Elementary Studies

I began my studies at St. Anne School in September of 1922. From grades 1 to 8, the Dominican Sisters and a few young ladies were the basic schoolteachers, while we had Brothers of Christian Schools teaching the older boys in 7th and 8th grades.

I have always liked study. On the other hand, sports have never had a great attraction for me. When a young schoolboy, I remember that I learned all that I could: reading, writing, spelling and grammar, history and geography, and, of course, catechism and "Sacred history" (Bible stories). All those studies delighted me, as later philosophy and theology. With such natural dispositions, I always liked study and learned easily. I graduated from eighth grade in June of 1929.

A vocation dawns. Very early I thought of the priesthood. The ideal of a life consecrated to God attracted me. Many factors in my life reinforced that appeal. My parents were special friends of the Dominican Fathers who visited in our home now and then. I also had several examples of consecrated lives in my family. Two Lachance cousins, Georges-Emile and Gerald, preceded me in the seminary and in the priesthood. The former became a Sulpician Father, the latter a "White Father" of the African Missions. Two sisters of father joined the Dominican Sisters in Canada, and a brother of my mother was a Brother of the Sacred Heart, teaching in boy's schools.

Local influences on my vocation: St. Anne's School and Parish. The influence of the Dominican Sisters at St. Anne's School cannot be overstated. There was also the Dominican Fathers, whose presence at church and at school and among the altar boys, bore a definite if discreet witness. Consider this fact: of the twenty-three boys who graduated from eighth grade in 1929, five became priests: two Dominicans and three Montfortains. Extraordinary proportion.

We had at St. Anne's a Father Brosseau who applied himself to discern and encourage vocations in the parish. He observed students and mass servers and when he saw a young man whose piety seemed to offer signs of a priestly vocation, he would visit the parents and ask them to think of sending him to college after graduation. When the parents said they were not able to pay for a college education, Father Brosseau put them in touch with the Dominican Father who was director of the vocations office and could offer financial assistance. That is how I, for my part, began my studies at Montreal College in September of 1929.