Br. Damian A. Mainville, CSV, died Oct. 4, 1928 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee following a short illness. He was 89 and the patriarch of the U.S. Viatorians.
Br. Mainville was born Sept. 27, 1839 in St. Clet, Quebec, Canada. His early childhood was spent laboring on the family farm.
He received his education at the Viatorian Rigaud College (now the College of Bourget) located in Rigaud, Quebec, Canada. Br. Mainville entered the Viatorian Novitiate in Joliette, Quebec, Canada on Oct. 18, 1859. He pronounced his first vows July 31, 1861 and his final vows on Aug. 10, 1867.
The newly founded Province of Chicago attracted him and with the permission of his superiors, in 1873, he went to Bourbonnais, IL. There he taught at St. Viator College for many years, printed the college journal and served as assistant treasurer.
In 1902, Br. Mainville was assigned to St. Viator Normal Institute in Chicago and taught Gregorian chant to the young novices. In 1911, he was transferred to Columbus College in Chambelain, SD. He spent many happy years there until he returned again to St. Viator College in Bourbonnias, where he printed and bound books. He remained at the college until his death.
Throughout his life, Br. Mainville inspired his confreres with his unswerving regularity, his practice of poverty, patience, joviality and his profound devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
On Oct. 20, a solemn Mass of Requiem was sung at the college chapel. His body was placed in front of St. Viator’s altar and through the long hours of Saturday and Sunday night, students kept watch, saying almost continual rosaries for the repose of Br. Mainville’s soul.
The funeral Mass took place Oct. 22 and was celebrated by the Rev. Walter J. Surprenant, CSV, in Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Bourbonnais. The president of the college, the Rev. John W.R. Maguire, CSV, preached the sermon. Br. John Koelzer, CSV, directed a combined choir, made up of parishioners and Viatorian brothers.
Br. Mainville was laid to rest in the Viatorian Community plot in the Maternity BVM Cemetery.
Taken for an obituary published in The Viatorian, the St. Viator College newspaper, dated Oct. 18, 1928, p. 1 and an obituary in the 1929 Annuaire, a publication of the Viatorian General Direction, pp. 278-284