Moreau, Noël François

1. Religious Vocation and Oblation (1818)
2. First Ministry at Aix (1818-1822) Bursar General (1821-1824)
3. Superior of Notre-Dame du Laus (March-September 1823)
4. At the Service of His Superiors (1824-1836)
5. At the Major Seminary of Ajaccio (1836-1846)
6. His Death

Born at Tarascon (Bouches-du-Rhône), August 24, 1794
Taking of the habit, April 22, 1818
Ordination to the priesthood at Digne, September 19, 1818
Oblation at Aix, November 1, 1818 (no. 7)
Died at Ajaccio, February 2, 1846.

Noël François Moreau, son of Joseph Moreau and Thérèse Gilles was born August 24, 1794 in St. Joseph’s parish at Tarascon. This little village in the county of Arles in the Bouches-du-Rhône became part of the diocese of Aix as of the 1802 Concordat.

He received the tonsure on May 26, 1809 at the hands of Bishop Jérôme-Marie Champion de Cicé, in the chapel of the Archbishop of Aix, and was ordained to the diaconate September 21, 1816 at the hands of Bishop Marie-Nicolas Fournier, Bishop of Montpellier. Except for these two dates, we know nothing of his early years and his studies. His Oblate confreres did not write his obituary and in the forty or so letters written by him, he never speaks of himself. In the rich correspondence exchanged among Oblates before his death in 1846, his name almost never appeared except in the Diary and the letters of the Founder.

In the official acts that have been found, before his departure for Corsica in 1836, he is designated as Moureau. Subsequently, he always signs Moreau and the same spelling is used as well in the letters and documents of 1836-1846.

Religious Vocation and Oblation (1818)
February 5, 1846, shortly after Father Moreau’s death, the Founder wrote in his Diary: “He was a deacon in 1816 when the Lord called him to us. Faithful amidst so many rebels against the voice of God, he came to see me while we were preaching the parish mission at Grans.” (February 11-March 17, 1816) It seems that the Founder’s memory is failing him here. The first Registry for the taking of the habit sets his entry into the novitiate as April 22, 1818. In an April 28 letter to his brother, President de Mazenod, the following April, Bishop Fortuné confirms this date. He writes: “The Mission has once again made the acquisition of an excellent candidate who will be ordained to the priesthood in September.” Through the Diary of the Youth Association of Aix we learn that the novice was received into the Association on June 18 of that same year.

August 16, 1818, l’Abbé Charles François Antoine Arbaud, vicar general of Digne, offered the Missionaries of Provence pastoral responsibility for the shrine of Notre-Dame du Laus. A few days earlier, a deacon from that diocese (no doubt, Jean Joseph Touche) had come to Aix in view of joining the Institute. After having consulted his confreres, Father de Mazenod decided to accept this second work and, before doing this, to draw up the Rules of the Congregation. In September, accompanied by the novices, Noël François Moreau and Marius Suzanne, he went to spend 15 days at the family property of Saint-Laurent du Verdon to write up the Rules. On September 19, he was at Digne where Bishop Charles François Melchior Bienvenu de Miollis ordained deacons Moreau and Touche to the priesthood. The latter then began his novitiate on October 8.

Upon his return to Aix, Father de Mazenod set the convocation of the first General Chapter of the Institute for the end of October. It was at that time that he read to his confreres the Rules into which he incorporated the vows of religious life. Of the seven priests in the Society, only Fathers de Mazenod, Tempier and Moreau accepted the vows. It was by bringing in the novices Alexandre Dupuy, Marius Suzanne and Hippolyte Courtès that a favourable majority was obtained. It seems that the Superior General’s special esteem for Father Moreau dates from that time. He had this to write about him: “He was in every sense of the word my spiritual son and my pupil, always good, always zealous, always a fervent religious and as well always strongly attached to me whom he considered his father.” (Diary, February 5, 1846)

First Ministry at Aix (1818-1822) Bursar General (1821-1824)
Father Moreau pronounced his first vows on November 1, 1818 with the first Missionaries of Provence. He then remained in the house at Aix.

