France: Dom Ange’s Funeral

Dom Ange, the first Prior of Notre-Dame de Bellaigue was buried on Saturday, March 15. His body was laid to rest in the right-hand apsidal chapel of the conventual church. The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta. Some fifty priests, many Sisters from all the communities friendly with the monastery, as well as several hundreds of faithful attended.

On the memento card made by the Benedictines, the verse from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, (5: 6) Fides per caritatem, (charity through faith) aptly expressed the deep impression Dom Ange left upon all those who had the grace to approach him. In a recent leaflet presenting the construction work achieved in Bellaigue, he wrote: “We must be missionaries. But this apostolate begins with self-reform: in order to be truly an apostle we must be a perfect disciple, i.e. an ‘imitator of Christ’ who said: ‘in this is my Father glorified, that you shall bear fruit and become my disciples’ (John 15: 8). This is the monastic vocation, to remain hidden like the seed in the bosom of the earth to cause the whole Church to resurrect and to live. Our Lord gives this life, it is the fruit of His Passion and Resurrection which is communicated to the whole Mystical Body, unto the ends of the world.”