Paul naquit le 4 janvier 1948 à Cherbourg, France, et y fut baptisé le lendemain par l’Aumônier de la Marine. Son père était alors second maître mécanicien dans la Marine nationale. La famille, bonne chrétienne, compta quatre enfants, une fille et trois garçons dont Paul était l’aîné ; un frère de la maman était prêtre. Les marins étant souvent mutés de port en port, Paul fut confirmé le 28 mai 1958, en la paroisse Sainte-Anne, à La Pêcherie, en Tunisie. Il fit plus tard la quasi-totalité de ses études secondaires dans le département du Morbihan.

Il fit, de 1968 à 1970, le premier cycle de philosophie à Strasbourg chez les Pères Blancs. On l’y jugea “bon sujet, personnel, ouvert, serviable, débrouillard, avec des possibilités variées, à condition de ne pas se laisser accaparer par des centres d’intérêt secondaires”. Après son noviciat à Dorking, en Angleterre, il effectua avec succès, de 1971 à 1973, un stage de Coopération catholique comme enseignant au petit séminaire de Lubushi, en Zambie.

De retour à Strasbourg pour la théologie, il fit le serment missionnaire le 17 mai 1975. Ordonné prêtre à Sauzon le 27 mai 1976, il retrouvait, selon son désir, la Zambie le 1er septembre suivant pour le stage de langue bemba à Ilondola. Nommé vicaire le 1er mars suivant à Malole, diocèse de Kasama, il y resta jusqu’au 1er janvier 1982. Il passa alors à Lwena, mission située dans les marécages au nord du lac Bangweolo ; c’est là qu’au début janvier 1983, terrassé par la malaria, il frôla la mort à l’hôpital de Kashikishi. Le 1er janvier 1986, il fut nommé à Chilubi, sur une île du grand lac où il se sentait comme chez lui.

Doué d’un sens inné de l’accueil, d’une grande qualité d’écoute, d’une mémoire phénoménale et de beaucoup de compassion, il se faisait beaucoup d’amis ; on ne s’ennuyait pas avec lui en communauté, car c’était un conteur intarissable. Paôl, comme il signait ses lettres, aimait, lors des tournées, se baigner dans la population locale. Ayant la ‘main verte’, il faisait merveille dans l’entretien des fleurs et des potagers, et savait mitonner de bons petits plats. La mort de son oncle prêtre en 1990, celle de son père, en 1992, affectèrent cet homme sensible. C’est à partir de ces années qu’il se mit à dériver vers un autre monde : les multiples tasses de café, les cigarettes Gitane maïs et, pourquoi le cacher, l’alcool commencèrent à ruiner sa santé et sa vie.

Après un congé et la Session retraite de Jérusalem en 1993, il fut nommé, le 15 avril 1994, curé de Kasaba, diocèse de Mansa, où il fit un excellent travail, puis fit fonction de curé à Kasaba/Kasanka en 1995. Mais ses relations avec ses confrères et les chrétiens ont alors parfois bien souffert de ses dépendances. Début janvier 1996, tombé gravement malade, il fut hospitalisé à Lusaka, puis rapatrié en France. Il fit alors une année sabbatique, avant de revenir, le 20 février 1997, comme curé de Nondo, dans le diocèse de Kasama. Il y passa 3 années pas toujours faciles. Le clergé diocésain l’adorait, pour son accueil chaleureux. Paôl souffrait beaucoup de ne pas toujours être compris de ses confrères et supérieurs. Suivirent, en janvier 2001, une nouvelle année sabbatique et une nomination en France pour la formation et l’animation missionnaire à Ste-Foy-les-Lions ; il s’y investit avec générosité et fit la session DMA à Jérusalem, en septembre 2002.

Retrouvant Ndola, le 29 mars 2004, le nouveau séjour ne fut pas un succès, car le problème d’addiction resurgit. Après un congé en 2005, il fut nommé en France. Il insista pourtant, - un mieux se faisant sentir -, pour repartir en Zambie, mais en novembre 2006, il fut grièvement blessé dans un choc contre un camion et, après avoir reçu les soins sur place, il revint en France en 2007. Il assura dès lors l’accueil à Paris, rue Friant, jusqu’à ce qu’il acceptât une année sabbatique au Canada, du 31 mars 2009 au 5 avril 2010 : le but en était de pallier, par des soins appropriés, cette addiction à l’alcool qui perturbait sa vie et son travail. Il crut enfin avoir triomphé mais la guérison, hélas, ne dura pas.

Les lettres de Paôl, enjouées, spirituelles, d’une plume alerte, sont un régal. Mais ses dernières années furent enténébrées, empoisonnées peut-on dire, par ce problème d’addiction. Sentant son impuissance, il l’a vécu douloureusement, et c’était une souffrance aussi pour son entourage. La piété de Paul restait sincère, ses commentaires, quand il participait à l’eucharistie, étaient riches et bien préparés, on admirait sa foi, mais le mal était sans doute trop profond. Toujours est-il que, malgré l’aide d’une “personne de confiance”, malgré aussi un troisième séjour à Jérusalem en 2011 et une volonté maintes fois affirmée d’en finir avec ce boulet qu’il traînait, il ne put se remettre. Se nourrissant mal, délaissant les remèdes qu’on lui prescrivait et les outils qui existent pour lutter contre son mal, sans travail défini désormais, il alla s’affaiblissant.

Au matin du 12 décembre 2013, on le retrouva mort dans sa chambre. Il avait 65 ans. Lors de la messe d’obsèques, le 14 décembre, en la chapelle Saint-Paul de Paris, le P. Jean-Yves Chevalier, ami de la famille, fit le mot d’accueil, puis le Père Guy Vuillemin, délégué de France, reprit, dans une émouvante homélie, la méditation de Paôl sur la guérison du paralytique de la Porte des Brebis : “Jésus, ce jour-là, avait décidé de se rendre sur un lieu de souffrance. Il posa son regard, un regard de compassion, sur un infirme, malade depuis 38 ans, et qui visiblement avait abdiqué : “Je n’ai personne pour me plonger dans la piscine au bon moment. - Lève-toi, lui dit-il, prends ton brancard et marche !” Seule une parole d’autorité peut remettre la vie où il n’y a que la mort, la sclérose… Jésus apparaît là comme Celui qui veut remettre les hommes debout, les engager à se prendre en main pour être des vivants. Plus tard, Jésus, retrouvant le malade guéri dans le temple, lui dit : ‘Te voilà en bonne santé, ne pèche plus, il pourrait t’arriver pire encore’.”

Paul avait médité ce texte durant sa thérapie à Toronto : il connaissait Celui qui pouvait en profondeur le guérir, et il désirait sincèrement se remettre debout. Se rappelant aussi l’histoire de Lazare, il disait : “J’ai l’impression d’être sorti d’un tombeau, peut-être pas comme Jésus, mais comme Lazare… J’avais pas mal de bandelettes, il y en a encore de toutes petites, mais, avec les mains libres, je pense que ça va se faire.” Fragile, très sensible, il portait ce désir d’en sortir, souffrait d’en être encore trop lié…, de ne pas vivre vraiment son idéal et de faire, de ce fait, souffrir les autres.

