Born at Saint-Sixte (Isère) February 12, 1812
Taking of the habit at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, August 14, 1842
Perpetual oblation at l’Osier, January 1, 1845 (no. 133)
Died at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, November 13, 1887.
Joseph Perrin was born on February 12, 1812 at Saint-Sixte, in the diocese of Grenoble, the eighth of nine children born to a farming family. A severe bout with childhood rheumatism left him lame in one leg. He learned the trade of tailoring. At about thirty years of age, he made a pilgrimage to Notre-Dame de l’Osier and entered the novitiate on August 14, 1842. That is where he pronounced his perpetual vows on January 1, 1845.
March 16, 1847, he received his obedience for Notre-Dame de Lumières where he served as porter and “made the clothes of the fathers and brothers.” He then practiced his trade as tailor on behalf of the scholastic brothers at the major seminary in Marseilles from 1852-1854 and at Montolivet from 1854 to 1860. In 1861, he was sent to Notre-Dame de l’Osier where he remained until his death which occurred on November 13, 1887 following a few days of illness.
In his obituary, we read that at l’Osier, he was “among those individuals most typical of the old community. When one recalls this house, it is rare that the memory does not immediately bring to mind the image of good Brother Perrin. In memory we see him small, dragging his foot, his head upright, then bent, round-faced, wrinkled and sober, dignified and austere in bearing, his ears and eyes alert for the least noise. His natural setting was his working room, his narrow workshop, crammed with old cassocks, old overcoats, old capes, old pants […] His workbench was in the form of a huge chest. When evening came, Brother would open the lid of his workbench and it would become his couch. During the last years of his life, obedience, we believe, forbade him from taking his rest in this kind of a coffin. In short, he was a man who never shirked suffering or humiliation.”
In a November 13, 1887 letter to Father Joseph Fabre, Father François Bonnefoi announced brother’s passing and he added: “he took to his bed on Friday the 11th upon his return from Mass. In the morning, he showed signs of erysipelas which combined with an inflammation of the air passages of the head and throat to soon snatch him away from our fond attachment to him. Brother Perrin had always been a rugged religious. His community has suffered a severe loss. His influence held our brothers to observance of the rule. He was about 75 years of age.”
Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.
