Fr. Gilles Beauchemin passed away on the afternoon of Sunday 23 March 2026 at the Résidence Notre-Dame de Richelieu, where he had been living since June 2019. He was 90 years old. He suffered from diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. Despite his health problems, Gilles had remained in touch with many people he had known, particularly in Quebec City, where he had lived for many years.
Gilles was born on 18 March 1936 in Montreal. He is survived by two brothers and a sister. After completing his secondary and college education in Montreal, at the Collèges Saint-Ignace and Jean-de-Brébeuf, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Montreal on 14 August 1957. He pronounced his first vows in 1959. After studying philosophy at the Collège de l’Immaculée-Conception in Montreal (from 1959 to 1961), he began studying physics in the autumn of 1961, a course of study that would lead him to a doctorate in 1976. In the meantime, he prepared for priestly ordination in 1969 by completing a course of theological studies (from 1966 to 1970) at the Jesuit Theologate in Montreal. He pronounced his final vows in 1976.
Gilles recounted his spiritual and apostolic journey, the details of which can be followed here:
“Late March 1976. I had just turned 40. I had just submitted my doctoral thesis in physics at Laval University in Quebec City. And I had just presented to the Provincial, Father Julien Harvey, a plan to live among the poor in Quebec City’s Lower Town. In previous years, I had asked Father Larivière, the Provincial at the time, for permission to go and live in a poor neighbourhood in Quebec City. He had advised me to wait until after I had written and defended my thesis.
In 1974–1975, I did my tertianship with Gilles Cusson. This coincided with the 32nd General Congregation in Rome, whose Decree 4 on ‘Our Mission Today’ deeply resonated with me because it supported my desire to live among the poor.
In March 1976, I discerned with Rosaire Tremblay, a Jesuit and worker priest, who helped me clarify what I wanted to live. It was not a social and political commitment to which I aspired. Nor was it, at that time, a question of giving up my work as a researcher at the university. Two aspects emerged: being a presence
among the poor and having a place of prayer. It was this plan that I presented to the provincial superior.Father Julien Harvey did not delay in giving me his approval. I would be attached to the community of the new Ignatian spirituality centre. On 1 July 1976, I moved into a five-room apartment on Rue Caron, in the Saint-Roch neighbourhood. In the months that followed, I did not engage in any social or political activism to integrate into my new environment. I celebrated Mass in the evenings and people involved in social work would join me. It was through them that I came into contact with marginalised people, ex-prisoners, people with physical disabilities and neighbours. Their presence transformed my prayer. Then I began to guide people through the Spiritual Exercises. My flat became a small centre for spiritual life where a few socially committed people would gather for prayer.
Over the next two years, I continued my postdoctoral research at Laval University. When my contract came to an end—and could not be renewed—I asked the provincial superior to give up physics and pursue my integration into the neighbourhood full-time. He gave his consent, inviting me to maintain contact with the academic world. For several years, I worked with the university’s campus ministry, celebrating Mass on weekdays and Sundays. My presence in the lower town gave me the feeling of being a witness to the poor amid the university community.
In January 1981, my apartment was destroyed by fire. I moved into a smaller apartment. Though more modest, it became a place of gathering and prayer. Meanwhile, my activities had shifted towards L’Arche: I went every week to L’Arche in St-Malachie and was closely involved with L’Arche in Quebec. Eventually, I lived for over four years in a L’Arche community. All that time spent around L’Arche, and then within L’Arche itself, continued to sustain in me this dual aspect of being present with people with disabilities and of prayer. The spirituality of L’Arche spoke deeply to me and nourished me for a long time.
From 1994 onwards, my presence at Maison Dauphine also took on its full meaning: closeness to marginalised young people and a place of prayer (the house chapel) where I celebrated Mass with great joy, even if the congregation was sparse: I saw great significance in the fact that this shelter for young people in difficulty was also, in everyone’s eyes, the house of God.
Since 2001, my presence in Haiti has also found its meaning for me in this dual aspect: being immersed in a sea of poverty and being compelled to pray, for otherwise there would be despair. There is a profound continuity with what had inspired me up to that point.”
Gilles Beauchemin remained in Haiti until 2015. Upon his return to Canada, he settled in Quebec City, until health issues required him to move to Richelieu in 2019.