Ses trois séjours à Jérusalem l’avaient marqué : son rêve eût été d’y être nommé. Il y voyait un lieu où il eût pu être totalement l’homme de l’accueil, de la rencontre, de l’attention aux pèlerins et aux voisins. Il n’a pas pu relever le défi : les bandelettes l’ont trop lié. Mais, concluait Guy Vuillemin, je crois qu’il peut dire en vérité : “Maintenant, je marche, même si je porte mon brancard. Je vis en pleine communion avec Dieu et mes frères. J’y suis, mes pas ont fait halte dans tes portes, Jérusalem !”

Paul fut inhumé à Belle-Île, le 16 décembre 2013, après une messe présidée par le P. Jean-Yves Chevalier, entouré de six prêtres de la région, en l’église Saint-Nicolas de Sauzon.

Armand Duval

Père Jean-Pierre Lepoutre

1932 - - 2013

C’est à Roubaix, dans le diocèse de Lille, France, que naquit Jean-Pierre, le 27 août 1932. Sa famille, unie et aimante, compta 4 enfants, deux garçons et deux filles ; une sœur de son père était religieuse Visitandine. Dès l’âge de 7 ans, lors de sa première communion, il affirma sa volonté de se consacrer au Seigneur. Garçon turbulent, casse-cou même, il était pourtant respectueux des institutions, se rappelle son frère Michel ; s’il s’assagit avec l’âge, peut-être grâce au scoutisme, ses petites incartades de collégien lui valurent tout de même maintes punitions au collège Notre-Dame des Victoires à Roubaix, où il conclut ses études secondaires par le baccalauréat.

De ses années de formation Père Blanc, nous savons seulement qu’il fit l’année spirituelle à Maison-Carrée à partir du 25 septembre 1953. Après son service militaire, il passa à Thibar pour les études de Théologie, prononça son serment à Carthage, le 26 juin 1959, et fut ordonné prêtre en l’église Saint-Joseph de Roubaix, le 31 janvier 1960. On louait son bon cœur, son intelligence, sa bonne humeur. Une lettre aux supérieurs à propos de l’usage à faire de l’argent reçu de parents ou d’amis, lors de son ordination, dénote une grande délicatesse et un total désintéressement.

Le 1er octobre 1960, il se trouvait déjà à Guilongou, en Haute-Volta, pour l’étude de la langue, et le 22 mai 1961, étrennait le ministère actif comme vicaire à Ouahigouya, poste dont il devint supérieur le 1er avril 1966. Mais entre-temps, en 1965, il dut anticiper son congé, sa maman étant très malade : il eut la consolation de passer près d’elle ses cinq derniers jours. Le 1er juillet 1969, nommé en France à la procure de Lille, il y fit d’abord, sur les conseils du Provincial, une année d’études à l’École des Missionnaires d’Action Catholique et d’Action Sociale, dont il tira grand profit. Il fut alors nommé supérieur de la communauté de Lille et, le 1er janvier 1972, Conseiller provincial. Cette année-là, il eut la douleur de perdre son père, mort subitement à seulement 70 ans.

Après la grande retraite à la Villa Cavalletti, à partir du 15 septembre 1973, il retrouva, le 29 octobre, le Burkina et sa paroisse “avec une joie à couper au couteau”, écrit-il, tant il était heureux de “former des gens à se prendre en charge et à prendre l’apostolat à leur compte”. Le 1er janvier 1974, on le nomma supérieur à la cathédrale de Ouahigouya et, le 1er août 1974, il fut élu délégué au Chapitre général à Rome. Après un congé en 1977, durant lequel il prit sa part, à Lille, des tournées de ventes sur les plages, on le retrouve, le 1er janvier 1978, toujours comme supérieur, à Baam-Kongoussi. En août 1982, il fut nommé au séminaire de Koudougou : selon son habitude, sans discuter, il se remit, écrit-il, “à Cicéron et Salluste, aux Lettres Persanes et à Voltaire”. Mais c’est avec joie qu’il reprit le ministère paroissial en janvier 1986, comme curé de Titao, dans le diocèse de Ouahigouya.

Sa session-retraite à Jérusalem, fin 1988, fut contrariée par de très fortes douleurs de dos : on pensa à une opération. Il en avait avisé son évêque, quand le mal disparut comme il était venu. De retour en sa mission, il fut élu Conseiller régional pour le Burkina, le 6 août 1990, une élection reconduite le 17 décembre 1993, alors que depuis le 30 mai 1992, il était vicaire à Bourzanga. Le 1er juillet 1997, il passa à Séguénéga, toujours dans le diocèse de Ouahigouya, et en devint le curé le 1er décembre 1999. L’appréciation du supérieur régional est éloquente : “Confrère très zélé, de compagnie agréable. Très bon administrateur. D’une vie spirituelle très forte et de grande influence dans le diocèse”. Au Conseil régional, il était le secrétaire attitré.

Mais, depuis 1998, la Province de France avait les yeux sur lui : on pensait lui confier le supériorat de Tassy à partir de 2000. On discuta ferme entre Provincial et Régional : le premier avait vraiment besoin de Jean-Pierre ; le second jugeait son départ dommageable pour le projet Sahel. Lui, disponible à son habitude, craignait, à 68 ans, d’être ensuite trop vieux pour revoir le Burkina. Finalement, il y resta. Le problème resurgit en 2004, quand sa paroisse de Séguénéga fut confiée au clergé diocésain. Le 5 septembre 2004, Jean-Pierre fit savoir qu’il était prêt à aller à Tassy, si on le lui demandait, ou à passer au diocèse de Bobo-Dioulasso, où le Centre Mater Christi requérait un bon administrateur : sa préférence allant tout de même à Bobo.

Après une longue carrière de pasteur, coopérer à la formation de religieux et religieuses de divers pays d’Afrique, appelés à différentes tâches dans leurs congrégations, noviciats ou autres, ne pouvait que lui plaire. Il s’y installa donc, mais, en 2007, des examens médicaux décelèrent chez lui un cancer du poumon. L’ablation du poumon droit conjura le mal mais, par sécurité, on y ajouta 3 séances de chimiothérapie que Jean-Pierre supporta vaillamment, se reposant entre chacune à Bry-sur-Marne. Comme on lui imposait des contrôles tous les 3 mois la première année, puis tous les 6 mois l’année suivante, il avoue avoir été déprimé en juin-septembre 2008 : l’Afrique s’éloignait ! Dès lors, nommé en France, il assura l’accueil et quelques ministères, rue Friant, avec son sourire habituel et une grande serviabilité. La rémission dura 6 ans.

