Born at Saint-Michel-de-Saint-Geoirs (Isère), September 7, 1808
Taking of the habit at Marseilles, January 1, 1840
Perpetual oblation at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, February 17, 1842 (no. 94)
Died at Autun, February 18, 1871.

Joseph Ravier was born at Saint-Michel-de-Saint-Geoirs, diocese of Grenoble, September 7, 1808, son of François Ravier and Marianne Chevallier. he began his novitiate at Marseilles on January 15, 1840 and made his perpetual oblation at Notre-Dame de l’Osier on February 17, 1842.

This brother, often called simply Joseph, was rarely mentioned in the correspondence of the Founder and the Oblates. It is not possible to know exactly what he did do or where and when he lived. We find him at Notre-Dame de l’Osier from 1842 to 1846, at Notre-Dame de Bon Secours from 1847 to 1851 and no doubt until 1859-1860. The personnel of 1853-1854 indicates that brother Joseph was at Notre-Dame de Bon Secours and Brother Ravier was at Notre-Dame de l’Osier. He spent the last years of his life at Saint-Jean d’Autun where he died after a few days of illness, on February 18, 1871 at the age of 62. Five Oblates died within two months in this house while it was being occupied by the followers of Garibaldi during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871.

The author of his obituary wrote: “In him, we found the kind of faithful servant upon whom we could rely as one would rely on oneself, whose fidelity and loyal devotion never wavered, in good fortune as in bad, one we always considered as the most precious of treasures, either in families in the world or in religious communities. […] A family spirit was one of the distinguishing features of this laborious life which spent itself so peacefully and so usefully successively in most of our houses of the Midi. In addition to that, he was universally loved with a deep affection which was based on a special esteem for him. When anyone mentioned Brother Joseph, he was sure to evoke a reaction of sympathy in all those of the large number of our confreres who knew him and saw him at work.”

Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.