he changed hisresidence and went to the commu-nity of elders in Trier where hefound peace in the Father’s houseon 8th July 2019.

P. Hans Gülle was a convincedmissionary. Indeed, he has influencedthe Mabamba parish and the entirediocese of Kigoma through his faith,his simple lifestyle and his com-mitment to the education and trainingof people, including the constructionof a school for girls and developmentprojects, not to mention the con-struction of many churches. He wascommitted to human values withall his strength and courage. A very

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difficult time for him was the conflictwith an Arab trader providing himwith construction material in theparish of Mabamba. The Justice andPeace Working Group and Caritashad taken action against the interestsof this trader. There was a legal pro-cedure that the Missionaries lost.The Episcopal Conference consideredthis trial as an example for justiceand peace. The police identified thistrader as a criminal who was inprison for murder, but later he wascharged only for abuse of power.

During his Golden Jubilee, theArchbishop of Paderborn, Hans-Josef Becker congratulated Fr. Gülleon his merits for the Church: forall his prayers, sacrifices and workfor the Kingdom of God.

At the request of his family, Fr.Hans Gülle found his final restingplace in the priests’ tomb in thecemetery of his original parish inSalzkotten on 16th July 2019 at14.00 hours.

Aloïs Schmid

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Pierre Humblet1932 - 2019

Pierre Humblet died unex-pectedly on the morningof Wednesday, July 10th

in his apartment in Ohain.

Pierre was born in Ixelles onMay 24th, 1932 and baptized in thechurch of Notre-Dame de la Cam-bre. His father, who was a doctor,settled in Froyennes (Hainaut), nearTournai. Peter had one sister andtwo brothers. He followed theGreek-Latin humanities at Notre-Dame College in Tournai; he wasa Scout. He then spent two years

in natural and medical sciences,the first in Namur and the secondin Leuven. In October 1951 he en-tered the White Fathers’ home inThy-le-Château. He then made thenovitiate at Varsenare. For theologyhe went to Thibar and made thelast year in Carthage. He took hismissionary oath in Thibar on June26th, 1957 and was ordained a priestin Carthage on February 3rd, 1958.His trainers emphasize his balancedand methodical mind, his gentleand delicate, simple and open char-acter. In community he was charm-ing, very helpful, dynamic and ded-icated. He adapts himself easily.“He’s not the man to put himselfforward.” As for his appointment,Pierre wrote: “I want the Muslimmission in North Africa” and added:“More specifically the educationof young Muslims”.

First appointment: Professor inRayak, Lebanon. In September1961 he studied Arabic at LaManouba. In July 1961 he was ap-pointed professor at the El Menzahsecondary school in Tunis. In 1963he spent another year in La Manou-ba and then returned to El Menzah.

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In October 1968 he became deputydirector of the Centre de FormationProfessionnelle de Thibar and fin-ished his first term in 1970 as acensor at the agricultural high schoolin Thibar. On medical prescriptionPierre had to return to Europe everyyear. The regional of the time notesthat Pierre “has always been ap-preciated in the various teams oftrainers and teachers with whomhe has worked and was loved bythe students”. In September 1971he retrained in Islamology at thePontifical Institute of Arab Studiesin Rome. He then spent a year atthe Italian First Cycle in Treviglio.At the beginning of September1973 Pierre became superior of ourestate in Thibar. In January 1975he was appointed regional andresided in Thibar until the estatewas closed on September 15th, 1975.He then moved to La Marsa, fromwhere he also served his secondterm as a regional superior untilJuly 1982.

In September 1982 Pierre washappy to be able to go to Marmaritain Syria, where he said he could“finally make Arabic without anyother concerns”. In September 1983he returned to Tunisia as a lecturerat the Centre de formation profes-sionnelle in La Marsa. A new changeof scenery in July 1989: Pierre was

appointed to Jerusalem, in chargeof the bursar’s office. This work,he did it well but out of duty. Afterhaving computerized the manage-ment of the bursary, he should havetackled the computerization of theProche Orient Chrétien magazineand the library. But the situation inthe country, the tension betweenPalestinians and Israelis, made himsick. His nervousness eventuallycaused also tensions in the com-munity. In October 1992, he wenton leave for health reasons andstayed with his brother in Pro-fondeville. Having sufficiently re-covered from stress, he requestedthe intervention of the Generalatefor an appointment adapted to hisstrengths. He was 60 years old: “Ithink I can still be useful to thosewho want me as I am”.

On April 20th, 1993, Pierre wasappointed administrative secretaryat the Generalate. This work wasentirely within his grasp and Pierreaccepted with joy. He was able tolive years of discreet and hiddenservice to the Society and to theconfreres, by sending Petit Echoand other publications, by keepingup to date all the movements ofconfreres and statistics, by preparingthe files that had to go to thearchives, etc. After about eightyears in Rome, Peter returned to

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Tunisia. This last return to theMaghreb was not a success. He re-fused to start the procedure - tedious,it was true - to obtain a residencepermit, because he planned to returnto Belgium every quarter to seehis doctor and rest. Pierre was incharge of the library in Sidi Saber(Tunis), the computers for com-puterization were on the way... Fi-nally, in May 2002, Pierre was ap-pointed in Belgium, in principle tothe provincialate of rue CharlesDegroux, to launch the website ofthe province of Belgium. He ac-complished this task, but he onlymade short weekly visits to thehouse in rue Charles Degroux. Hebrilliantly carried out his job as awebmaster and he took particularcare of everything concerning re-lations with Islam. He kept the sitescrupulously up to date. He faith-

fully forwarded to the secretariateor archives the questions submittedby readers. Since two months hehad started to initiate his successorat the head of the site, our newsecretary, Mr. Jacques Hermans...

While visiting us every week,Pierre remained the smiling, pleas-ant and interesting confrere, alwaysready to be of service, also interestedin the current questions raised byfaith. We were expecting him thatWednesday, July 10th, when deathunexpectedly took this discreet andfaithful servant away. May he nowrest in peace.

The celebration of the resurrectionof our confrere Pierre Humblet tookplace on Monday 15th July at 10:30am in the Saint-Michel chapel (Boule-vard Clovis 80, 1000 Brussels).

Jef Vleugels

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Vincent Doutreuwe 1927 – 2019

T o be a priest for Jesusand for people! This isthe meaning he wanted

to give to his whole life by choosingto join the missionaries of Africa,the White Fathers. And one of hisconfreres, who knew him well inMali, testified in his homily on theday of his funeral: “I can say thathe really lived this ideal throughouthis missionary life”.

Vincent was born in Ermont,Seine et Oise (now Val d’Oise) onApril 25th, 1927. His parents, René

and Thérèse, had four children: 1boy, 2 girls and the last one, Vincent.His father René had many setbacks.After the 1914 war, he founded asmall business with a partner, areal crook, so that at the time ofbankruptcy, he was the one whohad to repay the debt until the be-ginning of the Second World War.In the meantime, they went to livein Les Aubrais, near Orléans, andit was there that Vincent attendedSaint Euverte College, which wasnot only focused on literature, butvery open-minded with Jews andProtestants. After the first baccalau-reate, which Vincent did not get,the whole class was dismissed: itwas in 1945. There was no questionof continuing studies. But what di-rection should he take then? “theForestry” sector? The priesthood?Monastic life? In order to discern,he went to Fontgombault, to theseminary of late vocations. It isthere that he heard the Lord’s callthat was the foundation of his life:“To be a priest for Jesus and forpeople”, which he achieved in theSociety of the missionaries of Africa.

He then entered Kerlois in Oc-tober 1947 for philosophy, then

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Maison-Carrée for the novitiate in1949. He continued his theologyin Thibar, with his military servicein the artillery in Tunisia. He re-turned to Thibar where he took hisoath on June 27th, 1954 and finishedin Carthage with priestly ordinationon April 10th, 1955. Throughoutall these years, his intellectual weak-ness made him doubt of himself,but his energetic will and total andgenerous dedication, considered ashis personal characteristic, out-weighed these shortcomings.

He received his appointment forGuéné-Goré, in the diocese ofKayes, where he arrived in No-vember 1955. After his leave in1960, he was sent to Kakulu wherehe had trouble getting used to. Hewas then appointed to Kassama in1963, where he finally found a ful-fillment that he had not had before.

Also, in 1969, he was appointedSuperior of Kassama, a responsi-bility that he had difficulty acceptingbecause he said “I am gifted to besecond, to support and sustain theleader, but not to be the first”. Infact, his fine experience and goodjudgment allowed him to meet hisobligations as parish priest and su-perior.

In Kassama, he was very in-volved in his work at the clinic.

He was also gifted in care and hada lot of patience, people liked him.As he had a lot of heart and wasvery sensitive, he felt very stronglythe suffering of the sick, and hewas very attentive to the care oflepers whom he regularly visited,even when he went on tour. Theformation of catechumens was veryimportant to him. If he was ap-pointed in Sudan, today Mali, itwas indeed to preach Christ andtake care of new Christians, butvery quickly he realized that thiswas perhaps not what God wasasking him. Rereading this periodof his life, he wrote: “I discoverthat there are good, devout Muslimswho are submissive to God. Whydo we Christians have such pejo-rative clichés about Islam? (...) Yes,there is a beautiful approach to thegreatness of God that has mademe change my personal prayer andhave the same approach for allmen, Christians, Muslims and fol-lowers of traditional religions. Tobe faithful to the foundation of hislife “to be a priest for Jesus Christand for people”, he often knewhow to change his gaze and seeeverything that was happeningaround him with God’s gaze.

In the eyes of his confreres, hehad a strong temperament that hesometimes had difficulty mastering.

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Moreover, his shyness did not fa-cilitate communication in the com-munity. But, for those who livedwith him, he remained a “nice guy”,supernatural, and a very hard work-er, and even a “tough guy”: hecould go on tour, in the middle ofthe afternoon, after working in theclinic, without taking the time toeat, at the risk of damaging hishealth... Finally, what services didhe not provide in the different com-munities where he lived, thanks tohis great practical know-how!

In 1974, knowing nothing aboutthe rest of Mali, and with the agree-ment of his confreres, he set off ona moped tour of Mali (Peugeot, 3speeds). He visited all the missionposts in Mali (except 5, includingGAO, which he was advised againstbecause of the road conditions andalso the distance: 580 Kms). Hecovered 3500 km in 45 days! Itwas then that he went on leavewhere he attended a session at theArbresles.

In 1975, after 20 years in theKassama - Guéné-Goré area, theBishop of Kayes, Mgr EtienneCourtois, appointed him to theparish of Sagabari, which is in thearea with Kita. For three years, heworked at the dispensary until thearrival of the Religious Sisters.

After that, he turned more towardstaking charge of the parish’s equip-ment and often went to Kita tohelp them, especially during thenational pilgrimage to Notre-Damedu Mali, where he had the chanceto find Brother Victor Dery whointroduced him to the many elec-tricity problems. He summarizesthis period as follows: “One footin Kita, one foot in Sagabari, afew tours in the bush”.

In 1988, he attended the RetreatSession in Jerusalem. Upon his re-turn, he was reappointed to Kas-sama. In 1990, he followed PopeJohn Paul II’s trip to Mali withgreat attention. When he returnedto Kassama, he had a big argumentwith a catechist, after which thebishop let him know that he nolonger wanted to see him in hisdiocese! It was very hard for him.Reflecting on this argument, hesaw two causes: “It has been morethan a year since I quit smoking,as a heavy smoker, and smokinghelped me to soften my reactionsto the conflicts that arose, and nowthere are no more cigarettes. Butmore deeply, I was unhappy becauseI was alone: we didn’t work incommunity, but each one in hisown way did his work in his owncorner. In fact, his confreres knewthat smoking was his cure for nerv-

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ousness. Did they not see him light-ing and that sometimes a new cig-arette with the one he had just fin-ished?... When he came back froma holiday, he impressed everyonebecause he had stopped smoking:another stroke of will! “... Perhapsit was a decision taken followinghis retreat in Jerusalem?