La rechute fatale arriva en 2013. Après un court séjour à l’EHPAD de Vanves, ce fut l’hôpital Saint-Joseph. “Je suis en paix, dit-il à son ami Édouard Morisson, et je rends grâce au Seigneur pour la sérénité qu’il me donne. Je demande seulement la grâce de n’avoir pas à souffrir trop longtemps”. Il fut exaucé, car le Seigneur le rappela peu après, le 10 janvier 2014. Lors des obsèques en la chapelle Saint-Paul, près de la maison de la rue Friant, son frère Michel fit de Jean-Pierre un bel éloge : “En nous quittant, tu laisses l’image d’un homme droit, optimiste ; tu fis confiance à la providence, serein malgré les atteintes de la maladie, gai, aimant plaisanter, modeste, indifférent aux honneurs, discipliné et soumis à tes supérieurs selon la promesse faite, indulgent, ne disant de mal de personne, d’une foi profonde et discrète, d’un grand esprit de pauvreté. Prêtre, tu as voulu servir, tous les jours, en tous lieux, aussi longtemps que ta santé te le permit. Nous te disons au revoir et À Dieu.”

Dans l’homélie, le P. Amyot d’Inville souligna le témoignage de vie laissé par Jean-Pierre : son sens du service, son attitude face à la souffrance : “La souffrance que nous ne pouvons pas ne pas rencontrer dans notre vie, avait-il dit un jour, nous sommes appelés à la vivre dans une disponibilité amoureuse, comme une participation à l’acte par lequel Jésus nous réoriente et réoriente l’humanité vers le Père : nous devenons alors source de vie pour l’humanité. - Je participe à la mission universelle de l’Église en accueillant les dépouillements que m’impose mon état de santé, comme une participation modeste à la croix qui sauve.”

Deux jours avant sa mort, il avait dit : “Le message que je désire laisser se trouve dans un fichier bleu”. On y trouve des versets de l’Ecclésiaste 12, 3-8 ; de nombreux passages de psaumes, le Cantique des Créatures ; des commentaires lapidaires sur l’attitude miséricordieuse de Jésus, son attitude d’écoute pour quiconque venait à lui, sans jamais le juger ; un poème d’Aragon, chanté par Jean Ferrat : “Que serais-je sans toi”, etc. Ce recueil révèle une vie spirituelle d’une profondeur peu commune. Jean-Pierre fut un modèle de Père Blanc, “un témoin de la Bonne Nouvelle”, concluait Jacques Amyot d’Inville.

Armand Duval

Père Manuel (Manolo) Morte Mújica

1919 - - 2013

L vendredi, 25 octobre 2013, s’éteignait à Madrid le Père Manuel Morte, le premier Père Blanc espagnol. Manolo, comme nous l’appelions familièrement, est né en Espagne, à Villafranca de Oria (actuellement Ordizia), le 3 août 1919. Il entra dans la Société des Missionnaires d’Afrique en septembre 1937, onze ans avant que les P.B. ne s’établissent en Espagne (1948). À l’âge de cinq ans, sa famille s’était installée en France, près de Lourdes. C’est là que Manolo reçut sa première formation et que s´éveilla sa vocation sacerdotale et missionnaire. En 1938, à Kerlois, il finit, ses études de philosophie, qu’il avait commencées une année plus tôt dans le séminaire diocésain de Tarbes.

Appelé au service militaire pendant la guerre civile espagnole, il s’enrôla, par devoir de conscience, dans l’armée à la fin de 1938 jusqu’en 1940. À cause de cela, il dût remettre, jusqu’en 1941, son entrée au noviciat de Maison-Carrée. En juin 1945, il fait son serment missionnaire à Thibar et il est ordonné prêtre l’année suivante. En 1947, il est à Saint Laurent d’Olt, où il attend sa nomination en mission.

Dès son ordination, Manolo joua un rôle important dans l’établissement des Missionnaires d’Afrique en Espagne. Il accompagnait le P. Van Volsem, Assistant général, dans ses déplacements en Espagne et au Portugal afin de capter la bienveillance des évêques en vue de la fondation. Nommé en mission au Mozambique, il reçoit du Supérieur général, Mgr Durrieu, la tâche d’élaborer, avant son départ, un rapport à propos de l’installation des Pères Blancs en Espagne et des possibilités de vocations missionnaires dans la péninsule ibérique. Manolo en fit un rapport minutieux dont la conclusion assurait qu’une fondation en Espagne serait bien accueillie.

La mission de Manolo au diocèse de Beira était de première évangélisation : “Pendant mes sept ans, je peux compter peu de baptêmes”, dit-il. Un autre aspect de sa mission était l’éducation : “J’avais créé une sorte d’internat pour cinquante jeunes, en vue de préparer des catéchistes, des candidats au sacerdoce, etc.” Dans ce souci de devoir entretenir et soigner cinquante élèves, se situe la bien connue histoire de “Manolo, chasseur d’éléphants”.

En 1954, il retourne en Espagne pour s’occuper de l’animation missionnaire à Madrid. Avec ses confrères, ils réalisent une épuisante tâche d’animation missionnaire et vocationnelle avec des résultats positifs évidents ; les 54 candidats en formation en 1954 atteignent le nombre de 121 en 1962.

De 1958 à 1961, Manolo se concentre dans la construction de notre séminaire de philosophie, à Logroño. En 1960, il tombe malade (un ulcère au duodénum). Cependant, il poursuit son travail d’économe à l’Africanum. Au mois de juin de l’année suivante, il retourne à Madrid comme supérieur de communauté, tout en s’adonnant à l’animation missionnaire.

En 1964, il remplace le P. Carlos Merry comme Supérieur délégué du Supérieur général en Espagne et en 1967, il est nommé premier Supérieur provincial de la toute nouvelle Province espagnole. C’est pendant son mandat, comme Supérieur Délégué et comme Provincial, que sont établies deux nouvelles procures dans la Province : Bilbao, au nord, et Séville au sud. C’est aussi pendant cette période (à partir de 1968) que l’on construit la maison provinciale de Madrid, l’adaptant aux nécessités nouvelles de la Province.
Comme Provincial, Manolo mène sa tâche d’une main ferme et décidée. Pendant son mandat en Espagne, la Province se développe et se consolide, bien que le nombre de missionnaires en formation commence fortement à diminuer.

En janvier 1970, Manolo finit son mandat comme Provincial et il est nommé supérieur et économe à la Maison généralice à Rome, mission qu’il réalise avec un grand esprit d’accueil et de gentillesse. En janvier 1975, il retourne en Afrique, mais cette fois-ci au Burkina Faso, comme secrétaire de l’évêque de Ouahigouya. Cette expérience, ne dura que dix mois. Manolo avait passé trop de temps hors d’Afrique, et le climat chaud du pays n’aida pas son adaptation. De plus, il disposait de pas mal de temps libre, qu’il employa pour son ressourcement théologique après Vatican II, avec ses grands changements et ses nouvelles perspectives assez radicales. Cet ensemble de circonstances lui créa une certaine tension intérieure, des insomnies et une forte anxiété.

