Correspondence between Father Marchildon
and Father Rondeau, Provincial

The high esteem of Provincial Rondeau was expressed in a letter to Father Marchildon dated October 10, 1955, shortly after Father Marchildon was replaced by Father Bedard as Director of the Shrine.

Dear Father,

Back to the Monastery, I want to confirm in writing what I have told you orally during my recent visit at Fall River.

First, Father Marchildon, rest assured that you have my full confidence and my sincere admiration. It's not a small sacrifice that has just been demanded of you, I well understand, and with you I thank Our Lord for having given you the grace to accept it generously and in a supernatural spirit. One does not encounter everyday such favor and such submission in confronting the cross. Your example is worth more than many beautiful sermons. "Veritas et vita, sed magis vita quam doctrina," Saint Thomas tells us (meaning: living the faith is more important than teaching it).

But if another takes over the direction of the Shrine, nobody can replace you with the pilgrims. Once again, in the name of the Province and especially of our Missionaries and of the "Vocations Office," I want to thank you most fraternally for everything you have done and will continue to do at Saint Anne Shrine. You are needed and I count on you. The father and founder of this place of pilgrimages and prayer is you. It is you who for fifty years have devoted yourself without stint in ministering to the pilgrims, the poor, the sick who come seeking material and spiritual comfort from Good Saint Anne. It is you also that pilgrims desire to meet and consult. It is you that they seek and wish to see. In their name, dear Father, as well as in my own personally, I ask you to continue to serve at the Shrine. The pilgrims must be able to see you and communicate with you.

Thanking you from the bottom of my heart for what you will do and praying that you will keep your kind smile and inner peace, I commend myself to your fervent prayers. Be assured, dear Father Marchildon of my profound gratitude and of my fraternal sentiments of confidence and veneration in Saint Dominic, our Father.

Th.-M. Rondeau, Prior Provincial

Please note: An affirmation made here by Father Provincial calls for a correction. It is Father Sauval and not Father Marchildon who founded Saint Anne as a place of pilgrimages. Father Marchildon has greatly developed this ministry.

Letter of Father Marchildon to Father Rondeau, Provincial, March 25, 1960.

Very Reverend Father Provincial,

This is the first and unique letter I write and address myself in the four months of my depression with amnesia. And at that, it is to confess to you - not a few words, I have forgotten them - but surely inappropriate that I addressed to you in public. I humbly and sincerely ask you pardon. Have mercy. The burden of four months' depression is heavy enough to carry. Benedictus Deus for absolution. No reply expected.