Father Henri Roy

Founder of the Pius X Secular Institute

Henri Roy was a true disciple of Jesus Christ, driven by a double passion: the love of God and the love of souls.

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.

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Timeline of Father Henri Roy

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.

Testimony of Father André Daigneault