Au mois d’août 1975, il rentre en Espagne et, après un certain temps en famille, il récupère sa bonne forme. Au mois d’octobre, nous le trouvons à la procure de Barcelone où, très tôt, il se lance avec enthousiasme dans la promotion de l’art et de l’artisanat africains. La vente de ces objets d’art africains avait commencé beaucoup plus tôt en Espagne, et bien qu’arrêtée pendant quelques années, elle reprit à peu près à l’époque de l’arrivée de Manolo à Barcelone. Il monte des expositions pour intéresser le public espagnol aux valeurs africaines. Durant des années, le produit de ces ventes d’artisanat et d’art africain a été une aide financière importante pour la Province d’Espagne.

En 1993, nous trouvons Manolo de nouveau à Madrid comme économe de la maison provinciale et de la procure d’accueil. En 2003, il participe à Rome à la session pour les confrères de 70 ans et plus. À son retour, il réside de façon définitive à Madrid, aidant selon ses possibilités. Les années commencèrent à peser sur ce géant robuste et énergique. Ses dernières années accusèrent de plus en plus sa dépendance, toujours aidé avec une fidélité sans faille par le P. René Dionne. Même pendant ces années de plus grande dépendance, il exprimait souvent, dans son regard et son sourire narquois, des pointes de l’humour qui l’avait accompagné tout au long de sa vie.

Le P. Manuel Morte a été un homme de profonde humanité : le sens de l’humour et la fidélité à ses amis ne lui ont jamais manqué. Sa personnalité ainsi que sa sincère piété font de lui une référence pour les Pères Blancs espagnols et pour tous ceux qui l’ont connu et apprécié.

Il est décédé à l’âge de 94 ans : ses funérailles ont eu lieu à Madrid.

Bartolomé Burgos

PROFILES

Father Jean Lefebvre

1932 - - 2013

Jean was born on the 26th July 1932 in Sart-Dames-Avelines in Brabant Wallon, Belgium. The family settled in Saint-Gilles near Brussels in 1940 and Jean attended primary school there. He attended the Sint-Jan-Berchmans College in Brussels for the first part of his secondary schooling. He completed his secondary education in the Cardinal Mercier College in Braine-l’Alleud. He was an enthusiastic scout and spent his holidays in camps run by the famous Fr. Froidure for the handicapped.

Jean entered the White Fathers in September 1953 at Thy-le-Chateau and followed the usual programme for candidates at the time: Varsenare (1955-1956) and Theology in Heverlee (1956-1960). He took his missionary oath on the 4th July 1959 and was ordained priest on the 2nd February 1960. His professors underlined his charming character, attentive, open, devoted, a man with a golden heart. They also remarked on his supernatural spirit and a missionary that one could rely on. As he suffered from rheumatism since his early years, he asked to go to a country that was not too humid. He was appointed to Rwanda.

On the 15th October 1960, Jean left for the Diocese of Nyundo, which was headed by the first Rwandan Bishop, Bishop Bigirumwami. Other appointments followed and he was curate in Muhororo, Kibingo, and Birambo. In August 1964, he finally got a chance to follow a course in Kinyarwanda at the language school in Kigali. However, it was for a couple of months only and by the middle of November 1964, he was again working as curate in Muhororo and, a year later, he was in Mururu. On his return from home leave, he returned to Muhororo where he was able to put down some roots at last. The Regional noted that Jean needed a community in which regularity was a priority. He turned out to be a good bursar. His knowledge of Kinyarwanda was far from perfect and this handicapped him when giving religious instructions.

After his Long Retreat in Villa Cavaletti, Jean was appointed to Mushaka in January 1973. He became the Parish Priest in April 1975. He stayed there until November 1981 when he left for the Session/Retreat in Jerusalem. At his own request, he asked to go to Muramba, which was one of the biggest parishes in the country. He was happy there especially since a confrere introduced the Charismatic movement. Jean joyfully committed himself to it. Another Regional remarked: Jean is an optimist and he sows optimism around himself.”

In 1983, Jean’s father died after a long illness. On a number of occasions, he was asked if Jean should be called home but he always replied, “Leave Jean at his work in Rwanda.”

In 1990, Muramba Parish was handed over to the Diocesan clergy and Jean took a sabbatical year. He enrolled for a three month course in Lumen Vitae. On his return to Rwanda, he was again appointed to Mushaka, which was now part of the Cyangugu Diocese, which was created in 1981 from the Diocese of Nyundo.

A year later, Jean changed dioceses once again as he was appointed to the Parish of Rwaza in the Diocese of Ruhengeri. This put him in the front line in the developing civil war. In fact, the FPR (Front Patriotique Rwandais) were occupying a part of the north of the country at the time. It was there that Jean was an impotent witness to the genocide of 1994. He did all he could to feed the refugees. In May 1994, the confreres of Rwaza were evacuated and Jean arrived in Brussels on the 26th May. However, by the end of January 1995, Jean returned to Rwaza.

In July 1998, he was kidnapped by some Hutu militants but was released two days later shaken but not harmed. The reason for this kidnapping has never been explained. Jean withdrew to the Bishop’s house in Ruhengeri. After his home leave in 1999, he returned to Rwaza for a couple of months. In September 1999, he was appointed to the Regional House as superior and local bursar. On the 3rd August 2002, he left Rwanda and Africa for good.

On his return to Brussels, Jean was appointed to rue Clovis where the confreres ministered in a public chapel. Jean also worked in a neighbouring parish, St. Josse, where he was active in the catechumenate and Renewal groups. He was bursar of the community. He was always concerned with his spiritual progress and did the Missionary Disciplship Session in Jerusalem in 2003 and the session for the 70+ in Rome. When the team of the AMANI centre, which occupied rue Clovis, was changed, Jean left Brussels for Namur where he continued his pastoral activities anywhere where he was needed. He was also a big help to the bursar.

His interior flame never weakened. After a retreat in the Trappist monastery of Rochefort in July 2010, he wrote some pages entitled, “Some reflection of an old missionary.” He was, by then, 78 years old but still keeping the freshness of a novice. He wrote: “the priest ought to be a witness to Christ, an awakener of conscience, zealous for Christ and mankind, a human being close to people, big as well as small, the poor and the sick, attentive to men and women and to speak their language. One has to be rather than do.” He added: “The Church has to return to the Gospel, she ought to be poor and be of service, to wash the feet of people as Jesus did.”

Jean had to be hospitalised in the middle of July 2013. He died, late in the night, 15 days later on the 30th July 2013. The Eucharistic celebration of farewell took place on Monday 5th August in the Church of Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens on the banks of the River Meuse not far from our house “La Plante”. His body was buried in our cemetery of Varsenare.

