MONTREAL -- Thirty-one roses adorned Sister Estelle Lauzon's small wooden casket on Saturday, a symbol of those she left behind, including the man charged in her death.
Hundreds filled a chapel in Montreal for the funeral of the 80-year-old nun, who was beaten to death last week in a halfway house next to her convent.
Martin Rondeau, 31, a resident of the house who suffers from psychiatric problems, has been charged with second-degree murder.
Thirty red roses on Lauzon's coffin represented nuns from the Sisters of Providence who live at the convent. The lone white rose symbolized forgiveness for her killer.
"We must rise above the event that happened, above it because there are many others in society who are not loved enough and we want to promote affection,'' said Sister Claire Houde, provincial superior of the Sisters of Providence.
"It's our role to give affection to those who are not understood by anyone. If these people feel loved, they will be capable of loving others.''
Houde said Lauzon was devoted to caring for and offering spiritual guidance to the young men at Pavillon Saint-Vincent, home to drug addicts, alcoholics and the mentally-ill.
Rondeau, and many others, were known as Estelle's "boys.''
Houde said Lauzon, who would have celebrated her 81st birthday next week, had the congregation's mission at the "heart of her being.''
The chapel was filled for Lauzon's funeral and mass. Mourners packed the pews that ran between the brightly-painted pillars, while others sat in the balcony and looked down from above.
The funeral was held in the second-floor chapel of the greystone Pavillon Fullum, adjacent to the building where Lauzon was killed.
"Sister Estelle gave her life and her blood for the poor and the outcast,'' Father Armand Girard during his sermon.
"There's nothing greater we can do than give our lives.''
News of Lauzon's death drew condolences from across the globe, said congregation spokeswoman Valerie Boire.
Some came from men who were once under her care.
"One man called from Afghanistan,'' Boire said. "He's there fighting a war and he called to sympathize with us.
"We have people from around the world thinking about Sister Estelle today.''
Houde said Lauzon often worked alone with the home's residents. The congregation plans to look at measures to increase security in the building, she said.[Canadian Press]
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