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Romuald Fresnais
Position:
Training for the priesthood
Location: Paris, France
Date of Birth: August 26, 1979
Romuald
Fresnais is a young man just beginning his journey with the
Congregation of the Holy Cross. His life-long desire to serve
God is being fulfilled in a community that is supportive and
joyful. He looks forward to being a leader at a Christian
camp for youth this summer.
| "After
two years as a postulant and novice, and after these first
years of religious life and seminary training, I can testify
that it truly is possible to give your life to God today,
with joy. The Holy Cross is a special place and I thank
God for putting this religious family in my path." |
Here
is his story . . .
As
a child, my main desire had been the priesthood. I was an
altar boy on Sundays, in my little village of only 300 people
in the northwest of France. My father was a locomotive engineer,
and my mother, after being a homemaker, eventually went to
work in a medical center for the handicapped.
Pastor
is Mentor
On a retreat, I realized that I owed a great deal to my pastor,
a priest of the diocese of Angers, whom I appreciated for
his closeness, his good humor, and at the same time his seriousness.
I wanted to be like him. I wanted to be a priest and serve
God and my brothers.
Learns
about Holy Cross while Attending Catholic School
My education continued at a Catholic secondary school in a
nearby town. It was there that I first encountered the Holy
Cross. I was preparing for the sacrament of Confirmation with
others of my age, and a young Holy Cross father was in charge
of our training.
After
our confirmation, this priest organized a trip to Lourdes,
in July 1993. It was wonderful to see so many young people
praying, singing, laughing, and eating – especially
in this Marian city. Up till then, the rural parishes of France
had been better depicted by gray hair than by the hair of
these young people. The trip reminded me that young people
are also loved by God and members of His church.
Reunion
with Holy Cross Fills Void
For two years, I lost touch with the priest who accompanied
us on the trip. Then in 1995, I learned that he was planning
another trip for the following summer – again, to Lourdes.
I signed up, and I revived all the feelings that had been
missing in the two intervening years. I would no longer lose
sight of the Congregation of the Holy Cross. I loved visiting
one of their communities, at the secondary school in Notre-Dame
d’Orveau. I was especially struck by their joy, their
piety, and their closeness. Finally, I understood that my
place was with them.
Postulancy
and Novitiate Brings Enrichment and Enlightenment
After passing my secondary school exams in 1997, I asked to
be admitted as a postulant. On August 29, 1998, I entered
the novitiate. I have kept many fond memories of this year
of discernment, in which I learned what the religious life
means: community life, contact with students, catechism classes,
daily mass, rosary, the Divine Office. Father Pascal, the
novice master, helped us understand the meaning of religious
life and convinced me that it was with the Holy Cross that
I could give my life to God and to my brothers.
Religious
Vows Professed; Religious Life and Study Begins
On August 29, 1999, I professed my first religious vows before
Father Jean-Marie Esnault, provincial of France, and before
many brothers and friends who filled the chapel at Orveau.
Some weeks later, my training shifted to the scholasticate
in Paris. Now, I am training for the priesthood at the interdiocesan
seminary at Issy-les-Moulineaux, in the southwest of Paris,
where Father Moreau himself had studied.
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