Fr. Romeo Trottier, SDB (1937-2020)
Fr. Romeo Trottier, SDB, passed serenely from
Sherbrooke, Que., into eternity on Sunday morning, Sept. 13. In faith, we trust
that he didn’t stop at the Pearly Gates but continued until he reached the
Salesian Garden and was welcomed by Don Bosco, the Madonna, and the pantheon of
holy Salesians.
Fr. Romeo was 83 years old, professed as a Salesian
for 65 years, and a priest for over 54 years. He’d been suffering from leukemia
for about two years, continuing his ministry of Canadian Salesian
communications as best he could. He was taken to a Sherbrooke hospital on Sept.
5 with breathing difficulty, and on the 9th was taken to Fleurimont Hospital for
palliative care.
Fr. Romeo was one of the great men of the one-time
Canadian delegation and Canadian vice province, where he passed his entire
Salesian life except for studies. “He was an expert in Salesian spirituality,
the key person in the creation of the Canadian vice province in 1988, and a
model of friendly presence to the young even in his 80s,” writes Fr. Rich Authier,
former superior of the vice province.
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| Touring the Vatican printing department--amid fresh bundles of L'Osservatore Romano-- with other editors of the Salesian Bulletin in 2012. |
Fr. Romeo came from a small town called Proulxville,
near Three Rivers, Que., where he was born to Donat and Aline Trottier on the
feast of the Assumption in 1937 and baptized the next day at the parish church
of St.-Severin. The Trottiers were a large family: Fr. Romeo had six brothers
and six sisters, and he landed almost exactly in the middle of the procession, the
sixth-born.
Romeo attended the local elementary school from 1943
to 1950. Like many of our Canadian confreres, he owes his vocation (after God
and family) to the recruiting efforts of the legendary Fr. Pierre Decarie.
Fr. Decarie came to Romeo’s school in the spring of 1950 to speak to the
youngsters about Don Bosco and the Salesians, and he also mentioned the
seminary in Newton, N.J., and the summer camp in Ellenville, N.Y.
Romeo had already taken the entrance exam for the
Three Rivers diocesan minor seminary, but he showed an openness to the
Salesians. Mr. and Mrs. Trottier consented for Romeo to go to Newton. There
were already many Canadians studying there, who came to number about 20,
including youngsters who headed south with him.
Romeo had never been farther away from home than
Montreal. But in July 1950 he set out for Ellenville, and in the fall to Don
Bosco Seminary. He liked his first-year experience, even though he had to learn
English. The Canadian aspirants attended separate classes until they were proficient
enough in English gradually to be integrated into the regular classes.
In 1951 the aspirantate was transferred to Haverstraw,
N.Y., as Don Bosco Juniorate under the directorship of Fr. Joseph Caselli, who was
a very understanding superior.
Desiring “to be a good Salesian and worker in the
Lord’s vineyard,” Romeo entered St. Joseph’s Novitiate in Newton on Sept. 7,
1954. He was part of a very distinguished novitiate class, Fr. Aloysius Bianchi’s
first as master of novices. They lived in the “gray house,” the so-called
Horton mansion. Some of the others in the class were Tony Ambrogio, John Blanco,
Francis Bracchi, Bob Falk, Barney Hagus, George Hanna, Jean-Paul Lebel, Orlando
Molina, Gerard Richard, and Alfred Rinaldi. They made their first profession on
Sept. 8, 1955.
Following graduation from Don Bosco College in 1958,
magna cum laude, Bro. Romeo was sent to the Don Bosco School in Jacquet River,
N.B., for three years of practical training (1958-1961). It was a small, rather
insular boarding school with about 100 boys, fifth to eighth grade. He made his
perpetual profession in 1961 at St. Louis de Kent, N.B.
When it was time to study theology, Bro. Romeo had the
luxury of a fine cruise across the Atlantic—at the time that was less expensive
than flying. While some of the Canadian theologians went to Lyons or
Castellamare, Bro. Romeo was the only one who went to Rome. He took the
“propedeutic” or preparatory year of non-theological studies.
