PART ONE

“I AM A SON OF THE CHURCH…”

(1924 - 1958)

“I am a son of the Church with every ounce
of my being and with every fibre of my heart.”
(Letter 187, October 1964)

Marc and Marguerite de Nantes.

“My parents were both fervent Roman Catholics, royalists of Action Française, perfectly legitimist in both heart and mind. I discovered in my cradle that which would form my joy and my cross during this life, but, I hope, my glory in the next.”

On the right: In 1944, at the seminary of Issy-les-Moulineaux, before the taking of the soutane.

“The major seminary carried to its height everything that I had loved about our schools. It opened the double doors of the mystical and apostolic life… There I gave myself over to devotional exercises, liturgical worship and study with an enthusiasm that never let me down.”

31 May 1947: Ordination to the subdiaconate, with sixty colleagues, in the chapel of the Seminary of Issy-les-Moulineaux.

“My God, my God, how alive, ardent and beautiful this Church was! Every morning would reawaken my sense of glory at advancing towards the priesthood.”