Pilgrimage in the footsteps of Father Émilien 2000

Father Bertrand, friend of Father Émilien Tardif

Santiago

On Tuesday 25 January, with Brother Raphaël Ménard, M.S.C., I went to the municipal cemetery of Santiago and prayed near the vault belonging to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. The body of Father Émilien rests there with missionaries of his community. Two other men from Beauce rest in this place: Father Cyprien Fortin, originally from Beauceville, one of the founders of the M.S.C. mission in the Republic [Dominican Republic], who died on 1 February 1987, and Father Alfred Lambert, originally from St-Joseph, who died on 12 August 1991. Near Father Émilien’s tomb, I noticed that people bring candles, flowers and plants. He is still very much present in the hearts of the people.

Afterwards, I visited the evangelisation house of the community of the Servants of the Living Christ of Santiago, a cluster of buildings with a very pretty chapel, which can be used to receive retreatants or pilgrims. I went for the night to the Vocational Centre, M.S.C., still in Santiago, where two young fathers of the community do the animation; there, twenty young people attend this Vocational Centre while continuing their studies at the small diocesan Seminary.

This centre is a quiet and very pleasant site where the postulants of the Sisters of Perpetual Help and the missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart go to Mass. Brother Bruno Joyal has been there for many years, and he knew Father Émilien Tardif well, since he worked in the mission of San José de Las Matas, and particularly at the Seminary of San José, which closed during Father Émilien’s superiorate to move to Santiago, to become the M.S.C. Vocational Centre that we know now.

Wednesday 26 January.

San José de Las Matas

Brother Raphaël and I went to the Parish of San José de Las Matas in the mountains, of which Father Bertrand Lessard, a man from Beauce and friend of Father Émilien, is parish priest. I visited the former Missionary Seminary where Father Émilien was a professor at the beginning of his ministry in the Republic; these buildings now serve as the school of trades. However, we did not find the infrastructure that served as the printing press for the publication of the magazine ‘Amigo del Hogar’ founded by Father Émilien.

Father Bertrand Lessard, with two young vicars and Brother Raphaël, the one who accompanied me, take care of the parish of San José de Las Matas and of several mission outposts encompassing a population of 80,000 inhabitants; the town of San José de Las Matas has a population of 7,000 inhabitants; Germain, one of the vicars, takes care of a new parish under construction, Notre-Dame de Mercedes.

Thursday 27 January.

I visited the infrastructures of the parish, a few mission outposts and, with Father Bertrand Lessard, I went to concelebrate in a distant mission outpost in the mountains; what surprised me in this very modest place is that, despite the rain and the mud, several people were at Mass, and that in this small chapel there was, prominently displayed, a calendar with the photo of Father Émilien Tardif; it is a fact that Father Émilien is omnipresent in the Dominican Republic. Moreover, an evangelisation centre that now belongs to the parish of San José de Las Matas will bear the name Centre Padre Emiliano Tardif. In the future, a missionary corporation of Beauce will certainly encourage this project.

Santo Domingo

Friday 28 January.

I returned with local transport at 5 a.m. to Santo Domingo, to the house of Los Padros, the point of departure. I take advantage of the day to go to the beach of Boca Chica with Father Eddy Cormier, a diocesan priest of New Brunswick, who was associated with the mission of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in the past, and who was there on a period of rest. It is always pleasant to be near the sea, and above all near the sea of the Antilles.

During this pilgrimage, I stayed in Santo Domingo on Sunday 23 January, Monday 24 January, part of Tuesday 25 January, and Saturday 29 January. During this stay in the capital, I visited and celebrated in the places where Father Émilien lived. While he was superior or provincial of his community in the Republic with other members, he opened and fitted out various houses for the mission; the house of Los Prados, where I stayed and took advantage of the chapel to pray, is one of these houses.

This one is the landing place for all those who come to the capital from the country and from abroad.

Today the superior of this house is Father Joan Rodriguez, M.S.C., and at Los Prados there is also the printing press ‘Amigo del Hogar,’ which is a commercial enterprise. There I met Brother Georges, who worked many years at the printing press and as a maintenance man at the house of Los Prados; he knew Father Émilien very well. I visited the modern church of Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cœur of Los Prados; Father Émilien Tardif carried out ministry in this parish, and I went with the parish priest, Athuro, to visit, in a poorer neighbourhood, a modest church where the bishop had just erected a new parish on 26 January.

Sunday 23 January.

Casa de la Anunciación of the Servants of the Living Christ

I concelebrated in an open-air chapel at Los Prados, in the company of Father Raymond-Marie Audet, the one who welcomed me; there, the construction of a new church is planned. The Father presented me as coming from the same village as Father Émilien; the people welcomed me warmly with applause; this shows well that they remember him. On Sunday at 6 p.m., with Father Raymond-Marie, I concelebrated at the ‘Casa de la Anunciación’ of the Servants of the Living Christ, where Father Émilien resided in these last years. There was a large crowd at this Mass, and the welcome was warm; how I would have liked to be able to speak Spanish to listen to some of them tell me about what the Lord has done for them, and to hear about the ministry that Father Émilien carried out in this beautiful house, where there is adoration from morning to evening.

Monday 24 January.

On Monday, I returned to the house of the Annunciation for part of the day, and we even took a nap. Father Émilien’s room is closed for an inventory and a ‘listing’ that may later serve in a process toward venerability and the eventual opening of a religious museum. At this house, I dined, prayed and shared as much as was possible with the residents. At this house as elsewhere, I was very well received; I noted the great esteem and respect of the people and of the community members for Father Émilien. The animators took the opportunity to show us a video made one month before his death. We ended the day by visiting a residence of the M.S.C. community for university students coming from the mountains.

Evangelisation house John Paul II

One of the members of the community, a layman, an insurance agent, took us to see an evangelisation centre, sponsored by Father Émilien, which is meant to be an international centre, able to welcome several hundred retreatants at a time. It is immense! The construction will not be finished for over a year. The building that will serve for teaching will bear the name of Father Émilien Tardif. To my knowledge, besides this large evangelisation centre in Santo Domingo, there are also those of Nagua, of Santiago and of San José de Las Matas...

The work of the Lord raised up and brought about by Father Émilien is a precious gift for his community, for the Dominican Church and for the country. It would be interesting to go on pilgrimage to the east of the country, on the side of Nagua, Pimentel, Sánchez and La Romana, in order to gather, by word of mouth, testimonies of people who benefited from the ministry of Father Émilien on his return to the Dominican Republic in 1974.

This pilgrimage is not like the others; to be a pilgrim in the footsteps of Father Émilien is a missionary grace, and, contrary to the title of an article published in a local newspaper of Beauce on 12 June 1999, after his death, which I quote: “Father Tardif will no longer heal anyone,” I firmly believe the opposite, that the Lord will continue to do good on earth through his presence in heaven. “I am not dying, I am entering into life.” (Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus)

Good Father Émilien Tardif, pray with us!