A man of heroic virtues, pope says

 By Bishop Rochus Tatamai MSC – Bereina

ON April 16 Pope Francis officially recognised the “heroic virtues” of the Servant of God Alain-Marie Guynot de Boismenu. 

He was born on December 27, 1870, at Saint Malo, a town on the coast of Brittany, France. 

He was the 11th and last child of Francois Guynot de Boismenu and Augustine Desessarts.  

He never knew his mother since she died 15 days after his birth so his elder sister, whose name was also Augustine, became mother to him. 

They were a family of eight boys and three girls.

He began his primary education with the Brothers of the Christian Schools (de la Salle Brothers) then moved to secondary education at the College of St Malo, which was under the direction of the Diocesan Clergy.

Alain de Boismenu always wanted to become a missionary so with the help of his confessor and spiritual director, the Abbe Barbot, who had a great devotion to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and a great admirer of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, he recommended him to join their Apostolic School at Issoudun. 

He expressed this desire thus: “I have always had the intention of becoming a priest and even a missionary.” 

Young de Boismenu arrived in Issoudun on September 8, 1886. 

The young MSC congregation was only 32 years old yet it was al­ready the time of major missionary expansion with great adventure of the missions in Micronesia and Melanesia.

Due to the French revolution with anti-religious political legislations, many religious congregations were expelled from France. 

Thus de Boismenu was sent to Antwerp, Belgium, to do his novitiate and had the opportunity to be exposed to many schoolboys, novices, philosophers and theologians from parts of Europe. 

In the novitiate he displayed a fervent love for souls and a strong missionary spirit. 

He was keen on giving catechetical instructions to the brothers and younger schoolboys.

He made his first profession as a Missionary of the Sacred Heart on October 4, 1888. 

Between 1888 and 1892 he did his philosophical and theological studies in Antwerp. 

He then made final vows in 1891. 

The following year, 1892, he was appointed to Issoudun to teach in the Apostolic School. 

He was ordained priest at Bourges on February 10, 1895.

Some years earlier, de Boismenu had written to Father Henry Verius MSC, who was the pioneer missionary to arrive at Yule Island in 1885, seeking his advice about the best way to prepare himself for life in the mission. 

The advice was: “Here you need 100 times more virtue, spirit of sacrifice and spirit of faith than in Europe.

“Consider excellent the day when you are opposed, exercise yourself often in patience, in putting up with the faults of your brothers; this point is essential, patience with yourself, with others and above all with the natives (locals) who discourage you in the mission such a habit of patience is so necessary.”

As a teacher, he was popular among his students who apparently later served under him in the mission on Yule Island. 

He developed an interest for social questions, especially inspired by Pope Leo XIII, who issued his encyclical on social questions in 1891. He was concerned about the working conditions of the poor and the theological aspects of the Pope’s teaching.

Alain received news of his appointment to the mission on August 13, 1897. He arrived in Sydney towards end of October 1897. However, some of his confreres were sceptical about his suitability for the vigorous life of the mission.

On the contrary, he was appointed Bishop in 1900 and retired to Kubuna in 1945 and died on November  5, 1953. In fact he lived as bishop for 53 years.

He offered many pastoral guidelines to the missionaries as well as wrote pastoral letter to offer clarification on issues in terms of evangelisation and inculturation. 

He in fact set out to improve the living conditions of the missionaries and to strengthen the centralisation of the administration so to offer more appropriate support to the missionaries in the field.

He was a very good diplomat in dealing with the civil authorities and the rival Protestant missions as regards the official policy of “spheres of influence” as well as the ongoing tribal conflicts.

He reorganised the structure of mission life to regroup missionaries into communities of about six or seven members. Such an arrangement alleviates the serious problems of isolation and loneliness. 

The men were able to move out from the central station to minister to the different outstations; but they had a base, a community, to which they could return for support and companionship. 

Such a new structure gave the missionaries the support they needed as well as facilitated the practice of community life with the spiritual, intellectual and material advantages that this offered. 

He believed in local (indigenous) vocations so he founded the women Congregation of the Handmaids of Our Lord (AD Sisters in 1918) and for the men the Little Brothers of the Sacred Heart. Later he promoted the first indigenous priest, Fr Louis Vangeke MSC, who was ordained in 1937 and consecrated Bishop in 1970 in Sydney by Pope Paul VI.

Just before Easter we received news that Archbishop Alain Guynot de Boismenu, former Apostolic Vicar of Yule Island, has been declared ‘Venerable’.

There is now just the need of a miracle so that he can become a ‘Blessed’ and from there a ‘Saint’.