"In my prayer, this request wells up: Lord, may I be the smallest, the last;
in the Mystical Body there is bound to be a little and last one… Why not me?
Moreover, I would be in good company.
At Christmas, Jesus was the littlest, and on the Cross he was the last…"

Father Marcel Roussel-Galle, born in Les Fins (France) in 1910, became a priest of Jesus Christ at the age of 24, in Besançon. The day of his ordination was described in the cantonal Journal as a “dawn leading to a splendid day.”

From 1940 to 1947 he assumed different pastoral services in the Diocese, before going to Paris and Cardinal Suhard who encouraged him and launched him into the Mission: “Go, I trust you. I have not given you a programme. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Do all he asks of you, and come to tell me about it often.”

On the 11th of february 1950, Father Marcel Roussel first founded the Family of the Missionary Workers of the Immaculate. This Family grew, spread out to the five Continents and became international. The “Eau Vive” (Living Water) restaurants became the Missionary Workers’ Jacob’s Wells, open to all.

In 1984, whole families, “Children of the Rosary”, members of the Legion for Prayer and Penance gathered around these Eau Vive. Seeing this development, Father Marcel Roussel-Galle wrote: “The seed has germinated, the Family has grown and is now called the Donum Dei Missionary Family: If you but knew the Gift of God.”

Father Marcel Roussel did not have the joy to see the last branch germinate: the male branch of Missionary Workers. Since 1997, these brothers have been being trained in the company of Saint Thérèse in Lisieux.

On 22nd of february 1984, after months of suffering and spiritual night, he peacefully entered into Life. The evening before, he had entrusted the Donum Dei Missionary Family to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

"It is the Blessed Virgin who did it all;
It is she, the Virgin of the Poor who has always done everything!"