Jacinto María Cormier (1832–1916)

Biography

He entered the Order of Preachers and was ordained when he was so young that Bishop Dupanloup had to ask the Holy See for dispensation on the grounds of age and cited as the reason “the special devotion of the ordinand.” A few days later the young priest said goodbye to his people and went to the Dominican novitiate of Flavigny. He took the habit of Saint Dominic and from then on his name would be Jacinto María. Due to his delicate health, he was transferred to Italy to a more benign climate and was in Viterbo as sub-master of novices. He was later prior in several convents and in 1896 he was entrusted with the position of attorney general, with the task of transferring matters of the order to the Holy See. He became master of the Order of Preachers and although his poor health prevented him from personally visiting the different provinces, he restored several provinces and created new ones in Canada and California. He founded the “Angelicum” International School in Rome, which he put at the service of the brothers of his order as well as countless other religious and priests. He always stood out for his continuous spirit of prayer, habitual and intimate union with God and filial devotion towards the Blessed Virgin. He had an exquisite sense of civility and fraternal charity. He was a lover of poverty, sincere in humility, penitent, and lover of silence.