Jacques Désiré Laval – Celebration of a Life –
Background
The 9th of September is the anniversary of the death of Père Laval, a French priest who came to
Mauritius
in September 1841 to work with the “recently freed slaves”. His landing on the island on 14th September 1841 coincided with the Feast of the True Cross i.e. the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified, hence the association with Église Sainte Croix, the church on the outskirts of Port Louis, where the “ Apostle of Mauritius” is buried.
When he landed in
Mauritius
, nobody came to welcome him. It says much for the extent of his missionary work during the next twenty-three years in
Mauritius
that when he died on 9th September 1864, 40,000 attended his funeral. Père Laval was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 29th April 1979. Beatification in Roman Catholic parlance means that “the diocese where the candidate lived or the religious order to which the person belonged is authorized to hold public commemorations on the person's feast day”.
How is his anniversary celebrated?
In
Mauritius
, people used to make pilgrimages on foot from wherever they lived to Sainte Croix to attend mass. Mauritians wherever they have settled over the world now attend masses, held usually on the 2nd Sunday of September. In
England
this year I am aware of two masses, one at Saint Mary’s Church and the other one at Saint Boniface Church both in South West London. In
Australia
, the main mass in honour of Blessed Father Jacques Désiré Laval was at
Saint John
Vianney
Church
, Mulgrave,
Melbourne
organised by the Victoria Mauritian Pastoral Council (VMPC) and celebrated by Bishop Peter Elliott.
The main pilgrimage outside
Mauritius
is the one at
Pinterville
,
Normandy
, where Père Laval was parish priest prior to his journey to
Mauritius
. The pilgrimage was held on 7th September this year mainly because of Pope Benedict XVI visit to
France
to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Virgin Mary’s apparition to Bernadette Soubirous at
Lourdes
.
2009 Celebrations in
Normandy
Next year’s celebrations of the 30th anniversary of Père Laval’s beatification will be on Sunday 13th September 2009. On this occasion, the young people of Ivry La Bataille is organising a 20 kilometres’ walk from Ivry La Bataille (where Jacques Désiré Laval had his medical practice) to cover areas associated with Père Laval: Épieds, where his mother came from and where his religious mentor L’Abbé Létard was parish priest, Croth, where he lived as a child, and Saint André, where he had his first medical practice. This will be followed by a family social evening in the Town Hall at Ivry la Bataille. This will take place on Saturday, 12th September 2009. Mauritian pilgrims will then proceed to Louviers for the pilgrimage on Sunday.
If any young person is interested in joining their French counterparts on the walk, and if anybody is interested in the pilgrimage next year, visit our site on www.omat.org.uk or phone the Overseas Mauritians Aid Trust on 020 8696 9714.
