(LifeSiteNews) — Do you remember the sad story of the disappearance of an adorable little French toddler who went missing in July 2023 from a hamlet in the Provençal Alps? Little Emile vanished in a matter of minutes while staying with his grandparents and eight of their ten children, the eldest being the little boy’s mother. They were getting ready for an excursion and Emile seems to have slipped away after his nap. A desperate search in the mountains yielded not a trace. At the time LifeSite reported how the boy’s parents and extended family were vilified in the mainstream press because of their profound Catholic faith and traditional upbringing. But Emile’s disappearance also sparked an incredible wave of prayer all over the world.
But God’s ways are mysterious in this valley of tears. Litte Emile Soleil was not found. Instead, for nine long, excruciating months, his father and mother, Colomban and Marie (25), did not know whether he was alive or dead, in evil hands or not. This is certainly one of the worst ordeals a family can go through.
It was a horrendous cross to bear, especially for such a young couple. Although they fled the media, they spoke of their deep faith and hope to the Catholic magazine Famille chrétienne. Police investigators worked full time for months to find out what had happened.
In March 2024, nearly nine months after Emile had vanished, Marie started a novena to Vincent Lambert, France’s Terri Schiavo, a severely handicapped young man who died after having been deprived of all fluids and nourishment following a court order. She turned to him, a “martyr of the natural law,” as an intercessor, ten days before Easter.
Emile’s skull was found on a mountain path by a woman hiker, not far from the hamlet of Haut-Vernet where he was last seen, on Holy Saturday, March 30th, the last day of the novena. Some of the boy’s clothes were later found nearby. It was inexplicable: the path and its surroundings had been thoroughly searched on the days following the disappearance, and it was regularly used by hunters. The little skull was immediately analyzed, and its DNA proved to be that of Emile.
It was on Easter Sunday, in the joy of the Resurrection, that the news was broken to Colomban and Marie. They must have remembered then, in their pain, the drawing that had been sent to them by a friend less than two weeks after the disappearance of their firstborn: it showed the Risen Jesus, in front of the rolled stone of his open tomb, taking little Emile by the hand…
Such are the delicacies of heaven.
After months of further investigation and tests, the mortal remains of the little boy were buried at last this Saturday, after a funeral Mass in the Provençal town of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. This lies at the foot of the mountain where Saint Mary-Magdalene lived her latter years in penance after the Resurrection of Our Lord. Her relics are kept in the basilica in the valley, making it Christendom’s third most important place of burial, after those of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
Several police investigators are still working full time to unravel the mystery of Emile’s disappearance.
After having been an apostle of prayer – his disappearance led so many to pray, fast, spend nights in adoration, all over the world, and even brought back to the Church many who had lost the faith – little Emile became an apostle for eternal joy. With all certainty, this child who had never offended God because he had not reached the age of reason and whose soul and body were pure as on the day of his baptism went straight to heaven. His funeral Mass and burial bore witness to that supernatural end of his short life. And so doing, they “preached” what the modern world needs most: a sense of meaning and hope that transcends both the joys and trials of the present life, and gives a reason to seek salvation.
RELATED: Catholics around the world pray for safe return of missing 2-year-old French boy Emile
On Saturday morning, the basilica of Saint Mary-Magdalene and its surroundings were sealed off by the police and the press was kept in check: Marie and Colomban’s friends and family were allowed in, and then the many local people who wanted to join the ceremony and offer their prayers and support to the young couple. The Mass was celebrated in the traditional Latin rite by Father Louis Le Morvan of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP).
Emile’s mortal remains were brought to the ancient church, which was decorated with white flowers, in a small white coffin, which was then carried to the foot of the altar by his parents and godparents: a deeply moving scene. Children of family and friends carried white lilies, the symbols of purity. Everything showed the beauty of a little soul who had gone to heaven to sing the glory of God there forever. Emile, through the drama and wide media coverage surrounding his disappearance and tragic recovery, once again, by the grace of God, appeared as a little apostle of prayer and supernatural hope: the hope for the salvation that God in His infinite love desires for everyone, but which we are so tempted to forget…
A Funeral Mass for young children is celebrated in white; the Gloria in excelsis is sung, and the bells do not toll but ring out in celebration. For such an occasion, a Votive Mass can be chosen: in this case, it was the Mass for the great Marian Feast of the Purification on 2 February – which is at the same time the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. It is a commemoration marked by joy and sorrow: Simeon told the Virgin Mary, offering her firstborn to God, its Father, that a sword would pierce her Immaculate Heart, but he also rejoiced to have seen salvation.
