Those who have visited Mount Saint Francis Retreat Centre in Cochrane (The Mount) in recent months may have already encountered the joy of Fr. Guylain Prince, OFM.

Originally from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Fr. Guylain brings with him a deep love for Scripture, a gift for contemplative prayer, and a rich understanding of the world into which Jesus was born. With his bright smile, big laugh, and joyful Franciscan spirit, his presence at The Mount has been a blessing, especially in this special year of St. Francis of Assisi.
Over the last few months, I have seen him laugh wholeheartedly at his own jokes, delight in the sight of a squirrel scuttling about, preach deep and meaningful homilies, and sing beautifully during retreats. Last December, I had the privilege of sitting with him in the friary at The Mount and listening to the story that brought him here.
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We spoke about his life, his vocation, his move from Eastern Canada, and his hopes for this new mission at Mount Saint Francis Retreat Centre.

An encounter that changed everything

Fr. Guylain grew up in a Catholic family, but as a young teenager, he set his faith aside. His young mind was filled with physics, computer science, and music. As a young drummer, he loved being around instruments, and while in college, he remembers spending time near the campus ministry office, partly because of the beautiful room and the access to music. At that time, this was his limited contact with the faith.

Then, during an Easter weekend retreat in 1982, everything changed.

The retreat focused on the reenactment of the last days of Jesus. On that Saturday morning, Fr. Guylain had such a striking experience of God that faith became real, vivid, and impossible to ignore. He calls it “the experience of the obvious.”

For the next two years, he found himself hesitating between the Pentecostal, Evangelical, and Catholic Churches. In the end, his Baptism won. At the age of 19, he reintegrated into the Catholic Church and chose to live according to the beautiful heritage handed over to him at Baptism.

That same week, he received the Franciscan Tau, the T-shaped cross adopted by St. Francis of Assisi as a sign of conversion, penance, and the passion of Christ. Fr. Guylain took it as a sign that he was being called to Franciscan spirituality.

A Franciscan life rooted in Scripture and prayer

Fr. Guylain returned to Montreal and joined the Franciscans as a postulant while continuing to work for the Diocese of Churchill-Hudson Bay. As a novice, he spent an extraordinary year in formation and continued to grow in the Franciscan way of life.

He later worked for the Canadian Bible Society for more than 10 years, publishing books, organizing diocesan Bible gatherings across French Canada, and coordinating 15 to 22 biblical weekends each year.

Through it all, contemplative prayer remained at the centre of his life. Hermitages, silence, and the Jesus Prayer tradition became the backbone of his devotion and way of living.
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He later moved to the Diocese of Joliette, where he answered the call to the priesthood. Newly ordained, he moved to Trois-Rivières, where he served for 14 years as rector of the new shrine dedicated to Good Father Frédéric Janssoone.
There, Fr. Guylain became deeply involved in furthering the cause of canonization of Blessed Frédéric, a Franciscan priest whose life and mission remain very close to his heart.

The Holy Land and the world of Jesus

For many years, Fr. Guylain was asked by the Commissary of the Holy Land to lead tours there. He eventually agreed to go with a group almost 10 years ago. What began as an introductory trip grew into a deep love for the land walked by Jesus.
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He went on to spend six months in formation, studying Aramaic, the socio-cultural context of Galilee, archaeology, and geography. His time in the Holy Land eventually inspired him to begin doctoral studies.

In 2017, Fr. Guylain began his doctoral thesis in Scripture, focusing on the historical Jesus within Second Temple Judaism, the world in which Jesus was born, grew up, preached, suffered, died, and rose again.

He is set to complete his doctoral studies in the coming year and looks forward to sharing this knowledge with those who are interested. His love for Scripture also extends to the apocalyptic discourse of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, as well as the books of Revelation and Daniel.
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For Fr. Guylain, this scholarship is not simply academic. It is part of a deeper desire to help people encounter the Word of God more fully, with both the mind and the heart.

