Flavian LaPlante

Servant Of God Br. Flavian Laplante CSC
Catholic Priest
Born	July 27, 1907 St.-Louis-de-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada
Died	19 June 1981 Diang, Bangladesh
Venerated in	Roman Catholicism

Br. Flavian Laplante,C.S.C. (1907-1981) was a Holy Cross Brother and a missionary who worked in Bangladesh from 1932 until 1981. He was a teacher and then a headmaster in different Catholic schools in the districts of Barisal, Noakhali and Chittagong. Later he was involved with the socio-economic development of the Jolodash community. He founded Miriam Ashram at Diang, on the Karnaphuly River. He also built a grotto with the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes and turned it into a shrine.

Br. Flavian Laplante, C.S.C., was born on July 27, 1907, in St.-Louis-de-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada. He was the seventh child of nine to Honoré Laplante and Louise Théroux, who named him Doria.

He studied at St. Joseph’s Scholasticate.

Flavian entered the Congregation of Holy Cross at the age of 16. He received the religious habit and took the name Flavian on 15 August 1923.He professed Final Vows on 16 August 1928. He worked several years in Notre Dame College in Quebec as a teacher and dorm supervisor. Flavian was assigned to the Congregation’s mission in East Bengal in 1932. Saint André Bessette, C.S.C., met Flavian at his departure from the college and remarked, “How fortunate you are in becoming a missionary. I envy you.”

Flavian arrived to Chittagong in East Bengal on December 1, 1932. His first assignment was to assist at the Congregation’s new high school in Padrishibpur. He assisted with construction and other manual labor. Flavian also taught and supervised a dormitory before he became principal. This was the first in a series of teaching and administrative assignments at the Congregation’s schools in East Bengal.

In May 1942, when the Japanese Army started air raids on Chittagong, Flavian went there to assist. He remained in Chittagong in 1943 and 1944 when a severe famine hit the land so he could help tend to the hungry and sick. Flavian worked principally with the Hindus, who were considered at the bottom of society. It was during this time that he met the fishermen to whom he eventually devoted most of his life. Following the end of World War II, Flavian worked out a program so that many fishermen could receive new boats, because theirs had been commandeered during the war. Flavian often accompanied the fishermen out to sea for days. He even led them in resistance against pirates and participated in rescue missions. Flavian’s wanted to organize the fisherman into cooperatives in which they could help each other.

...
Wikipedia