In echo to what Father Maurice has expressed in such a concise and precise manner in his text on Raoul Auclair’s Family Life, what I can state is that I too was struck – and that on more than one occasion – by the mystery of the action and plan of God in Brother Raoul's life, a design that was at once disconcerting, humanly speaking, but always perfect according to divine logic.

The last stage of Brother Raoul's life remains for me a mystery: that a man so lucid, so great, a prophet in the face of God and the face of men, a prophet for "this time which is our time" should experience such a humble end. Was this to be for him and for us a reminder that man is great only to the extent of the greatness of God in him and through him? Or yet again, did the Lord permit this trial in order to purify his servant so that the grain of wheat fallen to the ground might die and produce fruit?

1987 - Brother Raoul, Son of Mary

Towards the end of his life, a trial triggered the beginning of his physical, psychological and moral decline. I was deeply touched by the suffering of this great man who was experiencing "the great" but also beneficial and salutary "trial of his life", a mystery of God's love who wished to complete His work in His servant, by making him grow interiorly through the experience of the Cross, by causing his understanding to pass through the crucible of fire in order to extract from it the gold of simplicity and humility.

This great man who one day really experienced the illumination of grace which allowed him to say in all simplicity, "I have complete knowledge", was forced, in the twilight of his life, to repeat more than once, "I don't know anymore", with, if I can express it in these terms, the same lucidity. His dignity in this trial was very edifying to me. Our Brother is gone but his memory remains.

Père Pierre Mastropietro, Rome
Superior General of the Sons of Mary

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Sadness gives way to joy when we realize that our Brother Raoul having come to the end of his earthly pilgrimage is exploring eternal hills. He has broken through the veil and is contemplating the Living God face to face. There is no more mystery for him, the revelation is complete.

His confrères in Black River, Jamaica

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