Méry, Paul

Paul Méry, S.J. (né Paul Lechien) was born in Tournai, Belgium, on November 18, 1880. He attended Jesuit school in Tournai and then entered the Society of Jesus in Arlon, Belgium in 1899. Father Méry’s poor health made the completion of his studies difficult, and after spending 1902 to 1912 studying between Tronchienne, Tournai, and Louvain, he was advised to leave the Society of Jesus because of it.

In 1913, Father Méry changed his name from Lechien to Méry and relocated to Canada, where he was hired to teach at Collège Sacré-Coeur in Sudbury from 1912 to 1914 and then at Collège Saint-Marie in Montreal from 1914 to 1916. He reapplied to enter the Society of Jesus, and upon acceptance, recommenced his studies between the novitiate at Sault-au-Récollet and Immaculée-Conception; from 1918 to 1920, he returned to Collège Saint-Marie to study and teach. For the next four years, Father Méry was located at Collège Saint-François-Xavier in Edmonton, where he was ordained in 1921.

Father Méry spent the next seven years teaching and serving as a pastor at Campion College in Regina, the residential school in Spanish, Ontario (1928 to 1929), the Jesuit Parish in Vancouver, and Sault Ste. Marie. In 1932, he was appointed Superior and teacher at the residential school in Spanish, then worked as treasurer at Regiopolis College in Kingston, Ontario from 1937 to 1942. That year, Father Méry relocated to Imaculée-Conception where he spent 25 years in charge of registering parish marriages. He retired to the infirmary at Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, and died two years later, in 1970.