After serving for several decades as Bishop of Jérémie, Monsignor Joseph Willy Romélus returned to his hometown, Château—a village nestled in the lush mountains overlooking Arniquet—to serve as vicar. A portrait of a man who had just celebrated his 90th birthday, whose vigor and lucidity showed no signs of fading.

On Thursday, January 28, the Catholic Church of Saint-Louis Roi de France donned its finest for a special occasion. No fewer than a hundred students from the parish school attended Mass for the feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas, considered the patron of philosophers. Through liturgical chants and music, the congregation honored this encyclopedic mind, a leading figure of scholastic philosophy. At the altar, a voice blended with the songs—that of Joseph Willy Romélus, who was responsible for delivering the day’s homily under the gaze of the parish priest, Reverend Father Eddy Fervil.