Born at Bordighera, Italy in 1820
Taking of the habit at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, March 20, 1846
Oblation at Marseilles, March 21, 1847 (no. 172)
Ordination to the priesthood at Marseilles, September 18, 1847
Dispensed from his vows, October 2, 1848.
Jean-Baptiste Molinari was born at Bordighera, diocese of Ventimiglia, Italy, in 1820. He began his novitiate at Notre-Dame de l’Osier on March 20, 1846, and for reasons of health, finished his novitiate year at the major seminary of Marseilles where he made his oblation on March 21, 1847. In the General Council session of February 20, 1847, there was some hesitation about admitting him to vows. Indeed, we read in the session’s report: “We cannot deny that this young man is endowed with some good qualities, with a conduct of rather regular observance during his novitiate, candidness in his character, docility in his will and finally talents that surpass the ordinary. But, on the other hand, there is something in him that negates these positive qualities: a rough and ready and hardly religious appearance, certain habits acquired in the secular world which, without being morally reprehensible, nevertheless, are contrary to the kind of polish and restraint that the religious state demands, and, above all, certain rather rash ideas and, in the realm of politics, some basic ideas stemming from the Carbonari… “ Father Henry Tempier was given the task of discussing matters with this novice and communicating the results to the Founder.
Brother Molinari had already finished his theological studies in Italy. Bishop de Mazenod ordained him to the priesthood on September 18, 1847 and sent him as a professor to Ajaccio where the defects observed at the noviciate only grew worse to the point that, after two months, Father Jean Joseph Magnan was obliged to remove him from the seminary and send him to Vico. He asked Father Rolleri to keep him occupied. He must have some qualities, he wrote, “since, even though he was smoking, drinking, sometimes venturing certain rather radical statements and sleeping late in the mornings, somewhat of a rebel in regards to regular observance…” He seriously disobeyed Father Antoine Rolleri who, in January, sent him back to Ajaccio. When Bishop de Mazenod was appraised of the situation, on February 10, 1848, he wrote Father Molinari a paternal, but very firm letter, begging him to put his life in order and to imbue himself with the spirit of his state in life.
In February-March of 1848, Father Molinari fell ill. The medical doctor diagnosed an incipient aneurysm. In April, Father Magnan seized this opportunity to send Father Molinari back to Marseilles. Initially, Bishop de Mazenod entrusted him to the care of Father Hippolyte Courtès in Aix, then, to Father Joseph Alphonse Martin at Notre-Dame de Lumières. There, after a few weeks, Father Molinari asked to be dispensed from his vows. The General Council granted him this dispensation on October 2, 1848. The Secretary General lists the following reasons for this course of action. According to a letter from Father Martin, “it is obvious that Father Molinari has in no way corrected the faults with which he was charged in the various houses of the Congregation in which he lived. He was always the same, flippant in all his conduct, tactless in speech, offensively rash in his opinions, without restraint, without regular observance. As a result, since these defects render him harmful in a community setting, it has sufficed to call down upon him a sentence of expulsion. But he took the initiative in this matter and travelled to Marseilles expressly to ask to be dispensed from his vows […] After mature deliberation, the Council came to the decision that there were grounds to grant Father Molinari the dispensation he was asking for, even though he had merited more severe treatment and bringing down upon his head a sentence of expulsion.”
On January 22, 1849, Abbé Molinari returned to Marseilles to ask that he be received back into the Congregation. The General Council refused his request.
Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.
