November 2010 Print

Agnes Delacroix

“The writings of Fr. Emmanuel fill me with spiritual joy. With what doctrinal clarity and simplicity he speaks of the most important matters in our Faith.”–Archbishop Lefebvre

On the tomb of Fr. Emmanuel, this verse of St. Paul is inscribed: “Mihi autem absit gloriari, nisi in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi.”– “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It summarizes in one inspired line two of the Father’s greatest virtues: humility and love of the cross. The cross was the inseparable companion of his whole life, the seal of Christ upon his work.¹

Another word of the Apostle could be marshalled to complete this epigraph: “…you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of Life…” (Phil. 2:15-16). For if the Father lived in obscurity by virtue of his humility, he was a child of light by his preaching and by his constant concern and effort to make the faith known. And this light, which he knew how to shine, sometimes very far, by his words and writings during a time when religious ignorance and liberalism obscured minds, is not the least of his works.

Youth and Formation

Father Emmanuel was born on October 17, 1826, at Bagneux-la-Fosse (in the south-east of the Aube, formerly the ancient province of Burgundy, east of Paris), to Alexander André, a carpenter, and Emilia Piot. At baptism he received the name Ernest, and was the eldest of a family of six children.²

When he was nine, Ernest was stricken by typhoid fever, which carried him to the brink of death. After lying nearly unconscious for 40 days, he miraculously recovered. A short time later, he evinced the desire to become a priest. His parents were too good of Christians to oppose this vocation, so they placed him in the little boarding school of Ricey-Haute-Rive, where he soon stood out by his aptitude for study and his mirth.

On Good Shepherd Sunday, at twelve and a half, Ernest made his first Holy Communion. The following year, he entered the minor seminary of Troyes and received the sacrament of confirmation. It was for him the occasion of particular graces: “I understood what the supernatural life is: everything that I could teach souls about this life, I learned myself on that day and in that place.”³

From his days in the minor seminary, young Ernest found the work incredibly easy and became accustomed to taking first place.

In January 1842, he had the sorrow of losing his father, crushed to death by the wheel of his mill.

The following year, at 17, Ernest entered the major seminary at Troyes. In that era, the Church of France was lifting its head again after the turbulence of the Revolution and the “monitored freedom” in which the Napoleonic regime kept it. It was a period of Catholic awakening. The ultramontane spirit rose in opposition to the old Gallican spirit, which tended to withdraw the Church of France from Roman authority. The ancient religious orders were restored and new congregations appeared.⁴ Dom Guéranger re-established the Benedictine order in 1837 and launched a campaign to persuade the bishops of France to adopt the Roman liturgy.⁵

The new bishop of Troyes, Msgr. Debelay, known for his keen Roman tendencies, imposed the use of the Roman liturgy in his seminary and throughout the diocese. The Reverend André followed the renewal closely, and his soul, in these circumstances formed in a filial attachment to Rome, received a most salutary influence. This love of the Church united round the Roman See was to be one of the characteristic notes of the future Father Emmanuel and was to inspire his work in favor of the return to unity of the schismatic Eastern Churches.

In his personal studies, the seminarian deepened his knowledge of the liturgy. He also explored the works of St. Augustine,⁶ absorbing his doctrine on grace.

In 1848, the Reverend André, 22 years old, completed his study of theology. Unable to be admitted to the priesthood at such a young age, he had to spend a year at home and then return to the seminary. But there, the wind had changed. Marked as an ultramontane intransigent, noticed for his blunt frankness and the quickness of his character, he was viewed as problematic. In this difficult period, he prayed, took counsel, humbled himself, and followed the advice he was given to place himself in the school of St. Francis de Sales. Ordained priest on December 22, 1849, he had the joy of celebrating his first Mass at the Visitation of Troyes vested in one of the holy bishop’s chasubles.

