Born: Réallon (Hautes-Alpes), France, February 28, 1814.
Took the habit: Marseille, November 20, 1837.
Vows: perpetual oblation in Longueuil, February 2, 1848 (N. 235).
Died: Hull, Canada, April 27, 1899.
Louis Roux was born on February 28, 1814, in Réallon, diocese of Gap, France. His parents were Pierre Roux and Marguerite Joubert. He began his novitiate in Marseille on November 20, 1837 and took first vows in the following year. He made five-year vows on September 26, 1841, in the presence of Bishop de Mazenod, before leaving for Canada where he arrived on December 2 with the first group of Oblates. He worked and taught at Saint-Hilaire de Rouville, in 1841-1842 and in Longueuil in 1842-1843.
In order to make himself more available for the education of young people, he entered the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Montreal on August 24, 1844 and took the religious habit on October 5 with the name of Brother Dominick. On August 30, 1845 he was assigned to the community of Sainte-Brigide in Montreal and there he taught until May 1846,
Having decided to return to his first vocation, he began his novitiate in Longueuil on July 15, 1846. He received an indult that enabled him to take vows on February 2, 1847 and to make his final vows on February 2, 1848. Bishop Bruno Guigues assigned him as receptionist in the bishop’s residence in Ottawa (1848-1874) and overseer in the college in Ottawa. On the death of the bishop, Brother Roux went to Notre-Dame in Hull (1874-1899) and he remained there until his death apart from two years (1888-1890) in the novitiate in Lachine after the great fire that destroyed much of Hull.
It was in Hull that he celebrated the Golden Jubilee of his religious profession in 1899. Father Alexandre Faure, wrote in Missions OMI (42, 1904, pp. 31-32): “One of the great pleasures of Brother Louis was to serve Mass, but when I first knew him he was no longer able to give this service. With age he developed complete deafness but he still made himself useful to the community. He spent most of his day in the chapel and there, for him, the hours passed as quickly as the beads of the rosary passed through his fingers. This humble religious, whose long career was one of dedication, sacrifice and prayer, passed in our midst doing good. He is a model that we should imitate. He is also a protector whom we should invoke. Yes indeed! In praying for him, let us not forget to pray to him for ourselves. He was a great servant of God.”
He died in Hull on April 27, 1899. His body rests in the Oblate cemetery of Gatineau-Hull.
Yvon Beaudoin
and Gaston Carrière, o.m.i.
