Born in Buzy (France) on July 21, 1841.
Died in Pau (France) on March 2, 1920.
A pupil of the college of Betharram, he made his first profession among the priests of the Sacred Heart on 22 October 1858 and was ordained a priest in Bayonne on 21 September 1864. Professor and chaplain in the college Moncade d'Orthez, he was later master of the novitiate and, in 1874, superior and director of the college of Betharram. Entering the general council of the congregation in 1884, he was from 1890 assistant to the general Father Auguste Etchécopar, whose successor he was elected by the general chapter of 1897. During his generalate he had to face the severe test of the expulsion of the religious from France. When his mandate expired in 1909, he was appointed attorney general based in Rome, first at the *church of the Guardian Angel, then at that of Our Lady of Miracles. In 1919 he returned to France and retired to the residence of l'Enfant-Jésus de Pau.
Father Bourdenne, as superior general, decided to open the foundation of Traona, established thanks to the practices conducted by the minor friar *Pierre Gimet and the strong interest of don Guanella who surely will have met this father in the residence of the Holy Guardian Angel when, expired his tenure as general, he was appointed procurator in Rome.
Sources:
Betharramite Archive of Rome, Fondo Italie-Traona, Lettres Père Marque 4010.
Guanellian sources:
Guanellian Letters, nos. 2578, 2580.
Photographs:
Betharramite Archive in Rome (courtesy of Roberto Cornara).