Brief biography
Father Émilien Tardif, m.s.c.
Brief biography of Father Émilien Tardif, m.s.c. (extract from the review Rayo de Luz, June 2007, No. 76, p. 1, Dario Taveras, m.s.c., translated by Yves Rancourt, priest.)
Father Émilien Tardif is the ninth (the seventh living) of a family of fourteen children. On the day of his birth, one expected the worst in the house, that the mother would die and that the child would die. For this reason, on that occasion, were present two doctors and also the priest of the parish. According to the doctor, his mother, Mrs. Anna, could no longer give birth. She had been advised not to give birth to any more children. Following this advice, she would have said: “It is better to die in a state of grace than to die in a state of sin. I prefer to sacrifice myself and give birth to the child.”
Thanks to God, everything went well; after Émilien's birth, five other children would come. Four children of the family would enter religious life. In 1941, Father Émilien entered the seminary of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Motivated by a solid Christian vocation that is reflected in his letter. Émilien writes on July 3, 1952 to the provincial: “I sincerely desire, Father, to consecrate myself to God in the congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart to serve as a religious and as a priest. After having asked for the light of the Holy Spirit, and having reflected greatly, I ask, Reverend Father, for admission to the perpetual vows. My confessor advises me to follow this vocation and it is my keen desire.”
He was ordained on June 24, 1955. On December 8 of the same year, he writes another letter: “In the history of the origins of our congregation, it is said that the feast of the Immaculate Conception is a favorable day for obtaining a great favor from God. It seems to me that it is a favorable occasion to ask, of you who are the representative of God, this: I would be happy to go exercise my apostolate as a missionary in Saint-Domingue. The reason for my choice is the great poverty of the people there, deprived of the sacraments, and also because there I could better make the few talents that God has given me bear fruit. I entrust this request to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.”
The devotion to the Sacred Heart
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
Father Émilien, as several times in his life, received a positive response. He arrived on September 16, 1956. Father Émilien knew how to join the spirituality of the Sacred Heart and the missionary ardor to the new evangelization. He made the devotion to the Sacred Heart the spirituality, his life, and of merciful love his preaching, presenting a Living Jesus, striving to let the poor of this world know that they are loved by God, and this particularly to the sick, freed of all categories of illness. How many people have received this invitation from Émilien: “In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.”
He carried light baggage on the roads of the world. He was a good administrator of the gifts of the Lord. His collaborators, the closest, were astonished at his boldness and his audacity in launching works. He repeated to us this phrase, a phrase of the founder of his congregation: “When God wants a work, the obstacles are there. One must not be surprised at anything, so let us dare with as much persistence as the adversities present themselves.” Father Émilien tells us all: “Do not be afraid. Does one not sell two sparrows for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground unbeknownst to your Father! So be without fear: you are worth more than all the sparrows of the world.” Matthew 10, 28-31.
Fr. Dario Taveras, m.s.c.
Note: Father Émilien Tardif died in San Antonio de Arredondo, Cordoba, Argentina, on June 8, 1999; the following day a retreat for priests was beginning.
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