The seeds for that first congress, held on June 28, 1881, in Lille, France, were planted by Mary Tamisier, who had a great devotion to the Eucharist, according to Dennis Shea, a member of St. Patrick Parish in Council Bluffs and a member of the pastoral care team at CHI Health Mercy Council Bluffs.
Mary’s first cousin, Jean Tamisier, would bring that love for the faith to America, settling in Missouri Valley. He changed the family’s name to Tamisiea and his first name to John to protect them from the Huguenots that chased him out of France, and they thrived in southwest Iowa. Shea’s great-grandfather, Victor, was John Tamisiea’s son.
The first thing Shea thought about when he heard the Blessed Sacrament would be carried through Council Bluffs, Glenwood, Imogene and Shenandoah June 23-25 as part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, was his family’s history and how he might take part.
“In a very humble way, it makes me proud that someone from our family lineage was a catalyst for such a truly Catholic effort to elevate the very center of our faith, the Eucharist, to a higher level so that the world can visibly see and adore,” Shea said.
Perseverance pays off
Before she died at 100, Irene Tamisiea Fox, the family historian, had told Shea that Mary Tamisier – also known as Marie-Marthe-Baptistine Tamisier – demonstrated a great deal of perseverance to get her idea of an International Eucharistic Congress to be taken seriously. It received a lukewarm reception from her pastor and a visiting American bishop at first.
Bishop Claude M. Dubuis of Galveston, a native of France, eventually took up her cause and presented it to Pope Leo XIII at a meeting in Rome. The pope reportedly was enthusiastic about the idea and pursued it. At that point, Mary Tamisier felt her work was done and let events unfold as the pope saw fit, according to Shea.
Information from the National Eucharistic Congress website notes that International Eucharistic Congresses were also held in 1926 and 1976. The gathering planned for July 17-21 in Indianapolis will be the 10th National Eucharistic Congress of the United States.
Eucharistic Revival needed
The Eucharist has continued to play a vital role in Shea’s life.
He said it was his work with Gabriel’s Corner, a pregnancy resource center in Council Bluffs, where the Eucharist is reserved in the chapel, that helped to “reawaken” his faith, along with daily Mass. Taking Communion to his elderly mother and his aunt Irene Tamisiea Fox also provided the bridge to his family’s story of faith.
John Tamisiea, who died Dec. 4, 1869, rests in St. Bridget’s Cemetery in Honey Creek, Pottawattamie County. Despite their strong witnesses, Shea sees the need for a Eucharistic revival.
“I see even in my own family that tradition has been broken or lost in some corners of the family. Although there are splinters of the truth that were passed down, which is better than no splinters of the truth,” he said.
“I think that this is a time that inspires gratitude for the faith that was gifted to us by God’s will for us that we have an opportunity to embrace more deeply and appreciate our Catholicism that our parents and ancestors have carried forward to us,” Shea said.
For more information on the local route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage and its path through southwest Iowa, visit dmdiocese.org/eucharistic-pilgrimage.