Брюссель, 12 мая. В свои 105 лет о. Жак Клеман является не только старейшим в мире католическим священником – недавно он стал старейшим жителем Бельгии. Несмотря на почтенный возраст, пастырь продолжает каждое воскресенье совершать мессы.
О. Жак получил звание «старейшины бельгийцев» в начале мая, после кончины Эме Вилли, которому было 106 лет.
Долгожитель родился 11 июля 1909 в голландской Гааге. Вступил в орден латеранских каноников и в 1936 был рукоположен во священника. После II мировой войны, получив назначение в поселок Бюльтиа (провинция Эно), он начал сбор средств на строительство церкви, которая была освящена в честь св. Бенедикта в 1958 году. До сих пор о. Жак остается настоятелем этого прихода.
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Father Jacques Clemens holds a mass at St. Benoit church in Nalinnes August 15, 2014. Clemens, who celebrated his 105th birthday on July 11, may be the world’s oldest living priest who still holds a regular service, the Belgian Catholic Church said. Clemens was born in The Hague, Netherlands in 1909 and later moved to Belgium where he was ordained a priest in 1936. Seventy-eight years later, he still holds a regular mass in his parish in the village of Nalinnes, in southern Belgium, in front of 80 faithful. «I used to make the service in a barn and in a cellar before the St. Benoit church was built in 1957,» he said. When he was about to retire at the age of 75, the local bishop asked him to remain in service until they found a successor. Forty years later, Clemens is still in his job and nobody is there to succeed him. Clemens said he was happy to continue as long as his health permitted it. Waking up every day at 0530 and going to bed at 2100, Father Clemens believe he owes his long life to a strict routine. «I always eat at the same hour every day,» he said. Everyday at 1100, Clemens drives his car for a few kilometres to the village of Gerpinnes to share a lunch with other members of the congregation. Picture taken August 15, 2014. REUTERS/Yves Herman (BELGIUM — Tags: SOCIETY RELIGION)
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Сибирская католическая газета