Witnesses of a Life
Etched on paper and hearts: Marcel Lapointe, SJ by Fannie Dionne
THE MAN “Marcel was above all an exceptional person who had a gift for deep, attentive listening and an extraordinary capacity for friendship. His vulnerabilities shaped the man and the artist that he was,” writes LeBlond.
“The Pink Rabbi” Photo: Archives of the Jesuits of Canada
M
arcel Lapointe, SJ — Jesuit, artist and teacher — was born in Magog, Quebec, in 1928. He studied at Sherbrooke Seminary and Collège Sainte-Marie in Montreal before joining the Society of Jesus in 1952. Ordained a priest in 1963, he enrolled in 1966 at the École des Beaux-arts de Montréal, where he was introduced to the art of printmaking with the help of Albert Dumouchel. “With Marcel, the man, the artist and the spiritual came together in one person. And he offered this person very simply to those he met and through his artistic work,” artist and Jesuit Fr. Daniel LeBlond explains. The many writings found in his personal archives also highlight his deep conviction that it was through artistic creation and the teaching of the arts, especially to young people, that he best lived out his religious vocation. Here are three facets of this Jesuit’s life.
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Other testimonies also speak to his great sensitivity. “He could experience very strong emotions, but he could also sense the mood of the other person,” recalls Fr. Bernard Carrière, SJ. “I remember that sometimes, when I arrived at his house, he would ask, ‘What’s bothering you?’ because he sensed that something was amiss just by the way I looked.” He also had a great sense of humour and a rare personal warmth. His very engaging personality led him to form good relationships with his confreres and enabled him to maintain many friendships outside the Society of Jesus.
THE TEACHER “The people who had Marcel Lapointe as a teacher still speak of him, even 20 or 30 years later, as someone who marked their lives,” says Fr. Michel “Jim” Lefebvre, SJ. With classical music as a backdrop, Fr. Lapointe taught art classes at Collège Jean de Brébeuf for a good part of his life, from 1964 to 1996.
