While certainly not of the same epic-making proportions as, let’s say, the first human footprints on the moon, the 2nd of February 2008 will none-the-less stand out in the annals of Carmelite history as being a day of great joy and celebration as well as being a truly historic event. For it was on this day that Frère Yves de Sainte-Marie, O.Carm. (Jean Beaupère) was ordained to the priesthood by the Most Reverend Georges Soubrier, Bishop of Nantes, France, in the chapel of the Carmelite priory of Notre Dame de Lumières in Nantes. The historical significance of this particular ordination lies in the fact that, unless there were clandestine ordinations of which no historical records remain, this was the very first ordination on French soil of a native-born Frenchman in the Carmelite Order since the days of the French revolution during which the Carmelites, along with all other religious orders, were disbanded and expelled from France.

Frère Yves, the son of Jean and Marie Beaupere, was born in Nantes, on May 23, 1975. Having finished all of his primary and secondary education in Nantes, he obtained an undergraduate degree in accounting. Having felt a calling to the priesthood, he was accepted into the diocesan seminary where he completed the first year of theology. It was during that year of theology that he came into contact with the Carmelites in Nantes and began to feel an attraction to the religious life. After a period of discernment, he was admitted into the Carmelite formation program and made his first profession in 1999 followed by his solemn profession in 2003. He completed his theological education at the VUniversité Catholique de VOuest in Angers, France, while at the same time fulfilling some pastoral and canonical requirements for ordination by attending the major seminary in Nantes. Frère Yves is currently the Director of the Center for the Study of History and Spirituality, (Centre pour les Etudes d’Histoire et Spiritualité) in Nantes.

The presiding bishop gave an outstanding homily in which he thanked the Carmelites for their presence in his diocese since 1989. What made his homily particularly appreciated by all the Carmelites present was the fact that he had so obviously did his “homework” beforehand. His homily was liberally sprinkled with quotations from the documents from the recent General Chapter, from the letter that Pope Benedict XVI wrote to the greniales of the Chapter, and from the Carmelite manual on formation. His homily was, in short, a wonderful concise summary of both Carmelite spirituality and the vocation to the priesthood.

In addition to all of the Carmelites of the French delegation and Father John Keating, the General Councilor for the European region, there were over 50 other concele-brants and well over 700 people crowded into the small chapel and adjoining hall of the Carmelite monastery. The presence of so many people were an eloquent testimony not only to the esteem in which Frère Yves is held by the people, but also to the fact that all seemed keenly aware of the historical significance of the day and that they wanted to be part of it.