Born at Bossieu (Isère), March 25, 1833.
Taking of the habit at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, May 9, 1851.
Oblation at Montolivet, February 17, 1858. (no. 451)
Died at Autun, February 3, 1871.
Joseph Moiroud was born at Bossieu in the diocese of Grenoble on March 25, 1833. He began his novitiate at Notre-Dame de l’Osier on May 9, 1851 and made his perpetual oblation at Montolivet on February 17, 1858.
After his first oblation, he was sent to Notre-Dame de Bon Secours where he remained until 1856. Father Martin, the superior, often mentioned him in his letters. Initially, he found him to be very young and said that he was a good cook, but that he did not fancy the hoe or the broom. On January 1, 1855, the superior wrote to Father Casimir Aubert: “Brother Moiroud is always troubled by his ideas of changing. Basically, I believe that this young man is suffering from seeing himself relegated to the rank of simple brother and would not be upset to climb higher. He is intelligent enough and that it is perhaps because his vision reaches beyond the stove and the pot that he is building castles in Spain. He does acquit himself very well of his work and his duties with regard to the rule and I am very sorry that he allows himself to be harassed by ideas of that kind.” On November 25, 1856, Father Martin wrote Father Aubert once again: “Brother Moiroud is a sensible enough young man and well enough behaved in his conduct. He is not without capability in regard to manual work and he is sufficiently up-to-date to run a kitchen like ours. If he was nothing but a lay person, I would find him good enough, but under the aspect of religious life, he leaves a lot to be desired. His education in this area is fundamentally deficient, that is, he was not followed up closely enough in the novitiate [..] He does not enjoy his subordinate position. He would like something more…”
When he left Bon-Secours, Brother Moiroud was in the house in Aix and at Marseilles where he made his oblation en 1858, then at Notre-Dame de l’Osier where he was in 1860. After 1862, he was in residence at Autun, first in the house at Saint-Jean and then in the scholasticate of the Sacred Heart. “He was in this latter post when the terrible invasions of the Garbaldian hordes took place [during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871]” we read in his brief obituary, “During those terrible and disastrous days, he gave his superior the most outstanding proof of his courageous fidelity and his dedication by staying with him and helping him as best he could, in spite of the imminent peril of contracting the small pox that was ravaging the Garbaldians quartered in the house. He died on the field of honor [February 3, 1871], cut down by this horrible illness which he had confronted face to face and which appeared to him as a definitive opportunity of paying to God and the Congregation his debt of gratitude and generosity.”
Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.
