INFO BFM HERE. A mass, open to the public, should take place on February 8 in the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine basilica of Saint-Maximin in the Var, before a burial in the strictest privacy imagined in the Haut-Vernet cemetery.
The funeral of Émile Soleil, a child who disappeared on July 8, 2023 and then found dead on March 30, 2024 in the town of Vernet (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), must be organized in February 2025, BFM DICI learned.
The date of Saturday 8 has already been blocked by the little boy's relatives. For the moment, this ceremony is planned in two stages. A religious celebration will first be held in a symbolic place chosen by the child's family: the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine basilica of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in the Var.
“It is a ceremony of thanksgiving for the life of this child and of contemplation for his departure,” indicates Monsignor Dominique Rey, bishop of the Fréjus-Toulon diocese at BFM DICI.
A basilica steeped in history
“I have had the opportunity to celebrate a lot of masses and this is part of our ministry, it is not exceptional. What is exceptional is obviously the history which surrounds this affair”, continues the man of Church, who should not attend the ceremony due to “a diary constraint”.
Monsignor Dominique Rey will nevertheless do everything he can to make this moment as painless as possible for Émile's loved ones. “A mass is the possibility of experiencing this event in meditation. The child's loved ones are in suffering but they are deeply Christian and believers. They are in Hope. It must be said, expressed and this is the aim of this celebration”, concludes the Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon.
Located not far from the village of La Bouilladisse (Bouches-du-Rhône), where Émile's family lived, the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine basilica of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume is above all a very important place for Christians. “This is where the relics of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine rest. One of the most prestigious churches in Provence,” explains Father Florian Racine, parish priest of Saint-Maximin.
“A high place of pilgrimage where all the kings of France have come to pray as well as the great people of this world. An important place which brings together pilgrims, the illustrious as well as the most humble. Charles de Foucauld, for example, came here.”
“We are expecting a lot of people”
The priest of Saint-Maximin did not hesitate for a second when the little boy's relatives asked him for authorization to celebrate Emile's funeral in the basilica. If he should not perform the service, to “let a priest who is a friend of the family and has been at their side since the start of this ordeal”, Florian Racine indicates “that he will be present so that everything goes as well as possible” .
And to conclude: “we know that this ceremony will be covered by the media and we expect a lot of people”. It is also because it can accommodate many people that Émile's family chose the basilica of Saint-Maximin.
For the parents, as for the grandparents of the child, it is imperative that those who wish to gather and pray together for several months can do so properly in order to honor the memory of Émile, whose death remains still unexplained.
A private family burial
Secondly, once the mass is over, the child's burial should take place in the strictest family privacy. If a burial in the cemetery of the family village of La Bouilladisse was once mentioned, it is in the cemetery of the hamlet of Haut-Vernet, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, that the ceremony could take place.
According to information from BFM DICI, Émile's parents recently approached the town's municipal council in order to organize this moment.
“In any case, we are preparing for this. This little one must rest in peace. And if it is in Haut-Vernet that this is done, he is at home here”, testifies a resident of the hamlet, informed of the recent approach of the child's parents.
Émile: a year without a response – 08/31
If the mayor, François Balique, refuses to confirm this information, it is expected that this subject will be discussed at the future municipal council at the end of January. By then, the investigating judges in charge of the case at the Aix-en-Provence criminal center must have authorized the return of Émile's bones to his family, ten months after their discovery.