In 1962 he moved up to Turin and enrolled at the Pontificio
Ateneo Salesiano (PAS), called the “Crocetta” (from its neighborhood). He was
privileged to take courses with some of the Congregation’s most distinguished
professors, such as Fr. Domenico Bertetto, Fr. Agustino Favale, Fr. Antonio
Javierre (a future cardinal), Fr. Pietro Brocardo, and Fr. Eugenio Valentini.
His classmates in Turin and Rome included George
Hanna, and schoolmates included Angelo Amato (another future cardinal), Emilio
Allué (future bishop), Javier Aracil, John Blanco, John Basso, Tom Juarez,
Jeremiah Reen, and Earl Bissonnette.
In 1965 the main campus of the PAS was shifted to its
new location in Rome, and Bro. Romeo was in the first “senior” class there. That
gave him an opportunity to witness the last session of Vatican II and take part
in the closing Mass, December 7, 1965. He vividly remembered the Council’s
closing with its many speeches on December 8.
Ordination to the priesthood came at the hands of the
cardinal vicar of Rome, Luigi Traglia, on March 5, 1966, at St. John Bosco Church.
He earned an STL from what had become the UPS (instead of PAS).
Being present for the closing days of Vatican II was a
special experience, and most special was a post-ordination audience with Pope
Paul VI with the class’s parents, each newly ordained greeting the Pope. He
told the newly ordained, “Wherever you go, be priests of the Council”—which,
obviously, stuck with Fr. Romeo.
Fr. Romeo’s first priestly assignment was to Seminaire
Salésien in Sherbrooke, Que., where he stayed for 15 years (1966-1981),
teaching Latin, religion, English, and art history at various times, and also
at various times responsible for student life and discipline. The school
enrolled about 80 pupils, all boarders. The following year (1967), it opened to
local day students. In these years he earned a Bachelor’s degree in education
from Quebec City’s Laval University (1972) and a Master’s degree in pastoral
education at the University of Sherbrooke (1973).
In 1975 he was appointed director of the community and
school, serving two terms (till 1981). Simultaneously, from 1976 he was
superior of the Canadian delegation, till 1988. This responsibility entailed
visiting the houses, overseeing the delegation’s finances, and working in
collaboration with the provincial in New Rochelle.
 Celebrating Mass with Salesian Bulletin editors at Salesian HQ in Rome, 2012 |
His influence with the Cooperators was tremendous. According
to Rosa D’Addario, their former coordinator: “In all things Salesian [he was]
definitely the authority, most informed. With regard to others, encouraging, loving,
attentive, a caring listener with a delightful sense of humor, warm,
enthusiastic, friendly, approachable, wise, and compassionate; always made you
feel welcome and completely at ease. He always participated in the regional encounters.”
She adds, “Fr. Romeo was a great person, and I will really miss him!”
When his term as director in Sherbrooke ended, in 1981
he moved to Ste. Claire Parish in Montreal as an assistant. When Fr. Jean-Paul
Lebel volunteered for the missions and left for Rwanda in 1983, Fr. Romeo
succeeded him as pastor and director, serving till 1995. In 1984 he was one of
the province’s delegates to the 22d General Chapter.
A short stint at Maria Ausiliatrice Parish in
Riviere-des-Prairies, Montreal, followed (1995-1996) before he was sent back to
Sherbrooke as director for two more terms (1996-2002). He remained thenceforth
in Sherbrooke, doing multiple jobs at times, including community treasurer,
pastoral ministry, Cooperators, communications, etc.
Fr. Romeo listed parish work, his years of theological
study, and student life in Jacquet River as his most enjoyable experiences as a
Salesian. He retained happy memories particularly of Fr. Ted Ciampi and Fr.
Paul Avallone, two of the founders of Salesian work north of the border, both
long dead now, and of his work alongside the late Fr. Maurice Petit.
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