The consequence of all this wasa new leave in France with appoint-ment in Lille for 2 years after which,pacified, he was able to return toMali, but this time in the diocese ofBamako, at the CEL of Faladyè.There, he took care of the materialfor the Language Centre and theparish, which required him to goregularly to Bamako. He wouldhave liked more pastoral work, buthe was not comfortable in Bambaraand adapting to a new languagewhen you are 70 years of age, wasnot easy! He remained there until2004. During his leave, he learnedthat he had to stay permanently inFrance. However, he was able toleave for Mali at the end of Juneuntil September to say goodbye.

In France, he was appointedtreasurer in Toulouse, rue Ringaud,and in 2007, he joined the Residenceof Billère where he tried to live

the beautiful qualities of Malianwisdom. He practiced patience,tried to see the good side of things,despite his visual disability and re-mained fully available for the serv-ices he was asked to provide. InBillère, he often repeated: “Life isbeautiful! “ Yes, he was happy be-cause he had the joy of living in acommunity of White Fathers.

Some time before his death, theconfreres saw Vincent becomingweaker, but with his usual will, heheld on. The night before his death,he was in the dining room. Thenext morning, he was neither presentat Lauds nor at breakfast. The nurse,who went to check in his room,found that he was dead: it was onthe 23rd July 2019. Discreetly, asusual, he had left in the night.

At the funeral mass celebratedin the chapel of Billère, the gospelchosen was that of Matthew (10:7-13) where Jesus gave his instruc-tions to the 12 apostles. Vincentheard these words and put theminto practice. And surely, Jesus toldhim what the Gospel tells us in Mt7:24: “Man of foresight, you whobuilt your house on the rock, enterinto the joy of your master!”

Pierre Landreau

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Augustin de Clebsattel1922 - 2019

Augustin was born inDunkirk on the NorthSea,... so as to cross the

seas?..... Only God knew that! Itwas in 1804 that his ancestorssettled in Dunkirk, from Thann,Alsace. But the history of the Cleb-sattel family began in Bavaria, inBamberg. Under Louis XIV, theyounger branch emigrated to Al-sace....His father, a freight forwarder

and President of the Chamber ofCommerce, had a company withabout sixty employees. The familyconsisted of six children, three boysand three girls. As a Christian fam-

ily, they never missed Sunday highmass. The staff participated in theevening prayer. When Augustinewas eleven years old, his parents,concerned about his good education,sent him to Avon (Fontainebleau),to the Little College “Ste. Thérèsede l’Enfant-Jésus”. His Directorwas a young Carmelite, FatherJacques de Jésus. He stayed therefrom 1934 to 1938. These fouryears had a strong impact on him. Father Jacques, a born educator,

led them, in a family spirit, in asense of duty and responsibility, toopen themselves freely to all thatwas spiritual and cultural. He invitedthem to listen to the various voca-tions: military, polytechnician,artist... At the end of the study-time, in the evening, they lookedforward to the “Spiritual Read-ing”...This was certainly a favourable

ground for his vocation... But, at that time, he felt more

attracted to the Army... After a yearspent in Vannes, where his fatherhad found refuge in 1940, the wholefamily returned to Paris; he openeda Maritime Office there. Being ofclass 22 and called to the S.T.O.(Service du Travail Obligatoire in

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Germany), Augustin went to Vil-lars-de-Lans to continue his studies,to prepare for his Bac. Thanks to afake ID card, he didn’t go to Ger-many. After the Liberation of Paris(August 25th, 1944), he joined theLeclerc Division. He was evenwounded by a shell at the end ofthe Alsace Campaign. Then he start-ed his officer cadet training; veryquickly, he realized that it was nothis vocation.In 1946, attracted to England,

Augustine was able to live for eightmonths in the beautiful city of Oxford,with its renowned colleges and 83clubs... It was there that he felt theCall of the Lord... a wrench from aworldly life... There was tears, buthe felt a wonderful joy, when he en-tered the White Fathers on November1st, 1947, at Kerlois’ Séminaire dePhilosophie. After the Novitiate atMaison-Carrée, in 49-50, he set outfor Canada for the Scholasticate;that year, there were three Frenchand one Belgian; it had taken themfive days to cross the Ocean. Au-gustine took his Oath in the Societyof the White Fathers on June 26th,1953 and was ordained priest onJanuary 30th, 1954, (Marian Year). Without having requested it, in

October 1954, he was appointedto Guinea-Conakry. Appointed tothe Toma Country (Macenta), inthe diocese of Nzérékoré, he waswelcomed by Bishop Maillat, who

stressed that this beautiful countryresembled his own: a “little Switzer-land”. He learned the tonal language.He toured through the great tropicalforest on “goat paths” and wetroads, passing through sacredforests, with its masks and initiationcamps.Fallen ill in 1961, he was repa-

triated and held in Nancy for mis-sionary animation. During his GreatRetreat at Villa Cavalletti and thanksto Bishop Maillat, he was able toattend one of the last sessions ofthe Second Vatican Council. Backin Guinea, he was expelled, withall the Missionaries, in June 1967.He was then appointed in Tunisia

“provisionally” for... 29 years!There, unlike Guinea, there is noCatechumenate or Baptisms. It wassimply to live in a Muslim country...However, it had to serve parishesaround Tunis. But, since independ-ence, since the churches had beennationalized, Masses were cele-brated in houses... With a smallamount of dialectal Arabic, he wasable to meet families: listening andrespect facilitated relationships.These were really good with theold Italian and Sicilian communities. Following an issue of the mag-

azine “Vivante Afrique”, reportingon a survey carried out by twoBelgian White Fathers on the Fo-colare, he became interested in theMovement.

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Also, upon his return to Francein July 1996, with the benevolenceof the Provincial, he was able tospend eight months at the Schoolof Religious in Loppiano, Tuscany,the pilot centre of the Movement,officially called “The Work of Mary”.There were about ten religious fam-ilies from the five continents. A trueschool to learn to live as brothers,based on the Word of God and thecharismatic and Marian witness ofthe Foundress Chiara Lubich.From 1997 to 2001, Augustine

was appointed in Mours to hostthe weekend Scouts, Guides andvarious chaplaincies. Then it wasfour years in Ardèche, in Aubenas,with his confrere Jean-Pierre Sibien,to ensure the chaplaincy of threeCommunities of Elderly Sisters.Four years of beautiful and richencounters. After the closure of this post in

the Ardèche, he retired to Bry surMarne on 1st September 2005. Soonafter, major work began that wouldtransform the retirement home intoan EHPAD. He then went for awhile to the Jesuits’ EHPAD inVanves to escape the nuisances ofany construction site. He met hisfriend Jean-Pierre SIBIEN there,and every day they would meet ineach other’s rooms to share theirspiritual experience, obviouslydrawn from their common spiritu-ality of the Focolare, pray the rosary

of Lourdes on KTO, exchange ondifferent authors they like to read,and it is quite naturally togetherthat they will return to Bry on Jan-uary 1st, 2017. Unfortunately, victimof a bad fall, his friend Jean-Pierrequickly returned to the Lord, andit was a little distraught but in adeep union with God that Augustinelived the last days of his life. Veryhandicapped by his deafness andpoor vision, which prevented himfrom participating in communitylife as he would have liked, hishealth continued to deteriorate slow-ly, and he had to be permanentlyhospitalized at St Camille Hospitalwhere he died peacefully on July24st, 2019. He was a deeply spiritual con-

frere. His funeral was celebratedin our chapel in the presence ofsome members of his family, friendsand of course confreres who hadwanted to say a last goodbye tohim. It should be noted that hisyounger brother, a permanent dea-con, insisted on officiating at thealtar, which gave the Eucharist avery family dimension. The “verred’amitié” that followed the returnfrom the cemetery made it possibleto recall many family or communitymemories in Africa, but everyonewas unanimous in recognizing thatit was a great White Father whohad left us.

Clément Forestier

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Francois Nonnon1924 - 2019

François Nonnon was bornin Le Havre on September25th, 1924. His father Al-

bert, a Belgian national, woundedduring the war, had been treated inLe Havre and had married MarieThérèse Dorival. They had 6 chil-dren: 4 boys and 2 girls. Françoiswas the second to last.

His father took French nation-ality, so François, born in Belgium,became French, but he remainedvery attached to the Nonnon branchin Belgium.

When his grandfather Dorival died,his father took over the family business.The family lived in comfort.

Francis received a good religiouseducation. He frequented the Do-minican convent a lot, served atMass. On the day of his first com-munion, he told his mother that hewanted to be a priest, which madehis mother very happy. It seemsthat François was his mother’s littledarling... What is certain is thatFrançois always remained very at-tached to his mother.

In 1937, with the family businessin difficulty, the family had to sellthe house and move to Marseille.François’ health was not good, andhe had to go to a preventorium inMegève for six months. His studieswere disrupted and he had to repeatclasses.

Wanting to be a White Father,he entered the minor seminary ofSaint Laurent d’Olt in October1941. Here is the assessment ofhis superior: “His qualities are hid-den under an appearance of coldnessand reserve. »

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In 1945, François entered Kerloisin philosophy. In 1948, he made hisnovitiate at Maison-Carrée. “He isa little taciturn and closed... but heremains a good colleague and has avery good heart.” At the end of thenovitiate, he was appointed to Cana-da to do his theology, but the visawas refused by Canada because ofhis visit to the preventorium. Thenhe spent the year in Tournus, wherea confrere made him do a little the-ology: it was counted as half a year.

From 1950 to 1953, theology inCarthage and Thibar. On June 30th,1953 he was ordained a priest inThibar, and appointed to the Apos-tolic curateiate of Lake Albert inBelgian Congo. In this curateiatethere were only fathers or brothersspeaking Flemish, but the 1947General Chapter had decided tointernationalize. Thus Father Autetand François were the first French-men appointed after the chapter.

First appointed to Kilomines,François learned Kiswahili. He washappy. But in 1956 the regional re-ported “Poor health, eats almost ex-clusively bread, cheese and jam”,.In 1959 he was appointed to Laybomuch further north: he had to learnLingala.

In 1961, he returned on leavebecause of liver problems, and

made his long retreat at Villa Cav-alletti. It was then that he was ap-pointed to mission promotion inMarseille where he stayed for barelytwo years.

In December 1963 he was backin the diocese of Bunia in Kilo. Heexperienced the difficult period ofthe rebellion in 1964. There werea few days in prison, a few riflebutts... It was at that time that nineof our colleagues were murderedin Bunia and Aba. François withall the confreres, finally liberatedby the mercenaries, was evacuatedto Kinshasa and France. For a fewmonths, he will do some missionaryanimation in the Marseille area.

Back in Congo in July 1965, hewas appointed to Gety, then Badiya,Kilo, and Nyakasanza. In this po-sition, he was responsible for theKasenyi outstation and Lake Albertvillages. Everywhere, François de-voted himself. He paid special at-tention to the training of Massservers everywhere. He alwaysliked to have a sector for which hewould be responsible: he was quitepersonal. So he was allowed to doso, and he showed himself every-where to be a good pastor: he wasfundamentally good, and he wasvery much loved by his parishioners.A sign of the esteem in which he

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was held by the population: manywanted their child baptized withthe name of Nonnon... Many re-mained attached to him and keptin touch.

In 1994, with the agreement ofthe regional and provincial ofFrance, he returned on leave andapproached the diocese of Marseilleto obtain a ministry. He was finallyappointed to La Treille, in the sub-urbs of Marseille. He was not theparish priest but depended on theparish priest of the area. And itwas difficult for him to accompanythe Christian community of LaTreille under the responsibility ofthe sector manager.

In fact, François stayed ten yearsat La Treille, doing an excellent joband very much loved by his parish-ioners who remained very attachedto him. François liked to receivethe visit of his confreres, especiallythose from Lake Albert. He washappy to show them around Mar-seille, Notre Dame de la Garde, thecalanques. He loved Marseille andthose ten years spent at La Treille,but his heart was still in Congo.

But the time had come to thinkabout retirement, and finallyFrançois agreed to go to Billère inAugust 2005. He bought a newcar, a Citroën Kango to help his

colleagues. In fact, at the beginninghe accompanied many confreres tomedical consultations, or to go fora walk, or a pilgrimage to Lourdes...and even to St Bertrand de Com-minges... He loved driving verymuch, and every year he did nothesitate to go to Belgium to seehis Belgian family and the confreresin Ituri. He loved to be of service;that is how every Sunday he led aconfrere to the suburbs of Pau sothat he could do apostolate. He at-tended the confrere’s Mass andbrought him back.

