A Last Testament – God Has Done Great Things for Me

The Almighty has gifted me with longevity (90 years) plus 63 years of fruitful ministry in Madagascar. I can now very humbly witness the many graces and blessings received as a Missionary of Our Lady of La Salette.

I witness not what I have done but what Our Lady of La Salette accomplished in and with me through her Son and the loving care of many men and women who believed in me and loved me despite my weaknesses and failures. “It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:20).

At the age of ten, when God moved into my life, taking my dear mother away from me, little could I envision that the Weeping Mother of La Salette would open her arms to me and dry my tears. It was as an altar server that my vocation was born and blossomed.

Entering La Salette Formation

Bishop Donald Pelletier, M.S., gathers the children after Mass in Ambodimanga, MadagascarAs a young, timid, insecure teenager, I entered the Apostolic School of Enfield, New Hampshire, in September 1944. Of the 36 who entered that year, only three of us would eventually be ordained to the priesthood. It would take the La Salette Missionaries, priests, and brothers fourteen years of patience and determination to train, form me so I could be ready and go forth to “Make it Known to All her People.”

Through those years of formation, I was blessed with the loving support of my family, the care, advice and correction of solid directors, not to forget the nuns who fed us with excellent meals while praying for our vocation.

In Enfield, I could never forget my first director, Fr. Conrad Blanchet, who would become the founder of our Philippine Mission and later, Superior General of our community. As severe and profound during general assemblies, he was most understanding and compassionate in a one-to-one encounter. He met with every seminarian monthly, and those memorable encounters have remained with me. He had a great gift of discernment.

Fr. Conrad Blanchet and then Fr. Alphonse Dutil, who also became Superior General, and all the others taught me to know myself, accept myself, and be reconciled with my history. Today I fully realize how the basic tenet for a happy life is knowing and being reconciled with yourself. This is something I experienced throughout my years of formation. Inspired by these men, I was determined to set out and answer Mary’s challenge: “. . . you will never be able to recompense the pains I have taken for you.”

(from left) La Salette Frs. Conrad Blanchett and J. Alphonse DutilOur Novice Master, Fr. Donat Fluet, suffering from terminal cancer, gave us conferences until the very end. The grace of my novitiate in Brewster, Massachusetts, was to be there as he breathed his last giving his life for his novices. After two years of Philosophy in Attleboro, I was sent to Rome (1953) for Theology. Two men there were immensely influential in my spiritual growth as a Missionary of Our Lady of La Salette: Frs. Hilaire Orset, Director, and Lorenz Volken, Spiritual Director.

How we looked forward to Fr. Hilaire’s weekly conference. Speaking from his many experiences and daily encounters as he walked through the city of Rome, he would bring alive Our Lady’s message at La Salette. Fr. Volken was working on his book concerning Private Revelations, which has become a classic, a book of reference for anyone studying private revelations. As Spiritual Director, a gifted musician, and a very humble man, he guided us in our efforts to allow the Weeping Mother of La Salette to transform our lives. Indeed Fr. Hilaire Orset’s zeal and enthusiasm could stimulate us to reach out to the world. A visionary, he preceded the renewal of Vatican II. “If my people will not submit . . .”

My life in Madagascar

The grace of my vocation as a La Salette was to be a Missionary in our Mission of Morondava in Madagascar. This mission has a unique and special place in the history of our Congregation. Not only was it a joint venture of the four American provinces, but the three European provinces: France, Poland, and Italy, played a vital, essential role in the building of Christian Communities in the Menabe Region. Having experienced the wealth of an International Community in Rome, I realized that La Salette Missionaries were “without frontiers,” – all my people.

La Salettes in Morondava in 1949: (front row from left) Frs. J. Ihhof, Garon, and R. Lanfranconi; (middle row from left) F. Dorval, W. Czosnek (a step back), B. De Boisseson, L. Haridon, Bro. John, A. Le Blanc; (back row from left) P. Girouard, Costiou, and C. McDonaldUpon my arrival as a proud, naïve young missionary, I was greatly influenced by Fr. Czosnek Władysław, who was not only a brother but a father to me. He served from 1938 until his death in 1973 without ever returning to his native Poland. His knowledge of the Malagasy language was worthy of the National Academy. His blue eyes fixed mine; he could talk for hours, sharing his great love for Mary and the need for prayer if I was to survive as a Missionary. Other missionaries were Paul Girouard, Arthur Le Blanc, and John McDonald. Still, Czosnek profoundly influenced my missionary activity, and I owe him sincere gratitude for all that I received from him.

The challenges and the graces were many

The mission was not easy, not to mention the privations, distances, language, poverty, daily challenges, bouts of malaria, etc. All this contributed to our bonding together with solid relationships of friendship and brotherhood. With a Malagasy Bishop and an American Superior, we were one happy family, a community that had a Weeping Mother who called us all to conversion.

They have all gone on to the fullness of life, but how I grieved their departure: George Repchick, Roland Bernier, Joseph Shea, Arthur Lueckenotto, and others. I am what I am from what I received from these brothers. The survivors are few, but the Province of Madagascar, a vibrant missionary province, has sent men and women to many countries: twelve missionaries – four French, two Americans, and six Malagasy – have been called to serve the church as Bishops.

I look back and look forward

I cannot imagine a fuller, more extraordinary life than I have experienced. I will be eternally grateful to God for my vocation as a La Salette that enabled me to be a missionary in Madagascar. I can only thank God for Fr. Joseph Imhof, Superior General, and Wolfgang Fortier, Provincial, who sent me to Madagascar. It was not as Donald Pelletier that I was called to the fullness of the priesthood but as a Missionary of Our Lady of La Salette.
A view at sunset on the beach in Morondava, Madagascar, near our La Salette ministry house

How often Jack Nuelle and I have sat on the Morondava Beach in silent admiration of the most beautiful sunsets. Now I have reached the sunset years of my life. As the sun disappears over the horizon in Morondava, I thank God that the Light of La Salette now reaches Tanzania and Mozambique, our neighbors on the other side of the channel. The sun will set on my journey, but I will go on to the fullness of life.