Rev. Joseph Cleary Villeneuve, SFM

1920-2012

January/February 2013

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Fr. Joseph Cleary Francis Villeneuve died peacefully on November 3, 2012, at St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre in Cornwall, Ontario. He was 92 years of age and had been a resident of the Care Centre since 2005.

Born in Maxville, Ontario, on June 21, 1920, Fr. Villeneuve spent his formative years until the age of 19 when he joined the Canadian Armed Forces during World War II. He served first as a reservist guarding the St. Lawrence Seaway and later became a member of the signal brigade that participated in the storming of the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

In 1954, after two years of language school in Japan, Fr. Cleary was appointed curate to Monsignor John Mary Fraser, Scarboro’s founder, at Yoshizuka parish in Fukuoka. In 1954, after two years of language school in Japan, Fr. Cleary was appointed curate to Monsignor John Mary Fraser, Scarboro’s founder, at Yoshizuka parish in Fukuoka.

After the war Fr. Cleary entered Francis Xavier Seminary and was ordained a priest of the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society on December 22, 1951, by Bishop Rosario Brodeur of the Diocese of Alexandria. His mother, Helena (Cleary) Villeneuve, had died two months prior and did not get to witness her son’s ordination.

Fr. Cleary was assigned to the Japan mission in August 1952 where he began Japanese language studies at the Franciscan language school. Two years later he was appointed curate to Monsignor John Mary Fraser, founder of Scarboro Missions, who was then pastor at Yoshizuka parish in Fukuoka.

For more than 49 years Fr. Villeneuve served in Japan at the parish in Yoshizuka, Shimabara, and Nagoya, returning to Canada periodically throughout those years. In 1973 he was elected to the Regional Council of the Japan mission.

In December of 2001 he celebrated his golden jubilee as a missionary priest and in 2002 returned from Japan to live with his brother, Rudy, in Lancaster, Ontario. He stayed there until he was received into the St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre.

Fr. Cleary was predeceased by his parents Helena and Domina Villeneuve and siblings Monsignor Rudy Villeneuve, Dr. Bernard Villeneuve, Edmund Villeneuve and Verna Hynes. He is survived by his sister Marion Haramis as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

On November 9, 2012, Fr. Brian Swords, Moderator of Scarboro Missions, celebrated the Mass of the Resurrection at St. Francis de Sales Church in Cornwall. Fr. Cleary was buried in St. Andrew’s Parish Cemetery in St. Andrew’s West, Ontario, where Scarboro missioner Fr. Gary MacDonald is also buried.

A memorial mass was held in the chapel at Scarboro Missions in Scarborough, officiated by Fr. James Gauthier, with Fr. Brian Swords as homilist and several Scarboro priests concelebrating. Fr. Cleary was remembered as a faith-filled man who always gave encouragement to Scarboro missioners and showed interest in their mission work. Any who visited him in Japan were welcomed with grace and hospitality. Scarboro Missions is grateful for his life and witness, and for his commitment to the Japanese people. In Fukuoka, the people expressed deep sorrow upon learning of his death, and Bishop A.J. Nomura of the diocese of Nagoya wrote to thank Scarboro Missions for Fr. Cleary’s long service in that diocese. His life was an inspiration to us. May he rest in peace.

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