Emile’s parents wanted their many guests, and the further hundreds of people who joined them, to dress in white or wear cheerful colors. They were blessed and consoled by a Gregorian Mass celebrated in the traditional rite, punctuated by 15th and 16th century polyphonic songs and touching hymns to the Virgin.
There was an impressive, reflective silence in the nave despite the number of worshippers. Not all those who came shared the Catholic faith. They were given the opportunity to discover what Christian hope is; they discovered its balance. The Christian faith does not deny suffering or mourning but gives them meaning and brings consolation, whatever the circumstances.
Such was the theme of the homily of Father Louis Le Morvan, whose translation follows. All were profoundly struck by his words, and by the palpable emotion of this friend of the parents. In this valley of tears, it is not forbidden to cry.
Many tears flowed at the sight of the little coffin carried by Emile’s parents, his godfather, and his godmother. But this beautiful Mass did not leave those who suffer without an answer to their pain.
One might be tempted to think that all the prayers for Emile’s safety were not heard because Emile was not found alive. But like Mary Magdalene, he was given the best part. And through the Mass that his parents wanted to be open to all. Through the inspired words of the celebrant and through their testimony of faith and hope, they reminded the world that death is not an end but “the gateway to Life.”
Emile’s brief existence was a sweet witness to that truth.
May he console his parents. But may he also intercede so that the sadness of this godless world is dispelled by the return of faith, and that the despair of those who no longer believe in anything may finally give way to “the light that is revealed to the nations.”
*Homily for the Funeral Mass of Emile Soleil,
Saturday, February 8, 2025
(Full translation from the French)
Dear Colomban, dear Marie, dear family and all of you, their friends and loved ones, dear brothers and sisters who have come to surround them with your prayers and affection, today the Church accompanies a father and mother as they lay to rest their little boy, Emile, who, since his baptism – such a short time ago, alas – has become a beloved son of God, a child loved by the Church, a brother of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The joy of knowing that he is in heaven does not, of course, make the pain of this tragic loss go away, but it allows us, as Christians, not to go crazy with sadness in this valley of tears. It is therefore as Christians that we approach this difficult day, and the elements of joy, of true joy, that we make manifest in the midst of our pain are, to tell the truth, as we know, somewhat incomprehensible to many people, good people and people of goodwill. And yet it is quite true that not everything is misfortune and sadness, since faith and hope give us joyful certainties. And you, Colomban and Marie, can even bear witness to the tenderness of heaven throughout this ordeal. Christ, Our Lady, and some of the saints in heaven to whom you turned, lived through this tragedy with you and helped you bear your cross.
Last Sunday we celebrated the Purification of the Virgin Mary and the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. And this festival, both joyful and sad, is a particularly fitting accompaniment to Émile’s funeral. Forty days after the birth of the Child Jesus, Saint Joseph and Our Lady joyfully submitted to the ceremonies required by Jewish law, in particular offering two little doves in redemption of a first-born boy whose ownership the Lord had claimed since the liberation of the Hebrews from the land of Egypt. The prophet Saint Simeon then gave thanks to God for having seen the Messiah awaited by all Israel, a light to illuminate the pagan nations. Then the Gospel continues, moving on from the passage we heard at Mass: Simeon warns the mother of Jesus that a sword of sorrow will pierce her heart because her beloved son has come to fulfil the Scriptures and redeem sinful humanity through the sacrifice of the Cross, freely offered out of love. This liturgical festival thus brings the Christmas cycle to a close, as is also recalled in the Preface of the Mass. It brings to an end the time of innocence of childhood, as it were, to introduce us to the mystery of the redeeming Cross, which was present from the birth of Jesus, and the reason for the incarnation of God among us.
