– Father Maurice Péloquin, O.FF.M. –

All of us know Raoul Auclair as a brilliant author and renowned speaker. However, what do we know of his life as a man and a religious? Doubtless, very little, but it does allow us to divine that he had a very intense spiritual life.

Ambrault, France

Raoul was born at Ambrault, in the diocese of Bourges in France, on March 4, 1906. He was the first of two children to be born to Germaine Chemineau and Anatole Auclair. His brother, Robert, was born fourteen years later. On April 1, 1906, he was taken to the church in Ambrault to be baptised. His baptismal certificate mentions only one given name: Raoul. It seems that it was not customary to add other names.

Little is known of Raoul's childhood. We are faced with many "mysteries" in the great "Mystery" of the totality of his life. However, there is the very important event of his solemn Communion on May 13, 1917, the day of Mary's first apparition at Fatima which would seem to have marked with a Marian seal his earthly destiny, and, doubtless, the whole of his eternity.

And who has not heard him speak with much pride of the hotel-restaurant managed by his father (formerly a bricklayer) and his mother who revealed her talents as an exceptional cook! Raoul spoke little of his father but lavished unending praise on and had a great admiration for his mother who gained such renown that she had a place in the Michelin tourist guide. "People would come from everywhere to eat at `Germaine's', including the lady of a manor situated not far from there," Raoul would proudly recount. Thus it was that Raoul grew up in this bourgeois atmosphere until that time when he left the village to undertake his studies which he pursued until the age of twenty.

His mother, Germaine, next to a bank of flowers in front of the restaurant.

We can presume that he was successful in his studies if we can judge by the quality of his writings and the depth of his thought. Then he completed his military service in Morocco. Upon his return to France, he worked as a "representative for surgical materials" for a certain Mr. Delacroix who had a daughter by the name of Suzanne. Raoul got to know her and they fell in love. That is how it came about that on May 10, 1932, at 26, he married her at St-Pierre-de-Montrouge in Paris. They had no children.

Then came the war. To guarantee its security, the young couple moved to Marseille. Never once did Raoul imagine that God would draw from this trial the grace of his life. In effect, that is where the most important event of his existence took place. It was in 1941; he was 35. Sitting on the terrace of a cafe, he was quietly sipping some kind of beverage. The weather was lovely and temperate, as though imprinted with the tenderness of Our Lady of the Guard. Suddenly, there was like an effusion of light, similar to that experienced by Saint Paul, Ratisbonne, Claudel andFrossard. In an instant, his life was transported outside time, as if plummetted into the divine Intelligence. Having returned to reality, he could say to himself : "I have complete knowledge."

As a result, we are not surprised to see appear under his name a whole series of volumes whose scholarship and theology cause us to marvel.

Raoul was not only remarked because of his literary works. In fact, he was a successful producer for the O.R.T.F. for thirty years from 1941 to 1971. That is how he came to write plays which he then produced. One day, upon the suggestion of his directors to create a series of programs "different from the run-of-the-mill", he began the account of Mary's seven great apparitions. The text was then published under the title of Les Épiphanies de Marie ["the epiphanies of Mary"].

This book was quite popular... In fact, it was because of this book that its author was officially invited to participate in the great Eucharistic and Marian Congress organized for the fiftieth anniversary of the apparitions in Fatima. Now, it so happened that the president of this event was Cardinal Maurice Roy of Quebec.

Obviously, our brother Raoul was already used to giving conferences. A member of the Militia of Jesus Christ since 1959, he also held the title of "Commander of the Department of the Rosary". As a result of that position, he would speak to the members on edifying topics. One day, he spoke to them of the apparitions of the Lady of All Peoples. Everyone was interested in this topic and they adopted the prayer which was approved by the bishop responsible for the Militia of Jesus Christ.

Raoul met Marie-Paule in 1973 when she went to Europe to prepare a pilgrimage. She spoke to him of his book The Lady of All Peoples and revealed to him that he would one day be linked to the Army of Mary, the history of which is recounted in her volumes Life of Love.

On February 26, 1976, Raoul had the sorrow of losing his wife. The following May 13, he began to read with joy and emotion the first volumes of Life of Love. He was immediately convinced of the supernatural character of the Work of the Army of Mary and of its link with the apparitions of the Lady of All Peoples. As of the month of September, he confided to Bishop Jean-Pierre van Lierde, the Pope's sacristan, his great desire to consecrate himself to the Army of Mary. This latter encouraged him and even confirmed him in this new direction.

1976, Raoul Auclair

In 1977, Raoul was invited to come to Canada. He arrived on February 16 and he immediately began a conference tour of Quebec and the United States, giving conferences on Mary's different epiphanies. The following April, he implanted the Militia of Jesus Christ in Quebec.

Open to this Marian Work which is the Army of Mary, his soul also opened to the Community which issued from it. To everyone's great surprise and also to their tremendous joy, Raoul took the habit of the Sons of Mary on October 15, 1987, on the feast of Saint Teresa of Avila.

He confided to one of his confrères: "I understood that I had to enter into community in orderfor Raoul to disappear." These words remind us of John the Baptist's words, "He must increase, but I must decrease."

That which seems so simple to recount or to read must not have been so simple to live for this man who was used to giving orders, and sometimes more energetically than was required... This simple trait demonstrates just how much the Virgin Mary had transformed his soul. Father Jean-Claude Drolet, parish priest at St. Pius X church, was quite right when he said : Brother Raoul Auclair was a great Christian, a great believer, a great lover of the Virgin, a great writer, a man renowned who could have continued to be a great celebrity in the literary world, but he offered up his life in entering the Sons of Mary."

The Lord even took away from him his exceptional memory. On those days when he was more lucid, it was painful for him to realize this and sometimes he could not hold back his tears even in the presence of the Community.

Yes, Raoul had changed. He had worked on his interior reform. Having been used to the honors of this world, he had become a brother, similar in all respects to the others; having been used to the pleasures of good eating in high society, he was easily content with the more modest meals served within the Community; having been used to imposing his tastes and his opinions, he had become like a little child. His witty words, his good humor, the joy he found in little things were characteristic of him up to the moment when he was rushed to the Enfant-Jesus Hospital on December 26, 1996.

During his hospitalization, he was comforted by the reception of the sacrament of the sick administered to him by Father Victor Rizzi. Then, on January 8, in the presence of Father Victor and Brother Renaud Vallerand, who assisted him daily over the last few years, he slipped away quietly and peacefully.

God finally manifested Himself to His faithful servant who had so often manifested Him through his writings and his words.

 

Father Maurice Péloquin, Quebec

---

© 1998 - All rights reserved : PAVILLON RAOUL AUCLAIR INC., Quebec, Canada