Alphée Marquis collection of memorial cards

Collection

Identifier: MCC-00589-UP-589

Scope and Contents

The collection contains 95 memorial cards, often featuring the person’s name, date of birth, date of death, and photograph alongside a prayer, with religious imagery decorating the back, in French and English for different residents of the St. John Valley, who died between 1955 and 1994.

Dates

Creation: 1955 - 1994

Historical note: Memorial Cards

Memorial cards, similar to obituary or prayer cards, are often created by Catholic communities to honor a recently deceased individual. In the Saint John Valley, cards may be printed farther south in Maine and New Hampshire, or north in Quebec. They are distributed to attendees at funerals, wakes, and other gatherings.

Biographical note: Alphée Marquis

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Reverend Joseph Alphée Marquis (1909-2003) was born on January 15 in Baker Brook, New Brunswick, Canada, the son of Joseph and Anastasie Nadeau Marquis. As a young man, he 2 worked as a lumberjack with his father in the North Maine woods. He attended Laval University in Quebec and studied theology in Richelieu, P.Q., and Lebret, Sask. Marquis was ordained on June 29, 1939, in Lebret by Archbishop Monehan of Regina. He served as Gravelbourg College in Saskatchewan International Falls in Minnesota, and Inwood and Oak Point in Manitoba before his first Maine assignment. In Maine, he served at Holy family in Calais, Fort Fairfield, Greenville, and Rockwood Mission, St. Joseph’s in Ellsworth, and St. Mary’s in Eagle Lake. Marquis then served as Chaplain in Northern Maine General Hospital, Our Lady of the Lakes in Oquossoc, Pastor in St. John, Sacred Heart in Caribou, Northern Maine Security Home in Eagle Lake, St. Louis in Limestone, St. Joseph’s in Wallagrass, St. Gerard’s in Grand Isle, St. Luc in Frenchville, St. Mary’s in Orono, St. Matthew’s in Hampden, St. Francis De Sales in Waterville, Fransciscan Convent and Srs. at People’s Benevolent Hospital. He retired as chaplain at NMMC in Fort Kent on November 1, 1994. Marquis passed away on September 23, 2003.