Dear Colomban, dear Marie, the choice of this Votive Mass was made easy by some striking similarities to that which was experienced by Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary. For you, today also marks the end of the infancy cycle of Émile. You will lay to rest his little body, this body which was, alas, only partially recovered on March 31, Easter Sunday. That was the day you learned that his soul had already attained eternal bliss in heaven. Since then, you have been torn between the greatest misfortune for parents, the definitive separation from a child, and the greatest happiness, namely the absolute certainty that your beloved son is with God, where he is waiting for you.
Oh my God, how unfathomable your mysteries are, how sharp the swords of pain are in this world, how your plan eludes us.
We cannot, of course, say or communicate everything about the heavenly tenderness that accompanied you.
Nevertheless, we note that the liturgical calendar will soon deliver another small personal message to you: on February 11, in three days’ time, we will celebrate the apparition of Our Lady to Saint Bernadette in Lourdes, and this feast comes as a response to, and a complement of, the feast of the Purification of the Virgin that we were just talking about. For, although Mary humbly submitted to the law of Moses, she did not have to offer a sacrifice for sin, and she came to proclaim this in Lourdes with her title of the Immaculate Conception, which the Church has placed on her forehead as one of her most precious crowns.
But the personal message that you should make your own is the promise made to Saint Bernadette: “I do not promise you the happiness of this world, but of the next.” The Holy Virgin did not tell her that she would not be happy in this world; she did not promise her the happiness of this world, but that of the next. The Holy Virgin told her that happiness in life cannot come solely from purely earthly joys, and even that it such happiness is therefore possible in the midst of the trials of this life. She reminded her that Jesus promises his disciples true happiness, a joy that no one can take away from them but which is different from the joys of this world, however noble they may be. So when we lack these earthly joys, sometimes so cruelly that we find it hard to see the expression of God’s continued love for us, then we must remember that Jesus is always there, suffering with us. Yes, Jesus asks us to bear crosses in this world. But He who makes the crosses, who lets men carry them on their shoulders, He also makes shoulders to bear them and He comes to bear them with us.
Dear Colomban, dear Marie, three days after today’s entombment, the Virgin of Lourdes, mother of the Risen One, will therefore turn to you. All of you who are supporting these parents with your presence and your prayers, please ask Our Lady for the strength that these parents need to continue to live with the other two little children that God has given them in His goodness and that they have the privilege of bringing up, surrounded by the kindness of the saints – and a big brother – and the affection of their family.
And you, Emile’s parents, since the Good Lord has asked you in turn to accept the sacrifice of a first-born son, consider that he has given you in return a special intercessor with God. Two thousand years ago, the prophet Simeon solemnly carried in his arms the creator of the world. The weak creature, with only a breath of life left, carried this Almighty Being who had in fact been supporting him since his conception. In a few moments, the priest will raise the consecrated Host, visibly carrying the Host to present it for adoration by the whole congregation, and in reality clinging to it with all his human weakness.
The little Émile, whom you once carried, is now a support for both of you. With his short life, from his baptism and his recall before the age of reason, he is not the greatest saint in heaven, but he is certainly with God where he endlessly worships the glorious Trinity in the company of the angels and the host of saints, and where he intercedes for all those he knew here on earth.
Yes, with Emile’s departure to heaven, your life has taken on a higher dimension. To use the happy expression of a Dominican father, in this place marked by the presence of this religious order, since that last day of Easter, heaven is even less a distant place for you, populated only by angels, saints known or unknown, and the mysterious God. Heaven has become more familiar to you, you now know Émile there, you can see more clearly the family home of every Christian, the upper floor of your house, where you can call out to this son, and from top to bottom, memories, help and calls answer each other.
My dear brothers who have come to pray with the family, receive the thanks of Marie and Columban, for demonstrating once again today one of the aspects of the communion of saints.
Emile’s Funeral Mass will be immediately followed by his burial within the privacy of the family. The most poignant moment of the day is also the moment when we will really need the inspiration of this beautiful Mass. In particular, Émile having done nothing in his life for which he should be absolved, the Mass will not end with an absolution during which we would have prayed for his deliverance and his entry into heavenly glory. All together we will sing Psalm 23, the triumphal psalm of the Church rejoicing in the thought of having one more saint in heaven, before closing the ceremony with a final prayer recalling the reason for all this mystery of Christian joy in the midst of human trials: this child who was taken from us has entered paradise, and Christian hope invites us to do everything in our power to reunite with him there.
Father Louis Le Morvan, FSSP
