Xavier School founder, 88

Fr. Jean Desautels, SJ, the Founder of Xavier School, passed away last Aug. 1, a day after the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. He joined his Creator peacefully at the age of 88 at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City.

His body lies at the Xavier School Multi-Purpose Center where daily Masses will be held at 8 p.m. The Funeral Mass will be on Tuesday, Aug. 6 at 8:30 a.m., to be presided by Fr. Ismael Zuloaga, SJ, and concelebrated by other Jesuit priests. The body will be laid to rest at the Sacred Heart Novitaite in Novaliches.

Fr. Desautels joined the Jesuits in Montreal, Canada in1932. He completed his theology studies in Shanghai, China where was ordained priest. In 1948, he was appointed by the Jesuit Superior General to head the Jesuit Language School in Beijing, but the school was closed by the communists on the day he was supposed to leave for China.

A year later, he re-opened Chabanel Hall, the Chinese Language School in Mandaluyong, where he was rector for six years.

In 1956, he founded Xavier School Kuang Chi in Echague, Manila. He served as rector of Xavier School from 1960 to 1965. He oversaw the transfer of the school to Greenhills, San Juan in 1965, where he was principal for two years.

After his work in Xavier, Fr. Desautels worked in Vietnam, where he founded the Alexander de Rohdes Educational TV and AV Centre. His various works in the communications apostolate of the Jesuits led him to Brussels, Belgium, where he was Secretary General of UNDA/World (1975-1981); and to London, where he was director of the Jesuit Center for the Study of Communications & Culture.

From 1981-1995, he was the Executive Secretary of the FABC of Office for Social Communication (OSC) and the Consultant for Radio Veritas Asia Overseas Program.

In 1995, he returned to the Mary The Queen Parish and Xavier School. He spent the last years of his life as Father Confessor and Spiritual Director in Xavier School, the school he had founded.