Beginnings of His Ministry

Right after his ordination, at 23, he was assigned to Mesnil-Saint-Loup, a small parish of Champagne, about 12 miles west of Troyes. On December 24, 1849, the new parish priest made his entrance at Mesnil. The first Mass he celebrated was the Midnight Mass. “When I intoned the Gloria, the people said to themselves, ‘Here’s a priest who sings too well; he’ll never stay with us.’ They were wrong; I stayed.”⁷ Indeed, he stayed so long that he remained their pastor for 53 years.

When the young parish priest arrived, Mesnil-Saint-Loup was but a very ordinary parish, and even “inferior to the neighboring parishes from a religious standpoint,”⁸ of 300 to 350 souls. Most of the women fulfilled their Easter duty, but very few communicated on Sundays and holy days. Even though many men attended Mass, the immense majority of them did not perform their Easter duty, and they all frequented the tavern. There was dancing every Sunday.

It was in these circumstances that the young parish priest began his pastoral visits. His Burgundian mirth, which contrasted with his parishioners’ native phlegm, quickly attracted their hearts. He had a special solicitude for children and young people. He provided them a solid preparation for their first Communion, he instituted parish prayer on Sunday evenings to draw them away from the dances, and he considerably enlivened the young people’s games in the village square by his presence.

It was a good beginning. Yet he would say later on, “At that period, I did not know what I was about. I was forging ahead without realizing where I was going.”⁹ He had not yet received the grace of Holy Hope.

Our Lady of Holy Hope

In June 1852, with his bishop’s permission, Father André undertook a trip to Rome. On the way, while he was saying his rosary, the name of Our Lady of Holy Hope came to his mind and stuck. Arriving in Rome, against every expectation, he obtained from Pope Pius IX a feast in honor of Our Lady of Holy Hope, enriched with a plenary indulgence for his parish.

Back at Mesnil on July 25, 1852, it was only on the day of the Assumption in a memorable sermon that he made known to his parishioners the Holy Father’s rescript in favor of the feast. The whole parish turned with one heart towards Our Lady of Holy Hope, and one invocation sprang to their lips: Our Lady of Holy Hope, convert us! From this day, the Blessed Virgin’s immense power of conversion, omnipotentia supplex,¹⁰ was manifested strikingly at Mesnil. For the celebration of the first Feast of Our Lady of Holy Hope, October 22, 1852, the pastor obtained numerous communions, notably among the older boys, who till then had been kept away from human respect. It was a first victory. In 1853, after having had to face an opposition as vehement as unexpected, the faithful erected an altar to Our Lady of Holy Hope in the parish church. During the battle waged on this occasion, a solid core of fervent, convinced Catholics emerged from the wavering, irresolute mass. Then, another gain, the men and boys could be seen reciting the rosary in church next to the women. After that, human respect was over: Christian freedom was definitively acquired at Mesnil.

The Confraternity of Our Lady of Holy Hope

One of the first works linked to the grace of Holy Hope was the erection of a confraternity for the recitation of the invocation “Our Lady of Holy Hope, convert us.” This did not happen without some efforts: the pastor had to address Rome to obtain approbation of the prayer, which the Episcopal Council refused to approve under its usual form. At last, the Association of Perpetual Prayer to Our Lady of Holy Hope saw the light of day. It was to be subsequently elevated to the rank of an archconfraternity.

The extension of this association became for the young priest the occasion of a colossal labor: he had to inscribe the names of thousands of associates, draft and distribute thousands of membership certificates. The pastor added this charge to the work of his parish ministry, a parish in the midst of conversion! He handled everything with prodigious energy.

A new wind was blowing on Mesnil, which was none other than the Holy Spirit. The grace of baptism hidden in hearts but until then seldom deployed reappeared in all its freshness and strength. It was just what the young priest, with his profound sense of supernatural realities, desired: Christians who lived by their baptismal grace. The transformation was taking place beneath his eyes. In the years 1852-1861, not an Easter, nor month of May, nor Feast of Our Lady of Holy Hope went by without some genuine conversions bringing back souls to God by separating them radically from a worldly life.

