(Translated from the original text in French)
Born in Gentilly, Quebec, on January 31, 1936, the son of Louis-Paul and Cécile Mailhiot, Brother Raymond studied at Collège Saint-Antoine (1951–1957) in Trois-Rivières, at the Séminaire des Saints-Apôtres (philosophy), and at the Franciscan Seminary of Theology in Montreal (1961–1965). He entered the Franciscan novitiate in Sherbrooke on August 7, 1960, made his temporary vows in August 1961 and his solemn vows in 1964, before being ordained a priest in April 1965. He was drawn to Franciscan life because it was “both active and contemplative” and offered “a multiplicity of works.” He appreciated the spirit of the community and sought a life in which he could help others.
Brother Raymond then entered Université Laval to study sociology and earned his bachelor’s degree in social sciences in 1968. Afterwards, he took courses in pastoral sociology at the University of Washington and learned English. Wanting to put his knowledge into practice, he returned to Camp Notre-Dame-de-Montréal in Saint-Liguori, where he had begun as a camp counselor in 1952. He became its director in 1969, a position he held for ten years. He also served on the board of directors of the Association des Camps du Québec, and continued his studies at the University of Ottawa, where he earned a Master of Arts in sociology in 1975.
In 1978, he began pastoral work at Maison du Pardon in Nicolet, but six years later he asked his Provincial for a sabbatical year to renew himself: he spent time with family, traveled to Italy, and stayed in Haiti for four months. He returned to Quebec convinced that his place was among the Haitian people.
It was in December 1987 that he laid the foundations of the Franciscan mission in Haiti, first in Pestel. Over the years, this presence grew and in 2009 became the Sainte-Croix Foundation of Haiti, bringing together brothers of several nationalities around a common vocation. Based in Port-au-Prince from 2001 onward, he devoted his energy to evangelization, formation in Franciscan religious life, and parish ministry, while also providing concrete assistance to families in need and to young people.
At the beginning of the 1990s, during the repression that followed the 1991 coup d’état, he made one of the most striking gestures of his commitment: refusing to remain in safety, he personally took to the sea to join the Haitian refugees fleeing in makeshift boats toward Guantánamo. Fifteen years later, he still commemorated with emotion that decision to share the condition of the “boat people,” especially that of his parishioners from Pestel.
Hardships did not shake him. After the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010, he set himself to improving the living conditions of the tens of thousands of disaster victims gathered in makeshift camps, while also launching an aid project for street youth. Faithful to the spirit of Francis of Assisi, he remained among the poorest with a steadfastness that compelled admiration, deeply marking Haitian Franciscan life for 35 years.
