Born at Lenoncourt (Meurthe et Moselle), March 19, 1828.
Taking of the habit at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, May 9, 1851.
Oblation at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, May 10, 1852. (no. 328)
Ordination to the priesthood at Marseilles, June 26, 1853.
Died at Montmartre, October 10, 1894.

Antoine Mouchette was born at Lenoncourt in the diocese of Nancy on March 19, 1828. He studied at the minor seminary of Pont-à-Mousson from 1844 to 1848 and at the major seminary of Nancy from 1848 to 1851. After having attended a conference given by Father Léonard Baveux in 1847 and a talk by Father Nicolas Laverlochère in 1851, he decided to become a missionary. He began his novitiate along with Joseph Gérard at Notre-Dame de l’Osier on May 9, 1851 and made his oblation there on May 10, 1852. In the General Council session of May 6, he was unanimously admitted to vows on the recommendation of Father Gustave Richard, the novice master, who wrote: “To a deep prayer life and a sound virtue, Brother Mouchette adds above average abilities and the most congenial character. In addition to this, he is endowed with good health, is very attached to his vocation and is filled with love for the Congregation; in a word, he is an excellent candidate.”

Moderator of Scholastics
Following his last year of theology at the major seminary at Marseilles, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop de Mazenod on April 3, 1853. During the summer, the Founder appointed him moderator of scholastics. On July 9, he wrote: “I was to have a chat with you on the very day I had to leave. I would have explained to you personally why you were ordained before the time fixed for the others. It was precisely so that those you would have in direction would become accustomed to revere in you the dignity with which you were clothed and so that you would not have to hear their confessions when you had only just ceased to be one of them. I wanted besides for you yourself in some measure to get accustomed to your sublime dignity and build up a store of graces from the exercise of your sacred ministry. That has all been done; it remained only for me to give you some advice…” (Oblate Writings I, vol. 11, no. 1160, p. 146)

Father Mouchette held that post among the scholastics at the major seminary during the 1853-1854 academic year and then at Montolivet from 1854 up until the departure of the scholastics for Autun in 1862. At Montolivet, he also taught Sacred Scripture and liturgy. Bishop de Mazenod liked him a lot and trusted him, but he gave him a lot of advice on the formation of Oblates. He often went to Montolivet and, between 1853 and 1860, wrote 23 letters to the moderator. By his guidance, Father Mouchette had a profound impact on the lives of many Oblates. Father Jonquet wrote that “he made good account of circumstance that were merely external. To prefer the sound to the brilliant, to develop simplicity and zeal in the future missionaries, to stimulate love for Jesus Christ and the thirst for suffering for him, to blend the apostolic spirit of St. Alphonsus Liguori with the pleasant contemplative spirit of St. Teresa was his goal. He wanted to see struggle and not apathetic resignation. The souls of saints,” he used to say, “is not that Dead Sea which harbors no storms and where nothing lives in the depths of its sluggish water. It is, rather, a Sea of Gennesaret which has its storms, but where Jesus is in command.”

During his stay at Montolivet, Father Mouchette composed La Vie du frère Camper, reviewed by Bishop Jeancard and published in Paris in 1859. He was also appointed provincial treasurer of Midi in 1854 and received a personal invitation to attend the General Chapter of 1856.

Superior and Missionary
In 1862, Father Mouchette was appointed superior and novice master at Notre-Dame de l’Osier. He was there for only five months when he received an obedience for Vico in Corsica. Father Fabre sent him as superior of that house with a view to examining whether or not the church school which was being maintained with difficulty and which was not responding to the sacrifices made by the priests there should be kept. The upper classes and the boarding school were suppressed in 1863; the school was closed down in 1864. The house was returned to its original use, that of preaching of parish missions and of helping out the clergy in the area. Father Mouchette injected new life into the mission preaching and to the sodality of the Children of Mary. More particularly, he restored the convent church.

From 1867 to 1869, he was superior at Le Calvaire in Marseilles and, in 1869, he was appointed first superior and Oblate parish priest of the parish of Saint-Andelain in the diocese of Nevers. He had much to suffer in this post. The bishop firmly maintained that the Oblates were to replace a diocesan priest. The people wanted to keep their pastor and opposed the coming of the Oblates. Several months of exercising patience were required on the part of Father Mouchette and his confreres before they were able to carry out their sacred ministry freely.

In 1884, Father Mouchette was superior at Tours. When the Oblates left this house in 1886, Father Mouchette was sent to Jersey where he spent several years, devoting himself to the exercise of parish ministry and as chaplain of the Ladies of Saint Andrew. In October of 1890, he came to Montmartre as chaplain. In spite of a failing health, he preached, took on hearing confessions, assisting at the recitation of the office, etc. In 1893, he made a trip to Italy where he preached a retreat to the scholastic brothers and a retreat to the Sisters of Hope and the Little Sisters of the Poor in Naples. He returned to France in a state of exhaustion. A prolonged illness made him suffer much. He died on October 10, 1894. We read in his obituary: “It was on a Wednesday. Saint Joseph had enveloped with his protection a life which had been launched under his auspices […] Such deaths are triumphs and we can apply here the famous words of St. Augustine: Ideo victor quia victima! [The reason he was victorious is because he was a victim.] His body was laid to rest in the vault of the Oblates in the cemetery of Montmartre.”

Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.