A new mission at The Mount

At Mount Saint Francis Retreat Centre, Fr. Guylain is beginning a new mission of retreat ministry, prayer, and teaching.
He is passionate about breaking open the Word online and plans to do more of this through his new Facebook page, “From the Friars’ Hermitage.” Along with leading retreats, he also leads a contemplative prayer group every Tuesday evening at 7 pm at Mount Saint Francis Retreat Centre until the end of June.

He also hopes to share more about the life and witness of Good Father Frédéric Janssoone with the faithful here in Western Canada.

Blessed Frédéric was born in northern France in 1838 and entered the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor in 1864. He was ordained a priest in 1870, served in the Holy Land for 12 years, and later became closely associated with the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap, Canada’s National Shrine to Our Lady of the Cape.

His legacy in the Holy Land is remarkable. After centuries in which public devotion along the Via Dolorosa had been forbidden, Good Father Frédéric helped re-establish the practice of praying the Stations of the Cross along this sacred route. That tradition continues to this day, with the Franciscans walking the route to the Holy Sepulchre every Friday afternoon.

In Canada, Good Father Frédéric helped increase devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary, revived the Third Order of St. Francis, supported the re-establishment of the Order of Friars Minor in Canada, and encouraged pilgrimages to Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1988, and the Church continues to pray for his canonization.
His simple apostolic prayer, “Let me bring to you, whoever comes to me,” continues to inspire Fr. Guylain and the Friars of the Holy Spirit Province.

Through his story, his learning, his contemplative prayer, and his love for Scripture, Fr. Guylain’s presence at Mount Saint Francis Retreat Centre is already enriching the life of The Mount and those who come there.
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In this jubilee year of St. Francis of Assisi, his life is a reminder of the joy, simplicity, prayer, and encounter at the heart of Franciscan life.

Written by Cecilia DeMello for Faithfully.

“May the Lord give you peace.”

Pope Leo highlights this famous greeting of St. Francis of Assisi and places the notion of “Peace” at the heart of this Jubilee year of grace. In his prayer to St. Francis asking for his special intercession, the Pope recalled that St. Francis was a person who sought and lived peace:

“Saint Francis, our brother, you who eight hundred years ago went to meet Sister Death as a man of peace, intercede for us before the Lord. You recognized true peace in the Crucified of San Damiano, teach us to seek in Him the source of all Reconciliation that breaks down every wall. You who, unarmed, crossed the lines of war and misunderstanding, give us the courage to build bridges where the world raises up boundaries. In this time afflicted by conflict and division, intercede for us so that we may become peacemakers: unarmed and disarming witnesses of the peace that comes from Christ. Amen”

This Jubilee year of grace invites us to find inspiration in the life and witness of St. Francis for our own journey of faith, so that we, too, become models of holiness and constant witnesses of peace.

Francis was a particular witness of peace in his time: born into a life of privilege, he renounced all to follow the way of the Crucified Saviour, allowing Christ to be his source of peace. In humility and simplicity, he became detached from all desire for power, possessions or social status. Not needing to defend or protect anything, he went to the margins of society and served those in whom he recognized the face of the suffering Christ. Desiring to proclaim the message of reconciliation and peace to all people, he crossed boundaries and, through his respectful witness, engaged with Sultan Malik Al-Kamil, earning the Sultan's high regard and favour.

It is fitting in this Jubilee year that the Pilgrim Church of Christ be reminded that we, too, follow in the footsteps of Jesus and are called to conform our lives to his, just as St. Francis did. As Francis told his followers as he was close to death, “I have done what is mine to do. May Christ teach you what is yours.”

And what does Christ teach us? How do we live from a heart filled with the peace that only Christ can bring? The first requirement is receive the Good News proclaimed by Christ and to do as Francis did: be receptive to the grace that changes our lives – metanoia. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news!” (Mark 1:15) We, like Francis, are called to cling no longer to that which does not lead to peace in Christ: greed, inordinate ambition, arrogance, self-righteous judgments against others, pursuing our own selfish interest and desires without due regard for the needs and dignity of others. At his lowest point, Francis recognized his poverty before God and opened himself to becoming a vessel that God could use to advance the kingdom of peace. We are invited to recognize our own poverty, placing all in the hands of Christ to do with us as God the Father wills for us – discovering our unique mission of peacebuilding and peacemaking.