Fr. Rik Lenssen finished his homily with these words: “Jean, thank you for your witness. As it says in the Gospel of the Beatitudes, “Rejoice because your reward will be great in Heaven”

Jef Vleugels

Father Jan Pickery

1926 - - 2013

Jan was born in Bruges, Western Flanders, Belgium, on the 5th March 1926. He came from a well off and deeply Christian family. His father was a merchant in the Bruges lace making industry. Jan did both his primary and secondary education in the College Saint-Louis in his native city. He was very active in the Flemish Catholic student movement, the KSA.

Jan entered the White Fathers in Boechout in September 1946, and he did his novitiate in Varsenare the following year. He studied Theology in Heverlee and it was there that he took his Missionary Oath on the 19th July 1952. He was ordained priest on the 5th April 1953.

His professors described him as pleasant, full of humour, understanding, and open. He was generous, a little slow but persevering, a tireless worker and trustworthy. He had a sense of duty and he was reliable in times of difficulties. One of his professors wrote, “It seems to me that he is a better educator than an organiser.” After ordination, Jan went to the University of Louvain where he obtained a BA in Education in 1956. While he was studying, he became chaplain to the Scout movement of central Brabant and he would keep in contact with the past members all his life.

Jan left for “our” Congo, on the 10th October 1956. He was appointed to Lake Albert as curate in the parish of Logo. At the same time, he was also given the task of founding and directing a Teacher’s Training College. In August 1958, he went to the junior seminary of Fataki where he taught the traditional secondary school subjects. Two years later, in 1960, he was a member of staff at the Teacher Training College of Vieux-Kilo. In October 1962, he was appointed to the Collège St-Joseph in Bunia, firstly as a teacher and Prefect of Studies, and then as Headmaster.

Jan was entrusted with the post of Director of ISP (Institut Supérieur Pédagogique) of Bunia in October 1968. In the beginning, Jan stayed at the Institute but later on, he became more integrated into the Staff community. Jan took a lot of comfort from his job as professor and instructor. At the same time, he felt less and less at home with all that was happening in the Church. He witnessed the departure of many of his confreres who were getting married. What shocked him particularly was that they were prevented from continuing their work in development.

In 1972, he wrote to a friend, “I believe that I have adopted a lifestyle which does not agree with the actual set up of the White Fathers. What will that mean? I do not know myself.” At first glance, Jan survived the period of Zaireisation (1973-1975) quite well even if he thought of returning home to Belgium permanently from time to time. In March 1975, he wrote that he would stay only if there was a personal contract and a well thought out development programme. That same year, he secured finance for setting up CANDIP (Centre d’ANimation et de DIffusion Pédagogique). This was to become his life work and he committed himself to it right up to his last breath.

Radio Candip began broadcasting in 1977 and reached a listenership with a 700kms radius beyond Bunia. It employed the “see-judge-act” method and this fitted in very well with African culture. Groups of people listened to the broadcast and assimilated the radio message. Then they compared the radio lessons with their actual lived experiences. Then they made decisions and plans for the development of the village. In order to promote participation, Radio Candip proposed the creation of radio clubs not for listening but for action. The radio broadcast in the seven languages of the region: Kilendu, Alur, Kimande, Lugbara, Kiswahili, Lingala, and French. The people sent letters and asked questions. Reporters came with the famous UHER portable tape recorders and the interviews were broadcast live. Every subject was tackled from the nutrition of babies to the culture of soya, touching also on livestock rearing and care of the sick. The listeners even asked questions about politics. A department of UNAZA (Université NAtionale ZAïroise) at the time sponsored the project.

In the meantime, Jan took up residence in one of the houses attached to ISP. It quickly became a mini-dispensary for the poor. Every year, he returned home and raised funds as Radio Candip cost a lot of money. Jan was also the patron of other projects but on a lesser scale. As time went on, his stays in Belgium became longer and longer. As a result, the Provincial leadership proposed an appointment to the Province in 1998 with the possibility of going to Bunia each year for six weeks.

His superiors hoped that Jan would join one or another community. It was a vain hope and even if he kept very good regular relationships with the Society, he continued to live his own life. He had an apartment in his native city of Bruges, where many members of his family also lived. Every visitor entering his living room could see the wall covered with photos of his African friends who had appreciated him and were grateful to him.

Jan returned to Bunia for the last time at the beginning of 2012 for the centenary of the beginning of evangelisation in Ituri. He was 84 years but he could still get about sitting as the pillion passenger on a motorbike taxi over bad dirt roads.

However, the weight of years was beginning to catch up on him and he had some heart problems. When an advanced lung cancer was diagnosed, a long period of decline began. He supported it courageously surrounded by the love of his family. Just a few days before his death, he agreed to enter palliative care. He died on the 30th July 2013.

The Liturgy of the Resurrection took place in Varsenare on the 5th August 2013 and he was buried in our cemetery there.

Jef Vleugels

Father Joseph Frederick Kay

1921 - - 2013

Joseph F. Kay, known to the confreres simply as “Joe”, was born in most unusual circumstances. His father, Frederick Kay, had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. After Mr. Kay had settled in a steady job, he arranged for his wife and children to join him in the state of Michigan. They travelled by boat from Ireland but the journey had to be interrupted when they reached Nova Scotia as Joe’s mother, Elizabeth Knowles, was about to give birth to a child. Elizabeth disembarked and remained in Nova Scotia long enough to give birth to Joe. Therefore, Joe saw the light of day for the first time on Canadian soil on December 12th, 1921.

The family then settled in Detroit, Michigan, where Joe spent the early years of his life. He was blessed with hard-working parents. He repeatedly explained how his father was once injured on the job and during the time of his disablement, the mother managed to provide food on the table every day for the whole family. Both parents strove to keep their family faithful to the Church and reputable as American citizens. At the same time, they did not forget their Irish heritage.

When time came for him to begin his secondary school studies, Joe entered Sacred Heart Minor Seminary in Detroit, Michigan, where he studied from 1936 to 1943. He then applied to enter the Missionaries of Africa. They sent him to St Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland to finish his studies in Philosophy and take a B.A in The Psychology of Education. From there, Joe went to the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. for two years of study in Theology. Finally, he did his final studies in the novitiate in St. Martin and theology in Eastview, Canada. Joe made his Oath on the 16th September 1947 and, on the 22nd May 1948, he was ordained a priest at Eastview, Ontario, Canada.

Those long years of formation had prepared him for Africa. The years of missionary endeavour that followed took place in his beloved Tanzania. He worked as curate and later as parish priest in the dioceses of Mwanza and Geita. He was the founder of Mwangita-Kahunda parish of Geita Diocese. In 1973, Joe returned to do his share of promotion work in the home province. He spent two years training Lay Missionaries in Los Angeles, California.