This metamorphosis in the parish occurred not only under the priest’s eyes, but also very largely thanks to him: he co-operated with all his might and ardent zeal in the work of conversion engaged by Our Lady. Yet it would be false to think that this movement did not meet with opposition, which took several forms. Opposition within the parish itself (a few young libertines created a “second parish” where they parodied the liturgical ceremonies; Our Lady took revenge in her own way by suddenly converting the leader of this band…who ended up a monk); diabolical opposition, which manifested itself by an epidemic of nervous crises of demonic origin; and, finally, ecclesiastical opposition (“the little prayer” seemed singular, and the bishop himself, Msgr. Coeur, seemed very reticent). However, the ecclesiastical retreat of 1858 was the occasion of an understanding between the young parish priest and his pastor; they left it perfectly reconciled.

During this period, not content to lavish his care on his faithful and to devote himself to the diffusion of perpetual prayer, Fr. André applied himself to the study of Hebrew. He employed every spare moment, especially the nights. His constitution was robust, but it had its limits. In 1860, he fell ill from a very serious cerebral anemia. Violent pains gripped his head. He saw himself obliged to leave off celebrating Mass and the recitation of the Breviary, and to be replaced for about a year by a colleague. At the same time, terrible calumnies were being circulated about the pastor. He only obtained a retraction from the calumniator by threatening legal action.

Our Lady of Holy Hope Church

Once back on his feet, responding to the desire of the faithful, Fr. André launched into a work on a grand scale: the construction of a new church to be dedicated to Our Lady of Holy Hope. The village church was too narrow to accommodate the influx during the feasts of Holy Hope, and it was dilapidated. The new bishop, Msgr. Ravinet, gave his approval in 1862, and the first stone was laid in 1864.

Fr. André paid with his own person: he could be seen unloading carts, climbing ladders, running along the scaffolding, chatting with the workers, by whom he was much loved. While the work was inspiring, it was also a cause of worries: some days, the priest saw the parish purse empty without knowing where to hope for help. Providence always provided, but frugally.

For the Feast of the Sacred Heart 1866, a Mass was sung on an improvised altar in the new church with bare walls and an earthen floor. The furnishing was carried out slowly during the following years, and the church was consecrated in 1878.

From Rectory to Monastery

For a long time, Fr. André had nurtured a desire for the monastic life.¹¹ But the work of Our Lady of Holy Hope seemed to fix him at Mesnil. He opted, therefore, for a third order, and chose that of the Carmelites, into which he was received in 1858.

At this period, he linked up with Fr. Eugene Babeau, then vicar of Ervy, who also joined the third order and with the bishop’s blessing settled at Mesnil. Their plan was to found a society of missionary religious and Carmelite tertiaries.

Yet deep within, Fr. André continued to dream of the Benedictine life. The example of the Monastery of La Pierre-Qui-Vire, founded by a priest and then attached to an existing congregation, led him to believe that his own desire might be realized. Msgr. Ravinet subscribed to the new plan. Father Bernard of La Pierre-Qui-Vire promised them affiliation with his community once four or five professed religious had joined them; and while waiting, he advised the two priests to undergo an apprenticeship of the monastic life in his monastery. On November 30, 1864, on the Feast of St. Andrew, in the chapel of the diocese of Troyes, both of them donned the black habit of the Benedictines. Fr. André received the name of Brother Emmanuel¹² and Fr. Babeau that of Brother Paul-Eugene.

From this day, the two new religious began their life as monks at Mesnil in an admirable poverty and austerity.¹³ In the parish, this life was a great source of edification, and it was all the more so in that Father Emmanuel, though a monk, remained no less the parish priest. His zeal was undiminished; he was still as attentive to souls. For everyone he became henceforth “the Father.”

Yet these promising beginnings were to be followed, from 1865 to 1870, by a period of abandonment: no one joined the nascent community,¹⁴ and the work of Perpetual Prayer only advanced slowly. Father Emmanuel suffered from the situation but did not grow discouraged. Then the War of 1870 erupted. The Father saw in France’s defeat at the hands of the Prussians the chastisement of her infidelity to the promises of her baptism. He was aware that the restoration of the nation could only come through a revival of the Christian spirit among the faithful, and he set himself to this work.

