Born in Adé (France) on April 8, 1875.
Died in La Puye (France) on January 26, 1949.
A pupil of the college of Betharram, he made his first vows on 22 September 1893 and then left for the escholasticate of Bethlehem, where he was ordained a priest on 21 August 1898. After a few years at the college of Bayonne, in 1903 he was faced with the alternative between the exile or the betrayal of his religious vocation. He chose exile and his obedience led him first to Traona in Valtellina, then to Rome. After having to give his service to the country during the first war, he was appointed superior and first chaplain of La Puye, the mother house of the Daughters of the Cross.
Don Guanella, bound by bonds of friendship with the Betharramite community of Traona, must certainly have known this religious. In his letters to his nephew, don *Costantino Guanella, he recommended that he make use of the help of the French fathers for his ministry and for the inauguration of the church of Vicosoprano, on October 31, 1909, he asked for the help of two of them for the musical animation of the celebration.
Sources:
Betharramite Archive of Rome, Fondo Italie-Traona
Guanellian sources:
Guanellian Letters, nos. 1459, 2565.
Photographs:
Betharramite Archive in Rome (courtesy of Roberto Cornara).