He himself liked to minister,celebrate Mass with the sisters orin a convalescent home where hewas chaplain.

He had the joy of making thepilgrimage “in the footsteps of SaintPaul” with a confrere, and also ofreturning to Congo for the centenaryof evangelization in Bunia.

Then came the time of healthproblems: bladder cancer, bowelcancer, multiple operations. and alot of suffering.

Father Gayet, who lived 73 yearswith François since Kerlois, inCongo, and in Billère, said in hishomily at the funeral mass that itwas the fox of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s little prince who had the

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best understanding of how to ap-proach François: “you have to letyourself be tamed or tame him...go slowly. Do not let yourself beput off by a first contact that mayseem cold. You will discover inFrançois’ heart a treasure of kind-ness, sensitivity and desire toplease.” François had surroundedhimself with a picture of all hisdeceased confreres and prayed forthem.

François had had a special rela-tionship with his mother: it wasshe who gave him all the affectionhis heart needed. Quite naturallyFrançois had received from theLord Mary as his mother. He had agreat devotion to Mary both as OurLady of Africa and as Notre Dame

de la Garde. On his sick bed, itwas his only prayer: the rosary, therosary.

François was aware that his at-titude could hurt people, he sufferedfrom it himself. He would haveliked to apologize to everyone. Heasked a colleague to prepare a pic-ture of him, and to write on it: “Ithank all those who helped me”and “I apologize to all those whomI may have hurt by my attitude”.“You will display this photo aftermy death.”

After a long and painful illness,and great suffering offered for thesalvation of Africa, François diedquietly on July 25th, 2019.

Bertrand Gayet

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Bernfried Müller1938 - 2019

Father Bernfried FriedrichMüller was born on the27th June 1938 in the

grounds of Erpenburg/Brenken Cas-tle near Büren in Westfalia, wherehis father was administrator andsecretary for 40 years.

His father came from Silesia.His mother Marie Elisabeth wasfrom Brenken. Bernfried had onesister and two brothers. The parishpriest of his home parish van denHövel described the family as goodand honest Catholics, reserved,conscientious and faithful people.These attitudes were apparent in

Bernfried throughout his life.

In the autumn of 1944 he beganhis school education at the primaryschool in his home town of Brenken.The parish priest van den Hövelwrote about Bernfried who wasserving mass at that time: “Theboy always impressed with his at-titude so much that I often had theidea or rather the wish to see himone day as a priest at the altar.” Hefrequented the family regularly andgave the young Bernfried the WhiteFathers’ magazine “Afrika-Bote”of that time to read, through whichhe got to know the Missionaries ofAfrica and the work in the mis-sions.

On the advice of the parish priesthe addressed the White Fathersfrom their house in Rietberg onthe 18th of April 1951 and enteredthere after seven years of primaryschool. He wrote: “Since I was al-ready older, I was allowed to takea crash course at the end of the‘Sexta’ which saved me a year ofschool.” To continue his studies atthe end of the “Untertertia” hechanged to the Kreuzburg-Gym-nasium of the White Fathers in

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Grosskrotzenburg on the 15th ofApril 1954, where he passed thestate examination on the 25th ofFebruary 1959. Afterwards he de-cided to study philosophy at theWhite Fathers Seminary in Trierfrom April 1959 until August 1960.From September 1960 until Sep-tember 1961 he did the novitiate atHörstel in Westfalia and then wentto Totteridge near London in Eng-land for the study of theology fromSeptember 1961 until June 1965.There he took his perpetual oathon the 14th December 1964. Onthe 3rd July 1965 he was ordainedpriest in Bielefeld together withsome confreres.

After his ordination he returnedonce again to London for the courseof pastoral theology. After thispreparation he was appointed tothe diocese of Mansa in Zambia.On the 19th December 1965 he wasable to travel for the first time toAfrica. From January to April 1966he was at Ilondola for languagestudies.

Then his journey finally led himto pastoral work. His first stationwas Puta, a new foundation in theDiocese of Mansa where he arrivedin May 1966. Thereafter there wereconstantly many changes from oneparish to another: Nsakaluba, Ma-

pula, Twingi and Chibote. On the1st March 1981 he took part in thebiblical course in Jerusalem, fol-lowed by the great retreat and ahome leave in Germany. Back inAfrica he was in Chibote, Kawamb-wa and again in Twingi and thenon leave in 1984, 1986 and 1990.

His main preoccupation in pas-toral work was the formation oflay people: catechists, members ofthe parish council, collaboratorswhose numbers were multiplying.In the area of development heworked in the diocesan agriculturalproject with the introduction ofoxen for farming. This centre wenthand in hand with another diocesaninitiative to set up 10 families inthis centre who were made up asupport group in agriculture. Thesegroups were scattered throughoutthe diocese and came regularly toChibote to continue their formation.The oxen were bought from a statefarm and roamed freely with an-telopes. It was difficult to get themused to working, feeling robbed oftheir freedom. They had to betamed. It was all the more admirableto see them after a few weekspulling a plow or a small chariot.Groups of farmers came from allover for their training at the end ofwhich they could return home witha pair of oxen to continue the work

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at home. In the evolution of theseprojects there were ups and downs.Difficulties, hard to predict, werealways overcome. That is whyBernfried remained full of hopefor the future.

In his spare time, Father Müllertook care of the local plants thathe collected and specialized in thisfield, consulting also a lot of books,written by biology specialists. Inall this he was very much supportedby his home diocese and his homeparish, which continued to helpthese projects even after his depar-ture.

For health reasons he returnedto his homeland in November 1992.He was appointed to the communityof Hörstel for missionary animationand collaboration in pastoral workin this region . From the 28th of

April 1994 he was in Berlin in theAfrica-Center and bursar of thecommunity as well as for missionaryanimation. This double burden wastoo heavy for his health weakened-with diabetes. A new task awaitedhim at the foundation of the Africa-Library in Trier, where he startedon the 1st of February 1997.

From that moment on his healthproblems weighed heavily on him,although he was always ready totake part in community service andpastoral work. His last change oflocation was on the 15th July 2017in Trier when the White Fathers’community moved from Dietrich-strasse in Nordallee to the Brothersof Mercy where he died on the 5thAugust 2019. Father Bernfried wasalways a kind and faithful confrereradiant with joy.

Joe Eberle et Aloïs Schmid

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Wendelin Hengartner1922 - 2019

Wendelin was born on26th October 1922 inKobelwald (Canton

St. Gallen). After primary schoolhe went to Widnau to attend theWhite Fathers’ College. He con-tinued his secondary education atthe college of the Abbey of St.Maurice. Then, for two years, hestudied philosophy and theologyat the University of Fribourg, beforehe joined the White Fathers by theclothing ceremony on Decemberthe 2nd, 1945. He completed histheological formation at Thibar

(Tunisia) where he took the mis-sionary oath on June the 29th 1948and was ordained priest on Februarythe 1st 1949.“At that moment,” he wrote

later, “like every young missionaryleaving, I dreamed of ‘over there’but my first flight ended in themiddle of the mountains of theValais.” He was first a teacher atthe Lavigerie Institute in St. Mauricefor three years, then for two yearsat Widnau. In 1955, he came toFribourg as director of theAfricanum before undertaking post-graduate studies in philosophy andpedagogy at the University, whichhe completed with a degree in 1963.“Having packed my suitcases

with philosophy and pedagogy, Ifinally embarked for Africa, moreprecisely for the major seminary ofKoumi in Burkina Faso. Here I amonce again teaching future priests,in an environment where I did noteven know the language ... Willthey forget me in this country andthis function that I quickly learnedto love? Wrong! In 1970, I was appointed director of a new Institutecalled CESAO (Centre de Formationpour les Etudes Economiques etSociales) in Bobo-Dioulasso, also

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in Burkina. A nice title that obligesme to be one page ahead of the stu-dents in the knowledge I have toimpart to them. And here I’m in for7 years (1963-1970).When everything seemed to be-

come easier, I changed scenery andleft for Switzerland where the WhiteFathers entrusted me with the re-sponsibility of an office for ‘Missionand Development Aid’ (1970-1976).While continuing to take care ofCESAO, he was also secretary ofthe “Third World Solidarity” move-ment. These activities brought himinto contact with a good numberof Swiss development organizations.He then went to England to improvehis English in order to work inAachen at the Missio Centre forthe preparation of projects con-cerning North Africa and the MiddleEast. This task gave him the op-portunity to visit Egypt, Sudan,Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Israel andother countries.In May 1982, he was appointed

Superior of the Swiss Province for6 years. “In this position, contactwith my confreres has alwaysseemed to me a personal enrichmentand an opportunity to express mygratitude to God”. In 1985 he hadto undergo knee surgery. He wishedthat his mandate as provincial wouldnot be extended beyond 1988. He

then retired to Widnau where heremained active in pastoral workto the extent of his strength andhealth. In 1991 he came to Lucerne,and after another stay in Widnauhe settled permanently in Lucerneas superior and bursar of the WhiteFathers’ community. When the house in Lucerne

closed in June 2010, he joined thecommunity in Veyras. In 2012 hehad to undergo 12 weeks of hospi-talization due to a double fractureof the pelvis. On the 24th of Augustof the same year he was admittedto the Foyer Saint-Joseph (for theelderly) in Sierre. He integratedeasily into the life of the Homewhere he was very much appreci-ated. He liked to concelebrate withthe chaplain, to participate in ac-tivities and to sort out stamps withthe help of some residents. He hadall the leisure he needed to celebratehis 90th birthday according to thelocal rite: a visit from 3 membersof the Communal Council and afestive meal with his guests in thecafeteria. Wendelin returned to theFather on August the 8th, 2019.“I remember him well. He was

provincial when I was doing mynovitiate in Fribourg. He had along life of fidelity. We give thanksto God” wrote a confrere when helearned of Wendelin’s death.

J.-M.Gabioud

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Jan LENSSEN 1941-2019

Jan was born on July the 13th,1941 in Kaulille in theprovince of Limburg, but

very soon the family moved toBree. The family consisted of fiveboys and three girls. His father wasa teacher and co-founder of the Le-gion of Mary in Bree. One of hismother’s uncle, Father Laurens Con-inx, had worked as a White Fatherin the Diocese of Mahagi (wherehe was to be murdered in Aba inNovember 1964), and his mother’sbrother, Laurens (junior), was work-ing in the Diocese of Bunia. Jan

followed the Greek-Latin humanitiesat the Collège Saint-Michel in Bree,where he was active at the KSA(Action Estudiantine Catholique).In September 1959, he followedhis brother Rik, his eldest by a yearand a half, by joining the WhiteFathers in Boechout. Then followedthe novitiate in Varsenare and thetheological studies in Heverlee. Hisfather died in February 1965, beforeJan’s missionary oath on the 25thJune 1965 and his ordination a yearlater, on the 25th June 1966. Duringhis formative years, Jan is describedas a talented, very balanced, exem-plary and helpful young man. Heknows what he wants and is able totake on a leadership role. He devoteshimself intensely to apostolic ac-tivities. He has a lot of commonsense and approaches things in acalm, delicate and discreet way.From 1966 to 1970, he studied inRome, first theology at the Grego-rian, then morals at the Alphon-sianum. He wrote his thesis on “TheCatechumenate after Vatican II”.

