Auxiliary for life
Extract (pages 139-141) of Mgr Olivier de Berranger, Alfred Ancel, a man for the Gospel, 1898-1984, Centurion, 1988.
On a cold winter's day, Father Joseph Ancel recounts how he met his brother Alfred by chance in the Place Bellecour. Alfred was coming unhurriedly from the rue Auguste Comte and, curiously, he looked "very sad":
- What's the matter with you?
- I can't believe it myself. Imagine that the Cardinal has summoned me to ask me, in the name of obedience, to become his auxiliary bishop. I'm counting on you to be discreet. But, you see, I'm overwhelmed.
- That's great news! I'd be delighted if a priest like you, who lives in the spirit of evangelical poverty of Prado, became a bishop... Don't you think the episcopate needs your witness?
- ....
Alfred Ancel was genuinely upset. His only desire was to remain at the service of Prado, which he saw growing rapidly. And it was because Cardinal Gerlier had assured him that he would let him continue his work as Superior that he could not refuse. In spite of himself, Father Ancel did not go unnoticed in the Church of France. The Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard, whose influence was so great at the time, had observed this modest member of the Lyonnais clergy. He told Cardinal Gerlier that he wanted him to become the titular bishop of a diocese. Feeling his own decline, Cardinal Suhard was looking for men who would continue the intense missionary work he had initiated. Alfred Ancel, with his evangelical training at Prado and his publications on working-class pastoral problems, seemed to him to be one such man.
Cardinal Gerlier understood his eminent colleague from Paris. But he also understood Alfred Ancel's inner choice. That's why he found the solution, accepted by Pius XII himself, of having him appointed to Lyon without taking him away from Prado. When he enthusiastically presented him to his diocesan colleagues on 24 February 1947, he wrote in the Semaine Religieuse: "This apostle of Jesus Christ, philosopher, theologian, sociologist, who aspires to realise in all his life the traits of the True Disciple, is first and foremost haunted by the sufferings of the popular masses, de-Christianised, abandoned, paganised (...). Should he abandon Prado, at the risk of compromising such a beneficial extension (...). The Sovereign Pontiff has deigned to keep Father Ancel at Prado, where he will remain, without refusing him the episcopate".
Cardinal Suhard, making the best of a bad situation, attended in person the consecration of the new bishop, which was celebrated in the primatial church of Saint-Jean on 25 March, the day he had chosen because, in the liturgical calendar, it is the feast of the Annunciation to Mary. Mgr Lebrun, Bishop of Autun, and Mgr Bornet assisted Cardinal Gerlier in the ordination rite. And three weeks later, Cardinal Suhard wrote to Mgr Ancel:
"Your Excellency and my dear Lord,
"Your letter of 12 April expresses the joy you felt at my presence at your episcopal consecration. I would like to tell you that I was the first to feel this joy myself. The satisfaction I felt from this consecration was not only the prospect of an Episcopate that is proving fruitful for the Church, but also the consecration of a work that seems to me to be increasingly useful and providentially prepared for the Catholic Church in our country of France.
"How, moreover, can we fail to admire the action of Providence, which made use of this man of God, Father Chevrier, to make him produce, even beyond his personal thoughts, all the ideals involved in the work of which he himself laid the first foundations? This work was to bring to the world the ideal of the holiness and poverty of Christ in the conquest of souls, and it so happens that today, through the formation of a clergy inspired by this thought, the idea is not only emerging, but is proving to be more and more assured and powerful...".
Reporting on the ceremony, the independent daily La Liberté concluded with a general sentiment: "The Church of Lyon can rejoice, it has the bishop it needs in the times we are living in".
The Prado was also jubilant. Aimé Suchet said simply, during the many toasts that followed the coronation meal: "What surprised us, moreover, was not that anyone had laid eyes on our Superior; his merits are too well known to us... but it was that the shelter he had voluntarily chosen by coming among us had proved ineffective".
[...]
Alfred Ancel was not the Bishop of Prado
[Alfred Ancel was not the 'bishop of Prado', whatever the confusion outside Lyon about this. But it is fair to say that his position as bishop, by introducing him as an equal among his peers in the Church of France, opened many doors for him. His personal authority did the rest, and this ordination on 25 March 1947 had repercussions on the history of Prado and, indirectly, on the evangelisation of the French working class world, which should be assessed. As for Bishop Ancel, he wanted to distinguish between his two very demanding roles, and one wonders where he found the time to accomplish so many tasks, from confirmations to countless conferences and meetings with the most diverse groups. His excellent health, his ability to fall asleep as soon as the night-light went out late at night, and his astonishing flexibility in moving from one job to another don't explain everything. He also had an aptitude for living in the presence of Christ, of whom he was aware, everywhere, of being a "representative".
The hypothesis that Mgr Ancel would leave Lyon to become the titular bishop of a large diocese was made more than once... by others than himself. The most serious alarm in this regard came shortly after his appointment, when Cardinal Suhard died on 30 May 1949. Among the names that had already been circulating since the beginning of Suhard's illness for his replacement in Paris, Alfred Ancel's name came up so insistently that Cardinal Gerlier thought it necessary to write to him:
"Eminence,
"You cannot be unaware of certain predictions being made about me concerning Cardinal Suhard's succession (...). If you should ever learn that my name is being put forward, I would be grateful if you would make known to the Nunciature, before any more official steps are taken, certain objections that I believe, in all conscience, I should set out (...)". Here, Father Ancel highlighted his "personal shortcomings". Then: "I am more and more convinced that Prado is a work of God, that Father Chevrier's message comes from on high and that the spiritual renewal he wished for according to the Gospel is a providential means that God has placed at the disposal of his Church so that it can better adapt to contemporary needs. If we had listened to Father Chevrier's message earlier, it seems to me that the barrier that now seems insurmountable would not have been established between the workers and the Church. Father Chevrier's mission dates back to 1856. It followed the Communist Party Manifesto by eight years. There are some obvious similarities (...).
Finally, after reminding the Cardinal that Prado was expanding rapidly and telling him that, in his opinion, no one was yet ready to succeed him, he revealed for the first time to his archbishop a project that he had nurtured within himself: "... I do hope that, in a few years' time, I will be able to leave my place at Prado to others. At that time, I could ask the Sovereign Pontiff for permission to join our priests working in factories. They would like to have a bishop with them. Of course, they are happy with the confidence shown in them by the hierarchy. But if they had a bishop with them, their fellow workers would understand better that they belong to the Church. By remaining auxiliary bishop of Lyon, if I could live with them, I could at the same time mark the unity of the Church and its establishment in the proletariat".
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