Born in Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Lower-Canada, 6September 1800, son of Olivier Amable Durocher and Geneviève Durocher.
Ordination to priesthood in Montreal, 29 September 1823
Taking of the habit in Longueuil, 28September 1843
Oblation in Longueuil, 8September 1846 (No.161)
Died in Québec, Canada, 6December 1876.
After studying at the College of Montreal from 1818 to 1820, Flavien Durocher taught there until 1823; on 20September of that year he was ordained priest. He was appointed assistant priest at Notre-Dame de Montréal, then at Trois-Rivières, and in 1827 he joined the Sulpicians, who received him as a member the following year. He resumed teaching at Montreal (1827–1829), then became assistant priest on the Amerindian reserve of Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes (Oka); there until 1843 he gave his services to the Algonkins, for whom he had some religious works printed.
As he wanted to devote his efforts more completely to spreading the gospel among the Amerindians, he entered the novitiate of the Oblates at Longueuil (Chambly County) in 1843, and was sent a year later to the residence of Saint-Alexis in Grande-Baie (Grande-Baie, Chicoutimi County). Appointed superior in 1849, he was entrusted with the supervision of 14 missions among the whites and eight among the Montagnais at Chicoutimi, at Lac-Saint-Jean, and at the king’s posts on the banks of the StLawrence and as far as Labrador. He had thus to cover a territory of more than 200 leagues. For these Amerindians he composed books of prayer and built chapels, particularly at Bersimis.
At this time the Oblates considered that they would be better situated at Quebec, even for spreading the gospel among the Amerindians. They left their Saguenay residence in 1853 and took over the Saint-Sauveur chapel, which had been built by Abbé Zéphirin Charest and which was inaugurated on 29June1853. Durocher was appointed director of the new residence (1853–1873). Following the fire of 14Oct.1866 the mission of Saint-Sauveur was made into a parish, and by the efforts of Flavien Durocher, who was nominated parish priest, the church and the schools rose once more from their ashes.
This work did not prevent him from retaining his interest in the Indian missions – the residence of Les Escoumains, and that of Bersimis, which was controlled by Quebec. Almost every year he visited the Lac-Saint-Jean mission, and worked towards the establishment of missions among the Naskapis in the interior of Labrador and on Ungava Bay.
Durocher was a high-spirited, persistent, and devout man, and was regarded as a zealous minister by several generations of worshippers at Saint-Sauveur, of which he was parish priest from 1867 to 1876. A lake and township in the province of Quebec bear his name, and a monument has been erected in his honour in the city of Quebec.
Gaston Carrière, o.m.i.
