Denis, Father Pierre

1903, March 2

Date of Birth:  1820, July 7

Paris
April 20, 1903

Fathers and Very Dear in Our Lord: 

The venerable Father Denis, who died at St. Charles last March 2nd, was associated with that house since March 1860; he worked there for nine years under Father Jenkins, who was its founder.  Twenty years previous, in 1849, he had been a member of the first class with which the Grand Seminary of Montreal began.  Thus, through his own recollections he went back to the origins of two of our most important works; and through those of his family, he went back to the very origins of Canada, where his first ancestor was a soldier in the second half of the seventeenth century.  What is more to the point is that he had been deeply imbued with the patriarchal spirit of the best Canadian families and with the priestly spirit of the holiest disciples of Father Olier. 

He alone, of all our confreres today working in North America, had never seen France nor gone through the Solitude.  He was, however, full of the spirit of St. Sulpice which by itself can only give a high idea of the old Montreal confreres from whom he received it.  It must be said that the ones of whom he kept the vividest memory were Fathers Roque and Baile.  Father Roque, confessor of the faith at the time of the French Revolution was the one to whom Father Duclaux, before that same time, gave the name of saint when he was working under Father Roque’s direction at the seminary of Angers; and of whom Father Garnier said at the time of his death:  “I recommend him not only to your prayers and good works, but to the imitation of the whole Society.”  Father Baile was the one of whom Father Icard in his turn wrote that it seemed he had proposed for himself to take Father Roque for a model in everything; and for Father Denis he was like a second exemplar of the perfect Sulpician.

The parish of Vaudreuil, where Father Pierre Paul Denis was born on July 7, 1820, belonged then to the Diocese of Montreal from which it was later separated to become part of Valleyfield.  There his parents were owners of a plot which their children worked after them.  Of the fourteen sons and daughters whom God gave them, at least four consecrated themselves to His service – our confrere and three of his sisters who, after fifty years of religious profession, are still making their contribution to the teaching order of Notre Dame.

Paul Denis was twelve when he was sent to the college of Montreal by his pastor; himself a real patriarch for whom he always cherished the highest regard.  From the first, the boy was ranked among the good students; but perhaps because he was successful, he was thought to be a little proud.  He was fifteen when Father Baile, director of the house, undertook to straighten him out.  Having summoned the young Denis, at first, he let him knock on the door but he did not answer.  Then, letting him come in, he continued to write without looking up at him.  Finally, he told him that he had asked for him to give him a punishment but that, decidedly, he did not feel him worth it.  So strange was the procedure that it succeeded, thanks, doubtless, to some personal gift of the holy director.  Father Denis was, it seems, transformed.  Certainly, he became in time a most humble – even timid – priest, manifesting in his demeanor an air of dignity and gentility which inspired in anyone at all only a sympathy full of respect.  He ended his classical studies brilliantly and acquired for Latin poetry a taste which his confreres called upon up to his old age to add to the interest of big celebrations at St. Charles. 

By a regrettable necessity in the time when the college of Montreal and the Grand Seminary were intermixed under the same roof, he was involved simultaneously in the study of Theology and in teaching.  Ordained priest on June 1, 1844, he expressed the desire of entering the Society of St. Sulpice; and by way of probation he was employed for a year in parochial ministry.  After that year, spent under the eyes of the Montreal superior and some venerable veterans, he was sent back to the college as teacher and worked there for seven years with much zeal and success.  He was a teacher of Rhetoric when, in 1852, a serious illness obliged him to give up teaching; and it was in the parochial ministry that he again gradually regained his health.

When in 1854 he went back to the college it was as director of the house; and more than ever he exercised there an apostolic zeal for opening the hearts of boys to piety.

The sweetness and humility of his character, the evenness of his disposition, made him particularly sympathetic to certain of his students and young co-workers; and with several he entered into lifelong friendships.  In these friendships, supernatural inspiration never let him make excuses for their failings.  Very firm in the keeping of the rule, he was especially so in regard to those for whom he had the most affection.

In the running of the college, Father Denis was obliged to unite some service at the Grand Seminary and the care of the common treasurership of the two houses.  It was a great deal, considering his far from robust health.  His health had brought him back once more to the rectory of Notre Dame when, in 1860, Father Blanc, young director at St. Charles, died of consumption.  The Baltimore superior asked for help from Montreal.  Father Denis was temporarily lent to him for the house.  He found himself so benefitted by the climate and calm of his new assignment that the change seemed providential; and the loan soon changed into an indefinite separation with the complete approval of Father Carrière who, on June 29, 1860, wrote to Father Denis: “I am delighted that you have been allowed to come to the help of St. Charles and that you are well there. I hope that your health will improve and that you will be able to continue to render service in an establishment on which we base some great hopes. Your case will show that Montreal and Baltimore must regard themselves as brothers and furnish to each other mutual aid as needed.  I also regard that point as one of great importance.”

On learning, some weeks ago, of the death of Father Denis, a priest of Baltimore wrote to the Superior of St. Charles: “I distinctly remember, forty-three years back, the day of his arrival at the college where I was then a student, and how much we were struck by that fine and noble look of priestliness.  When I became his penitent, [I remember] how many fine hours I spent in his room, and what holy advice he has given me since then.”