Roinard, Father Eugene
1905, March 20
Date of Birth: 1859, January 28
Paris
April 25, 1905
Fathers and Very Dear in Our Lord:
No Memorial Card is Available
The doctors who on March 19th came to a determination about Father Boivin’s illness, verified that of Father Roinard also as quite similar, and said that he could have left only a few weeks of life. The following day his condition worsened; it was necessary to apprise the dear patient about his situation – of which he still had no suspicion – and to bring him Extreme Unction, which he piously received. Those who kept watch over him during the first hours of the night were edified by the firmness and by the fervor of faith in which he repeated so well the words of abandonment and trust: In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum. In te, Domine, speravi non confundar in aeternum. [Into Thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped; let me not be confounded forever.]
A little after midnight a sort of convulsion, caused by a heart spasm, came upon him all at once, and in a few moments brought him to his last. After allowing him to be tested during his life by much suffering, in the end God relieved him of the throes of death and the cruel torment which could have gone with cancer.
Born at Candé on January 28, 1859, Father Eugene Roinard made his studies at the college of Combré and at the major seminary of Angers. He spent a year in Paris before entering the Solitude and was ordained priest only at the end of his novitiate on June 3, 1882. For the six following years he was assigned at Bordeaux to a Philosophy course. Offering himself for work at Montreal – whose needs were already great – he was sent there during the vacation period of 1888; he taught Science there at the seminary of Philosophy up to November 21, 1892. A laboratory explosion in which he was blown off the ground only to fall heavily was the beginning of his serious health problems. He vainly sought relief in long voyages, and at the end of them, back at Issy, he again rendered service up to the last in teaching Science.
Very devoted to the seminarians, he loved being with them and helping them in every possible way. He was also very zealous for the work of the missions, to which he gave a great share of his patrimony. By a providential turn of events, he received on his deathbed a visit from Bishop Mugabur, Coadjutor of Tokyo, who graciously assisted at his funeral on March 24th in the Issy chapel; the bishop gave the absolution. Father Roinard lies in the vault of Montparnasse Cemetery where he has been placed near Fathers Hogan and Quinlivau.
I recommend, Fathers and dear confreres, our two deceased to the prayers of the Society, and renew to you the assurance of my affectionate devotion in Our Lord.
H. Garriguet
Superior of St. Sulpice
NOTE: Father Roinard was at St. John’s Seminary in Boston in 1895 both for reasons of health and to prepare, evidently, for the opening of the New York seminary. In a letter to Father Rex, dated March 5, 1895, Father Driscoll writes: “By the way, Father Roinard who went to Brighton this year with the intention of preparing for the new seminary, has been with us ever since the opening of the mid-year vacation at St. John’s. He is undergoing a very vigorous treatment according to the therapeutic system of Pfarrar Kneip. …”