HALF A CENTURY
AFTER HIS ARRIVAL
IN ROME. ANDRÉ SAVARD
OPENS HIS SOUVENIR
PHOTO ALBUM FOR US
André Savard will leave Rome this summer. It is his fifth ‘final departure’ from Rome. He arrived on the 30th September 1959. His first appointment was to the General Secretariat. Four confreres assisted the Secretary General (replaced today by Rudi Hufschmid and his computer). At every personnel shift, André updated an immense wall chart, where the number of 3,270 confreres (2,717 priests and 553 Brothers (on the preceding photo page) were listed by nationality and mission diocese. He remained in Rome from 1959 till 1967. Then he rendered service as Treasurer in Malawi and Canada. He came back to Rome from 1975 till 1979 as Bursar, from 1979 till 1982 (preparation of the Chapter), and from 1988 till 1996 (Treasurer General). He returned in 2003 as Assistant Treasurer General.
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The same smile, 50 years apart! ‘I was appointed to Rome in 1959 at the age of 23.
At the Generalate, there were 5 Brothers, 35 priests and 25 student priests.’
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The Generalate was built from 1950 to 1952. The General Council occupied it from September 1952. André, arriving seven years later, remembers that meditation in common was at 6am and many met with God like St Joseph (asleep in the chapel.) Every afternoon at 3pm, there was a half-hour Spiritual Reading also in common. On leaving the refectory after the midday meal, the Miserere was recited in Latin. Meno male, they often played bridge in the evening recreation.Photo on the right : Behind our house, they were building the Via Olimpica. Digging was in progress to build the retaining wall of our property.
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Left : Spiritual Reading Room. Right : We were there during the mandate of Fr Leo Volker (centre) with his Assistants, from l.-r., Frs Aelred Cauwe, Richard Walsh, Jacques Lanfry and Georges Mondor, who at the age of 88 lives in our Rue St. Hubert community in Montreal. ‘He was Novice Master in Canada and was only 37 when elected Assistant General. I was finishing my novitiate at St Martin when he was elected and called to Rome. He was not attending the Chapter when elected.’
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‘Ever since 1952, the altar was at the centre of the chapel and the assembly all round it, as in St Peter’s Basilica. The tabernacle was fixed to the altar. During renovations, the podium was lowered by one level. This photo of Fr Volker, in the present Lavigerie Room, allows a view of the parlour furniture, subsequently stolen.’Photo the chapel from outside
End of the First Session of the Second Vatican Council, the 8th December 1963. André is quite visible (arrow) in the first row of guests, closest to the throne of John XXIII. ‘As I was dressed in white gandourah and burnous, the protocol ushers often brought me forward to the places of honour.’
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When the Procurators General of the Society went to the Vatican to offer a candle to the Pope for Candlemas, the 2nd February, they sometimes asked me to accompany them. .André kisses the Fisherman’s Ring of Pope John XXIII, along with Fr Wouters, the Procurator, who died shortly after having achieved the canonisation of the Uganda Martyrs. Next :André with another Procurator, Fr Verhaege. Next. with one of his brothers and sister-in-law, André meets Pope John Paul II. ‘We were very touched.’
The last in June 2008 with Benedict XVI
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On the 14th July 64, reception of the body of Cardinal Lavigerie at the door of the Generalate chapel. From l.-r., André (Master of Ceremonies), Fr Richard Walsh, Asst. Gen., ‘Deacon’, the Very Rev. Fr. Leo Volker, Sup. Gen., and back to camera, Fr Wouters, Proc. Gen., ‘Sub-deacon’, carrying the processional cross.
The General Council elected by the 1967 Chapter: Frs. Robert Chaput (deceased), Theo Van Asten, (retired in France), Joseph Perrier, (Paris, France), Wilhelm. Grosskortenhaus (Trier, Germany), Wally Neven, (Bukavu, Congo). André himself took this photo in June 1967.
In the album, there are also the portraits of Popes John XXIII, Paul VI and Benedict XVI, which André painted in pastels for the Generalate. The 64 pages of a PE would not be enough to publish all the historical photos of our Brother André.
We thank him for sharing them with us and wish him well for a ‘simpatico’ year in Canada.
From Petit Echo n°993 2008/7Voir aussi
Messe d'au revoir pour le Fr. André Savard 21 Juin 2008 et reception de ses amis dans notre jardin
* 14-06-2008 Messe de Clôture de l'Année Academique à la Maison Généralice Départs et Nouveaux Venus
* 24 Juillet 2007 Au Généralat, Jubilé de 50 ans de Serment Missionnaire du Frère André Savard
