Parish Priest

On the shore of Lake Lavigne, Ontario, one Albert La Freniere told last week the story of a picnic.

He, his wife, their two children, and his sister-in-law, Leonie Sylvestre, received an invitation from the Rev. J. B. Dubuc, parish priest of Lavigne. Would they come, the priest enquired, to have supper with him? Afterward, perhaps they would all go boating on the lake. So Albert La Freniere and the rest went to supper with the priest and later, in a gasoline launch, out across the close darkness of the lake. It was a warm, calm evening; everyone was apparently in the best of humor; no accident occurred to mar their merriment until when they had proceeded for about a mile the motor began to backfire. Father Dubuc leaned down to see what was wrong. There was a sharp detonation and a sheet of flame from the exploding gasoline tank.

Albert La Freniere was the only one who succeeded in reaching the shore. When he was revived and informed that the others were certainly drowned, he told a story which made it appear that none of the great legends of the death of captains or of the heroism of priests surpassed the way in which Father Dubuc had conducted himself at the end of his picnic. After the explosion, said Albert La Freniere, Father Dubuc stood up in the stern of the boat and, while his clothes blazed brightly, lifted his crucifix and granted absolution to the five who were with him. Having recited the ritual of his church, he said to his guests, "There is nothing else to do. We must jump into the water." Later, when the body of Father Dubuc was found, it was discovered that the first flash of the explosion had certainly burned his eyes to blindness.