Késsinnimek - Roots - RacinesMon Petit Coin by Norm Léveillée
Blessed Dina Bélanger
Blessed Dina BÉLANGER was born at Québec on 30 April 1897, the daughter of Olivier Octave BÉLANGER & Séraphia MATTE. Her parents lived at 168 Notre Dame des Anges in the Parish of Jacques Cartier. Dina was baptized at St. Roch, Québec. She studied music and planned to become a concert pianist. While studying in New York, Dina lived with the Religious of Jesus-Mary. She returned home and decided to enter the religious life in the Congrégation de Jésus-Marie at Sillery, where the nuns had their mother house. She entered the convent at the age of 24, in August 1921. She entered the order of Jésus-Marie in February 1922 and received the name Sister Marie Sainte-Cécile de Rome and took her final vows on 25 August 1923. As a nun, Dina BÉLANGER taught music.On two occasions the sisters sent her to teach at Saint-Michel of Bellechasse but both times, illness brought her back to Sillery where she stayed (teaching music) until her death. She could have taught in many areas as she had excelled in all her studies but due to her having shown such great talent in music at a young age and her continued education at the Conservatory of New York from 1916 to 1918, her superiors judged her best qualified to teach music.
Dina had a brother who died at the age of 3 months. Dina's father was an auditor and her grandfather operated a grocery store in the St-Malo district of Québec. Her ancestors (Pierre, Joseph-Marie and Nicolas) all came from Charlesbourg.
Dina died on 4 Sept 1929 at the age of 38. (Her feast day is celebrated on that day in Québec.)
In 1951 her body was exhumed and placed in a lead sarcophagus where, today, many kneel to pray. On March 20, 1993, at ceremonies in Rome, Dina BÉLANGER became the first native of Québec to be Beatified by the Church. The quiet life of this talented young woman, who lived her short adult life as a sister of Jesus and Mary is the subject of her autobiography which has been translated into several languages. On the following day, March 21, Pope John Paul II proclaimed "Saint" Claudine Thévenet, the foundress of the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary.
Since that time, my family and I have visited the Convent of Jesus and Mary, in Sillery, where Dina's body has been laid to rest in the chapel. We became friendly with the Sisters there. Since that time, Sister Réjane sends me an email with an article "Dina is thinking about you!", in French, English and Spanish. The first six were written only in French. For this article, I translated each into English. These can be found on my ancestral site at
Why am I repeating this story? Several months ago, I received an email from Father Léonard Bélanger, S.J., who is the Vice-president of the L'Association des familles Bélanger, Inc.. He learned about my work on behalf of Blessed Dina through Sister Réjane during his visit at Sillery. He sent me a biography of Blessed Dina, entitled Dina Bélanger - Fidélité de l'amour (Faithful in Love). Father Léonard's work is a mystical, poetical and biblical prayer in honor of Blessed Dina. It is to appear in the Newsletter of the Bélanger Association. I offered to translate it into English for him. He gave me permission to include it in my ancestral site. I would like to quote the opening and closing paragraphs before I send you, the reader, to the complete work on my site:
Présenter Dina Bélanger est à la fois une joie profonde et un défi. J'ai lu son "Autobiographie ". J'en suis sorti bouleversé. Elle fascine et enchante. Tenter de résumer sa vie en quelques pages apparaît impossible, voire téméraire. On me pardonnera de ne citer que quelques moments particuliers de sa vie, préférant renvoyer le lecteur à ses écrits; ainsi il découvrira le cheminement d'une âme privilégiée, une grande mystique…!
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Dina, aura ces paroles prophétiques le 4 août 1925 : " …au ciel, je veux rassasier l'Amour infini du bon Dieu. Pour réaliser mon idéal, il me faut réaliser les trésors infinis de Notre Seigneur; ce bon Maître a dit : demandez et vous recevrez, eh bien! Au ciel, je serai une petite mendiante d'amour : la voilà, ma mission! Et je la commence immédiatement!… "To present Dina Bélanger is at the same time a profound joy and a challenge. I read her "Autobiography". I was overwhelmed. She fascinates and she delights. To try to summarize her life in a few pages appears to be impossible, even bold. Will you forgive me if I cite only a few moments of her life, preferring to send back the reader to her writings; in this way you, the reader, will discover the development of a privileged soul, a great mystic…! She was compared to: Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thérèse of Lisieux.
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Dina would have these prophetic words on August 4, 1925: " …In heaven, I want to satisfy the infinite Love of God. In order to realize my ideal, I must realize the infinite treasures of Our Lord; this good Master said: Ask and you will receive, well, in heaven I shall be a little beggar for love : that is my mission! And I am going to begin it at once…(pp. 237-238).
The complete biography of Jesuit Father Léonard Bélanger can be found at:
Dina Bélanger - fidélité de l'amour
in English
Dina Bélanger - Faithful in Love
I wish to thank sincerely Father Léonard Bélanger, first of all, for sharing his story with me, but more importantly for giving me the honor and privilege to translate his awesome work into English.
In addition, merci bien - great thanks, Father Léonard, for allowing me to publish your work on my site. Your "chef-d'oeuvre" is an honor to our cousin Blessed Dina Bélanger.
Aussi, merci bien, Père Léonard, de m'avoir donné la permission de publié ton chef-d'oeuvre sur mon site. Ta biographie, mystique et biblique, est vraiment un honneur à notre cousine la Bienheureuse Dina Bélanger.
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Created 1 Feb 2003