Venerable Servant of God

WILLIAM GAGNON

Born in 1905 at Dover, New Hampshire (USA) on 16 May.

Died in Bien Hoa (Saigon) in 1972.

The third of twelve children, William was born to Canadian parents who had emigrated to the USA. He was a humble and helpful boy who took care of his brothers and sisters while the family was constantly travelling for work. He had tried several times to enter various Institutes, but when his sister, Maria-Eva, took the habit of the Sisters of the Assumption in the Nicolet Convent, William confided in her that he also wanted to consecrate himself to the Lord, and on 29 March 1931 he joined the Brothers of St John of God in Canada.

Because of his exemplary conduct, the Superiors appointed him Director of the Apostolic School where he lovingly educated the boys entrusted to him; then he was made third Councillor of the Canadian General Delegation and local bursar, and finally the General Delegate. When the Canadian Province was re-established, the Servant of God was appointed its Provincial Superior and Prior of the Montreal Hospital. Obedient and humble, he agreed to resign from his post, while the Lord had another path in store for him: to work as a missionary in Indochina. Together with two Brothers, he set up the Bui Chiu Health Service, about 120 kilometres from Hanoi, in the Red River delta, with bombings all around them, nursing and assisting many wounded and malnourished people with courage and self-sacrifice.

In 1956 he founded the Hospital of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Bien Hoa, where he was Prior, mason, gardener and nurse.

Brother William spent more than twenty years there, trying to make being in hospital a less painful experience for so many sick and injured children and adults, facing unprecedented sufferings caused by the terrible tragedy of the war that was sweeping throughout the southern part of Indochina. 

Weakened in body but not in spirit, he died peacefully from a heart attack in the arms of a Brother in the government hospital in Saigon. He was buried in the garden of their House in Bien Hoa, beneath a depiction of the Holy Family, which has since become a place of continuous pilgrimages by the faithful asking God for favours and graces through the intercession of His Venerable Servant.

On 10 April 2014, the Positio super virtutibus of William Gagnon was submitted to the Theological Consultors, and on 3 November 2015 to the Session of the Cardinals and Bishops Members of the Congregation of Saints, with a positive outcome.

Proclaimed Venerable by Pope Francis by decree on 14 December 2015.

Taking Hospitality to the East

Taking Hospitality to the East

Taking Hospitality to the East