Rev. Fr Edmond Declerq, C.SS.R. (1865-1932)
Father was born at Rebaix, Belgium, on 3 November 1865 and made his religious profession on 4 October 1885. He was ordained to the sacred priesthood on 5 October, 1890.
The unanimous sorrow expressed at his death by the faithful and confreres who had known him was a vibrant testimony of the good accomplished by this valiant missioner who had criss-crossed Belgium during the 40 long years of his apostolate.
Possessed of a truly popular eloquence, he well knew how to make his Missions and retreats profitable in the search for lost souls and in directing the faithful towards solid piety. God alone knows the good he worked.
These consoling results Father Declerq humbly attributed to the Christian formation he had received in his family home and to those who formed him in the religious and apostolic life. But most of all he attributed any success to Our Mother of Perpetual Succour to whom he had a remarkable devotion, and whose cult he had propagated with unceasing zeal.
He hoped for the strength to pursue his apostolate for a few more years but his strength failed him. He had to cease the good fight – for thus was God's Will, and he passed his last days in terrible sufferings which he bore courageously, offering them to Jesus and Mary for the salvation of souls.
Father died at the monastery of Tornai on 22 May 1932 and was buried in the cemetery of Rumillies.
O Mary, Mother of Perpetual Succour, grant to me thy Perpetual Succour, and make me to ask it of thee with cease. †
The unanimous sorrow expressed at his death by the faithful and confreres who had known him was a vibrant testimony of the good accomplished by this valiant missioner who had criss-crossed Belgium during the 40 long years of his apostolate.
Possessed of a truly popular eloquence, he well knew how to make his Missions and retreats profitable in the search for lost souls and in directing the faithful towards solid piety. God alone knows the good he worked.
These consoling results Father Declerq humbly attributed to the Christian formation he had received in his family home and to those who formed him in the religious and apostolic life. But most of all he attributed any success to Our Mother of Perpetual Succour to whom he had a remarkable devotion, and whose cult he had propagated with unceasing zeal.
He hoped for the strength to pursue his apostolate for a few more years but his strength failed him. He had to cease the good fight – for thus was God's Will, and he passed his last days in terrible sufferings which he bore courageously, offering them to Jesus and Mary for the salvation of souls.
Father died at the monastery of Tornai on 22 May 1932 and was buried in the cemetery of Rumillies.
O Mary, Mother of Perpetual Succour, grant to me thy Perpetual Succour, and make me to ask it of thee with cease. †
[From Father's Mortuary Card]
.jpg)
