TRIBUTE TO MONIQUE CHEVROT

TRIBUTE TO MONIQUE CHEVROT
On Sunday 2 April 2017, Monique Chevrot, President of the Senatus of Paris, was suddenly called home by the Lord, at the age of 69 years. Looking back at her life, she had generously dedicated it since her twenties to the Legion of Mary. She held various officerships in the Regia of Paris and became the first President of the Senatus of Paris when it was re-established on 10 September 2016. She was also President of the Association of the Legion of Mary the legal entity which looks after Legion premises, in particular 43 Rue Boileau the headquarters of the Legion in Paris and the Permanence in Lourdes which hosts legionaries from all over the world who come to do an apostolate there. Both of these premises presented huge challenges to the Legion to which Monique responded with great patience and determination and always sought to do what was best for the Legion.
Monique Chevrot was a very capable but quiet legionary who worked away in the background and never sought the limelight. When necessary she stepped forward to defend the Legion or take the lead in new developments. She readily took on the responsibility of guiding the new Senatus. She undertook, some years ago, visitation of the Legion in Haiti after the horrendous earthquake left the whole country including the Legion, in turmoil.
She along with Sr. Marie Nicole Trimaille, Vice President of the Senatus represented the French Legion at the official launch of the Legion Statutes in Rome in March 2014. Subsequently she assisted in the translation of these statutes into French and had, just before she died, arranged for their printing. She also translated the Concilium Bulletin every month into French, which can be found on the Concilium website. Many French-speaking African councils often wrote to her for Legion material which she forwarded onto Concilium for shipment.

At her funeral Mass on Friday 21 April in l’église Saint –Jean-Baptiste de Grenelle, over 400 attended, mostly legionaries from the Senatus but also representatives from Aire and Dax Regia, Strasbourg Comitium, Brussels Senatus, and the Concilium.
Her sister Nicole, her brother Jacques, and nephew Julien were very pleased to see such a large turnout. Six priests and a deacon concelebrated the Requiem Mass which included Pere Etienne Bakissi, Vicar in the parish of Notre Dame du Travail who was the main celebrant, Pere Joseph, the Spiritual Director of the Vietnamese Curia in Paris, Pere Leroi, Pere Fagnon and Deacon Paviledo from the Philippines. At the end of the Mass before the cortege left for Dijon where she was buried in the family plot, the African legionaries sang a joyful African hymn for Monique which resounded throughout the area.

Her passing is a great loss to the Legion of Mary in France but now she will continue her work from on high. May her eternal soul rest in rest.