Catholics mourn 81-year-old altar boy

Wednesday 24 August 2016

The funeral of Mr Tony Pezet takes place this Friday at 10:00 in St Thomas's church.

He was an altar server for 77 years, starting at the age of four and spent seven years at St Matthieu in Coin Varin as an altar boy, assisting the priest at the Holy Mass. 

The Catholic Dean Monsignor Nicholas France MBE said: “Mr Pezet’s family then moved to town and for the past 70 years he has been a server at St Thomas's church. For the most part head altar server and Master of Ceremonies, training thousands of boys and more latterly girls for this service of devotion at the altar.

“During Tony’s first 20 years he would been responsible for responding in Latin on behalf of the congregation to the prayers of the priest celebrant.  Later when it was allowed that the Mass could be celebrated in the vernacular, it was celebrated in French in St Thomas’s, only moving fully to English with the arrival of the first English Priest in 1999.  

“Tony adapted well and worked closely with the new English priests, especially following the amalgamation with St Mary and St Peter's church in town. He even adapted to the introduction of girl altar servers some 20 years ago.

“A sportsman and amateur sailor for much of his life, Tony was also Parish Secretary at St Clements. He was married to the late Henrietta and leaves two children, Antoine and Marie-Therese.

“It is expected that many of his current and former altar servers will be present at the funeral mass on Friday."