Significant events of his life
Father Émilien Tardif blesses his parents at his first Mass, at the parish of St-Bruno, of Rapide Danseur
Émilien Tardif, young adult
St-Zacharie parish
He was born and baptised in the St-Zacharie parish, Quebec, Canada, on 6 June 1928. He received the sacrament of confirmation on 17 June 1935 in St-Zacharie. He finished elementary school and did his secondary studies at the minor seminary of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, called the ‘Petite œuvre,’ in Beauport, Quebec, from 1941 to 1948. On 8 September 1948, the young Émilien Tardif began his novitiate at Ste-Clotilde, province of Quebec, where he pronounced his vows of poverty, chastity and obedience on 8 September 1949. He did his studies in philosophy at Watertown, New York, between 1949 and 1952, and his studies in theology in Quebec from 1952 to 1956, residing at 71 Ste-Ursule Street.
The priestly ordination
The priestly ordination was on 24 June 1955 in Rapide Danseur, in the Abitibi region where his family had immigrated. He was ordained by Bishop Desmarais, bishop of Amos. On 17 September 1956, he arrived in Santiago de los Caballeros, sent as a missionary by his superiors from Canada. From 1 October to 12 December 1956, he exercised his first ministry as vicar of the parish of Nagua.
On 12 October 1956 was inaugurated the seminary of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart at San José de Las Matas, and there Father Émilien arrived and stayed until April 1963, combining the duty of professor with that of director of the magazine, Amigo del Hogar. There, he contributed to the formation of young people who today are priests, M.S.C., or professionals. Father Émilien was director of the magazine Amigo del Hogar from June 1959 to 1970, increasing the circulation from 8 to 26 thousand copies, with the magazine’s workers Juan Bolivar Diaz.
Brother Jorge Trasdale, M.S.C.
In May 1963, the little printing press of Amigo del Hogar, which had been started with Brother Jorge Trasdale, M.S.C., was transferred to the parish of the Altagracia of Santiago, where he was a missionary until August 1968. In 1965, he was at the head of the organisation of the Family Rosary Crusade of Patrick Peyton; on 21 March a great consecration took place around the peace monument of Santiago, on his initiative. In August 1968, already superior of the congregation in the country, he transferred the Amigo del Hogar printing press to the Santo Domingo district of Los Prados.
Father Émilien was superior of the congregation from 12 May 1963 until 30 June 1973; he stimulated the construction of the Vocational Centre, M.S.C., in Licey, of the Casa central of Los Prados and of the Promotion Centre of Nagua. From December 1971 to April 1972, he lived in Santiago as vicar of the parish of Los Jardines and of the Altagracia. In his pastoral work he always collaborated in the family pastoral through the Christian family movement. In April 1972, he returned to Los Prados, and on 14 June 1973, taking part in a meeting of the Christian family movement, feeling very unwell, he was transported to the Medical Centre of the C.E.V. From there he left for the Laval hospital in Quebec on 29 August; he left the hospital.
Maison Sainte-Ursule in Quebec. July 1974 until 28 May 1978,
From 29 August 1973 to 8 July 1974 he lived at the house of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart on Sainte-Ursule Street in Quebec, Canada. In this house he had lived during his years as a student of theology. On 8 July 1974, he returned to the Dominican Republic after a year of illness, convalescence, healing and rest in his native country. From this date Father Émilien would jointly assume the parish ministry with preaching in the country and outside the country. He resided in the parish of La Altagracia of Nagua from July 1974 until 28 May 1978, first as vicar and afterwards as parish priest.
From 28 May 1978 to 18 April 1981, he divided himself between the parish of Sánchez and the ministry in Samaná. From 18 April 1981 to 8 November of the same year, he directed the parish of Pimentel. From 8 November 1981 to 7 January 1984, he was vicar of the parish of San Pablo de La Romana, each time freed by his superiors for the preaching in the country and outside. The community of the Servants of the Living Christ was born on 28 November 1982. From 7 January 1984 to 7 June 1985, he was vicar in San José de Las Matas. From San José de Las Matas he came to Los Prados to dedicate himself full time to evangelisation for the whole world, and to the community of the Servants of the Living Christ. It was there that he began to live at the Casa de la Anunciación, recently opened.
On 6 June 1999, he celebrated his 71st birthday. The celebration at the Casa de la Anunciación was a great festivity. With the Servants of the Living Christ, sharing in the celebration were the Father Provincial and Father Jorge Bravo, who took part in the eucharistic celebration with him at the midday meal. Father Émilien presided over the banquet, his eyes sparkling like a child with his little pointed cap of blue cardboard. At one moment of the celebration, he said: “I believe I am going to die soon, for I have never had such a beautiful birthday celebration.”
I believe I am going to die
He took the plane in the afternoon for Argentina, arriving at 3:30 p.m. the next day at San Antonio de Arredondo. Barely an hour after his arrival, he began a retreat with more than 200 priests. He quickly celebrated the Eucharist and took part in the meal. Tired as he was after such a long journey, he withdrew to his room to rest. The next day, breakfast was at 8:00 a.m. and the prayer of Lauds at 8:15 a.m. At 9:15 a.m. the first conference was to be taken up and Father Émilien still had not come down. It was then that the deacon Évaristo Guzmán, after having knocked several times at the door of his room, finally opened the door and saw Father Émilien lying on the bed. He was dead.
His body arrived in the Dominican Republic on Friday 11 June, the day that the president of the Republic declared a day of national mourning. On Friday and on Saturday, thousands and thousands of people filed past, first at the parish of Los Prados and afterwards at the Casa de la Anunciación and at the sports palace of Loyola College.
On Sunday 13 June, very early in the morning, a great procession of cars accompanied the hearse to Santiago de los Caballeros. First there was a parade at the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia, where he had arrived in September 1956. Afterwards, the crowd accompanied him to the Cibao, where the Eucharist was celebrated in the presence of numerous bishops, priests, religious and a multitude of deeply moved people. At the end, still accompanied by a walking crowd, the body of Father Émilien was buried in the vault that the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have in the cemetery of the Spirit, since then called: the ‘Jesús está vivo’ cemetery, Jesus is alive.
The ‘Jesús está vivo, Jesus is alive’ cemetery
Translation to Santo Domingo 2017
Abbé Yves Rancourt at the municipal cemetery of Santiago
These remains will rest definitively in the crypt of the church dedicated ‘Cristo Resucitado.’ From this point on, we will now go forward. It is not only a matter of crying ‘hurrah’ to Father Émilien, which would make him red with shame, but also of taking up again the cry of Mary Magdalene: “On the first day of the week at dawn: “The Lord is alive... He is risen...” May he be loved everywhere. There rested the remains of Father Émilien, in very good company, surrounded by the deceased members of his community of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. At the request of the archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal López Rodríguez, and in agreement with the archbishop of Santiago, Ramón de la Rosa, the remains of Father Émilien were transferred on 9 June 2007 to the evangelisation school John Paul II, in the Dominican capital.
The crypt where the remains of Father Émilien Tardif lie. The significant events in the life of Father Émilien Tardif, M.S.C. (extract from El Camino, Domingo, 24 June 2007, p. 13-14, by Fr Dario Taveras, M.S.C. (Translated by Yves Rancourt, priest.
29 December 2007