FALL RIVER, Mass. — Father Louis R. Boivin, 87, who served the Fall River Diocese as a priest for 62 years and had been a senior priest in retirement since 1997 living at the Cardinal Medeiros Residence, died February 17, Ash Wednesday.
Born in Taunton, one of 12 children of the late Euclide Boivin and the late Mathilda (Madore) Boivin, he grew up in the former St. Jacques’ Parish and attended its grammar school. He graduated from the former Msgr. Coyle High School in Taunton in 1941.
He attended St. Anne’s College at Church Pointe in Nova Scotia for two years before beginning studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, Md. in 1943. He was ordained a priest on May 22, 1948 by Bishop James E. Cassidy in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River.
From 1948 to 1952 and again from 1955 to 1970 he was parochial vicar at St. Louis de France Parish in Swansea. He served there as pastor from 1970 to 1988. In 1971 he was also appointed diocesan director of activities associated with the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
From 1952 to 1955, Father Boivin was a parochial vicar at the former St. Hyacinth Parish in New Bedford, and in 1988 was named pastor of St. Joseph Parish, also in New Bedford, serving there until 1990 when he became pastor of St. Theresa’s in South Attleboro.
In 1994 he was named senior priest and was in residence at St. Jean Baptiste Parish in Fall River until moving to the Cardinal Medeiros Residence.
Father Richard R. Gendreau, pastor of St. Louis de France Parish, spoke in detail about Father Boivin, “who I considered a good friend … and who was very much a part of this parish from 1970 to 1988.”
He described Father Boivin “as a very shy person, but deeply spiritual, and deliberate and conscientious to always do the right thing for everyone. He didn’t make close friends; but he was very observant of people’s needs, and we might say, generous to a fault for wanting to do so much for his parishioners and all who came to him.”
He added, “He was a man of charity, and he had so many gifts. People would see him walking the driveway at the church, with his dog alongside him, as he prayed the rosary or said his breviary. As a matter of fact, he wore out the rug in the rectory as he paced back and forth in prayer … it was his ‘prayer trail.’”
Retired Permanent Deacon Leo W. Racine of New Bedford, a close friend of Father Boivin, told The Anchor, “I rarely saw Father Boivin when he was not in prayer.”
He recalled that when he was vice president of the Legion of Mary, it was Father Boivin who was the spiritual advisor, “and I came to know him well. When he was pastor at St. Joseph’s in New Bedford, he baptized four of our six children in the years after 1959.”
The deacon also recalled that as a young curate, “Father Boivin, like most young priests, didn’t have a car. Only the pastors had automobiles. But Father Boivin would take the parish census cards and walk to visit every family in whatever parish he was in. He came to know each family well and knew their spirituality. But he would never talk about it. He was 100 percent a priest, a very prayerful priest who cared for everyone.”
Deacon Racine related that at one time he was very interested in the Trappists. “After learning about meditation from Father Boivin, I told him what a great Trappist he would make. And he told me, ‘I was ordained to be a parish priest.’ And he was a good one.”
In 2008, Father Boivin celebrated the 60th jubilee of his ordination.
He leaves two sisters, Maria Donnelly and Rita Bedard of Taunton; and nieces and nephews, among whom is Deacon Philip E. Bedard of Taunton.
He was the brother of the late Holy Union Sister Anna Imelda Boivin, Holy Union Sister Lucille Theresa Boivin, Holy Union Sister Pauline Louise Boivin, St. Joseph Sister Emma Boivin, Ida Boivin, Alma Pelletier, and Joseph A., Euclide L., Arthur, and Alphonse Boivin.
His wake service was held in St. Louis de France Church in Swansea. His funeral Mass was celebrated there on February 20. Burial was February 22 in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Taunton.