Attempt to Join the Order of St. Benedict

After 1870, having gathered several religious together, Father Emmanuel undertook the construction of a small monastery and envisioned the association of his young community with La Pierre-Qui-Vire. But in June 1873, after a stay of several weeks in this friendly monastery, he fell ill, exhausted by the austerities of the rule.¹⁵ The novice master then advised him to consider Solesmes, whose mitigated observance would suit him better. The Father then got in touch with Dom Guéranger, the Father Abbot of Solesmes, whom he had known for many years.

In July, he received a cordial welcome and spent several weeks at the abbey in a very fraternal atmosphere. In the spring of 1874, a rescript of the Congregation of France authorized Father Emmanuel to make his profession after only a month of novitiate. He undertook with joy this month of probation. But two days before the day fixed for the profession, Dom Guéranger summoned the Father for a doctrinal discussion. Father Emmanuel confirmed that without his being “Thomist,” he shared the doctrine of St. Thomas on predestination, grace, and the Incarnation. Dom Guéranger insisted that he repudiate these doctrines. The Father, who had particularly delved into the doctrine of grace and wished to remain independent of every theological system on these questions, which were free, flatly refused.¹⁶ The Father Abbot declared that in these conditions it was impossible to receive his profession. The decision was without appeal,¹⁷ and the next day, July 4, 1874, the Father had to leave Solesmes. The disarray was great in the little community of Mesnil, but the Father stayed calm and supernatural. Yet these trials took a toll on his health, which weakened considerably.

Msgr. Cortet and Father Emmanuel

Msgr. Ravinet having resigned for health reasons, a new bishop was consecrated in November 1875. He was Msgr. Pierre-Louis-Marie Cortet. The bishop made known his desire that the community should place itself completely under his authority since it had not received canonical investiture. Subsequently, he declared that he desired it to move into town. As Father Emmanuel was trying to safeguard the Benedictine identity of the community and its attachment to the parish work of Our Lady of Holy Hope, the bishop reacted sharply (without, however, insisting on the move). Seeing, moreover, the deferential and cordial welcome shown him during his visits to Mesnil, Msgr. Cortet wavered between two contrary sentiments: while he held him in the highest regard, he never lost an opportunity to mortify him. He also asserted his intention to dispose freely of the monk-priests for the needs of his diocese. It was thus that Father Paul was named pastor of Faux-Villecerf in July 1876, and Father Bernard was transferred to another parish to replace a sick priest. The erection of the Society of Missionary Fathers of Our Lady of Holy Hope in November 1876, with Constitutions approved by the bishop, altered nothing in the situation. Recruitment into the small community became very difficult insofar as it offered no guarantee of religious life for those who desired to enter there.

Otherwise, the bishop was well disposed to the foundation of various works for the good of the parish. It was thus that the Father was able to launch the Bulletin of Our Lady of Holy Hope in 1877, which was intended to be the organ of the archconfraternity of the same name, though it exceeded this objective by its solid doctrinal and liturgical content. Then in 1878, he created the Society of Jesus Crowned with Thorns for the safeguard of modest dress among the Christian women of the parish. The same year, the Father also had the joy of giving the habit to the first six nuns of the Benedictine Monastery of Our Lady of Holy Hope.

Parish Crisis and Anticlerical Decrees

During the years 1870-1880, a deeply impious man¹⁸ inaugurated a conspiracy the goal of which was Father Emmanuel’s departure. The man exerted a real fascination on the young people and made many lose the faith. He unleashed an open campaign against Father Emmanuel in the antireligious newspaper of the department. During this period, it is an established fact that occultism and sorcery were practised at Mesnil, and two cases of diabolical possession are on record.