From 1975 to 1978, he was superior of two promotion centres – one in Chicago, Illinois, the other in Wayland, Massachusetts. In 1978, Joe was able to return to Africa. Back in Mwanza Diocese, he laboured as curate and later as parish priest. In 1982, a change of pace was in order for Joe. He was appointed as secretary to the Bishop in Bukumbi. He remained in that position until 1993.

Then came the day that all of us missionaries dread: the day when we are told that our services are no longer needed, the day when we are told that it is time to go home. On the day when his Regional Superior gently broke the news to him, Joe was a very dispirited man. Nevertheless, he did not blame anyone and there was never any discernible bitterness. He simply packed his bag and went back home. Like most African missionaries, he would have liked to have said that he had lived and died in Africa.

He tried his hand at fund-raising in Washington, D.C. and later did parish work in St. Petersburg, Florida. Neither of these was fulfilling enough for Joe. He then accepted the work of full-time pastor in the town of Paragould, Arkansas. Finally, after five years of real fatherly care to his parishioners, his health began to weaken, and he had to give it all up.

He spent the last 14 years of his life in full retirement at the Missionaries of Africa house in St. Petersburg, Florida. They were years of advancing decrepitude. He spent much of his time in the solitude of his private room. Yet he always emerged from his room in good spirits. He passed from this world at the age of 91 on the 18th May 2013. Of all the brothers and sisters in his family, only one brother survived him, and that brother was not in a condition to attend his funeral.

Joe was people-oriented. Even when he worked as secretary to the Bishop, there were days when he would gather some African friends around his desk for a little confab. While in Arkansas running a parish, he could not avoid sometimes picking up a small child and hugging him even though, as he said it, I risked being thrown into jail for it. With confreres, we could always count on Joe being well disposed and cheerful. Until deafness began to interfere, he was always a great contributor to the conversation.

Wherever he was, he did what he could for as long as he could. In other words, he was ready to make any sacrifice to promote the life of the Church.

Joe was a very independent man. He was very much aware of his personal qualities, his education, his upbringing, etc. All of this made Joe very sure of himself. However, living in an era of Church renewal, Joe’s ideas were sometimes challenged in community. As he grew frailer and his failing health put Joe in a position of increasing dependence on others, life became more difficult. Still, he made efforts to communicate with all community members. If he sometimes expressed intolerance for the faults of persons from outside the community, he was always tolerant of the confreres and accepted them all, even when he found their words or deeds hard to swallow.

Always ready to bring cheer into a situation, always ready to take on another job, it became necessary to tell Joe sometimes during his declining years that he was no longer strong enough to carry on as younger people do. So, he began to look for new forms of prayer. He spent more and more hours every day seated alone in front of the tabernacle. Joe left this world content because he had done as much as was humanly possible for him to live a full life. He left the rest of the work for God to perform.

Joseph E. Hebert

“Blessed be the pure in heart, they shall see God” Mt 5:8

Father Paul Gallen

1948 - - 2013

Paul was born in the Army Hospital of Cherbourg on the 4th January 1948. He was baptised on the following day by a Chaplain of the Navy, Fr. J Tonnerre. His father was a mechanic in the Navy with the rank of Petty Officer. Paul was the oldest in a family of one girl and three boys. Paul was confirmed on the 28th May 1958 in the Parish of Sainte-Anne at La Pecherie in Tunisia where his family was stationed at the time. He did practically all of his secondary schooling in the department of Morbihan.

Paul studied Philosophy at the 1st cycle of the White Fathers in Strasbourg from 1968 to 1970. The staff thought him a good prospect, personal, helpful, resourceful and showing potential. After his novitiate in Dorking, England, he taught for two years (1971-1973) in the junior seminary of Lubushi, Zambia as part of his stage for the Cooperation Catholique in France.

On his return to France, Paul studied Theology in Strasbourg. He took his missionary Oath on the 17th May 1975 and he was ordained priest in Sauzon on the 27th May 1976. He asked to be sent to an English speaking country. He returned to Zambia in September 1976 and studied Bemba at the language school of Ilondola. The following March, he was appointed curate in Malole Parish, Kasama Diocese. He stayed there until January 1982 when he was appointed to Lwena situated in the marshes to the north of Lake Bangweolo. Severe malaria struck him down in January 1983 and he nearly died. In 1986, he went to Chilubi, an island on the big lake where he felt very much at home.

Paul had an innate sense of welcome, and was a very good listener. He had a phenomenal memory and a great capacity for compassion and he made many friends. You were never bored with him in community because he was an inexhaustible raconteur. Paôl, as he signed his letters, loved to get out and meet people during his safaris. He had green fingers and so had a great flower and vegetable garden. He also knew how to cook up nice little dishes. He could get bogged down in material things but he was, nevertheless, rigorous in his accounts and strict in admission to Baptism. However, the death of his priest uncle in 1990 and of his father in 1992 affected this sensitive person very much. “It was during these years that he drifted towards another world: too many cups of coffee, Gitane cigarettes and, why try to hide it, alcohol. They began to ruin his life and his health.”

Paul did the Jerusalem session/retreat in 1993 after his home leave. He was appointed Parish Priest of Kasaba Parish in the Diocese of Mansa, Zambia in April 1994. He did great work there and functioned as Parish Priest of Kasaba/Kasanka in 1995. However, his relationships with the confreres and the Christians sometimes suffered because of his addictions. In 1996, he became seriously ill and he was hospitalised in Lusaka and then repatriated to France. He took a sabbatical year and returned to Zambia on the 20th November 1997. He was appointed Parish priest of Nondo in the Archdiocese of Kasama. He spent three years there but it was not always very easy. The diocesan clergy loved him because of his warm welcome. Paôl felt he was not often well understood by his confreres and superiors and he suffered a lot. In January 2001, he took another sabbatical and he was appointed to France for formation and missionary promotion at Ste-Foy-les-Lyon. He put a lot of energy and generosity into it. He returned to Jerusalem for the MDS session in September 2002.

Subsequently, Paul returned to Ndola in 2004 but this latest stay was not a success because the problem of alcoholism resurfaced. After his home leave in 2005, he was appointed to France but he insisted on going back to Zambia, as he was feeling better. However, in November 2006, he was seriously injured after being hit by a lorry and after receiving care locally, he returned to France in 2007. He staffed the reception desk in rue Friant, Paris until he left for a sabbatical year in Canada from March 2009 to April 2010. The object was to alleviate, by appropriate care, his alcohol addiction that was disrupting his life and his work. He thought he had triumphed but the cure did not last.

The letters of Paôl are a delight: cheerful, spiritual and sharp. However, his alcoholism darkened and even poisoned his last years. We all know that the causes can be very diverse, and for the sick person, knowing his powerlessness, it can be a difficult time, but it is also painful for those around him. Paul remained faithful and sincere and his interventions when he participated at the Eucharist were well prepared and deep. One admired his faith, but, no doubt, the illness was too deep seated. Despite the help from a mentor that he had chosen himself from the community and despite a third stay in Jerusalem in 2011, he could not get back into recovery. He ate badly, did not take the prescribed medication, and did not use the necessary means for fighting his addiction. All this affected his community and he began to deteriorate.

