Arriving in Torgny in the 1970s, Sister Marie-Bernard, a Dominican nun dressed all in white, had an exceptional sense of listening and had the art of restoring meaning and courage to people who came to confide in her with family problems. , depressions, sorrows.
People sometimes came from very far away to visit him, from Liège, Brussels, Paris and even Marseille.
This strength, this energy that she permanently had despite her great age, Sister Marie-Bernard said she possessed it thanks to God.
On May 15, during the religious service celebrated in Torgny on the occasion of his 100th birthday, the hermit was honored by Wenceslas Mungimur, the dean of Virton: “Your strength is that you are continually connected to God, who is your inexhaustible source,” the priest said during his homily.
Born Marguerite Rahir on May 12, 1922 in Trooz, in the province of Liège, she took the religious name of Sister Marie-Bernard and entered the Dominican congregation.
But after several years of mission in Africa, she had wished to remain Dominican but outside her religious community. She had settled on the heights of Torgny in Gaume, perpetuating the tradition of hermit life and solitude initiated by Dominique Schmit, the first hermit of Torgny in 1842.