Furthermore, the Father discovered a secret work aimed at corrupting the innocence and faith of children before the age of their first Holy Communion. While he had not believed that a child could be a deliberate hypocrite, he was forced to recognize that he was wrong. Horrified, he found himself compelled to organize a poll in his parish for the admission of children to first Holy Communion, and henceforth to redouble his prudence. He said: “I had rather be cut into pieces than allow myself to admit a child who has not decided from the bottom of his heart to serve God.”¹⁹

During this time, the elections had brought a Left-wing majority to Parliament and Mac-Mahon had resigned from the presidency of the Republic. Politics became radically anticlerical. Jules Ferry had President Grévy sign the decrees of 1880 that placed religious associations beyond the pale of the law. Thinking to protect the community, Msgr. Cortet obliged the monks, excepting Father Emmanuel, to wear the cassock, and appointed Father Bernard curate 50 miles away. Paradoxically, the community suffered no vexation from the authorities,²⁰ but it was the bishop himself who in fact deprived it of its existence. ²¹ For the Father only had with him two monks²² and had to suspend the public recitation of the Office.

The Father did not let himself get discouraged, and the events were for him the occasion of reflections that far exceed the narrow confines of his parish. It was at this time that he published his studies on Naturalism, “The Christian of the Day and the Christian of the Gospel,” and “The Two Cities.” In a wholly Catholic spirit, he also launched a campaign in favor of the Uniate Greeks, which would result, in 1885, in the publication of the remarkable Revue de l’Église Grecque-Unie, which later, in 1890, became the Revue des Églises d’Orient.

From the Black Habit to the White

Msgr. Cortet considered the dismembered community dissolved and the regular priests as being able to be employed freely in the parishes of his diocese. The only way to conserve a properly religious existence was to attach the little monastery to a congregation recognized by the Holy See.

The Father envisaged affiliating it to the Benedictines of Delle, on the Territory of Belfort, an abbey depending on the Helvetic Congregation, but the bishop refused to authorize it. He then turned to Dom Couturier, the new Abbot of Solesmes. He replied kindly in 1885, but without going back on the decision of his predecessor: “The impossibilities of yesterday remain impossibilities today.”²³ Finally, the Father heard of the Benedictine congregation of Our Lady of Mount Olivet. He informed himself further, and then solicited the association of his community. The paternal reply of the Abbot General, Dom Schiaffino, filled him with hope. He then addressed a request to Msgr. Cortet, who, this time, wholeheartedly gave his consent. Father Emmanuel and Father Bernard received the white habit of the Olivetans on May 23, 1886, at the monastery of Settignano, near Florence, and made their profession the following August 5. Three other religious pronounced their vows in 1887.

In the months that followed, Father Paul was relieved of his parish and finally returned to the religious life. Contrariwise, Father Bernard was sent to Soulac (in the Gironde), where there was an Olivetan monastery charged with an important parish, so that he could come to the aid of the prior-pastor. When he passed away, Father Bernard was named prior. It was for Father Emmanuel a rude blow from which he never completely recovered. He was linked to Father Bernard Maréchaux by a profound affection and had planned to make him his master of novices.²⁴

In 1888, the Benedictine nuns in turn were affiliated with the Olivetan Congregation.

Despite threats of being denounced, the community recommenced the recitation of the Divine Office. In 1891, it was endowed with a novitiate and a chapel, and welcomed new recruits…while Father Paul, the companion of the first hour, made his entrance into eternity.

Finally, Father Emmanuel was named Abbot of the Holy Hope in 1892.²⁵

Battles and Advances

Always solicitous of the sanctification of his parish, Father Emmanuel particularly took care of the men. In 1888 he inaugurated the Society of the Resurrection for men and older boys. The purpose was to form among them a Christian elite capable of serving as the leaven for the whole parish.

In 1889, he remarked: “The Christians of Mesnil-Saint-Loup, whom the Blessed Virgin had converted to God, are being roughly worked over by the grace of this world to be converted to liberal Catholicism.”²⁶

With an illustrious priest of his age, Father Garnier, the Father instituted adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Sundays for the entire day.