In September 1970, Jan left forRwanda and learned Kinyarwandaat the Language Centre (CELA)in Kigali. In February 1971, he

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was curate in Masaka, a peasantvillage not far from Kigali. From1973 to 1975, he also became a“guest professor” of ecclesiasticallaw at the major seminary of Nyak-ibanda. He was also “vice-official”of the Episcopal Conference. In1974, he became parish priest andthe following year he handed overto the Pallotin Fathers. In April1975, he went on leave and madea study trip to Malawi and Mali.Despite Bishop Perraudin’s per-sonal intervention with the SuperiorGeneral, Father Vasseur, askingnot to remove “one of the bestmissionaries we absolutely need”,Jan succeeded his brother Rik inSeptember 1975 as missionary an-imator of the diocese of Hasseltand became professor of moraltheology at the major seminary ofSint Truiden. The Hasselt mis-sionary working group was veryactive and Jan regularly wrote inthe “Schakel”, the diocesan journalfor missionary work and deepeningthe faith. At the beginning of De-cember, Jan became provincial as-sistant in Belgium. He was a del-egate to the 1980 Chapter and inJune 1981 he was appointedProvincial. He will remain so fortwo terms. During these years, hewas also a member of the NationalMissionary Commission, the In-terdiocesan Pastoral Council, the

National Vocation Commissionand the Committee of MissionaryInstitutes. He founded the “BlauweTorre” centre in Varsenare, set upa community on Avenue Milcampin Schaerbeek, but closed the Au-derghem community. In 1983, hehad to manage the forced returnof many colleagues from Burundi.At the 1986 Chapter, he was electedfirst Assistant General. In the sameyear, he became representative ofthe Pontifical Council for ChristianUnity at the World Council ofChurches in Geneva, a positionhe will continue to hold until 2013.He was particularly responsiblefor the ecumenical dimension ofpastoral work, including solutionsof solidarity with the poorest.

Jan’s first reaction to his ap-pointment in Rome: “It is a graceto be so closely involved in thejoys and tasks of the whole familyof the White Fathers and the AfricanChurch”. Within the General Coun-cil, he was particularly responsiblefor financial and legal matters, eld-erly confreres and the ecumenicalmovement. It was also the focalpoint of the year of commemorationof the 100th anniversary of CardinalLavigerie’s death.

In July 1992, Jan took a well-deserved sabbatical year, partly in

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France and partly in Great Britain.In July 1993, he returned to Rwandaand joined the parish of Nyami-rambo, in a lively district of thecapital Kigali. And it was therethat he experienced the beginningof the genocide in April 1994:“That Friday, after Habyarimana’sdeath, a kalashnikof against mystomach, guarded by interahamwe,and next to my confreres, deathwas doing its job: at my feet somemurdered and bloody children theyhad ripped from my arms; a motherbleeding to death held her childagainst her. Countless machetesand rifles fell and killed, and in thechurch - “sanctuary” - grenadesexploded. Death has nestled in thedepths of my heart since that dayin April 1994. “With several Belgiancolleagues, Jan was evacuated toBelgium on April 14th; others willfollow later. In August 1994, Janwas asked to go to Rwanda on a“reconnaissance trip” to assesswhether the confreres could return,which was the case for some. Janhimself returned to Rwanda as aregional on December 7th, 1994.He served two terms, which wereextended until the end of 2000. InJanuary 1995, he became Presidentof the Association of Religious Su-periors, men and women. The mainconcern was then to face the tragicevents and begin a long road to

reconciliation. In January 1997,Jan wrote: “We are in the movementof a Church conscious of its inte-gration into human history, eveninto sin... We are aware of the im-perfections and even the faults thatwe have been able to commit duringthis century of missionary com-mitment... We hope one day to findthe understanding, openness andatmosphere to make the truth... Inthis work of reconstruction wewould like to join the efforts ofother Churches and their commu-nities, our Sisters and Brothers.“During these years, Jan was alsosecretary of the Episcopal Com-mission for Ecumenism. In 1998,he participated in the Chapter. Atthe end of 1998, he had to takesick leave for the first time.

When his work in Rwanda end-ed, he was appointed to Tanzaniain May 2001 and went to studyKiswahili in Kipalapala. In October,he settled in Nairobi (Kenya) inour community of Saint-CharlesLwanga on Ngong road. He wasappointed National Secretary Gen-eral of the Commission for Ecu-menism of the Kenya Bishops’Conference and Professor at theInternational Missionary Institute“Tangaza” in Nairobi. He had apastoral commitment in the parish,visited AIDS patients in the nearby

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hospital of the Coptic Church, andcared for street children. He proudlytestified: “The Ecumenical WorkingGroup of the Kenya Bishops’ Con-ference is coming to life”. It dealswith ecumenical themes in Catholicradio broadcasting. Jan was stillan active member of the Commis-sion on World Mission and Evan-gelism of the World Council ofChurches, which is a rarity forCatholics. This led him to San An-tonio in the United States in 1989,Salvador in Brazil in 1996, Athensin 2005 and Edinburgh in 2010.During his farewell to Kenya atthe end of 2008, the Secretary Gen-eral of the Bishops’ Conferencesaid: “Fr. Lenssen leaves behindhim a Commission that is growingand having a greater impact thanever before. »

In early 2009, Jan was appointedin Belgium, officially for Africanpastoral care in two deaneries inBrussels, and for the White Fathersin particular in our AMANI Centreproject. He soon became a memberof the Ecumenical Committee ofthe Churches in Brussels. In March2010, as part of the French-speakingCatholic Radio (RCF Brussels), helaunched a weekly programme“Rencontrer l’Afrique” (broadcastseveral times). It was a tour deforce to find interesting speakers

each time. Some 250 talks werebroadcast from March 2010 to July2014. In the meantime, it was dis-covered that Jan had Parkinson’sdisease. Proper medication willkeep the disease under control foryears to come. He took several ini-tiatives to finance AMANI’s proj-ects. Each year, he produced abooklet and leaflet, in French andDutch, for Unity Week. Jan an-swered many calls from the Rwan-dan community (baptisms, mar-riages, deaths...). He followed theircharismatic group “Divine Mercy”.After 25 years, he resigned fromhis position as representative ofthe Pontifical Council for ChristianUnity. In May 2014, the evolutionof his illness no longer allowedhim to carry out his many tasksand he asked to be relieved of hisresponsibilities. In November 2015,he left for Genk “at rest”. In May2016, the International EcumenicalMovement of Kenya awarded himthe decoration of the “EcumenicalHero”. In October 2016, he attendedthe session for the over 70s inRome. However, sitting idly wasnot for Jan: “I still want to dotoday what I won’t be able to dotomorrow”. He still had so manyplans. His body abandoned himmore and more, but his will powerpushed him forward and his agendawas still full... A sacred fire had

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propelled him all his life and madehis life so fertile for many.

In early September 2018, Jancame to Evere for more medicalfollow-up. A walker allowed himto continue what he could still plan.At the end of July 2019, he wastransferred to the St. Michel clinic

where, after a few unsuccessful at-tempts, he was transferred to pal-liative care. Jan died peacefullythere on the 10th August 2019. OnSaturday the 17th the funeral tookplace in the church of Saint-Vincentd’Evere, packed full. He was buriedamong his confreres in Varsenare.

Jef Vleugels.

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Germain Lussier 1925 - 2019

Germain was born in St-Gérard-Majella, in theEastern Townships, mu-

nicipality of Weedon, in the dioceseof Sherbrooke, on March 23th, 1925.His parents, Hyppolite Lussier andEva Fontaine, had six children, twogirls and four boys. Germain wasthe eldest of the boys. From anearly age, after completing kinder-garten, he did various jobs on hisparents’ farm. Later, he became alumberjack in the forest in the win-ter. When the snow began to melt,he would become a driver.

His missionary vocation beganwhen his father read and commentedon the review of the White Fathersof Africa. The latter liked to talkabout what they were doing, withoutfailing to express his admirationfor them. This is how Germain’sdesire to become a Missionary ofAfrica grew gradually.

In 1951, at the age of twenty-six, he entered the Postulancy ofSt. Vincent de Paul in Laval and,six months later, he found himselfat the Novitiate of St. Martin. Histrainers write of him that he isrobust in health and is not slow toundertake hard and difficult work.Germain had qualities that madehim a good and energetic leaderand he maintained good relationswith his colleagues. He had a strongpersonal piety and was very attachedto his missionary vocation.

After his first missionary oathon July 31th, 1953, he took welding,carpentry and masonry courses ata technical school in Montreal. Andin 1956, he left for Ghana. He wasappointed to the Diocese of Tamale.Germain had first to go to Jirapato learn the local language, Dagari.

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He had just begun to unpack hisbags when the bishop of the diocese,Mgr Bertrand, came to him andsaid: “You know, Germain, youdon’t need to stay here to studythe language. Languages are notthat difficult. You can learn themwhile building! »

And for Germain, it was the be-ginning of 30 years of construction.During these years of mission inAfrica, the brothers did not stopworking small miracles, that is tosay, they succeeded with very smallbudgets in building schools, convents,seminaries, dispensaries... All thisforced Brother Germain to changemission posts very often. He hasmoved 54 times from parishes.

It was in Tamale, on August14th, 1959, at the Seminary St-Charles, that Germain took his per-petual oath. In March 1967, he re-ceived an appointment in the neigh-bouring diocese of Wa for threemonths, an appointment, supposedlytemporary, which, in fact, lastedmore than seven years! He wasnow building schools and chapelsin this diocese.

In September 1979, during hissilver jubilee, Germain went toJerusalem for the Bible session andthe 30-day retreat. This three-monthstay in the Holy Land was an un-

forgettable spiritual experience forhim.

A little later, in the 1980s, hewas called upon to give carpentryand masonry courses to apprenticesat the Nandom Technical School.These young people came in groupsof 8 or 10 to a construction site tolearn their trade.

Without knowing it, this serviceprepared him for a rather radicalchange. Indeed, in 1985, the Re-gional Superior asked him to par-ticipate in the formation of candi-dates who wanted to become Mis-sionary Brothers of Africa. This ishow he found himself at the WhiteFathers’ Training Center in Tamale.Its main task was to provide themwith the widest possible technicaltraining in areas such as electricity,plumbing, welding and construction.His influence on these young can-didates was invaluable. Germainknew how to accompany them withgreat respect, kindness and patience.In Brother Lussier they found awitness and a true apostle of JesusChrist.

In August 1988, Germain was,this time, in Ouagadougou in Burk-ina Faso. The Society of Mission-aries of Africa decided to open abilingual training centre for candi-dates from West Africa. After 32

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years in Ghana, an English-speakingcountry, he generously agreed toparticipate in this new experience.

In this first stage training housein Ouagadougou, Germain was incharge of the treasury, technicaleducation for students and a thou-sand and one other services. In ashort time, he felt comfortable inthis new environment. The fouryears he spent there seemed veryshort and were a time of happinessfor him.

On October 12th, 1992, Germain,in agreement with his superiors,returned permanently to Canada.The many years of intense workwere felt and caused him nervousfatigue. His health was shaken.

On January 5th, 1993, Germainwas appointed to our White Fathercommunity in Winnipeg, Manitoba.He was responsible for welcomingand visiting the relatives, friendsand benefactors of the Society. Healso volunteered in a Winnipeg

parish. Two years later, he was re-called to Quebec. He was then ap-pointed to our community in Sher-brooke. He finally found the resthe deserved and, at the same time,he provided some services to elderlyor sick confreres.

In the years that followed, Ger-main experienced an ever-increasingdeafness that would make him to-tally deaf. In addition, hip surgeryhad left a legacy that required him to move around with a cane.Gradually his health deteriorated:he could no longer move by himself.In May 2017, it was discoveredthat Brother Germain suffered froma severe infection. He was hospi-talized and had then to be taken tothe St-Joseph Residential Centreto receive care adapted to his in-creasingly fragile health condition.

It is there that Brother GermainLussier died on August 12th, 2019.His funeral was held in Lennoxvilleon August 17th. And his body isburied in the parish cemetery.

Jacques Charron

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JEAN-GUY RICHARD1932 – 2019

Jean-Guy was born in Ange-Gardien near Quebec Cityon December 31st, 1932. He

is the son of the late MauriceRichard and Cécile Jobidon. Hehad three brothers and one sister.A harmonious home.

He did his elementary studiesin Château-Richer and then at Sault-au-Récollet in Montreal. He con-tinued his high school studies firstat Collège André Grasset in Mon-treal and then at the minor Seminaryof Québec.

In August 1954, he entered theWhite Fathers novitiate inChomedey, but a month and a halflater, he was asked to leave forhealth reasons. Far from gettingdiscouraged, he then joined theMajor Seminary of Quebec City topursue his theological studies. Andhe was ordained a priest on May31st, 1958.

