Toulouse: Maurice Prin, the guardian angel of the Jacobins, finally rests in the church of the Convent
Three years after his funeral, the body of Maurice Prin was buried, yesterday Thursday, in the church of the Couvent des Jacobins as he wished during his lifetime. Out of love for this place, which he has worked to restore, without sparing himself, all his life.
This Thursday morning, red carnations sit enthroned at the foot of the coffin of Maurice Prin, in the church of the Couvent des Jacobins, in Toulouse. The only bouquet that brightens up the ceremony. We owe this delicate attention to Colette, a friend of the deceased who accompanied her during the last years of her life. “Every year, for Saint-Thomas, Maurice Prin flowered the church with red carnations that he ordered in Nice”, explains the little lady with blond hair.
Also on this special day, she recalled these flowers to the good memory of the former guardian, curator and savior of this magnificent building in Toulouse.
Seated in the third row, next to her sister, behind the elected officials, the Dominican brothers, the Cistercian nuns of Boulaur (in the Gers) and a few anonymous people, Colette does not lose anything from the burial ceremony of Maurice Prin, organized by the Dominican Province of Toulouse and the foundation of the Monasteries, which are the heirs of the deceased.
Maurice Prin died at the age of 91 on December 27, 2019. His funeral took place on January 6, 2020 in the church of the Couvent des Jacobins. During his lifetime, Maurice Prin had expressed the wish to rest eternally in the church of the Jacobins. “It was his dream to be buried here because he spent his whole life there,” recalls Colette.
“On April 10, 2018, I received an unusual letter, in which Maurice Prin told me that he wanted to be buried here, in the chapel of the Crucifix. From there, I mobilized a certain number of authorities in order to obtain the authorizations essential to the execution of his last wishes”, recalled the mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc, at the beginning of the tribute. .
Jacobin lovers
Maurice Prin, apprentice cabinetmaker, passionate about history, was only 14 years old when he visited the Couvent des Jacobins in 1943. And he fell madly in love with it, although the building had been badly damaged by the Second World War. Hired by the town hall of Toulouse, he became its guardian in 1952. He was then appointed Honorary Curator in 1974, the very year of the return of the relics of Saint Thomas Aquinas to the church of the Preached Brothers.
For fifty years, surrounded by archaeologists and history enthusiasts, Maurice Prin will work daily to reconstruct, rehabilitate and enhance the Toulouse monument.
Three years after his funeral, Maurice Prin’s wish has just been granted. The translation of his body took place this Thursday, January 19 at 11:25 a.m., he now rests in the church of the Couvent des Jacobins. A stone’s throw from the relics of the Dominican Thomas Aquinas, kept under the main altar.