The pastor collaborated closely with M. Coltat, an excellent teacher, but remained frightened by the symptoms of incredulity and corruption that he observed in the youth.²⁷

During the years 1893-1895, he observed a lessening of fervor among his faithful and realized that many of them entertained thoughts of despair. The devil retook possession of a parish woman, which obliged the Father to undertake long and painful exorcisms.²⁸

At the same time, conscious that the spirit of semi-Pelagianism was blowing in the ranks of the clergy,²⁹ the Father intended to elucidate the true notion of grace as he had studied it in St. Augustine and rediscovered it with happiness in St. Thomas and in the liturgy. He published two small treatises: Original Sin and The Grace of God and the Ingratitude of Men.

Last Years

From 1890, the Father’s health declined rapidly. In 1896, the death of the sub-prior of the Benedictines caused him such pain that his state declined even further. His last years were marked by physical ills—the Father progressively lost the ability to write, it became very difficult for him to express himself and to celebrate Mass—and by moral sufferings: he suffered from his powerlessness, his solitude, and the painful awareness of the progress of irreligion. He had to leave the direction of the parish to Father Bernard, returned from Soulac in 1899.

In 1901 the Waldeck-Rousseau Law on associations subjected the religious congregations to a demand for authorization (all the more derisory as it was revocable at will). A triple alternative was offered to religious communities: seek authorization, which implied communication with the authorities about the statues and the State about resources; or go into exile; or await an inevitable dissolution and the liquidation of property. Father Emmanuel suffered immensely from the situation, but reacted as a man of faith. To ask authorization would be tantamount to delivering himself into the hands of his enemies. Expatriation was impossible for a community as poor as his own. Thus he painfully waited, but with dignity, a dissolution as iniquitous as it was inevitable.

On October 1, 1901, the Abbot of Holy Hope abandoned his religious habit for the cassock. He kept with him just one monk, who served as nurse, and placed all his monks as he could. Father Bernard retired to the presbytery to look after the parish. A liquidator did not tarry in presenting himself, placing the seals and proceeding to inventory the goods. The bell fell silent. The community ceased to exist.

Afterwards, the Father’s decline accelerated. He found just enough strength to mount the pulpit, to the surprise of all, on September 14, 1902, to give a last, unforgettable sermon on the spirit of the cross.³⁰ From January 1903, he had the certitude of his imminent demise. His sufferings increased and it became impossible for him to take nourishment, but he never complained. He had a letter written to the bishop to ask pardon of the faults he might have committed in his pastoral ministry. The satisfecit received in reply restored his serenity. The very last days, he never ceased reciting Latin prayers and psalms, and sometimes seemed to be occupied saying Mass. Finally, on March 31, at the hour of the evening Angelus, he effortlessly rendered his soul to God.

According to his wishes, he was clothed with the monastic habit and the pontifical ornaments to which his title of Abbot entitled him, and was laid in state in the capitulary hall. For two days, an unbroken file of religious and faithful paid their respects. Finally, on April 3, 1903, a first Friday of the month, on the Feast of Our Lady of Compassion, the Father was interred.

In Memoriam

At his express request, no homily was preached during the funeral. But at the meal that followed, Msgr. Écalle, vicar general of the diocese of Troyes and a longtime friend of Father Emmanuel, improvised an allocution that admirably summarized the Father’s life:

In the major seminary, he was our example by his application to work, to which he brought a veritable tenacity….The people from Ricey have a reputation for being obstinate, but for him, it was obstinacy in good. With that, he was of a profound piety and very gay, full of life and good humor. He did good to very many, and he did to me, too.

He was ordained priest. Now, gentlemen, Father Emmanuel was a true priest, a rare priest, I dare say an extraordinary priest….By his work, by his zeal, and also by his firmness in principles and in their application, he made of this village a model parish, a community worthy of the first ages of Christianity.³¹ There he formed elite souls. What that cost him, God alone knows, for he had to fight and to suffer very much….

It was by prayer, especially by prayer, that he was able to bring about this regeneration. All that this man of God did by his prayers is incredible, here in the diocese, in all of France, and even beyond, in the whole world. He instituted the Perpetual Prayer to Our Lady of Holy Hope. Gentlemen, it is a masterpiece….