The same year, on August 6, hewas admitted again to the novitiateof the White Fathers. A year later,in September 1959, he left for Zam-bia. He first went to Fort Jamesonto study the language. It was inKachebere that he took his perpetualmissionary oath on August 15th,1961.

Thus, from 1960 to 1971, hewas in a parish in Zambia and thenin Malawi from 1971 to 72. HisRegional of the time summed uphis first twelve years in Africa wellwith these words: “Very zealous,ardent missionary, very loved bythe people and very esteemed byhis confreres... a man of the futureto whom we can entrust importanttasks with confidence. »

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Unfortunately his health did nothold up and he had to leave Africain 1972. He was then appointed toCanada. But the following year, itwas demanded again in Malawi.His Regional wrote to him: “Evenif your health is not better, you arestill welcome. We’d be very happyto have you here in town. It seemsto me that you could do a lot whileadapting the necessary rhythm...”.But his health, far from improving,continues to deteriorate. He hadgiven too much of himself to mis-sionary animation work with youngpeople.

In 1975, he was chosen as Cana-da’s first Provincial Assistant. Itwould be until 1984.

Then that same year, he went toBaie-Comeau as chaplain of theMyriam Bethlehem community. Itwas a very young community found-ed in 1978. Already the followingyear, he felt called to dedicate himselfto this community. But in 1986, hereturned to the White Fathers com-munity to better discern the Lord’sdesires about him. He had difficultybeing away from his White Fathermissionary family. In 1987, he askedthe Provincial to share the life ofthis missionary community of Myr-iam Bethlehem while remaining at-tached to the Society. This was then

granted to him. He remained thereuntil early 2002. In 1990, he made an attempt to

return to Africa in Lilongwe. Hehad weighed the pros and conscarefully and wanted to make a se-rious test drive back. He thoughthis health would allow him to doso. His Provincial then wrote tohim: “I am delighted with your in-tention to try out a new mission inMalawi. There are risks as in anyproject. But everyone has to dealwith strengths and weaknesses.”Unfortunately, he definitely returnedhome after 2 months for health rea-sons. The diet was inadequate. Hethen understood that the Lord’s willwas for him to remain in Canada.Very quickly he expressed to

his superior his desire to return toMyriam Bethlehem. “Having al-ready lived in this community fornearly six years, I can say that Ifind the fulfillment and happinessthat I seek as a priest. I do not be-lieve that I can exercise anotherapostolic ministry elsewhere withsuch satisfaction and effectiveness.Moreover, the climate of faith,charity and trust that prevails therecorresponds very well to my per-sonal aspirations...” When Myriam’s Foundress, Sis-

ter Jeanne Bizier, learned that hewished to return to Myriam, she

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wrote to the Provincial: “I appreciateso much the presence, the spiritualsupport and the quality of help ofFather Jean-Guy in his spiritualand doctrinal support for the mem-bers of the community... He givesthe best of himself. He is the spiri-tual animator of the community.He also leads groups that come forretreats and spends a lot of time inspiritual direction. His health isstill as fragile as ever. He is a manof prayer. »

In 1996, he was appointed su-perior of the community in Chicouti-mi. It is with great regret that Myr-iam Bethleem lets him go. But atthe end of that same year, he wasreleased from this responsibilityand in early 1997, he returned toBaie Comeau to the Myriam-Beth-léem community.

In 2002, after a long discernment,he left Myriam Bethlehem. He wasthen appointed to Lennoxville as asenior assistant. And it will be untilNovember 2011.

His ministry will then be pri-marily with elderly and sick confr-eres who had to go to the hospitalor to a doctor, visit hospitalized or

resident confreres and participatein the spiritual animation of thecommunity.

In 2012, he stopped all activity;his health gradually deteriorated.

In August 2019, he was hospi-talized. He was diagnosed withcancer and transferred to palliativecare. He remains conscious almostto the end.

He died on September 3rd, 2019at the Hôtel Dieu in Sherbrooke atthe age of 86, including 58 yearsof missionary life in Zambia,Malawi and Canada.

In a note he left concerning hisfuneral, he asks that the emphasisbe placed on giving thanks for allthe goodness of the Lord for himand for the many people he met inhis ministry.

Father Jean-Guy’s funeral washeld in Quebec City on Saturday,September 7th, 2019, at Notre-Damede l’Espérance Parish. The remainswere then cremated and the asheswere placed in the Missionaries ofAfrica lot at Belmont Cemetery inQuebec City.

Jacques Charron

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André LEBROU1927 - 2019

T he grace of God mademe live in a Christianenvironment in the clan

of the 5 Lebrou children: Genevieve,André, Anne-Marie, Paul and Si-mone.” This is how André presentshimself in the little story of his lifethat he left us. He was born on22nd September 1927 in the villageof Roquefort in Aveyron. The warperiod was difficult and austere.But he found his development inScouting, which made him “leavetraditional institutions and discoverthe star at sea”. The principles of

Scouting marked him forever: beingready, pleasing someone, openness,dedication, purity, Good Action,service. So, in this context of joyand freedom, he was led to consideras an extension of Scouting, onthe one hand the priestly vocation,“higher service”, and on the otherthe missionary commitment,“throwing nets out at sea”.

In September 1948, at the ageof 21, he returned to Kerlois fortwo years. He devoted himself withenthusiasm to his studies, took aliking to them, especially that thesetting, the atmosphere and theteachers were inviting him to doso. Then followed the novitiate inAlgeria and theology in Tunisia.He was ordained priest on 10thApril 1955 in the Basilica ofCarthage.

In August 1955, departure forMali by boat from Marseille, bytrain from Dakar to Bamako. Hestill continued by boat on the NigerRiver to finally reach Mopti on27th September where he spent 18years. Then began his missionarylife: study of the language, Bam-bara, visits on foot or at the very

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most by bicycle. For years, he metpeople, in the manner of Jesus,seeking to adapt, to be accepted.He told us that we must “attenuateastonishment, create sympathies,bonds that allow us to enter everynook and cranny of the city andremain under the action of theHoly Spirit”. André was happy inthis work which he did with greatdiscretion, too much even accord-ing to some. But he continued,taking care to keep time for med-itation and prayer.

From 1962, he went with a 2c.v. to a very remote area, in thevillage of Minta. He built schools,dispensaries, while regularly visitingthe surrounding villages, smallChristian communities and fetishistcircles that had difficulty resistingto Islam.

In October 1975, he took oncemore the boat on the Niger Riverand settled in Gao. He dedicatedhimself to the people of the river,the “Isaboro”, whose language hehad difficulty learning. He also hadto visit some desert communities:his letters mention the names ofKidal, Tessalit, Timbuktu, GoundamDiré where he met the small Chris-tian communities. It was in Gaothat he lived his most beautifulmissionary years.

In 1985, he felt tired. He thenleft for France: spiritual and sab-batical year at the abbey of EnCalcat. Then a few months at theCatholic Institute in Toulouse.

We meet him again in August1987 in the diocese of San. Heworked there in parish ministrywith Malian brothers and priests.Always with a focus on non-Chris-tian or Muslim ethnic groups. Itwas at this time that he updated asmall catechism for those who werebeginning to attend the mission. Itwas not to everyone’s taste andAndré suffered from criticism fromvarious quarters. André remainedcalm, despite some sparks; alwayssmiling, rightly convinced that theSpirit was working in the depthsof his heart.

In 1994, he was invited to returnpermanently to France. This wasdifficult for him to accept. He washelped during this difficult time bythe Regional and by members ofhis family who came to see him inSan. Finally he went to Billèrewhere, in the first years, his apostolicconcern led him to accept someministry and to give an hand to theSecours Catholique de Pau.

The disease gradually spreadand led him to a life of prayer,abandonment and silence. He smiled

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more than he talked during thevisits he received. He died on Oc-tober 1st, 2019.

We remember André as an apos-tle, concerned about the “periph-

eries”, and, in some ways, as avanguard. With a deep love of JesusChrist. Thank you, André, “Dédé”for the missionary witness that wasyour whole life.

A confrere from Mali

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Pierre MAURIAUCOURT1926 - 2019

Pierre was born on Decem-ber 15th, 1926 in Gouy-en-Artois, in the Pas-de-

Calais region. The fourth child ofa sibling of 6, all his youth wasimmersed in nature, since his parentswere farmers. This simplicity oflife will never leave him. He wentto secondary school at the minorseminary of Arras, and after grad-uating from high school, he enteredthe White Fathers and followed thetraditional formation course at thetime: Philosophy at Kerlois from

1944 to 1946, novitiate at Maison-Carrée in Algeria, then theologystudies at Thibar where he tookhis missionary oath on 29th June1953. His novice master summedup his personality as follows: “Heis a very good and safe subjectfrom a moral and religious pointof view. He has always been veryregular and always docile, con-cerned about doing his duty welland devoting himself to others. “Itwas in Carthage, Tunisia, that hewas ordained a priest on June 29th,1954.

Appointed - “to his surprise” helater wrote - to North Africa, hefirst studied classical Arabic atManouba in Tunisia and was ap-pointed in 1955 to Djemaa-Saharidjin Algeria. The following year hewas found in Cherchell, in 1958 inAït Larba, in 59 in Larba NathIraten before returning to Francefor treatment in Thorenc and Tassyin Provence. He returned to Algeriain 1962 to the Centre de FormationProfessionnelle in Djemaa-Saharidj,where he became the superior in1965. In 1968 he was appointed inConstantine as general supervisor

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at the El-Menzah secondary schoolbefore returning to France for ayear of retraining in Lille. He re-turned to Algeria for another yearin Laghouat at the Centre de For-mation Professionnelle before re-turning permanently to France in1975. Everywhere he goes, heshowed great apostolic zeal, perhapsthanks to his ability to contact thepeople with whom he had to exer-cise his responsibilities. Very re-spectful of others in their differencesof culture and religion, his Regionalwrote: “An intelligent, active, zeal-ous colleague, he has a practicalmind. He organized his Centre, puthis house in order and achievedgood results. He is active, generousand supernatural, he don’t spareany effort. »

Back in France, for personalreasons, he distanced himself fromthe White Fathers, while maintain-ing very good relations with theMuslim world. Initially, he deltwith the reintegration of prisonersin Amiens prison, before returningto BIAC where he would be incharge of the files of repatriatedFrench Muslims, alternately inAmiens, Rouen, Marseille and Flersuntil 1985. Then he will put himselfat the service of the Bishop ofAmiens, Bishop Jacques Noyer, toensure replacements, because he

had then reached the age of his re-tirement, first at the rectory ofLongpré then in Amiens itself invarious parishes. The Bishop ofAmiens intervened with the Provin-cial of France to keep him withthese words: “Since his return tothe diocese, he has rendered usmany services with great availabil-ity. I am very grateful to him forthat. He always keeps the concernfor Islamic-Christian dialogue; inthis field, he has work to do. Youknow how delicate this is. I askedhim not to take any initiative thatwas too personal. He had his fullplace in diocesan bodies in thisfield. In any case, it is with greatpleasure that I ask you to keepPierre with us.” He said goodbyeto the diocese in 2014 for reasonsof age and health.

The White Fathers and himselfhad been in contact for some time(in fact the contacts had neverreally been broken, but perhapsPierre felt a little out of place), andtowards his end of life, by mutualagreement, Pierre took his placewithin the Society itself. After ashort stay in Mours, he joined thecommunity of Bry sur Marne onJuly 1st, 2014.

During 5 years therefore he livedthe last years of his life in great

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serenity, accepting the ravages ofyears as of illness with a rare trustin God. He was very happy toreturn to community life, and hispresence at all religious servicesand community meetings made theconfreres admire him, while bring-ing him great peace; he read littlebut spent a lot of time watchingKTO, keeping in touch by telephonewith many contacts. Victim of anunfortunate fall in his room, hewas condemned to a wheelchair,and lived his situation with greathumility and abandonment. He leftus a little bit without warning duringthe night of October 11st, 2019.His funeral in Bry’s chapel gatheredaround his coffin, in addition ofcourse to confreres from his com-munity and some from elsewhere,nephews and nieces with whom hehad always maintained excellentrelations, but also former parish-ioners with whom he had sharedhis pastoral concerns, and even apriest from Beauvais who hadknown him well and who, throughhis testimony, underlined how much

Peter had left lasting memories inthe diocese.

