Born at Cazilhac (Hérault), October 3, 1809
Taking of the habit at Marseilles, October 31, 1836
Oblation at Marseilles, November 1, 1837. (no. 70)
Ordination to the priesthood at Marseilles, June 24, 1838
Died at Le Calvaire in Marseilles, December 26, 1875.

Pierre Rouvière was born at Cazilhac (diocese of Montpellier), on October 3, 1809. He entered the novitiate at Marseilles October 31, 1836 and made his oblation on November 1, 1837. After a year of study at the major seminary of Marseilles, Bishop de Mazenod ordained him to the priesthood on June 24, 1838.

In his obituary, Father Fabre wrote: “Father Rouvière was, par excellence, a missionary to the poor. He hardly left Provence and preached almost exclusively to the people in the rural areas, but in this field he spent a career of forty years and God alone knows what fruit his labor bore.”

At the time, an Oblate personnel was not being published. It is difficult to follow this priest’s career through the letters of Bishop de Mazenod and the first fathers. During the life of the Founder, Father Rouvière had established his main home base in the community at Aix with many absences to preach and to assist the priests of Notre-Dame de Lumières and Notre-Dame du Laus at the height of the summer pilgrimage season. For several years, at Aix, it was he who organized the annual procession on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a continuation of the custom established by the Founder at the beginnings of the Congregation.

From 1862 to 1865, he was still at Aix and went a few times to preach with the priests of Notre-Dame de Cléry in the diocese of Orléans. In 1866, we find him at Notre-Dame de Lumières, in 1869 at Notre-Dame de Bon Secours, from 1872 to 1875 at Le Calvaire in Marseilles. It was there he died December 26, 1875. On the occasion of his death, Father Célestin Augier, superior of that house, wrote: “He fell in battle his weapons in hand. Two Lenten series, five parish missions and fifteen retreats were the sum total of his work in the course of three years. Father Rouvière was, par excellence, the missionary to the poor of the rural areas. Like our Divine Savior, he went about doing good.”

Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.