When, at the beginning of 1819, Father Tempier left for Notre-Dame du Laus, it was usually Father Moreau who remained at Aix with Fortuné de Mazenod while the other priests were out preaching missions. During the mission of Eyguières in February-March of 1819, Fortuné wrote that Moreau remained alone to serve the church of the Mission and to care for the members of the Youth Association. “[He] will bear a crushing burden of work… I will fill in for him as much as I am able because it is most fitting that I offer these worthy priests my modicum of help when I see them sacrificing themselves to win souls for God.” (Fortuné to the President, February 4, 1819) During the great mission of Marseilles in January-February 1820, it was yet again Father Moreau who came to spend a few days at Aix during the Forty Hours Devotions to deliver “two good meditations” to the faithful. (Fortuné to the Charles Antoine de Mazenod, February 2, 1820) Fortuné seems to have esteemed the young priest and even writes that he, along with Father Tempier, are the only ones “able to prevail” upon Father de Mazenod to compel him to take some rest and take care of his health. (April 28, 1819)

In addition to the ordinary work of the house at Aix, Father Moreau was also chaplain of the prisons where, in 1821, he visited every day for a few hours. On the occasion of the second General Chapter, August 21, 1821, he was elected Procurator General. In 1824, he was replaced in this office, an office more in name than in reality, by Father Jean-Baptiste Honorat. Indeed, throughout the life of the Founder, the real Bursar General of the Congregation always was Father Tempier.

Like his confreres, Father Moreau participated in various parish missions. In 1818, we find him at Barjols, in 1819 at Rognac and Rougiers, in 1820 at Marseilles, Aix and Château-Gombert, in 1821 at Saint-Chamas, Villemus and Montfuron, in 1822 at Lorgues in February-March.

Superior of Notre-Dame du Laus (March-September 1823)
Father Tempier was installed as director of the shrine of Notre-Dame du Laus on January 10, 1819. The Founder sent him some co-workers at times of greater affluence of pilgrims to the shrine. So it was that Father Moreau went up to Laus in the month of April in 1819 in order to replace the superior who was taking part in a follow-up mission at Barjols; he then stayed on for the summer.

From June 1820 to October 1822, Laus received the postulants and novices. Father Moreau was sent there yet again during the summer of 1820 and in October to replace Father Tempier during the mission of Champoléon. In the summer of 1822, Father Tempier, weary and overwhelmed with work, asked to be relieved of his task as superior. The Founder sent him Fathers Suzanne and Moreau to help him out. When the students returned to Aix, it was usually Father Moreau who remained at the shrine. But he only became superior of the house officially from March to September 1823. The only time he left there was to participate in the mission of Lauzet in February and the follow-up mission of Remollon during the summer.

At the beginning of 1823, Fathers de Mazenod and Tempier were appointed vicars general for Marseilles shortly after this bishopric was reconstituted. Several missionaries were unhappy about this initiative and, during autumn, left the Congregation. Among them were Assistants General, Emmanuel Maunier and Jean-François Deblieu, Bursar General Noël-François Moreau and Brother Jacques Jeancard.

In the history of Notre-Dame du Laus, Father Gustave Marie Simonin wrote about this incident: “In the grip of this crisis, the house of Laus almost lost Father Moreau, but for other reasons than those invoked by those who definitively left the Society. He had always been a faithful follower of the Rules of the Institute. However, writing sermons was hard work for him; the work of preaching missions seemed to him to be too harrowing; he found this kind of very active life disturbing. Once he became superior, he became overwhelmed with the responsibilities involved and blew out of proportions his perceived unsuitableness for this duty. From that time on, he felt called to a more austere kind of life. Having come in contact with a Franciscan priest from Avignon, he went to shut himself up in a cloister to live the contemplative life. A most paternal letter from the Founder brought the fugitive home to Laus after an absence of only one month. He recognized that he had been laboring under a pious illusion and acknowledged his mistake. From the time of this crisis on, he remained steadfast in his commitment to the Congregation and in his dedication to all its works.” (Missions OMI, 1897, pp. 202-203)

Father Moreau left Laus in September and returned in the month of October. We do not know to which order he went. Father Simonin wrote: Franciscans or Capuchins. Father Rey speaks of the Carthusians and Father Dupuy, a contemporary who lived through these same events, speaks of the Trappists. “Moreau was merely a man deceived; the others are traitors,” Father de Mazenod is supposed to have said. Father de Mazenod readily forgave his son this momentary disloyalty, but he did not restore to him his full confidence, it seems, at least for a few years.

At the Service of His Superiors (1824-1836)
For a period of ten years, Oblate sources hardly provide any information on the life of Father Moreau. At the time, he worked especially in the ministry of preaching, available to his superiors to help them out according the pressing needs at Aix or at Laus, at Nîmes and at Billens. It seems, however, that he was usually a member of the house at Aix, while spending the summer months at Laus. In June of 1824, the Founder appointed him assessor to the superior in Aix, but hesitated to bestow upon him the title of admonitor. On June 8, he wrote to Father Courtès: “For that he should have more love for the Rule, more zeal for the good of the Society and of the members which comprise it.” (Letters to the Oblates of France, 1826-1830, Oblate Writings, Vol. 7, no. 142, p. 143)

Father Moreau was present at the General Chapters of 1824, 1826 and 1831. In the reports of the various missions preached in parishes, we find his name in those of Valbelle and Ginasservis in 1825, of Aubagne, Upaix, Noyers, Saint-Pierre-Avez in 1826, Revel, Mondardier, Orcières and in the diocese of Nîmes, especially in the prison in 1827, at Blieux and in the diocese of Gap in 1833 and Auriol in 1835.

