A man inhabited by a love of Jesus life is a proclamation of the Good News, Father Henri Roy has touched many lives.
The following testimony is that of Thérèse and Henri Séguin and Jeanne and Julien White, early leaders of the Jeunesse Ouvrière Catholique in Montreal.
We find in it all the apostolic spirit that Father Roy bequeathed to all those he met. This testimony appeared in the magazine Je Crois, in June 1985.
1898
September 8
Birth of Henri Roy in Lewiston, Maine, USA.
September 9
Baptism in the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Lewiston, Maine.
1904-1910
Primary studies at the Académie Saint Pierre, Montreal, with the Marist Brothers.
1908
May 15
Confirmation in Saint Pierre Church in Montreal.
1913
Three months of study at the Juniorate of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
1915
July 19
First closed retreat at the Novitiate of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Lachine Locks, Montreal.
1915-1920
Henri is in the labor market:
• delivery man for a Montreal pharmacy;
• office clerk for the construction company Webster & Sons, Montreal.
1920
January 13
Henri takes part in the study congress of the Amis du Devoir with Henri Bourassa.
1920-1923
Secondary studies at the Late Vocations Seminar in Saint Victor de Beauce.
1923
July 29
Entry into the Oblate Novitiate in Ville Lasalle.
1st of August
Taking of the habit in the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
November 12
Death of his mother, Joséphine.
1924
March 20
Meeting with Brother André at St-Joseph Oratory, Montreal.
August 2nd
First vows among the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
1924-1929
Studies at the Oblate Scholasticate in Ottawa.
1925
Bachelor of Philosophy in Ottawa.
1926
December 18
Henri receives Minor Orders I at Ottawa Cathedral.
1927
June 16
Henri receives Minor Orders II in the Church of the Holy Family, in Ottawa.
September 8
Perpetual vows among the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Ottawa.
1928
June 2
Ordination to the subdiaconate in Ottawa.
September 22
Ordination to the diaconate in Ottawa.
1929
May 25
Henri is ordained to the priesthood at the Ottawa Cathedral by Bishop William Forbes.
June
Appointment to the Juniorate of the Oblates in Chambly-Bassin.
September
• Henri founded the review L’Apostolat des Oblates de Marie Immaculée.
• First contacts with the JOC (Jeunesse Ouvrière Catholique) in Montreal.
1931
Meeting with Canon Joseph Cardijn, founder of the YCW, and Monsignor Georges Gauthier, bishop in Montreal.
September 20
Henri founded the first section of the JOCF (Jeunesse Catholique Ouvrière Féminine) in the parish of St-Alphonse d’Youville in Montreal.
November
Henri founded the first section of the men’s YCW in the parish of St-Pierre in Montreal.
November 19
Departure for a study trip to Europe (until April 23, 1932).
December
The first issue of the newspaper La Jeune Ouvrière in Montreal.
1932
February 24
Private audience with Pope Pius XI in Rome.
April 16
Death of his father, Théophile.
23 april
Return from Europe.
1934
April
Henri publishes his volume A problem and a solution.
1935
Henri founded the Roman Catholic Bible Propaganda Society.
February
Henri publishes Do this and you will live, the four gospels in one.
July 13-14
• First general congress of the YCW in Canada, at the Montreal Forum. 15,000 young people participate.
• The Jocist Services are organized.
• Henri travels in Europe and takes part in the first international congress of the YCW.
• Private audience with Pope Pius XI in Rome.
1937
The provincial government of Quebec entrusts the organization of leisure activities to Father Roy and to the YCW.
1939
July 23
• Second General Congress of the Canadian YCW in Montreal.
• Celebration of the One Hundred Weddings at the Stade Delormier and on Île Ste-Hélène, in Montreal with the participation of more than 20,000 people.
August 18
Departure for Europe.
October 14
Private audience with Pope Pius XII in Rome.
November 4
Henri is replaced as Chaplain General of the Canadian YCW.
November
• Henri arrives in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States, to develop the YCW.
Henri meets young collaborators who will become the first members of the Pius X Secular Institute.
1940-1944
Henri organizes and develops the YCW in New England.
1944
November 26
Henri leaves Manchester, NH.
1945
september to december
Travel across western Canada, western and southern United States to see the development of YCW.
October 15
Henri participates in the celebration of the coronation of Our Lady of Guadeloupe in Mexico.
1946
February 19
Henri resides at the Maison des Oblates in Rouyn until August.
1947
February 4
Henri resides in Kapuskasing, Ontario, at the Maison des Oblates until early August.
August 4
Henri was transferred to the Maison des Oblats in Quebec, in the parish of St-Sauveur.
1948
September
Some young people from New England joined him in Quebec City with the aim of launching a new institute of consecrated life.
1949
September 28
Henri travels to Europe.
1950
February 23
Return from Europe.
1952
March 25
Approval of the Catholic Messengers of the Bible by the bishops of Quebec.
1953
Publication of the first Bible Reading Guide.
1957
3rd of March
Henri travels to Cuba with some members of the Pius X Secular Institute.
September 9
Opening of the Saint Pius X Seminary, for late vocations, in Sherbrooke
1959
December 8
Canonical erection of the Pius X Secular Institute, as an institute of diocesan law.
1960
January
Henri launched the review Je Crois, a popular Catholic magazine.
July 13
Henri travels to Europe.
August
Private audience with Pope John XXIII.
22 august
Henry is canonically transferred from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate to the Pius X Secular Institute, and takes his perpetual vows in Rome.
1962
August 3-11
Henri travels to Peru and Mexico.
September 1st
Henri travels to Switzerland.
October
Meeting with Father Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus, founder of the Institut Notre-Dame de Vie, in Venasque, France.
1964
October
Henri launched the La Rencontre movement with members of the Pius X Secular Institute.
1965
February 15
Monsignor Maurice Roy, Archbishop of Quebec and first cousin of Henri, becomes cardinal. Father Roy accompanies him to Rome.
June 16
Henri died at the Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec.
June 19
Funeral at the Basilica of Quebec, presided over by Cardinal Maurice Roy.
September 8
Father Roy’s coffin is transferred to the crypt of the Maison du Renouveau in Charlesbourg.
