Père Laval, apostle of Mauritian unity

Every year, in September, thousands of footsteps echo through the streets that lead to Sainte-Croix. Men, women and children, from every corner of Mauritius and sometimes from far beyond, walk together in prayer towards the tomb of Père Jacques-Désiré Laval. The pilgrimage is one of the great gatherings of the island, and it brings together Mauritians of all generations, all faiths and all communities.

Jacques-Désiré Laval was born in France in 1803. He first practised medicine in a small town in his native diocese of Évreux, in Normandy, before giving up his profession and society life: “Once a priest, I shall be able to do more good,” he explained to his brother. Coming late to his vocation, he entered the seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, then became parish priest of the small Norman parish of Pinterville, where he shared all he had with the poor. He was one of the very first members of the Society of the Holy Heart of Mary, alongside Father Libermann, a society soon merged into the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, the Spiritans.

In 1841, he left for Mauritius with the vicar apostolic, Bishop Collier. He would spend twenty-three years there, until his death.

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Twenty-three years among the former slaves

Slavery had just been abolished. Père Laval devoted himself to the recently freed slaves, whom he called his “chers Noirs”. He learnt their language and taught them the Gospel in simple words. He admitted to baptism only people who had been prepared in small groups, and often intervened to improve their health and social conditions. He saw to it that the faithful had small chapels scattered across the island.

His method has remained famous. He surrounded himself with helpers, men and women, whom he trained as prayer leaders, catechists, visitors of the sick or leaders of small communities: poor people bringing the Gospel to other poor people. Many of these small neighbourhood and village communities lie at the origin of today’s parishes. He trusted the poorest and the excluded to be the first to organise themselves and to find answers to their own suffering.

On 29 April 1979, in Rome, Pope John Paul II proclaimed Père Laval blessed. It was the very first beatification of his pontificate, and a delegation from the Mauritian government attended the ceremony. The pope expressed the wish that the new Blessed would be “the pride, the ideal and the protector” of the island’s Christian community, “and of all Mauritians”.

On 15 October 1989, John Paul II came in person to venerate the tomb at Sainte-Croix. There he paid tribute to a man “infinitely respectful of all Mauritians”, able to restore harmony and bring peace. Then he addressed the crowd in Creole: “Zotte coné mo bien content Père Laval. Mo content zot pareil. Continué suivre so chemin.” You know how much I love Père Laval; I love you just as much; keep following his path. That day he also spoke of the shrine’s church, which the faithful had rebuilt time and again whenever cyclones had shaken it.

Thirty years later, on 9 September 2019, Pope Francis celebrated at the Marie Reine de la Paix monument, in Port Louis, the Mass for the solemnity of Blessed Jacques-Désiré Laval, with his relics placed on the altar, before some 100,000 faithful. He called him “the apostle of Mauritian unity”. In the afternoon, he went to the shrine at Sainte-Croix, laid flowers on the tomb and prayed there in silence.

It is this same tomb that the walkers of Sainte-Croix make for every September. On 9 September the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Blessed, and in 2025 the first pilgrims were expected from the 8th. That year, the Ministry of Arts and Culture spent some 1.4 million rupees on the pilgrimage: marquees to shelter the pilgrims, stages for the celebrations, screens to follow the ceremonies, vests for the volunteers. On the morning of 8 September, before they arrived, the minister visited the site. The state regards the pilgrimage as an event of national importance, and as a living symbol of the country’s unity.

People come to pray, to entrust Père Laval with their worries, their sorrows and their hopes. Many of them, too, belong to a religion other than his. That is perhaps the most remarkable thing of all: a Catholic priest, who came from Normandy nearly two centuries ago, has become a figure the whole island recognises as its own.

For visitors in Mauritius in early September, the pilgrimage offers a rare picture of the island: thousands of people of every origin walking in the same direction, towards the tomb of a man who had devoted his life to the poorest among them.