This excerpt from the farewellspeech of the Mayor of Picquignyaddressed to Pierre during the cel-ebration organized on the occasionof his definitive departure fromBeauvais to join the White Fatherssums up Pierre’s life quite well:

“Having myself spoken a fewtimes with Father Pierre Mauriau-court, I can tell you that beyondhis ability to share his religiousconvictions, he is one of those whoprobably thought that this was notenough: for him it was necessaryto go much further in the process:to assist people in difficulty, helpthe sick, sometimes even accom-pany them until their last breath,know how to discuss with everyone,listen to this or that position withoutdenigrating them. Father Mauriau-court knew how to do all this per-fectly, whether here in France orduring his stays abroad. He wasabove all a missionary, a true mis-sionary. »

Clément Forestier

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ROGER MERCERON1930 - 2019

Roger was born on Feb-ruary 13th, 1930 inVendée, in St Pierre-le

Chemin. He was the eldest of 11children. His parents, farmers, rana modest farm where there was noshortage of work, but, writes Roger,joy was the rule in this numeroussiblings. Roger had always remainedvery attached to his family. He washimself loved by all, and the manybrothers and sisters, nephews andlittle nephews who came to his fu-neral, prove the place he held inthe family.

A deeply Christian family, Rogerhad a uncle priest and a aunt reli-gious. It was at around the age of11 that he thought of becoming apriest. One day, at the end of thecatechism, the priest asked him:“Roger, wouldn’t you like to be-come a priest?” His answer wasclear and brief: Yes. He never ques-tioned that answer.

He therefore followed the pathof diocesan seminaries where hemade very good friends. One day,he learned that the brother of oneof his good friends had been killedin Monte Cassino; he was in phi-losophy with the White Fathers;Roger thought: that, someone mustreplace him! Why not me? Whynot me? The decision was made:he will be White Father. Beforebeing authorized by the diocese toleave the seminary, he had to doone year of service as a supervisorand teacher at the college.

This is how he arrived at thenovitiate of Maison-Carrée in 1952.There, he enjoyed community lifeand was very happy. He wrote:“However, the little I remember ofit, is the day the Novice Master

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told me in front of the whole com-munity that I was like a duck underwhose feathers water did not pen-etrate”.

After one year in Carthage andone year in Thibar, he was ordaineda priest in Carthage on April 10th,1955 by Bishop Montaigne, formerApostolic curate of Beijing. Thenthere were years of study in Rome:one year at the Gregorian Universityfor the degree in dogmatic theologyand two magnificent years, he says,at the Jesuit Fathers’ Biblical In-stitute for the degree in biblicalsciences.

In 1958, he was appointed tothe novitiate in Gap: he taught theGospels.

1964: Major seminary of Murhe-sa in Congo. He was alone to teachdogmatics and the Bible in all years.He was also in charge of the li-brary.

From 1974 to 1987: major semi-nary in Bujumbura, Burundi. Thesewere his best years, he said. But in1987 he was like most fathers “allowedto leave Burundi permanently”.

After a year of study at the In-stitut Catholique de Lyon, he wasappointed to Lille and then to Fri-bourg in Switzerland to support

our undergraduate candidates. Itwas the end of forty years of teach-ing and accompanying students.

“One regret, he said, was that Ihadn’t gotten into an African lan-guage; I was always told: “Youdon’t have time now, you’ll do thatlater...”.

In 1998, saw the beginning ofa new phase in his life. He was ap-pointed to Jerusalem to take careof the magazine “Proche Orientchrétien”. He became its secretary,which involved the administrationof subscriptions and everythingaround them, the formatting of theproposed texts in French, and alsoreviews of some books on the re-alities of the Eastern Churches. Atthe same time, he was rector of St.Anne’s Basilica. For three yearshe was also deputy head of theEthiopia Near East (EPO) section.“It taught me to listen and observe,and to admire the work done inEthiopia by our first confreres there.The Holy Father, at the invitationof the Bishop of Adigrat, had askedthe Missionaries of Africa to helpthe local Ethiopian rite Church todevelop itself, in particular by takingcharge of the major seminary, draw-ing inspiration from what we weredoing in Jerusalem when the GreekMelkite seminary was there. »

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On August 10th, 2009, Rogermade a terrible fall down the stairsof the basilica. Here is what hesays: “Four months in various hos-pitals in Jerusalem and Paris. Withfracture of the left brow bone, im-pressive hematoma behind andabove the right eye, blindness inthe left eye. As an unexpected butimpressive consequence for me, Iregained consciousness after severalmonths in a coma, in an Israelihospital, among a group of nursesand caregivers.”

“They were there, a group ofsick people, including me, Israelis,Muslims, and Christians, includingsome sisters, revealing to me, daz-zled by what can be the love of aman penetrated by the love of God.I was filled with God’s love andgratitude for leading me to this ex-perience. This continued some timelater during another visit when oneof them began to call out to me bysinging my name: “Roger Corazon”which I interpreted as meaning“Roger of my heart”; it was thenrenewed each time this group ar-rived in the room; from the doorwe heard this same loving, free,and respectful exclamation, alwaysas expressive of the Presence ofOur Father.”

The after-effects of this fall andlong coma were profound. Roger

was appointed to the retirementhome in Billère at the end of 2009:he has difficulty walking and histhoughts are a little confused. How-ever, one of his friends fromJerusalem was kind enough to pickhim up, accompany him toJerusalem for eight days and bringhim back to Billère: it was a greatjoy for Roger. His condition onlydeteriorated rapidly. He could nolonger move, then talk, communi-cate... and finally it was severalyears in a semi coma. Not a wordof complaint from him. The staffof the house cared for him withgreat kindness and delicacy.

He died on the 11th October2019. The funeral was held in ourchapel. Twenty members of hisfamily joined the community, whichproves Roger’s place among hisfamily. One of his nephews, a priestin Malestroit in Morbihan, presidedat Mass.

“Even if in us the outer mangoes towards his ruin, the innerman renews himself day by day” 2Cor 4:16

Roger leaves us with the memoryof a confrere with whom it is goodto live, and a model of a White Fa-ther missionary. Bishop ClaudeRault gave his testimony: “I hadthe joy of forming a community

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with Roger in 1995-1997 in Fri-bourg, where he taught the Bibleduring the spiritual year. I appreci-ated him for his love of Africa,and his humour also in community.Roger also had good judgment andhis good humour did a lot of goodaround him.

Thank you Roger for everythingyou’ve done, always discreetly.Thank you for being this colleagueof whom we will keep an excellentmemory.

Bertrand Gayet

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Jos Leys1934 - 2019

Jos Leys - officially registeredas Joseph - was born inGhent in East Flanders on

the 11th of July 1934, the eldest ofa family of six children. After pri-mary school in Ghent and Uccle,he attended the classical humanitiesat the Collège Saint-Jean Berchmansin Brussels. In September 1952 hestarted studying philosophy withthe White Fathers in Boechout. Hisbrother Edouard would later followhim there. Jos did the novitiate inVarsenare and theology in Heverlee,

where he took his missionary oathon July the 5th, 1958 and was or-dained priest on February the 2nd,1959. In the meantime his parentshad left Belgium and moved toMontmorency in France. His spir-itual directors appreciate his openand cordial character. Jos has a lotof common sense, he is well-bal-anced, devoted and charitable, rathercalm, even phlegmatic. He is slowto act, but persevering once he iscommitted. He doesn’t take muchinterest in studying. He always fin-ishes written exams in record time,but his answers are usually ad rem.He is rather shy, yet at ease in acommunity. He has difficulty ex-pressing himself; he is a bit roughat times.

He asked for and received hisappointment for what was stillcalled Baudouinville, now Kirungu.On October 12th 1959 he flew toCongo and became a teacher at theminor seminary of Lusaka, wherehe also had to learn the language.Barely a year later he was appointedcurate in Mukatano. At the begin-ning of 1962 he worked for a fewmonths in Lumono, then he was

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put in charge of the bursar’s officein Lyapenda. In December 1962he returned as a teacher at theminor seminary, which in the mean-time had been transferred to Bau-douinville (Kapulo). In September1963 he was sent as curate andbursar to Mateo (Albertville), wherehe stayed until his first leave inSeptember 1964. In March 1965he was appointed bursar in Lusakaand director of the boarding school.It was there that he learned that hisbrother Edouard had returned tosecular life. In July 1968 Jos wasagain sent to the regional minorseminary in Baudouinville. Theschool year ended with a revolt ofthe minor seminarians, to whichthe bishop, Mgr Mulolwa, puts anend by expelling the upper classes.When he returned from his leaveat the end of August 1969 Jos foundthe seminary transformed into the“Kaoze College”, restarted withonly the lower classes of the hu-manities. He taught there and wasthe accountant. His community isthen composed of Jan(neke) Peeters(+), Jean Boulanger (+), HenriDerue, André Thijs, some Belgianlay teachers and a Congolese. FatherMichielsen, regional, writes: “Givesthe impression of being rather su-perficial. Without being brilliant,is a good teacher”. Jos will staythere until 1975. During his leave

he underwent a renewal course atThy-le-Château and make the longretreat in Rome. On his return Josis sent to Lubumbashi, to the CharlesLwanga parish. Not for long, how-ever, because in November 1979the diocese of his first love, Bau-douinville, asked for him as curatein Kala.

Freddy Heinz, regional, describeshim as an excellent confrere, a littlenonchalant no doubt, but “below acertain roundness a magnificentand generous heart”. He is close tothe people, whose sorrows andworries he shares, like the GoodShepherd of the Gospel. In Sep-tember 1982 Jos was appointed toLyapenda in Marungu. There heteams up with Swaenepoel (+),Hensberghe (+) and lay helper RenéSuys. Some outstations of the parishare located 130 km away, on theborder with Zambia. In November1983 he had his left kidney removedin Herent and returned to Lyapenda.In May 1991 he was appointedparish priest of Kala. The followingyear, after the Session/Retreat inJerusalem, he was sent as curate toKirungu. His father died in De-cember 1991 and his mother a fewmonths later. In 1993 Jos was putin charge of the chaplaincy of theLegion of Mary in the deanery ofMoba-Sud. On New Year’s Day

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1994 his sister Detty died, she whowelcomed him so well during hishome leave. At the beginning ofJanuary 1999 Jos became parishpriest in Kapulo. In September2001 he was called to become theprovincial bursar of South-EastZaire, a position which the confreresappreciated very much. He tookthe opportunity of his leave in 2002to attend the DMA (MissionaryDiscipleship Today) session inJerusalem. In July 2003 he receivedwhat was to be his last appointmentin the Congo: chaplain at Fomulacin Katana. The Daughters of MaryQueen of the Apostles rejoiced tohave him there and appreciated histalks to the novices. Already at thattime Jos was suffering from seriousrespiratory problems. He was toofat, spontaneously hated any phys-ical effort and felt comfortable onlyin his armchair in front of the tele-vision. His doctor brother had pre-scribed him medication for diabetes,but Jos didn’t care. His youngerbrother Edouard suspected earlyAlzheimer’s...

At the end of his regular leavein 2007, he was retained in Belgium.

At the beginning of November2008 he joined our community ofVarsenare-Kasteel. In July 2009his condition required a transfer toAvondrust. Little by little psycho-logical problems disturbed his nor-mal functioning and he had to beplaced in a psychiatric institution.After a short stay in Beernem, theBrothers of Charity welcomed himin May 2012 in their St. John’sHome in Zelzate, where he is sur-rounded by competence and affec-tion. On 15th October 2019 hepassed away peacefully.

The confreres appreciated Jos.They gladly entrusted him our sta-giaires. The superiors could counton him for all kinds of appointments.“Go!” and Jos went. The last yearsof his life were difficult, it is true,but now he has found peace nearhis Lord.

The funeral took place on Sat-urday 19th October 2019 in thechapel of the Saint John Home inZelzate, in the presence of hisfamily who had come in large num-bers from France and of many ofhis confreres.