During the years that followed 1830, it was not possible to preach missions in France. Shortly after the July Revolution, the Founder bought a house in Billens in Switzerland to lodge the Oblate students from the end of 1830 to the end of 1832. Subsequently, a few priests continued to reside in the house as preachers until the house was closed in 1837. Father Moreau certainly was part of this team. We still have a “Celebret” signed by Bishop Yenni, Bishop of Lausanne and Geneva in October of 1836 in which it is written that Father Moreau lived in this diocese “per aliquot annos” and that he was “virum ecclesiasticum doctrina, pietate aliisque virtutum titulis optime nobis notum.”

At the Major Seminary of Ajaccio (1836-1846)
In 1834, Bishop Raphaël Casanelli d’Istria, the recently appointed Bishop of Ajaccio, decided to reopen the major seminary closed during the Revolution and wanted to entrust it to the Oblates. In May of 1835, Fathers Hippolyte Guibert and Adrien Telmon began to teach courses to some 15 seminarians. By autumn of 1835, the number of seminarians had risen to 60 with Fathers Dominique Albini and Joseph Sicard having come to help their two confreres.

It seems Father Moreau arrived only at the beginning of the 1836-1837 academic year, no doubt to replace Father Albini who had been appointed superior of the house in Vico and was given the responsibility of the parish missions preached in the diocese. In January of 1837, Father Moreau wrote to the Founder and communicated to him “the most gratifying news about the major seminary.” He wrote that “the work is overtaxing” because of the large number of students. In the month of May, Bishop Casanelli d’Istria travelled through Marseilles and praised Father Telmon and Father Guibert whom he feared would be appointed bishop in France. The Founder reassured him and “sang to him the praises of Father Moreau, who, if need be, would take on the direction of the seminary.” (Diary, May 15, 1837) During a visit made to the seminary in November of 1837, Father Albini wrote to the Founder: “I understand perfectly the difficulties under which they are labouring. Father Moreau is having a few health problems; it is my impression that it would be impossible for him to bear this burden to the end. A seminary filled with 130 students, twenty of whom are priests, is overwhelming.” After a few months, Father Guibert who was often obliged to be absent from the seminary, recalled Father Albini to the seminary. In his letters, he always praised Fathers Albini, Moreau and Frédéric Mouchel.

During the 1838-1839 academic year, the number of seminarians fell below 100. This took place at Vico because the seminary was undergoing work to expand it. Father Albini divided his time between a teaching career and preaching parish missions. Exhausted, he died at the end of the academic year on May 20, 1839. As a result, Father Charles Bellon was appointed professor of dogma while Father Moreau taught moral theology.

In 1841, Father Guibert was appointed Bishop of Viviers. Father de Mazenod proposed Father Moreau as superior and Bishop Casanelli d’Istria readily accepted. September 1, the bishop appointed him rector and, the next day, honorary canon. Then, November 10, 1842 vicar general and promoter of justice on October 10, 1845.

The new superior planned to teach Sacred Scripture and pastoral studies. But just before the return to the seminary for the academic year, Bishop Casanelli d’Istria, unhappy with the superior of the minor seminary, decided to send all the candidates for the priesthood to the major seminary. In one fell swoop, Father Moreau found that he was superior of 14 newly ordained priests, 80 seminarians and 100 juniors. Bishop de Mazenod, very much opposed to this arrangement, was compelled to send Father Jerome Pont to Ajaccio as professor of Sacred Scripture. On December 27, 1841, he encouraged the superior, saying: “Fathers Bellon, Mouchel and Pont are excellent men, you are not so bad yourself,” the seminary will run well. (Letters to the Oblates of France, 1837-1842, Oblate Writings, Vol. 9, no. 754, p. 200)

Indeed, Father Moreau seems to have possessed the necessary qualities for a good superior. Bishop, clergy, co-workers, seminarians all held him in esteem and no serious problem developed. In 1842, Father Jean Lagier replaced Father Mouchel.

