By / par Christian Tessier
| « Pauper, Servus, Humilis », the epitaph for saint André Bessette, as it is written above his tomb at Saint-Joseph’s Oratory. We already spent some time on the meaning of « Pauper » and « Humilis »: both have been the topic of a recent blog on my page, « Blogging about the Facts ». Contrary to the first two topics, for the last part of the trilogy, « Servus », no controversy, no surprise, just a few historical facts as introduction… That remains to be seen. | «Pauper, Servus, Humilis», c’est l’épitaphe de saint André Bessette, telle qu’on peut la lire au-dessus de son tombeau à l’Oratoire Saint-Joseph. Nous nous sommes déjà arrêtés sur le sens de «Pauper» et «Humilis»: tous deux ont été l’objet d’un blogue sous ma rubrique «Blogging about the Facts». Contrairement à ces deux premiers thèmes, pour le dernier, «Servus», pas de surprise, pas de polémique, seulement quelques faits historiques en guise d’entrée en matière… Cela reste à voir. |
| From a historical perspective, we do not know the source of the epitaph. But I was able to establish that a brief explanation was given on January 12th, 1937, the day the remains of André Bessette were laid to rest in his tomb. Mgr Joseph Eugène Limoges, bishop of Mont-Laurier, presided the funeral mass, and cardinal Rodrigue Villeneuve, archbishop of Québec gave the eulogy. He would have said the following about the epitaph: | Du point de vue historique, on ne connaît pas, semble-t-il, la source de cette épitaphe. Nous savons cependant qu’une courte explication de son sens a été donnée vraisemblablement le 12 janvier 1937, jour de la mise au tombeau de la dépouille d’André Bessette. Mgr Joseph Eugène Limoges, évêque de Mont-Laurier, présidait la cérémonie des funérailles, et le cardinal Rodrigue Villeneuve, archevêque de Québec, prononça l’oraison funèbre. Au sujet de l’épitaphe, celui-ci aurait dit ce qui suit : |
| « Above the tomb where the remains of Brother André, the apostle of Saint Joseph, have been laid to rest, you can read three words: Pauper, Servus et Humilis. Pauper: poor, the religious person you have come to visit so often; SERVUS: SERVANT, LAY BROTHER, AT THE BOTTOM RANK OF HIS COMMUNITY; Humilis: humble, so insignificant to his own eyes that he could not even begin to see the magnitude of his work, and he never suspected he could draw such large crowds. » | «Sur la tombe qui garde les restes vénérés de l’apôtre de saint Joseph, le Frère André, vous lisez trois mots: Pauper, Servus et Humilis. Pauper: pauvre, le religieux que vous êtes venus voir ici tant de fois; Servus: serviteur, Frère convers, au dernier rang de la Communauté; Humilis: humble, si petit à ses propres yeux qu’il ne soupçonnait même pas l’ampleur de son oeuvre, et qu’il ignora toujours qu’il pût attirer les foules.» |
| •The meaning of « servus »offered by cardinal Villeneuve addresses only one aspect of the word « servant ». But what aspect! The lay brother as a « servant », was relegated to the bottom rank of his community….. How can one view this as a quality, a « virtue »? | •Le sens de «Servus» suggéré par le cardinal Villeneuve ne fait allusion qu’à un seul aspect du «serviteur». Et quel aspect! Le frère convers était un «serviteur», placé au «dernier rang» de sa communauté… En quoi est-ce une qualité, une «vertu»? |
| •Several sources have added the adjective « obedient » to the translation of André Bessette’s epitaph: Poor, obedient and humble servant…Is obedience the quality of servant demonstrated by André Bessette? Are there any others? | •Plusieurs sources ont ajouté le mot «obéissant» à la traduction de l’épitaphe d’André Bessette: Pauvre, obéissant et humble serviteur… Est-ce que l’obéissance est la clé de la qualité de serviteur démontrée par André Bessette? Ou bien y en a-t-il d’autres? |
| What do you think? | •Qu’en pensez-vous? |
@ Christian and Josh
I was reading the previous blog where Josh and you discuss Jesus’ scars. Josh used the following sentence: We will be ALL that we are. Immediately what came to my mind was the Canadian Army advertising jingle: Be ALL that you can be…join the Army!
So to quote Shakespeare: To be or not to be… that is the question
Be all that you CAN be
Be all that you SHOULD be
Be all that you were MEANT to be
Or do we spend too much time trying to be and we should spend time loving He who IS?
I’m just using Josh’s sentence as an introduction to my comment on ‘Servant’, it has no relationship to what he has written on the other blog, it’s just that the army jingle got me thinking.
So Christian asked what other qualities are there linked to Servant. I think love is definitely one of them, at least in Brother Andre’s case. I remember someone telling me once that the source of Joy is the gift of oneself. Bother Andre gave all that he had to the service of God’s project and that was undoubtedly one of the sources of his joy.
Should we not start another jingle: Give all that you can give… and be happy!
@ Theresa,
Hey, I remember that jingle, but I think it’s the American army, not the Canadian one. Anyways, it doesn’t really matter.
I like your new jingle. How about: Give all that you ARE to go even further because we can give things that are outside of us, like personal belongings or our time but I think that we should give all that we are in our entirety. That would go along with Josh’s phrase that you quoted: We will be ALL that we are. If God can only create good things, and if He created us, then it wouldn’t be right to keep the good he put in us all to ourselves.
@Theresa and Ryan
Thank you for your comments. I am glad to see that the discussions about our blogs are still alive. Even tough the momentum has changed since October 30th, I can only acknowledge that the issues that were raised by the comments received so far are very rich in content, and you, as our readers have something very worthwhile to say. I would like to draw your attention to the « new look » of Blogues@rebours, especially the home page. We hope it will be more user-friendly, and that you will find the links to our bloggers’ pages useful.
You both emphasize the fact that the virtue of « service » should compel us to give ALL that we are, and all that we can be, to God’s service. Does that fit with saint André Bessette’s life as a lay brother? Absolutely. In exploring his life as « servant », cardinal Villeneuve focused entirely on how André Bessette served his congregation. It is important to mention that André Bessette also chose to become the faithful servant of all those who came to him in search of healing or compassion. He literally gave so much of himself to help them that he barely had any time left for himself. Several close friends and acquaintances seem to unanimously agree that he was happy, and joyful, two fruits of that gift of himself entirely to God’s service.