Jef Vleugels

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PAUL GILARDEAU1935 - 2019

Paul was born in Montrealat St. John the BaptistParish on the 22nd of Feb-

ruary 1937. He was the son of thelate Horace Gilardeau and GilberteDumoulin. He had one sister,Monique and two brothers, Claudeand Jean.

His vocation began when hewas five years old. One Sunday, atMass, a missionary bishop, a WhiteFather from Africa, came to givethe homily. After Mass, this bishopmet him and asked him what he

was thinking of doing later. Andhe answered that he wanted to be-come a “White Father”. And thismemory of his childhood accom-panied him throughout his youth.It was like a call that he had receivedand to which he answered “yes”.

He did his primary studies atthe Deaf-Mute Institution in Mon-treal.

He continued his secondary stud-ies at St-Ignace College in Rose-mont and at the Externat ClassiqueSaint-Viateur in Montreal. Duringhis youth, he was an impassionedcyclist. At the age of 19, he touredQuebec by bicycle.

He entered the novitiate of theWhite Fathers in St-Martin de Lavalon August 7th, 1956. He greatlyappreciated this spiritual year. Thefollowing year, he entered the East-view Scholasticate in the suburbsof Ottawa for theological studies.He pronounced his missionary oathon June 18th, 1960. During this pe-riod of formation, he enjoyed study-ing Islam and he even gave lectureson this subject. At the end of histheological studies, he asked to be

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sent anywhere in Africa but hewanted to be in contact with Mus-lims. One of his professors wroteabout him on the eve of his oath:“Excellent confrere, very well bal-anced. I think it’s a vocation ofchoice.” He was ordained to thepriesthood on January 28th, 1961,still in Eastview.

On August 25th, 1961, he leftfor Europe. After a pastoral courseat Mours, he was sent to Burundito work among the Muslims of thecapital. But first he was asked tolearn Kirundi and for six years hedevoted himself to pastoral workwith the Christian Barundis. Thenhe was appointed to Buyenzi, asuburb of Bujumbura, where thereare mostly Muslims, mostly fromCongo. He learned Kiswahili. It isaround the creation of a sportscentre he built that contacts withthis population were created. Abeautiful fraternity was born whereChristians and Muslims were happyto meet and fraternize.

Then came the violent eventsof 1972 during which thousandsof people died, including somepriests whom Paul knew. Mission-aries were suspected and some wereexpelled. The confrere with whomhe worked at Buyenzi was thrownout. The sports centre has to be

closed. Paul was then invited toreturn to pastoral work in a Christianenvironment. He returned to Canadato rest a little.

And a few days before returningto Burundi, the General Councilasked him to go instead to Lubum-bashi in Congo. He wrote: “I hadbeen in Burundi for eleven years. Iknew the language and the mentalitywell. I felt at home there. Theyhad assimilated me, transformedme. Coming out of Burundi waslike pulling a fish out of the water.In Lubumbashi, I had to learn howto live again.”

So from 1973, we find him inCongo, in Lubumbashi, as parishpriest until 1992. In 1989, therewas a question of an appointmentin Canada for missionary animation.But because of his strong reluctance,they preferred to appoint him toKalémie, in another diocese. HisRegional Superior wrote about himin 1989: “Paul is serious. He is aman of God. He prays. He abhorseverything that is false. He is zeal-ous, close to the people. He is be-ginning to have health problems,back pain. He’s always been ridinga motorcycle. He’ll be 52 yearsold soon.”

That same year, he had a heartattack in Kalemia during a liturgical

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celebration and was evacuated toBrussels where he underwent fourbypasses. His rehabilitation wasdone in Belgium with physiotherapytreatments. He then went to Romefor a year of study at the pastoralsection of PISAI.

The following year, he wasbackin Burundi. He was parishpriest in Bujumbura from 1993 to2012. On July 1st, 2012, Paul re-turned to Canada for health reasons.He wrote this in April: “I wouldlike to leave with only two suitcasesfor the trip and leave nothing behind.They say that to leave is to die alittle, for me it will be to die a littlemuch.” He had heart surgery thefollowing year.

Fr. Gilardeau was appointed tothe Provincial House where hisconfreres kept the most beautifulmemories of him. He liked to put his skills at the service of those who had problems with theircomputers.

Two months later he was as-signed to the Afrika Centre. Hewas very much appreciated by allthose who came to the Centre. Hiswelcome was warm and his atten-tion to each person was unique.

On the morning of October 17th,he was found dead in his room,probably the victim of a cardiacarrest. He was 82 years old, 59years of missionary life in Burundi,Congo and Canada.

Upon learning of his death, BishopPlacide Lubamba of Kasongo, Congo,wrote to the Provincial: “It is withgreat sadness that I hear the news ofBaba Paulo’s death...His generosityin favour of the diocese of Kasongowill remain engraved in ourhearts...May his soul rest in peace...”.

His funeral took place on Octo-ber 24th, 2019, in Notre Dame deLourdes Chapel in Montreal. AfterMass, the remains were crematedand the urn was laid to rest in theSt-Martin Parish Cemetery in Laval.

Jacques Charron.

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Maurits Van Genechten1938 - 2019

Maurits - officially reg-istered as Maurice -was born on the 2nd of

August 1938 in Hove in theprovince of Antwerp. His fatherwas a teacher. Maurits was theyoungest of six children. After pri-mary school in Hove and the sixthLatin class at the St. John Berch-mans College in Antwerp, Mauritscontinued his secondary school atthe minor seminary in Hoogstraten.In 1957 he joined the White Fathersin Boechout, did the novitiate in

Varsenare and took his missionaryoath on June the 28th 1963 in Hev-erlee, where he was ordained prieston June the 29th 1964. Maurits hada joyful, optimistic, cheerful andlively character. He was pleasantin his interactions, a good elementin the community. He was some-times a bit rough, a bit of a bushman.He was never in a hurry, alwaysarrived too late. He was intelligent,but got carried away too quicklyand was too influenced by his sen-sitivity. Maurits has a strong pastoralsense and he preached very well.He was a gifted musician and heaccompanied Gregorian chant onthe organ. He had a great hold onyoung people and did good workwith the scouts of Heverlee. Ac-cording to his leaders, he wouldbe an excellent ‘propagandist’...

And that’s what happened... Afterhis ordination Maurits was appoint-ed propagandist in Antwerp in Sep-tember 1964. Maurits confessedthat he was too inexperienced totalk about the missions he hadnever set foot in and too immatureto preach retreats. In January 1966he was, despite his explicit request

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for the AOF (French West Africa),appointed to the Congo, at Aru, inthe diocese of Mahagi. The fol-lowing year he was curate at Essebi,then at Ariwara. In 1969 he returnedto Essebi as parish priest. His im-pulsive reactions ended in conflictswith the teachers, with the Con-golese sisters and finally also withthe bishop who sent him on “ex-tended leave”. He took the oppor-tunity to study missiology and an-thropology at the University ofLouvain. Maurits then offered togo and work among the Logbaraimmigrants in Uganda, but thisproject was considered unrealistic.Maurits then opted for Upper Volta(Burkina Faso).

At that time the White Fathershad two regions there; for Mauritsit became West Volta. At the be-ginning of September 1974 helearned Bambara, the most wide-spread language, in Falaje, Mali,elsewhere called Dioula. He thenwent to Bama in the diocese ofBobo-Dioulasso; in this parish fourlanguages were spoken. His com-munity had three White Fathersand two diocesan priests. FatherPuiroux, the Regional Superior,notes that Maurits “has adaptedwell from all points of view, thathe has a facility for the languageand that he has taken on a rhythm

of touring that very few will beable to keep up with. In October1978, he took classes in more, thelanguage of the Mossi people, whocame to Bama in large numbers insearch of less arid lands. In 1978,during his leave, he attended theretreat session in Jerusalem. In De-cember 1982, he became the parishpriest of Bama. His parish had 58villages. He writes: “Those whoare somewhat aware of the distancesto be covered here, of the “Towerof Babel” of languages in our coun-try, of the masses of illiterates, canget an idea of the slowness withwhich we are advancing. But moreand more young people are gettinginvolved...” Maurits planned manyconstructions and knew how tofind the money to carry them out.Thanks to the Pontifical MissionarySocieties he received a vehicle.But the Belgian Province calledhim back for missionary animation.As a preparation, at the end of Au-gust 1984, he returned to his countryby car, crossing Niger, the Saharaand North Africa .

At the beginning of January1985 he moved to the “BlauweTorre” in Varsenare. Our animatorswere working in schools and mis-sionary circles, giving lectures,preaching recollections, organizingyouth camps and putting the Centre

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at the disposal of schools and youthmovements. In May 1985 Mauritsbecame a member of the NationalVocational Centre. Hubert Huy-brechts, provincial, testified: “Mau-rits succeeds very well with youngpeople and he gives himself bodyand soul to this work of animation.He is full of enthusiasm and isvery enthusiastic about young peo-ple.” Maurits also organized ex-perimental trips with young peopleto Mali and Burkina Faso. He ac-tively participated in the organiza-tion of the RMI (International Mis-sionary Route). In 1988 Mauritsjoined our community in Leuven,from where he continued the ani-mation in the Antwerp region.

In November 1991 he returnedto Africa. The bishop of Bobo-Dioulasso appointed him curate inKonadougou. Maurits accepted oncondition that he learned Senoufo.The parish was 50% Muslim, 40%animist and only 1% Christian.Maurits was especially in chargeof catechesis. He built rooms wherethe pupils can come to study andfind reading material. Readjustingto Burkina was not easy. He hadtrouble with any form of authori-tarianism. In 1996 he returned toBelgium for a sabbatical year (Lu-men Vitae). In October 1996 hewas appointed parish priest in

Kalmthout. After a few years heneeded a change and went back toBurkina in July 2000 for the parishof Dori in the diocese of Fada N’-Gourmi. Maurits was diabetic andhad to undergo several bypasses.He continued, however, unable torefuse service. He regularly fellasleep at the wheel. In September2003, he returned to Konadougou,where the climate is milder. Afterhaving built four multi-purposehalls, he returned to Belgium inJune 2005 and became a parishpriest in Merksem. He follows the60+ session in Rome. Several timesthe new bishop of Banfora visitedMaurits in Merksem and invitedhim to come and found a newparish in Subaga. In 2010 Mauritsaccepted and put his superiors infront of the “fait accompli”. Hefound the necessary funds and builtthe new parish. In June 2011 hehad to be urgently repatriated, buthe completed his work, includinga secondary school for girls.

In June 2015 Maurits returnsfor good. He accepted the chap-laincy of the Little Sisters of thePoor in ‘t Kiel (Antwerp). The in-habitants of the home appreciatedthis jovial, cheerful and deeply be-lieving chaplain. At the end of 2018Maurits had a heart attack. Heproved to be a difficult patient. In

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June 2019 he joined Avondrust(Varsenare). His dementia pro-gressed. He died on the 17th of Oc-tober. We buried him on the 24th.

In 2013 the weekly Tertio askedhim where he had been happiest,

in Africa or in Flanders. Mauritsreplied: “Happiness is in the heart.The figure of Jesus is the red threadof my life and you can be attachedto Jesus everywhere. »

Jef Vleugels

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Henk van Kessel1926 – 2019

Henk (his relatives calledhim Hendrik) was born7th Septembre 1926 at

Dinther, the 9th of 13 children. Of the 11 boys 5 became a priest,2 White Canon (Norbertine), 2diocesan, and Henk M.Afr. To be-come a missionary he followed ourformation in St.Charles near Boxtel,‘s-Heerenberg, and Monteviot, Scot-land, where he took the missionaryoath 19th November 1951, and wasordained in Galashiels 31st May1952.

Henk was of a calm disposition,an introvert, steady and zealous.The Rector of the minor seminarywrote 26th April 1945: “A ratherthick bark has to be removed, thena ‘fresh’ core will appear”. He hadto conquer a certain shyness toshow his qualities. He had a soundjudgment, was a thorough carefulworker, and a good listener. Hewas warmhearted, ever ready torender service.