On the morning of the 12th December 2013, Paul was found dead in his room. He was 65 years old. The funeral Mass took place on the 14th December in the Chapelle Saint-Paul de Paris. Fr. Jean-Yves Chevalier gave some words of welcome and Fr. Vuillemin, Delegate Superior of France, gave a moving homily. He took Paôl’s meditation on the healing of the paralytic at the Sheep Gate pool (Jn 5: 1-9). “On that day, Jesus looked with compassion on a disabled person who had been like that for 38 years and who had obviously lost hope. ‘Sir, I have nobody to put me into the pool at the right moment. Jesus said to him: ‘Rise, take up your mat, and walk!’ Only an authoritative word can give back life where there is only death, or sclerosis. Jesus appears as the One who wants to help people stand up, challenging them to start living again. Later on, Jesus meets the cured invalid again in the Temple and tells him: ‘Look, you are well again, do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse may happen to you.’

Paul had meditated on this text during his therapy in Toronto. He knew the One who could completely cure him and he desired sincerely to stand up again. Remembering the story of Lazarus, he said: ‘I have the impression of coming out of the tomb, maybe not like Jesus but like Lazarus. I had so many binding cloths, there are still some small ones but with my hands freed, I think that it will be ok.’ Frail and very sensitive, he wanted to pull through but he suffered greatly because it still tied him and he was not able to live up to his ideal and he realised that this was making others suffer as well.”

His three stays in Jerusalem had marked him and he dreamed of an appointment there. He saw it as a place where he could be completely a man of welcomes, of meeting people, looking after pilgrims and neighbours. He was not able to meet the challenge; the binding cloths still held him. However, Guy Vuillemin concluded: “I think that he can say in all truthfulness, ‘Now, I walk, even if I am carrying my mat. I live in full communion with God and my brothers. I am here; my steps have stopped before your gates, Jerusalem!”

Paul was buried in Belle-Ile on the 16th December after Mass concelebrated by Fr. Jean-Yves Chevalier and six priests of the region in the Church of Saint-Nicolas de Sauzon.

Armand Duval

 

Father Jean-Pierre Lepoutre

1932 - - 2013

Jean-Pierre was born in Roubaix, France, on the 27th August 1932. He came from a loving and united family of four children, two boys and two girls. When he made his First Holy Communion at the age of seven, he declared his intention of consecrating himself to the Lord. He was an unruly boy and there was a touch of the daredevil in him. His brother Michel, however, remembered that he always respected institutions such as scouting, but his pranks got him into frequent trouble in the Collège Notre-Dame des Victoires in Roubaix where he finished his secondary school studies.

Regarding his years of training with the White Fathers, we only know that Jean-Pierre entered the novitiate of Maison-Carrée on the 25th September 1953. After his military service, he did his Theological studies in Thibar. He took the Missionary Oath on the 26th June 1959 in Carthage and he was ordained priest on the 31st January 1960 in Saint-Joseph de Roubaix. He was appreciated for his open heart, his intelligence and his good humour. A letter he wrote to his superiors after his ordination regarding money given to him by his parents and friends shows a good deal of tact and a total disinterestedness.

On the 1st October 1960, Jean was already in Guilongou in Upper Volta in order to learn the language. He began his pastoral ministry on the 22nd May 1961 as curate in Ouahigouya. He was to become superior there in April 1966. Between times, he had to anticipate his home leave in 1965 by three weeks because his mother was very ill. He had the consolation of being with her in her last days. In July 1969, he was appointed to the Lille procure in France. On the advice of the Provincial, he spent a year at l’École des Missionnaires d’Action Catholique et d’Action Sociale, and this was a big help to him. He was appointed superior of the Lille community and was then elected Provincial Councillor on the 1st January 1972. It was in that year also that his father died suddenly at age of 70.

At the end of 1973, Jean-Pierre returned to Burkina Faso after doing the Long Retreat in Villa Cavalleti. He returned to his parish with a joyful heart and he was happy to train people to become self-reliant and to take the responsibility for the apostolate. On the 1st January 1974, he was appointed superior of the Cathedral of Ouahigouya and on the 1st August, he was elected as delegate to the General Chapter in Rome.

During his holidays in 1977, he gave a helping hand in Lille to the touring exhibition of African Art and Missionary Promotion on the beaches of northern France. In 1978, he returned as superior to Baam-Kongoussi. However, in August 1982, he was appointed to the junior seminary of Koudougou and he accepted this with his customary sang-froid. He wrote about “starting again to study Cicero and Sallust, the Persian Letters and Voltaire.” It was with relief that he returned to parish ministry as Parish Priest of Titao in Oua­higouya Diocese in January 1986.

Jean-Pierre did the session/retreat in Jerusalem in 1988 but it was spoilt by severe back pain. He told his Bishop that an operation might be necessary when the pain stopped just as quickly as it started. On his return to Burkina, he was elected a Regional Councillor and he was re-elected in 1993. At the same time, he was curate in Bourzanga Parish. He moved to Séguénéga Parish also in the Diocese of Ouahigouya in 1997. He became Parish Priest in December 1999. The Regional greatly appreciated him and wrote “he is a very zealous confrere, agreeable company, a very good administrator, and organiser. He has a strong spiritual life and is very influential in the Diocese.” He was also the Secretary of the Regional Council.

The French Province had their eyes on Jean-Pierre since 1998 with a view to appointing him as superior of Tassy. There were tough discussions between Provincial and Regional. The Provincial really needed Jean-Pierre in France while the Regional thought that his departure would be detrimental for the Sahel project. Jean-Pierre was willing either way although he did feel that, at 68 years of age, it would be difficult to return to Burkina after service in France. So, he stayed in Burkina. The problem resurfaced in 2004 when Séguénéga Parish was handed over to the Diocesan clergy. In September 2004, Jean-Pierre said he was ready to go to Tassy if he was asked or to transfer to the Diocese of Bobo-Dioulasso where the Centre Mater Christi needed a good administrator. He did say that he would prefer to go to Bobo.

After a long career in pastoral work, the idea of training religious personnel from many different countries of Africa for the different tasks such as formation or other works that their congregations had asked them to do was very attractive to him. So, he went to Bobo.

However, in 2007, Doctors discovered lung cancer and his right lung was removed. As a further precaution, he was given 3 sessions of chemotherapy. Jean-Pierre suffered this bravely and rested after every session in Bry-sur-Marne. However, he needed to be checked every three months in the first year and then every six months the second year. He confessed to being depressed in September 2008 as Africa was getting farther and farther away. He was appointed to France and he staffed the reception desk in rue Friant and did other ministries with his habitual smile and great sense of service. The remission was to last six years.

