Marie-Thérèse Cantournet

Deceased Sisters

Marie-Thérèse Cantournet - France
22/11/1921 - 14/11/2016

Sister Marie-Thérèse, baptised Marthe, would have been 95 years old on November 22nd. We wish to offer God this long life which she herself offered to Him on the day of her religious profession, 6 February 1945.

Marie-Thérèse was born in Paris but when quite young she lived in Saint-Prix, in a street near Massabielle. One can understand why she knocked on the door of the Marist Sisters in 1944, two years after her mother’s death.

This is how her life as Marist Sister unfolded:

STAGE ONE: supervisor and teacher

From 1945 to 1948, Marie-Thérèse took up her apostolate as supervisor in one of our scholastic establishments, first at the Rosaire situated at the time in Saint-Prix then at Rond-Point in Saint-Etienne.

But illness overtook her, as it did for many other young Marist Sisters marked by the austerities of the recent war. Marie-Thérèse remained for six months in the sanatorium, an experience which marked her for life and made her suspicious of any further hospitalisation! She often recalled the trauma of spending an entire night in her bed beside a sister who had just died!

From 1949 to 1951 : she returned to the Rosaire which had moved to Saint Leu la Forêt. There she taught the eighth grade.

From 1951 to 1962 : she became acquainted with a third school, the boarding school Ste Philomène at Montanay in Ain. Here again she taught the eighth grade and was superior of the community from 1956.

From 1962 to 1964 : another discovery, this time at Our Lady’s in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, an orphanage since the time of our foundress which had become a house of welcome for state wards.

From 1964 to 1965 : brief return to Saint Etienne,

STAGE TWO : Bursar General

In 1965 Marie-Thérèse began an entirely new activity. She was sent to Italy, to Anzio where she was to be superior of the house in which the Superior General lived. This opened up new horizons, with acquiring Italian which she spoke very well and which allowed her to maintain contacts with our Italian sisters. But she also learnt English which was the language of the majority of the General Administration.

From 1966 to 1978 she was the Bursar General of the Congregation. Apart from the invaluable service she rendered, these years also gave her the opportunity to discover all the continents in which the Marist Sisters lived. In fact she had the joy of visiting every community. In recent years she recalled her journeys with some nostalgia especially in Oceania. These last days messages have in fact reached us from all those places where the sisters had met her and appreciated her.

STAGE THREE : Provincial Bursar

From 1978 to 1980 : she is once again in St Etienne where she undertook the difficult task of closing the community, though for several years she remained on the board of administration for the Rond-Point school which had passed to the Marist Brothers.

From 1980 to 1999 : She is Provincial Bursar and superior of the community in Rue Sala at Lyon. For nine years I was fortunate to work closely with her. I have never forgotten her little saying : “One problem gets rid of another”. It was during this period that she worked tirelessly at setting up our EHPAD here at Bon Repos : construction and multiple administrative matters !

LAST STAGE : Active retirement

From 1999 to 2015 : sent to Toulon, for a well-earned retirement, she was still actively engaged : she became a volunteer at the chaplaincy of the St Anne hospital as well as at being present at the Residence of the Marist Fathers once a week to welcome visitors. She also visited the sick and elderly of the area. But her health began to decline and she was obliged to relinquish her engagements little by little. However she remained very close to the staff of the Cours Fenelon school and the parishioners of St Paul’s. But after several falls it became evident that Marie - Thérèse needed a different kind of home.

So in 2015 she arrived unenthusiastically at Bon Repos where she has just completed her final stage of life surrounded by the Sisters with whom she had always wanted to remain close, though not so docile with the carers since she was unwilling to let go of her independence.

OUR SISTER

If it is easy to retrace the activities of Sr Marie-Thérèse’s life throughout the numerous positions she held in the course of her 72 years of religious life, it is much more difficult to trace her personal journey since she was always discreet about her past and her personal experience.

However, all those who knew her can give witness to the richness of her personality, her many talents and the quality of her relationships. Wherever she lived she made friendships which she faithfully maintained. I could describe two contrasting sides in this portrait of Marie-Thérèse « business woman no less than woman of heart».

She carried out her role of Bursar as a veritable business woman, knowing how to front up to the business world and never omitting to consult those in whom she had confidence before making any important decision. One example suffices : she was able to obtain the pension for sisters who had not received a salary.

Woman of heart, she couldn’t help but come the aid ofthose who were in trouble or experiencing difficulty. She made use of the telephone, asking for news, whether it was the sisters, her acquaintances in France or her protégées in Italy, in England or in Spain. She loved to welcome people and she knew how to welcome! In Toulon we have not forgotten her Sunday chicken! She was indeed an excellent cook. My brothers remember her breakfasts eaten on the arrival of the St Etienne-Lyon race in Rue Sala.

Marie-Thérèse, with no family of her own, delighted in welcoming our families. Her family was us, the Marist Sisters : she told us so right to the end. When Denise put her on to me on the telephone from her hospital bed, and I encouraged her to be patient, she cut me off in order to tell me that it wouldn’t be any better until she was back home, that is to say, in Bon Repos.

Today she is at home in the house of the Father where she has found all her own people and so many Marist Sisters who have preceded her. With her we can give thanks since she is now definitively in the Peace of the Lord.

Bon Repos 18 November 2016

Deceased Sisters

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