The Red Sea

“What the building of this sanctuary cost him in cares and fatigues, God alone knows,” wrote his chronicler — and a sharper pain came to him afterwards. On the very day the people took possession of their new church, the congregation broke apart. The quarrel went to law, and Fr Grégoire, who had given seventeen years to the building, was obliged to stand up in court and give evidence against a part of his own flock. It made him lose his eating and his sleeping. His strength never came back, and they sent him home to France to see whether it would. Fr Victor Delpech went with him. The ship had just entered the Red Sea when the delirium declared itself; at six the next morning he opened his eyes and could not speak. Delpech anointed him, and about two in the afternoon he gave his soul back to God, after thirty years a missionary. Seventeen of them had gone into this church. It has stood now a century and a half.

DocumentedThis moment rests on 2 sources.

Auguste Jean 1894p. 447

NÉCROLOGE. 447 prirent possession du nouveau sanctuaire. Obligé de témoigner devant la justice contre une partie de ses ouailles, le bon Père en ressentit une douleur qui lui fit perdre le manger et le dormir. Il accepta l'invitation de ses supérieurs d'aller passer quelques mois dans son pays natal ; mais il ne devait pas arriver au terme de son voyage. Le navire qui le portait venait d'entrer dans la Mer Rouge ; on était au 18 septembre 1873. L'épuisement du Père était extrême, par suite de ses continuelles insomnies. Au souper, il put à peine avaler quelques gouttes de bouillon. Il se retira dans sa cabine, et aussitôt le délire se déclara. Le lendemain, à 6 heures, le malade ouvrit les yeux, mais sans pouvoir parler. Le Père qui l'accompagnait, lui administra l'Extrême-Onction. Le mourant resta immobile et sans voix jusqu'à deux heures de l'après-midi. Vers 2 heures il rendit son âme à Dieu. Le P. Grégoire fut un homme vraiment apostolique, d'un zèle réglé par la prudence, plein d'activité, et doué d'un talent remarquable pour l'administration et l'organisation des chrétientés. On avait remarqué que chacune de ses retraites annuelles produisait en lui une sorte de transformation. Sa parole alors était toute de feu, et ceux qui l'écoutaient se sentaient eux-mêmes — embrasés. Il fut 30 ans missionnaire. P. Clément Castanier.

447

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In English

"…the very day they took possession of the new sanctuary. Obliged to testify before the courts against a part of his own flock, the good Father felt a grief at it that made him lose his eating and his sleeping. He accepted his superiors' invitation to go and spend some months in his native country; but he was not to reach the end of his journey. The ship that carried him had just entered the Red Sea; it was 18 September 1873. The Father's exhaustion was extreme, from his continual sleeplessness. At supper he could barely swallow a few drops of broth. He withdrew to his cabin, and at once the delirium declared itself. The next day, at six o'clock, the sick man opened his eyes, but without being able to speak. The Father who accompanied him administered Extreme Unction… About two o'clock he gave his soul back to God… He was thirty years a missionary."

What this source establishes

Fr Grégoire's death at sea. Read it carefully: 18 September is the day the SHIP ENTERED the Red Sea and the delirium began. He died "le lendemain" — the next day — around two in the afternoon. So the date is 19 September 1873, and DESSAL PRINTS THE SAME (p.166, checked against the scan 26 Jul 2026); the "1875" this page once carried was our own OCR artefact. This page also supplies the supper and the few drops of broth, and gives the departure as "the invitation of his superiors" where Dessal's footnote says the doctors' advice. ⚠ NOT QUOTABLE FROM THIS PAGE: it opens on the reason for his grief, which is the parish's excluded history, so the prose takes only the voyage and the death.