Such existences never perish entirely; they survive themselves.³² It seems as if it is death, then suddenly it’s the resurrection.³³ The cross is the source of every future. The example of Father Emmanuel proved it and will prove it.³⁴

 

Translated from La Sel de la Terre, No. 44, Spring 2003, pp. 23-35.

 

(Endnotes)

¹ The Father even bore the cross in his name since he was called Andrew, like the Apostle to whom he had a great devotion. He received the religious habit on the Feast of St. Andrew, about which he wrote: “We have been founded on the cross; we have lived on the cross; if we grow, it will be by the cross; and on the cross we will die.” Letter of November 30, 1881, quoted in Le Père Emmanuel by Dom Bernard Maréchaux (Mesnil-Saint-Loup, 1935), p. 245.

² Several of them departed this world for heaven in childhood.

³ Maréchaux, Le Père Emmanuel, p. 12.

⁴ Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the Holy Ghost Fathers, Marists, etc.

⁵ At that time, the Gallican liturgy was still in use in France.

⁶ “One day someone made this unfortunate and quasi blasphemous statement in his presence: ‘St. Augustine is a Jansenist.’ The young seminarian was wounded by it as if by a poisoned dart. He wanted his heart to be unscathed by this imputation. He prayed to St. Augustine, read his works, and imbibed his doctrine….Then the light came: with his penetrating mind, he grasped the essential distinction separating St. Augustine from Jansenius.” Maréchaux, Le Père Emmanuel, pp. 23-24.

⁷ Ibid., p. 41.

⁸ According to Msgr. Écalle, vicar general, who knew the parish at this period. Cited in Le Père Emmanuel, p. 38.

⁹ Ibid., p. 48.

¹⁰ “Omnipotence in supplication,” an expression of the Fathers of the Church.

¹¹ One day during his seminary vacations, on the way to the Abbey of Molesmes, he received from God the anticipated vision and taste for the monastic life.

¹² Emmanuel was Msgr. Ravinet’s first name. It was also a reminder of the mystery of the Incarnation, to which Fr. André had been very devoted. And, lastly, it was the name destined to a priest who had very seriously planned to join the nascent community, but who died before being able to put his plan into effect: Fr. Lievre. Fr. André took his friend’s name for himself.

¹³ The two Fathers observed perpetual abstinence, slept on the ground, and rose at four o’clock in the morning to chant the Divine Office.

¹⁴ A few children were confided to the Father for him to educate in a monastic atmosphere. The presbytery only became narrower and less suitable.

¹⁵ The rule of La Pierre-Qui-Vire notably included rising in the middle of the night.

¹⁶ He told Dom Guéranger: “I have prayed very much, and I have even suffered and wept, to arrive at understanding something about the mysteries of grace; what I believe I know has come to me in large part from the practice of souls; how can you expect me to renounce doctrines in which I have found peace?” Le Père Emmanuel, p. 166.

¹⁷ Dismayed, the Father Prior, Dom Couturier, who bore a deep affection for Father Emmanuel, tried in vain to bend Dom Guéranger. Likewise, Msgr. Ravinet saw his appeal on Father Emmanuel’s behalf rejected. Two factors may explain the abrupt position of Dom Guéranger: on the one hand, he had fought his whole life against Jansenism and experienced a profound repulsion for everything that, rightly or wrongly, seemed to him to approach this current of thought. In this light, Thomism was for him a dangerous doctrine. On the other hand, recalling the divisions and disputes which had profoundly affected the Congregation of Saint Maur in the 18th century, he placed the good of unity above everything. Cf. Dom Guy-Marie Oury, Dom Guéranger, moine au coeur de l’Église (Editions de Solesmes), pp. 452-53. Dom Guéranger wrote to the community of Mesnil: “For a religious family, there is nothing above unity. Until now, God has given it to us; I cannot consent to see it altered.” Letter of July 4, 1874 (Le Père Emmanuel, p. 159).

¹⁸ He was a foreigner who had settled in the country.

¹⁹ Le Père Emmanuel, p. 220.

