- In Crest, near Valence, lives the Capuchin congregation.
- The convent was decimated by the coronavirus. Five brothers died in no time.
- Another monk is currently hospitalized.
"We had to make room in the cellar," says Hubert Le Bouquin. In three weeks, the monk saw five of the eleven brothers leave from the Capuchin convent in Crest (Drôme), decimated by the coronavirus. This 64-year-old former nurse, himself a member of this branch of the order of the Franciscan brothers, ordinarily lives in Algeria where he officiates as vicar general of the bishop of Oran. He was staying with friends in Valence when he was called, at the start of confinement, to help the nurses working at the convent.
In this institution founded four centuries ago at the foot of the Vercors, once frequented by the man who was to become Father Pierre, almost all of them fell ill. The youngest are recovering; the ancients did not survive. Three of the deceased had tested positive for Covid-19, the other two were probably also victims. A sixth brother, Marc, 84, is still hospitalized. "But he is fine," says Hubert Le Bouquin.
78 to 99 years old
It was Emmanuel, 94, who died first, on March 25, at the convent. The vicar, who temporarily put on his nursing gown, assisted him in his last moments. "He had all the symptoms," he says. He was old, with a heavy medical history. I brought him his meal around 7:30 p.m., he ate his soup, a compote, I went down and a quarter of an hour later, he was in his bed dying. It was not a long agony. "
Pierre, 85, and Armand, 78, died in hospital the following weekend. They were buried the same day in the Crest cemetery, where the convent has a quickly crowded vault.
“We did what we call a body reduction [meeting of bones]. To make room for young people, as Brassens said, "smiles Brother Hubert for whom these former missionaries in Africa" had already paid a lot with their health "during their past engagements.
"He gave up, we lived like that"
Next came the turn of Marcel, 99, the gardener. He had no symptoms. "But he saw everyone go around him. He gave up, we lived like that; he must have thought that for him too, it was time to leave, ”said Brother Hubert, who had known him for over 40 years. A fortnight before his death, the almost centenary was still sowing seeds for the summer. The survivors eat his salads.
Another Peter, also 85, breathed his last on April 9, just before Easter. Poet, he had done troubadour a few years, singing "the southern sun, the olive trees and tenderness". The convent kept it as long as it could. "He had Alzheimer's, it was difficult to see him go to the hospital but in the end we were too tired to keep him. He died 24 hours later. "
"Endangered"
Faced with the disease, the Capuchins applied the confinement and protection instructions. "But the virus was introduced and when we live together, when we eat together, when we help each other to walk, there is inevitably a promiscuity of the bodies, as in families," notes Hubert Le Bouquin.
Photos of the dead have been placed in the chapel where Lucas (the “guardian” or higher), Rayappan, Bruno, Sébastien and Noël continue to pray together, waiting for Marc's return.
“One, two, three, four, five dead in ten days is a lot; accompanying them, seeing them suffer, going back to the cemetery every time, it's hard, ”confides the vicar. Especially since the Capuchins of France, devoted to the most underprivileged, are "aging, a little endangered". "But we went through this experience with serenity, I think. Now we tell our memories. We also need to store the belongings of those who left, some were particularly messy… ”, he smiles.
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