"A discreet man", of "proximity" and of a "great kindness": dozens of faithful gathered in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (Vendée) on Friday on the occasion of the funeral of Father Olivier Maire, in Presence of the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, noted an AFP journalist.

"We are gathered to commune with the Montfortian family in pain but also in hope", testified Father Etienne Richer, on the sidelines of the ceremony.

The 60-year-old teacher at the Catholic Institute of Toulouse, who had known Father Olivier Maire for 20 years, remembers a man "hardworking, discreet, erudite and appreciated for that".

"He always called me by my first name"

Father Olivier Maire, 60, was killed on the night from Sunday to Monday in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, a village of 3,600 inhabitants.

The alleged perpetrator, Emmanuel Abayisenga, a 40-year-old Rwandan, reported himself on Monday morning.

The funeral procession of about thirty relatives crossed the rue Jean-Paul II in emotion and meditation before reaching the entrance to the Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort basilica where Father Olivier Maire officiated and where the ceremony is celebrated.

The Minister of Justice took the first row.

The senator of the Vendée, Bruno Retailleau (LR), was also present.

"He was a man of proximity, he always called me by my first name," recalls Véronique Caillon-Penot, head of the Montfortian center of Pont-Château (Loire-Atlantique), the community to which Olivier Maire belonged and to which he was provincial superior.

A "human mess"

Among the faithful gathered in front of the basilica were many representatives of the Montfortian community.

It is "a recognition for everything he has done for us," said the sixty-year-old, interviewed by AFP.

The ceremony, which began at 2:30 p.m., is celebrated by Bishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, Archbishop of Reims and President of the Conference of Bishops of France, who deplored a "human mess" before the start of the ceremony.

The enclosure which can accommodate up to 800 faithful was not full at the start of the tribute and outside, the giant screen placed on the Place Grignion de Montfort to broadcast the ceremony only benefits a dozen or so faithful and journalists.

The alleged perpetrator of the murder of Father Olivier Maire is also the alleged arsonist in July 2020 of the Nantes cathedral, where he was a volunteer in the parish.

He was housed in the community of Montfortians as part of his judicial control.

Placed in police custody Monday morning, he was then hospitalized in psychiatry.

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