²⁰ The Father merely received the courteous visit of the secretary general of the prefecture of the Aube who, learning that the community was strictly diocesan (which sheltered it from the decree of expulsion) promised to refer the matter… and never returned.

²¹ In the diocese, the people were saying: “So his Excellency wants to dissolve the community of Mesnil himself?” Le Père Emmanuel, p. 235.

²² One of whose health was poor.

²³ Letter of February 14, 1885. Le Père Emmanuel, p. 166.

²⁴ See the short biography of Dom Bernard Maréchaux published as an introduction to “The Pastoral Work of Father Emmanuel” [French], Sel de la Terre, No. 26, p. 114.

²⁵ It was an honorific title, and did not amount to the erection of the monastery into an abbey.

²⁶ Le Père Emmanuel, p. 318.

²⁷ In 1889 he wrote: “For me, I do not see any way to make the first Communions with the little boys today: at school they have received an indecipherable spirit: there is contempt, malice, stupidity; there is everything except good….And the greatest evil is that the older boys seek with satanic zeal to infuse the poison into the youngest. The problem for M. Coltat and me is to preserve the youngest, and we do not know if we shall succeed.” Ibid., p. 317.

²⁸ “If you only knew what a battle it is to fight against the devil,” the Father wrote. “I am as tired as if 25 chariots had run over my back.” Note this answer of the devil: “You want me to go away. Go away first from the country and then I’ll leave.” Letter of June 22, 1894. Ibid., p. 349.

²⁹ “By his readings and by the practice of souls, Father Emmanuel had been led to conclude that the doctrine of grace was greatly weakened and disfigured in the minds of many Christians.” (Dom Maréchaux, preface to the Opuscules doctrinaux, 1911, p. xv). Indeed, at this period, in order to oppose the remnants of Jansenism, the role of grace was willingly minimized and that of man’s will was maximized. From there to saying that it is man who makes his own salvation and that it depends on him to be predestined there is but a step…which many did not hesitate to take. The Father recalled, on the contrary, that the first grace is before any merit, that it is grace that holds the will of man in its dependence, without for as much impinging his liberty; that God can convert the will of even a rebellious man; and that, finally, we are saved by grace and not by ourselves.

³⁰ “You do not have it very much, the spirit of the cross. I can tell you frankly, I have known you for a long time. You have it less than you used to….You must love to suffer a little and not ask so quickly to be delivered.” Ibid., p. 447.

³¹ Our emphasis.

³² In fact, the memory of the Father still survives him, and the good he accomplished was to perdure so well that it was still patent during the 1950’s. Henri Charlier, settled in the parish from 1925, wrote: “A parish like this cannot remain what it is at present other than by a permanent miracle.” L’Å’uvre du Père Emmanuel by D. Minimus, supplement to the Bulletin of Our Lady of Holy Hope, 1958.

³³ The resurrection of the community indeed occurred in 1926 around Dom Bernard Maréchaux.

³⁴ Le Père Emmanuel, p. 463-64.

 

Parish life in Mesnil-Saint-Loup

The newspaper La Liberté de l'Yonne wrote, on February 15, 1920: “Sunday is the best day to see the type of life people in Mesnil are leading...On this day, nobody works in Mesnil. The fields are deserted but the church is always full of people because the Christians not only abstain themselves from servile labor but use the whole day to praise God. The most fervent are at Mass early in the morning: young people, men, and women alike, and they receive Holy Communion with an impressive respect. Everyone is at the Sung Mass; the men with their sons are in the back of the church singing the whole Mass [They would sing the Ordinary and Proper of the Mass on all Sundays and feast days of the year—Ed.]...All use their missal to follow the Mass and many know sufficient Latin to understand the most common liturgical expressions. “When people leave the church, they do it in order, in silence, and in recollection. Visitors say this village behaves like a well-ordered monastery. The simplicity of their clothes gives the same impression. There are no exaggerated fashions in this village; all the women wear modest dresses...The whole parish attends Vespers in the evening and, later, Compline. In the hours not spent with family, the young play games in the churchyard...”