To Hélène Dupont. Obituary
In the morning of March 22, I received the following email message: “Last night, Hélène left us in her sleep, quietly, just like that. She passed away gently, with no fighting. She was efficient all her life and without making any fuss. We will miss her”. These words express all the essentials with the sober beauty that Hélène would have liked so much.
Indeed, we will miss her. And at the same time, in the depths of her absence and the sorrow we will recognize what remains of her in us. Infinitely more than a mere, ephemeral, memory. There remains her profound life, her vital force, her unreserved generosity. There remains the Breath without beginning or end that made her so living and life-giving. There remains the Fullness that inhabited her, the Infinity that took shape in her, the Whole to which she returned –from which she never left- after giving everything. There remains the task to fulfil in this our narrow history that we measure in space and time. And, beyond all measurement, there remains the trust in that all narrowness of space and time is the opening to the infinite Present, to the fulfilled Presence. We are beings in passing, we live in Easter, death is the last crossing, the final donation.
Hélène Dupont. A strong woman. Not exactly the “strong woman” that the Bible celebrates as a “rare pearl”, working at “the spindle and the wheel”, the woman who is breast and belly, demure and submissive to man and to the order dictated by the laws of power. She was neither overbearing nor submissive, but free and passionate about liberation, full of subversive and peaceful strength. An “exceptional woman”, as a common friend told me, “one of those that fight against all odds and never let go”.
It is already a lot to give birth and raise four children, a daily heroic adventure, giving birth every day for the rest of your life until your last breath. It is already a lot to be a teacher of French, to initiate in the unspeakable depths of reality, to its challenges and promises, through the intricacies and flashes of the word, the story, the poem (how lucky were those who had you as a language teacher!). It was not enough for your inexhaustible creative energy, your irresistible liberating impulse. Wherever life shouted its beatitudes and sorrows, there you went. You have been an extraordinarily advanced disciple of the prophet Jesus of Nazareth, your profound inspiration. Down in the roots of your being, you were moved by the same Jubilee that in the midst of the synagogue of Nazareth, too docile and tied to the letter, made him stand up and declare: “I have been anointed to announce the good news to the poor. I have been sent to proclaim liberty to the captives, freedom to the oppressed” (Lk 7, 18). You did just that.
“You could find her anywhere –the same friend told me-. In the Circles of Silence organized by the Franciscans on the large square of the Capitol in Toulouse to denounce the conditions of detention of undocumented immigrants. With the Humanists, with the Protestants with the famous Pastor Parmentier, or recently in an ecumenical celebration with the reformed Church of France and the LGTB people… In her younger years she was also a prison visitor. And member of the Association “Friends of Gikongoro”, in critical memory against the massacres committed in the spring of 1994 in the Prefecture of Gikongoro in Rwanda. She was also a member of the “National Movement LE CRI (The cry). In favour of a world with no exclusion”. And cofounder of “La Peña Columérine” (of Columiers, where she lived) for the diffusion of the Spanish culture. And a long etc. It was also she – let me put this on record – who wanted and made it possible for these humble texts to be translated and published in French, bringing together an extraordinary team of translators, coordinated by her: Edurne Alegria, Rose-Marie and François-Xavier Barandiaran, Peio Ospital, Dominique Pontier. And I must specially mention another of her tasks to which she dedicated her extraordinary ability as organizer, coordinator and much more: she was cofounder (in 1995) and President during many years of “Partenia, a space of freedom”, a virtual diocese without borders presided over by Bishop Jacques Gaillot after his dismissal by John Paul II from the episcopal see of Évreux.
“In summary –says our friend– she was there wherever a good cause had to be defended, but, “mischievous”, she sent the Bishop of Toulouse the gospel of our meditation for each meeting! Many remember her imposing silhouette wrapped around a poncho and, above all, her long braid that at that time fell to her waist. And all this without making any noise; in the meetings, she started communicating the news and that was that, she did not say a word for the entire night”.
Hélène, you have been a prophet of word and action, of creative imagination, of animating presence. And yes, a prophet, also, of silence. Of the silence that is fountain, of deep silence from which springs and to which every life-begetting and truly prophetic word leads. Word and action spring from silence, the word incarnated in all its forms.
At the end of your long and fruitful life you have melted your last breath in the silent and vigorous Breath of Life, telling to yourself in full. “Seul le silence est grand ; tout le reste est faiblesse” (“Only silence is great; all the rest is weakness”, as the wolf says in Alfred de Vigny’s poem ‘La mort du loup’ (the death of the wolf), which Hélène recited at her husband’s funeral, next to his coffin (one must dare!).
Thank you, dear Hélène! In this troubled world, in this hour of uncertainties and growing threats, you are with us. Your prophecy remains in force. The unbeatable consoling and transforming spirit of Jesus that you have incarnated, your unbreakable spirit pushes us, your silence shows us the way to fulfillment, eternally future and eternally present.
You have fulfilled your task. May you rest, LIVE in peace and, in your peace, walk with us, strengthen our steps.
Aizarna, March 28, 2025
Translated by Mertxe de Renobales Scheifler