Sister Marie-Paule Giasson

“My soul exults in the Lord.”   Lk 1:46

July 27, 2009, Sister Marie-Paule Giasson
her religious name, Alice-de-Marie,
went home to God at the age of 85. 
She had been professed for 61 years.

Born in L’Islet, Quebec, she was the ninth of ten children
of Daniel Giasson and Alice Laurendeau.

“My thirst for prayer was transmitted to me by my parents.  Each day I saw Dad and Mom praying and their fervor awakened in me the desire to taste the Mystery of prayer.  My vocation as a teacher dates back to the classroom in the rural school I attended as a child.”

These two childhood experiences laid the foundation upon which her religious vocation grew.

Sister Marie-Paule taught elementary school for five years and then continued her teaching career at the high school level for the next 26 years in our various boarding schools, all the while pursuing her studies.  A calm, competent and understanding teacher, she was well-liked by her students.  Discreet, friendly, devoted and always ready for a good laugh, she was very appreciated by the Sisters with whom she lived.  Twice, she was named superior of her community.

When she left teaching, she became a library science technician, a job she held at Collège Durocher for 10 years.  Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu Parish, also benefited from her services as a secretary for eight years.  During the last six years of her life, while at Sainte-Martine Residence, she once again was the librarian.

Sister Marie-Paule, who loved silence, prayed often and especially enjoyed shared prayer in the context of communal prayer.

“The brightest pages of the book of my life are those that are written in gold recounting my moments of intimate encounter with the Trinity, in both quiet and vocal prayer.  I have known periods of dryness in prayer, the unpredictable ways of God’s love.  But thanks to the tenderness of God, I never lost the desire for Him and for prayer.”

She was confined to the infirmary in Longueuil for less than a month and the God of her heart certainly answered her prayer:

“May the final hours of my earthly pilgrimage be lived as a vigil for the eternal wedding feast.”