On 30th September 1952 he leftfor Zambia, Chikowa parish, wherehe studied Nyanja, language andculture. It was a real first evange-lisation: the whole parish had hardly200 catholics, most outstations notmore than 10 or even less. Thearea was remote, with difficultcommunications. During the rainy-season, end November until May,roads were impassable for motor-cycles or cars. Once he had to leavehis motorcycle behind and walkhome. Even a bicycle on the wayto a outstation had to be regularlycarried.

In 1955 he moved to Mingaparish, where he stayed 6 years.His regional superior wrote Febru-

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ary 1959: “The most remarkable ishis imperturbability: he speaks witha soft voice, does not drive toofast, and does not take any risk.He is a friendly confrère, very reg-ular, he considers and does thingsin the spirit of the gospel”. Thenext regional superior in 1961 didknock something off it, but the ap-preciation of Henk remained.

In 1961 he was for 6 months inKanyanga parish, but on his ownrequest he was moved to Chikunguparish. After 3 months this wasdiscontinued due to the death of aconfrère in Minga. February 1962he was asked to temporarily replacethis confrère because he knew thepeople and situation in Minga ashe had been there for 6 years. Hewould be able to advise the parish-priest, which he did generously. In1963 he moved to Naviruli parish.In that period the liturgical renewalhad to be implemented. He suc-ceeded in it quite well, but accordingto some the celebrations could havebeen somewhat livelier.

Then there is a succession ofseveral parishes; in all those hededicated himself whole-heartedlyand with enthousiasm, taking in-terest in the people and the area :1966 Chadiza, 1967 Katete, 1970Chikungu, 1974 Msipazi, 1975

Katete again, and 28th Novembre1978 Lumezi. There he becamethe parish priest and stayed forover 11 years. Being 52 he had tolearn there a new language andculture, Timbuka. With his steadyand systematic way of learning lan-guages, and with his perseverance,he succeeded quite well. Regardingall the parishes where he lived andworked, his regional superior wrote:“No office is better kept, no fami-ly-data and registers are better up-to-date”. That could cause tensionwith community-members whowere less precise. He was an adeptof the established order, while othersfollowed a more renewing approach.The best intentions on both sidescould not prevent that some tensionsoccurred among them. However,Henk was recognised as someonewith common sense and a largeexperience.

End 1989 he moved for the thirdtime to Minga parish. Comment ofHenk in a letter 18th August 1990:“I had not suspected that it wouldtake me so long to get used toMinga again. The reason of courseis that I stayed for 11 years in thesame place (Lumezi) and that thereI did what I wished or thought thatwas good. Here in Minga of courseother norms of ‘what is good’ areused”. His bishop praised him in a

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letter 30th October 1992: “I can saythree things about Henk van Kessel:1) Among his fellow-priests he isa model for keeping the parish-registers up-to-date; 2) He managedto learn two languages in the diocesealmost perfectly such as few areable to; 3) He is one of the veryfew who accepted appointments inthe North and the South of the dio-cese without any problem”.

In 1996 Henk had to go on sick-leave to the Netherlands.

On 17th March 1997 the bishopappointed him in the diocesan townChipata as his secretary and forthe diocesan archives. Henk didthat for 8 years to the satisfactionof both. On 30th August 2003 hewas appointed in addition the offi-cialis for marriage-cases. On 12thMay 2005 he handed over and leftfor the Netherlands on sick-leave.After examination and treatmenthe could return to Chipata, nowfor pastoral work. He would help-out in the diocesan secretariat, andteach the Chewa-language to oneor more missionaries when therewere candidates.

In 2015 he received the Orderof Orange-Nassau.

From 2011 onwards he camefor home-leave every 2 years. Soagain in 2019; after 2 months quietenjoyment, visiting relatives andfriends, and cycle-trips in the coun-try-side enjoying nature, he leftagain 20th August 2019, not sus-pecting that this time it would befor a very short duration. On 23thOctober 2019 he returned to theNetherlands because of a seriousillness. Examinations showed thattreatment was no longer possible.He died peacefully 31st December2019 in a home with palliative careclose to his relatives. At the timeof his dying his confreres were ina New Year’s Eve service, wherethey prayed for him by name, while3 of his nephews and nieces wereaffectionately around “uncle Hen-drik”.

Together with relatives andfriends we buried him in ourSt.Charles Heythuysen cemetery6th January 2020.

The characteristic of Jesus whichHenk highlighted in his life was:“He will rise and give him whateverhe needs”. Luke 11, 8

Marien van den Eijnden and Jozef de Bekker

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JEAN CORDESSE1925 - 2019

Jean was born on 2th Decem-ber 1925, in Paris (IV), thesecond son of small shop-

keepers, also born in Paris, but ofLozerian origin on his father’s side,and Auvergne on his mother’s side.In his childhood, they moved tosettle near the St-Michel fountainin the Latin Quarter. He did his sec-ondary studies at the École desFrancs Bourgeois, with the Brothersof the Christian Schools, and passedhis Math-elem baccalaureate. It wasin this school that he very quicklythought of becoming a priest.

One evening in 1938, when hewas in eighth grade, his family re-ceived a visit from a White Fathercousin who had just spent 10 yearsin the curateiate of Bangweolo, inNorthern Rhodesia, now Zambia.It was then that he decided to jointhe White Fathers. Then came thewar years. He was received at rueFriant to express his desire to be-come a White Father missionary,and it was decided to send him tothe novitiate in Tournus to learnLatin, and then to do another yearof Latin in Paris. And finally itwas the start of his philosophystudies at Kerlois, from September1945 to July 1947. Jean wrote along time afterwards: “Those werethe two best years of my life! »

In 1947 he returned to MaisonCarrée for his novitiate. He thendid his scholasticate at s’Heerenbergin Holland, then finished his for-mation at Monteviot (Scotland),where he took his oath on the 29thMay 1952, received the diaconatetwo days later, and was ordainedpriest there on the 6th January 1953.

During the years of his forma-tion, it was stressed that John was

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a good student, that he had a strongwill and was energetic. He can bevery cordial, and sometimes hy-per-sensitive. Some find him a littlestubborn, demanding... The remarksof his formators are often very di-vergent about his character. Butthose who have lived with him onmission would say that he was veryhard-working, generous, sometimesreserved and secretive, sometimesjovial and smiling.

He left for Zambia at the end ofJune 1953, where he began to learnthe Bemba language, in the Dioceseof Mansa, in Lubwe. The populationwas strongly Catholic, the fathershaving arrived there in 1905. Jean,rather shy, found it difficult to mixwith the inhabitants and learn thelanguage. But he succeeded littleby little and finally spoke and wroteit very well.

Jean spent most of his missionarylife in this diocese of Mansa, nearlakes, swamps and large rivers. In1994, 41 years later, he left for theNorth-East in the diocese of Mbala.

In 1955 he was appointed curatein Chibote. He was superior inNsakaluba from 1957 to 1963. There,the Catholic population was muchsmaller, there were many Protestants,Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh DayAdventists... John found this change

difficult, but he worked hard. Heliked to teach catechism to cate-chumens, to children of the 1st com-munion, to the confirmandi. Johnloved to teach; he had the heart of acatechist. With his experience, helater wrote a simple and practicalcatechism (questions - answers) intwo volumes. Unfortunately, thiscatechism did not become the officialcatechism of the Bemba speakingdioceses; another official catechismappeared at the same time. In 1963,he was appointed curate in Lubwefor one year, then curate at MansaCathedral where he spent three years.

In September 1967, he madethe great retreat at Villa Cavallettiin Italy. Jean had health problemsand had to stay in France for sometime. One year in the communityof Chaumontel, then 6 months inthe Community of Bordeaux.

He returned to Zambia in thediocese of Mansa to be appointedcurate at Twingi in September 1969,then parish priest of the same parishfrom 1st January 1973 until the endof 1979. This immense parish wassituated in the heart of the swampsof Lake Bangweolo. Jean enjoyedit immensely. He loved the water,boating, and sometimes fishing fortiger fish and hunting ducks. Overthe 55 years of his life in Zambia,

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Jean spent 34 years on the shoresof Lake Bangweolo with itsswamps, and on the shores of LakeMweru. In these areas where manyare fishermen, the population wassometimes harsh, because life ishard: malaria, lack of food, faminein some years, drowning... He lovedthe people of these places, andoften went on his dear boat to visitthe islands and spend several daysthere. There he was fully happy:he taught, he celebrated the Eu-charist, he confessed, he visitedthe sick. So that he could give thebest of himself, it was preferablethat Jean be the parish priest, be-cause he preferred to make the de-cisions himself.

On the 1st January 1979, he wasappointed curate of Mansa Cathe-dral. In November 1982, he leftfor the north of the Diocese, on theshores of Lake Mweru, to becomeparish priest of the parishes ofKashikishi and Rosario. In January1985, he went back south on theshores of Lake Bangweolo: curatein Samfya, then parish priest ofthe same parish. At the end of1986, he returned to his belovedparish of Twingi, in the swamps.

At the end of 1990, he attendedthe retreat session in Jerusalem.On his return to Zambia, he went

back to the north of the diocese ofMansa, on the shores of LakeMweru, parish priest of Kashikishi.

After many years in the dioceseof Mansa, a great turning point inhis life is about to take place. Infact, in 1994, rather disappointednot to be invited to continue hisministry there, he left for the Dio-cese of Mbala, in the North-Eastof Zambia, south of Lake Tan-ganyika. But he became accustomedto his new environment and resumedhis tours tirelessly to teach andbuild churches. For Jean was alsoa builder; how many churches andchapels did he not build in his life!He was generous with his assets,especially for large projects. Heloved life, a good little beer or aglass of wine from time to time.But his lifestyle was always verysimple, he knew how to be contentwith little.

Jean also spent a great deal ofhis free time during the week, com-puterizing the parish registers ofthe Archdiocese of Kasama, andhe started those of the Diocese ofMpika. All his life, his work in theparish registers was of great accu-racy.

In 1996, Jean attended the ses-sion in Jerusalem, then the sessionof the 70+ in Rome at the beginning

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of 1998. His mother, to whom hewas very attached, died in April1998. Jean had taken great care ofher during her last years. Jean wasable to go back to Zambia in May1998, to the north of the diocese ofMbala. At the end of 1999, he washospitalized in Lusaka, suffering alot from his back, and had to besent back to France for treatment.

In 1999, several parishes in thenorth of the diocese of Mbala wereattached to the archdiocese ofKasama. At the end of 2001, Jeanbecame curate in the parish ofSainte-Anne in Kasama. He coura-geously continued touring, building,instruction... In July 2002 he cele-brated his Golden Jubilee. In 2003,he and three other confreres weresavagely attacked at night bythieves. But this did not discourageJean who continued his regular

work in the parish and in the dioce-san registers.

Jean agreed to return to Francefor good in 2008. After a brief stayin rue Friant, then in Bry sur Marne,he left for the south, to Billère-Pau. He returned to the Lord onOctober 1st, 2019.

All his life Jean has had thesoul of a child, a great simplicity.It is perhaps not by chance that hedied on the feast day of SaintTherese of the Child Jesus, for hisspirituality was that of the littleway. In spite of his poor health, heknew how to be a true missionaryof Africa, totally given to the serviceof the Zambians whom he loveddeeply and to the Word of Godwhich he knew how to meditateand explain in his teachings.

Jean-Louis Godinot

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CONTENTSFOREWORD 3 ROME “The white sheet”

Freddy Kyombo

PROFILES 6 Angus Shelton 11 Olano Z. José Antonio 17 Monnier André 20 Lepers Jean 24 Costantini Paolo 30 Fisset Jean 34 Vankrunkelsven Joris 37 Tomás Gómez José 41 Fitzgerald Patrick 45 Martin Guy 48 Gouin Pierre 51 Gülle Johannes 54 Humblet Pierre 57 Doutreuwe Vincent 61 de Clebsattel Augustin 64 Nonnon François 68 Müller Bernfried 71 Hengartner Wendelin 73 Lenssen Jan 78 Lussier Germain 81 Richard Jean-Guy 84 Lebrou André 87 Mauriaucourt Pierre 90 Merceron Roger 94 Leys Joseph 97 Gilardeau Paul 100 Van Genechten Maurice 104 Henk Van Kessel 107 Jean Cordesse

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