St. Francis did not see himself as a saint. He, in fact, understood himself to be a sinner, forgiven and in constant need of God’s grace and mercy. The life of penance he embraced was motivated by his love of God and desire to be a willing instrument in God’s hands.

God’s mercy is a constant focus within Church teaching. Recalling God’s indulgent mercy, Bishop Krzysztof Nykiel, Regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, which published a decree on God’s indulgence available this Jubilee year, reminds us that God’s grace can transform even our greatest weaknesses. God’s indulgence makes it possible to free the heart from the burden of sin and to purify and heal the harm sin causes.

The Church developed its teaching on indulgences from this notion of God’s mercy, which is more than we can fully take in or comprehend. In its essence, an indulgence reaffirms the forgiveness of sins and the healing and purification of the heart from the consequences of sin that comes as one allows God’s grace to transform one’s life. God’s indulgence is always available to us. “It is essential to understand that indulgence is first and foremost an encounter with God, and that its power lies not in our human efforts, but in the grace of God that transforms hearts… All penitential practices – such as confession, Communion, pilgrimage, prayer – are instruments of preparation that facilitate the encounter with God, but they do not replace the experience of grace itself. The authentic fruits of indulgence appear when a person consciously opens themselves to God’s transforming power, allows God to act in their heart, heals relationships, forgives, and is converted.” (Bishop Krzysztof Nykiel, quoted from “Indulgence is an Encounter with God, not a Spiritual Shortcut,” by Fr. Marek Weresa, Vatican News, January 16, 2026)

While the Church has established common practices which give expression to one’s interior desire to detach from sin, surrender to God’s mercy and be receptive to God’s grace  – including sacramental confession and participation in the Eucharist and reception of Holy Communion – “at the heart of the practice of indulgences is God’s love, always calling us to grow in holiness. Living out indulgences is not just about fulfilling a list of requirements; it is an opportunity to open our hearts to divine grace and to the intercession of the saints.” (Bishop Lucia, “Indulgences Explained,” from The Catholic Sun, April 10, 2025)

God moves in our hearts at all times and everywhere. During this Jubilee year of St. Francis, we are invited to find meaningful ways to grow in our relationship with God and in the love of our brothers and sisters, which reflects the path of St. Francis. Some of the particular ways may include making a pilgrimage to a place of worship dedicated to St. Francis, praying with the same words he used before the crucifix at San Damiano – “O most high, glorious god, enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me a right faith, a certain hope and a perfect love, understanding and knowledge, O Lord, that I may carry out your holy and true command”; praying the Way of the Cross which became associated St. Francis after he promoted this devotion on his return from the Holy Land; praying before the Blessed Sacrament, mirroring the same desire of St. Clare of Assisi of giving yourself totally to the One who gave himself totally to you; meditating prayerfully (Lectio Divina) on a passage that reflects the spirit of St. Francis; finding concrete ways to serve the poor Christ in the suffering and marginalized; becoming an unarmed and disarming peacemaker in your home, community and workplace; spending time contemplating creation and the many ways it reflects God’s goodness and beauty; praying the Seven Joys of Mary, a particular Franciscan rosary which honours the joyful mysteries of the Virgin Mary’s life. During Lent, the Seven Sorrows of Mary are prayed; uniting your personal suffering, difficulties, illness, and diminishment in the same spirit of St. Francis, who wrote the Canticle to the Creatures, which exhort God’s praise, all while blind and close to death.
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As you take advantage of this Jubilee Year of St. Francis, may you hear St. Francis’ blessing addressed to you: “May the Lord bless you and keep you; May He show His face to you and have mercy on you; May He turn his countenance to you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6: 24-26)

Written by Susan Campbell, Mount St. Francis.