The cancer returned in 2013. After a short stay in a nursing home in Vanves, he was transferred to St. Joseph’s Hospital. He told his friend Édouard Morisson: “I am at peace and I thank the Lord for the calmness he is giving me. I only ask that I do not have to suffer for a long time.” The Lord answered his request and called him on the 10th January 2014.

Jean-Pierre’s funeral took place in the chapel of Saint Paul near our house in rue Friant, His brother Michel praised Jean-Pierre. He said “in departing from us, you leave an image of a man who was upright, modest, an optimist, full of confidence in Providence, serene despite the attacks of illness, cheerful, liking a joke and indifferent to honours. You were disciplined and submissive to your superiors in faithfulness to the promise you made, non-judgmental, never speaking badly about anybody, a deep and discrete faith, and a great spirit of poverty. As a priest, you wanted to serve every day and everywhere as long as your health permitted. We wish you “au revoir et à Dieu.”

In his sermon, Fr. Amyot d’Inville emphasised the witness of the life led by Jean-Pierre: his sense of service and his attitude in face of suffering. He said that Jean-Pierre had confided one day: “The sufferings that we cannot avoid in our life, we are called to live in a loving availability, as a participation in the act in which Jesus gives us a new direction and reorients humanity towards the Father. In this way, we become a source of life for humanity. I take part in the universal mission of the Church by welcoming the limitations that my state of health imposes on me as a modest participation on the Cross which saves.”

Two days before he died, he said: “the message that I wish to leave in to be found in the blue file”. It included verses of Ecclesiastes 12:3-8, many passages from the Psalms, ‘The Canticle of the Sun’, a short commentary on the merciful approach of Jesus, about his listening attitude to whoever came to him without being judgemental, a poem of Aragon sung by Jean Ferrat “Que serais-je sans toi”, etc. This collection reveals a deep spirituality. Jacques Amyot d’Inville concluded by saying: “Jean-Pierre was a model White Father and a witness to the Good News”

Armand Duval

 

Father Manuel (Manolo) Morte Mújica

1919 - - 2013

Fr. Manuel Morte died in Madrid, Spain on the 25th October 2013. He was the first Spanish White Father. Manolo as we called him was born in Villafranca de Oria, now known as Ordizia, in the Province of Guipùzcoa, Spain on the 3rd August 1919. He entered the Society of the Missionaries of Africa in September 1937, 11 years before the first foundation of the White Fathers in Spain in 1948. When he was five years old, his family took up residence in France, settling near Lourdes. It was there that Manolo received his early education and he felt called to his priestly and missionary vocation. In 1938, he finished his Philosophical studies in Kerlois having begun them in the Diocesan Seminary of Tarbes.

The National Government of Spain called up Manolo for military service during the Spanish civil war. In conscience, he felt that he was obliged to enrol in the army and he joined up at the end of 1938. He served until 1940 and this meant that he had to put off entering the novitiate in Maison-Carrée until 1941. He took his Missionary Oath on the 27th June 1945 at Thibar and he was ordained priest on the 6th May 1946. In 1947, he was in Saint Laurent d’Olt waiting for his first appointment to the missions.

From the time of his ordination, Manolo played an important role in founding the Missionaries of Africa in Spain. He accompanied Fr. Van Volsem, an Assistant General on his travels through Spain and Portugal in order to get an idea of the attitude of the Bishops towards a new foundation. He was appointed to Mozambique but before he left, Bishop Durrieu, the Superior General, gave him the task of writing up a report on the possibilities of missionary vocations in the Iberian Peninsula. Manolo gave a detailed report and his conclusion was that a White Father foundation in Spain would be welcomed.

Manolo began work in the Diocese of Beira. It was real primary evangelisation. He said: “during my seven years there, I had very few Baptisms.” Another aspect of his mission was education: “I had set up a sort of a boarding school for 50 students with the idea of training catechists and maybe candidates for the priesthood.” In his effort to keep and look after ‘cincuenta criaturas’ (50 pupils), the story of ‘Manolo the elephant hunter’ was born.

Manolo returned to Spain in 1954 to look after Missionary Promotion work in Madrid. With his colleagues of the time, he put in an enormous effort to promote the mission and missionary vocations. They enjoyed a great success and from 54 students in 1954, the number grew to 121 in 1962.

From 1958 to 1961, Manolo was fully occupied with the construction of the Philosophy House in Logrono. He fell ill with a duodenal ulcer in 1960. However, he continued his work as bursar of the Africanum. In June the following year, he returned to Madrid as Superior of the community while still being fully involved in promotion work. In 1964, he replaced Fr. Carlos Merry as the Delegate of the Superior General in Spain. Three years later, in 1967, he was appointed the first Provincial of the new Province of Spain. It was during his period as the Delegate and as Provincial that he established two more houses, one in the north, Bilbao, and the other in the south, Seville. A new Provincial house was also built (from 1968) to meet the needs of the new Province.

As a Provincial, Manolo carried his task with a determined and steady hand. During this time, the Spanish Province developed and consolidated even if the number of students began to diminish greatly.
In January 1970, Manolo finished his mandate as Provincial and he was appointed as Superior and bursar at the General House in Rome. He carried out this job with a great sense of welcome and kindness.

He returned to Africa in January 1975, this time to Burkina Faso. He became secretary to the Bishop of Ouahigouya. However, this experience only lasted ten months and it was not a happy one. Manolo had been too long outside Africa and the hot climate made it difficult for him to adapt. Besides, the work meant that he had a good deal of free time and he used it to update his theology after Vatican II. The huge changes and the radically new perspectives troubled him a lot and the circumstances in which he found himself led to a lot of internal tension, deep anxiety and insomnia.

In August 1975, he returned to Spain and spent a certain amount of time with his family. He recovered his good form and in October of the same year he went to the procure in Barcelona. He soon launched himself into the promotion of African art and artisanal works in Spain. The sale of these objects had already begun in Barcelona in 1963 and although they had stopped for a number of years, they had started again more or less around the time that Manolo arrived. He promoted African art in all of Spain by the expositions organised by the different communities of the Prov­ince. This helped to make the Spanish public aware of African values. During these years, the result of the sale of African art and artisanal objects made a big contribution to the financial affairs of the Spanish Province.

In 1993, Manolo returned to Madrid as bursar of the Provincial House and guest master. In 2003, he came to Rome for the session for confreres over 70 years. He returned to Madrid and helped as best he could in the house. The years began to weigh heavily on this tough and energetic giant. In his later years, he became more and more dependant and Fr. Rene Dionne was a faithful and helpful carer. Even during the years of his greatest dependence, he often expressed his sense of humour by his mocking looks and bantering comments that was a characteristic of his all through his life.

Fr. Manuel Morte was a man of deep humanity. His sense of humour and faithfulness to his friends never left him. His serene and robust personality as well as his sincere piety were a reference point for Spanish White Fathers and for all those who knew and appreciated him.
Manuel was 94 when he died and he was buried in Madrid.

Bartolomé Burgos