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You are here:Home / Family News / NEF 2015 / Family News - 2015 May 14th / A word from the Superior General
May 14, 2015

A word from the Superior General

Garicoits and Cestac

We, sons of St Michael Garicoits, are happy to share with the Servants of Mary the joy of the beatification of Father Louis Edward Cestac. We join them in thanking God for the precious gift of such a founder for the church in Bayonne and the universal Church, especially for the Church in France, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Ivory Coast and India.

Father Garicoits and Father Cestac were very good friends. Their friendship dated from their schooldays together at St Louis College. Although he was the younger of the two, Cestac was in a higher class, because Garicoits had to work as a servant in order to pay for his studies. Their friendship continued to grow when they were students at the Major seminary at Aire-sur-Adour. There Michael was a bursary student. Their friendship continued to deepen when they were teachers together at Larressore for three years.

They were both ordained priest for the Diocese of Bayonne. They both knew the spirit of independence and revolt which the French Revolution had sown in the hearts and minds of society as well as in the Church. They both sought solutions to the problems of their times, by each founding a religious institute. But I think what was fundamental in both men was their commitment to living the Gospel, to be genuine disciples of Jesus Christ humble and obedient, Son of God and of the Virgin Mary. As a result of their meeting with Christ, they both accepted the reality of their day without judging it, but resolved courageously to bring the Gospel to it.

They had mutual trust and affection for each other. When as Founder Father Cestac had to compose the Constitutions for the Servants of Mary he went to Betharram attracted as he was by Mary’s presence and sure of the welcome of his dear friend Father Garicoits. When he was in need of priests to give spiritual help to the Sisters, Father Garicoits would say: “Concerning the matter you spoke about, certainly I am prepared to do anything; 1 In order to obey the Bishop; 2. All the more from my respect and interest inspired by the works of Fr Cestac. But I have taken the opportunity to tell Fr Cestac that there are problems in running the parish (...) The best thing would be to make arrangements so that we are not responsible for the parish. I would prefer them as assistants to Fr Cestac and to the Parish Priest, just that. (...) Please tell Fr Cestac that he can count on me to do whatever I can.”

That’s how our congregation, as St Michael used to say telling Father Sauveterre, Parish priest of Anglet, without ever being in charge of the parish. In 1860 Father Cassau was the first Betharramite chaplain for the communities of the Servants of Mary working at the Social centre Notre Dame du Refuge in Anglet. The second one, also a Betharramite, was Father Salvat Etchegaray; he it was who helped in the realisation of many projects at the Centre, after the death of Father Cestac. It was Father Etchegaray who with the help of Father Etchecopar brought the constitutions of the Servants of Mary to Rome for their approval by the Holy See. The decree was signed on 15 April 1878, eight months after the death of Father Etchecopar.

Father Cestac was a shepherd who had the “smell of the sheep on him”, just like Jesus. He responded to the material and spiritual needs of the poor, young girls, and women who sold their bodies in order to survive. This was obvious by all the works of mercy. He gave away all his belongings in gifts to the poor; he opened an orphanage for street girls, a hostel for prostitutes and a college for their formation. It is in this same spirit that the social centre Notre Dame du Refuge continues to this day. What conversions! Some of the young girls and women even wanted “further more” (recalling the “magis” of St Ignatius); they became religious and “Bernardines”. Father Cestac had only to let himself be guided and abandon himself to the Holy Spirit who was speaking to him through these women. And this is how the Congregation of the Servants of Mary came into being.

Besides the great friendship which Father Garicoits had for him, he was full of admiration for the person and good works of Father Cestac. “Men thus unobtrusive and lost in God are capable of any good. The weaker they are, the stronger they are. For instance Father Cestac and his community of five hundred people, in complete penury from the material and spiritual point of view, going to confession after a month’s interval to different confessors, without consistent direction, and nevertheless, this world is edifying like a Thebais.” (DS 295) Father Cestac, with the help of the women he welcomed at the Refuge, continued transforming the sand dunes formed by the ocean into an orchard which can be still admired today.

The friendship and collaboration between these two men has lasted from 1860 right down to the present day and still continues between the Betharramites, sons of Michael Garicoits, and the Servants of Mary, daughters of Louis Edward Cestac. A community of three Betharramites is actively engaged in the chaplaincy at Notre Dame du Refuge. I also remember that in days gone by there were communities of Sisters in the service of Betharram, Casablanca and Mendelu. I shall never forget Sister Jacob, with her smile, working from morning to night in the Apostolicate at Mendelu. What an example of fidelity and devotion to duty in the performance of her duties in the service of men and through them her service of God to whom she had consecrated her life. In the process of beatification several Betharramites collaborated with Sister Louisette; I remember Father Jacky with his knowledge acting as postulator and Father Frigerio with his discreet service of mediation.

Through the intercession of “good Father Cestac” and of St Michael Garicoits, let us ask Jesus to fill us with mercy so as to be really missionary disciples, fully aware of the needs of our brothers and sisters and welcoming them with open arms. That’s how “good Father Cestac” used to express himself as he entrusted himself to the Virgin Mary whom he greatly loved: “I would like to entrust one thing to your prayer: May Our Lady open our hearts to the poor and the unfortunate! I am happy to note that Our Lady followed this route herself. Ours is the privilege to give to the unfortunate time and time again without measuring or making calculations.”

Gaspar Fernández Pérez, scj
Superior General

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