Born: Laruns, (Basses-Pyrénées), July 28, 1824.
Priestly ordination: Bayonne, May 21, 1853.
Took the habit: N.-D. de l’Osier, February 1, 1858.
Vows: N.-D. de l’Osier, February 2, 1859 (N. 478).
Died: Montreal, Canada, December 4, 1884.
Alexis Médevielle was born on July 28, 1824, in Laruns, diocese of Bayonne, France. His parents were Jean Médevielle and Marie Salanave. In his boyhood he shepherded the flock of his father. He studied at the college of Sainte-Marie d’Oléron (1844-1849) and in Bayonne major seminary. Bishop François Lacroix ordained him to the priesthood on May 21, 1853. For 16 months he lived with his uncle who was a pastor and afterwards he became assistant priest in Bosdarros from 1854 to 1858. He began his novitiate in Notre-Dame de l’Osier on February 1, 1858 and took vows there on February 2, 1859. In his monthly report, the novice master, Father Florent Vandenberghe found that he was “an excellent priest”, “good, virtuous and with good will”, “good-hearted and of good character” but with “a somewhat rigid mentality”, “not very flexible, tending to be severe”.
He taught moral theology in Montolivet from February to June 1859 and then left for Canada. He ministered in Saint-Pierre-Apôtre, Montreal (1859-1868), in Saint-Sauveur, Québec (1868-1870), Saint Peter’s, Plattsburgh, New York, (1870-1784). Father Soullier, who composed his necrology note, wrote: “For fifteen years he spent eight days every month in the missions of Rand Hill and Salmon River. It was only in recent years that he could have a chapel in these places. Until then he celebrated Mass in a schoolhouse. He spent the greater part of each day teaching catechism and prayers to the children, eating a little food with the poor in Christian families whose joy it was to receive him as their guest”.
Being quite ill, he returned to Montreal towards the end of 1884. He died in the hospital on December 4 and is buried in the Oblate cemetery in Richelieu.
Yvon Beaudoin
and Gaston Carrière, o.m.i.