Father Guibert, often absent and taken up with building projects, had, it seems, relegated regularity in community life to second place. As for Father Moreau, he was especially vigilant concerning their life as religious. At the beginning of 1843, the Founder expressed his happiness at the good news that he was receiving from Ajaccio. February 15, he wrote: “I expect nothing less of your good spirit and your zeal. It is a vision worthy of angels and of men to witness a well-regulated community, walking before the Lord in fulfilling its duties. May you be blest and may you serve as an example to some others, who have not yet arrived at the degree of regularity indispensable to accomplishing their duties.” (Letters to the Oblates of France, 1843-1849, Oblate Writings, Vol. 10, no. 788, p. 4) On May 30 he added that he was satisfied with “the orderliness and the regularity which exist in your community. I was sufficiently aware of your good sense to be assured that under your governance all the little abuses that might have crept in would soon be corrected.” (Letters to the Oblates of France, 1843-1849, Oblate Writings, Vol. 10, no. 798, p. 15)

During his first years in Corsica, Father Moreau participated in the parish mission of Ajaccio in the spring of 1837, then those of Bastia and of Vico. He sent several Corsican seminarians to the novitiate at Notre-Dame de l’Osier. The master of novices there was the youthful Father Jacques Santoni, subsequently provincial of the Oblates in Canada and then superior of the major seminary of Ajaccio from 1856 to 1890. Father Moreau was elected as community representative of Ajaccio at the General Chapter of 1837. However, he arrived at Marseilles only for August 7, the last day of the Chapter. Since cholera raged in Marseilles, he had to spent an arduous quarantine in the Sanguinaires islands before disembarking. He spent his other summer vacations at Vico, but went to the continent in 1842 where he stayed a few weeks with Bishop Guibert at Viviers. In July of 1843, he went to participate in the seventh General Chapter where he was elected fourth Assistant General. In the summer of 1844, he made a trip to Rome and Bishop de Mazenod allowed him to come to take some rest in Marseilles during the 1845 vacations.

His Death
We do not know what disease it was that carried off Father Moreau on February 2, 1846. On February 5 in his Diary, the Founder wrote: “A bolt from the blue! A letter from Father Lagier informed me of the death of our worthy and venerated Father Moreau. This compels one to prostrate oneself forehead to the ground and meditate profoundly on the words of Our Lord’s prayer: Our Father who art in Heaven… may your will be done. This is an irreparable loss! The suffering that I am enduring is at its peak. He was one of the pillars of the Congregation. His maturity in years (fifty-two years of age), his experience, his application to study, without even considering his eminent virtues, had made of him a most outstanding individual. Also the Bishop and the clergy of Ajaccio held a high opinion of him… He died as he had lived, as a holy religious. The night before his blessed passing, he wanted to have the portrait of our venerated Father Albini placed opposite him. He would call upon him with fervour, judging himself happy to have been his friend and recommending himself to his prayers. In the short time that preceded his death, he did nothing other than pray and joyfully repeat the holy names of Jesus, Mary and Joseph which they suggested to him from time to time. He is in Heaven…”

The next day, the Superior General announced Father Moreau’s death to various Oblate communities and stated that the superior of the seminary of Ajaccio died at 8:00 o’clock in the morning “after an illness that lasted a few days.”

The body was brought to Vico where the funeral rites took place. All the local residents were in attendance. His Excellency the Bishop presided at the commendation. Father Étienne Semeria, the superior at Vico who communicated this news to the Founder adds: “Bishop Casanelli cannot exhaust the praises that he continues to lavish on the blessed deceased.” On May 12 of that year, Bishop de Mazenod thanked the Bishop: “I am inconsolable concerning the loss [of Father Moreau]. I was a father to him. I guided his first steps in the holy career that he had embraced. I had seen him grow in knowledge and virtue. Never did he give me a moment’s worry. He was always worthy of his vocation. In a word, he was a perfect church man. God wanted to reward him. I do not claim to envy him his good fortune, but I bitterly bemoan losing him. My warm thanks for the excellent idea you had of having the treasured remains of our beloved priest brought to Vico. They have found a fitting place alongside the relics of our worthy brother [Albini] who was laid to rest in this blessed seclusion. Oh, how their memory will stir up the zeal of those to come after them! What a pledge of dedication for the Congregation!”

That is all our archival sources allow us to write about Father Moreau. We know a few things about his responsibilities and his activities, but little about him personally.

According to an 1823 letter from Father Mie, Father Moreau, superior of Laus at this time, used to fast every day. Indeed, it seems that at the beginning of his life as a religious, he stood out from the crowd because of his penchant for bodily mortification. In the few pages written about the story of the major seminary of Ajaccio, Father Jean Corne uses these words to describe him: “A man of the interior life, loving and keeping to his cell, showing up infrequently outside, a man of pleasant company, brimming with gentleness, this worthy priest spent five years as superior of the major seminary. His death in Ajaccio in 1846 brought profound grief to his friends and in the two communities (major and minor seminaries), happy under his fatherly administration.” (Missions OMI 1875, p. 22)

Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.