Isolated in the heart of the Picardy plain, the church of Saint-Farivillers is at the crossroads of the five hamlets of Saint-André-Farivillers (Oise). A central element in the life of most of the inhabitants of this small rural town. In the 1970s, there were only 350 souls. In other words, an extended family with its well-kept secrets.
Here, the people of the village rub shoulders from childhood and throughout their lives, like their parents and grandparents before them. It was there that 42 years lived during Father Roger Matassoli, killed at his home on November 4, 2019. Settled in the red brick presbytery of the hamlet of Hédencourt, he reigned over the parish and its twelve communes long after have ceased to officiate.
Thanks to this influence woven over the years, the priest born in a small house in Creil will have broken the lives of several families within a radius of 45 km without ever being really worried either by justice, or by the church, or by the parishioners. However, he would have raged from his first post, in Clermont where he was ordained a priest ... in 1956.
Until the end of his days and even beyond, the priest suffocated with his crucifix on November 4 in the house of Agnetz where he spent his retirement, aroused admiration.
"All the women and girls of the time who came to mass were under his spell"
Upon his arrival in 1967, however, the clergyman raised guilty and silent questions. "He was whispering secrets that would have been the source of his new assignment. It could sound like a demotion. Clermont-de-l'Oise where he came from being a sub-prefecture while Saint-André-Farivillers was only a village ", confides today Odile, the older sister of Jacques, who died in" circumstances enigmatic ”five years after filing a complaint in 1984 to denounce the acts of pedophilia of the priest.
But it emanated from the abbot "such charisma". "He had humor, lightness, liked to surround himself with young people," she recalls. I believe that all the women and girls of the time who came to mass and the choir were in love with him or, at least, were in his charm, which was my case ", recognizes the one who was 15 years old at the time.
She is not the only one to have noticed it. "He said mass every morning at the chapel of the presbytery," says Laurent, 46 years old. Some women came dressed and made up, certainly more for the priest than for the sermon! There was no question of being late for mass. But if, exceptionally, it happened, Roger Matassoli was intractable. "He did not hesitate to stop in the middle of a sermon to look at his watch ostensibly," adds Alain, joining the gesture to the word. Demanding with his flock, "it was the moral authority of the corner" he summarizes.
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Warm and authoritarian at the same time, Roger Matassoli is regularly consulted by his parishioners, often farmers at the head of large siblings, in search of educational advice. "With four girls followed by eight boys, it was not always easy," said Odile.
Parents seduced, surrounding themselves with their offspring becomes child's play for "the predator" as described by a neighbor. Especially when you can attract them with a magnificent electric train made with his hands, on the 1st floor of the presbytery, in a room called "the key to paradise". Or in a colo in the Jura, where they have fun building dams on the river with friends. At his home, the kids also discover “Coca and Orangina”. "It was rare at the time, we didn't know! "Proclaim many children of the 1970s.
"He knew how to choose boys who would not speak, whose parents were the oldest and toughest"
The boys spend their Thursdays there, the girls are jealous of not being admitted. Without suspecting that the priest shares showers with their brothers and engages in touching. “The priest's mother came to my parents' house to buy eggs or chickens. And each time it happened right away. I have the impression, after the fact, that this woman was trying to warn my mother - there were still eight boys with us - and that she never had the opportunity to speak to her without her presence. He always arrived immediately, ”analyzes Colette, one of Jacques' sisters.
The abbot seemed to set his sights on the most closed children. "Matassoli knew how to choose those who would not speak, whose parents were the oldest and most severe," she says. He was well regarded by everyone, both my parents and the big landowners. He ate at their house. We thought that all these people would not believe us. Besides, Mauricette confirms. “Touching, I had heard of it. It was said that he attracted kids to the presbytery with his electric train, but I had taken that for gossip. "
Deviant behavior which was the subject of a complaint in 1984 but the investigation, which was limited to an exchange of letters with the priest, was quickly closed without action.
In the early 1990s, a hunter surprised him. “My dog had run on the road. A car, driven by Father Matassoli, had stopped. He had one hand on the steering wheel, the other in a boy's underpants, he says. I reported it to the mayor. He advised me to be quiet. "
"My mother used to tell me to pay attention to the parish priest when I went to catechism"
Then, when Matassoli admitted the facts to the bishopric, in the mid-1990s, he was simply reprimanded. And when the church finally banned it from any public ministry in 2015, it did not inform the parishioners of the reason. “Nobody warned us, indignant an octogenarian. If we had known, we would not have continued to invite him to eat with us. "
"People have a good time saying that they do not remember, gets annoyed Christophe (the first name has been changed) . My mother also said that now, but when I went to catechism, she told me to pay attention to the priest. She even asked my sisters to keep an eye on me! You still have to have a long arm so that it lasts 40 years when everyone knew about it. "
Between them, the children did not talk about it. For fear of mockery very often. “Jacques had opened up to one of his comrades, he laughed in his face, remembers his sister Colette. I do not blame him. The kid may not have believed it, those who mocked were perhaps victims too but did not say it so as not to be laughed at in their turn. "Of course everyone knew, I grew up in a neighboring town, but we also laughed about it," confirms a quadra who married a child from the village.
"Many parents said: as long as he doesn't touch the girls "
"At the time, the Church was all-powerful," notes Stéphane (the first name has been changed) , the father of Alexandre, the main suspect in the murder, who claims to have been also a victim of the pedophile. Chose to forgive him. "By forgiving, I thought I was stronger than him. I told myself that he had little time left to live, that he would be judged by God, that he would report on his actions. "
A reaction that lasts, even after the death of the pedophile, even after his victims have become adults. "Me, it happened to me sometimes, that he had wandering hands but that did not shock me, because we knew it, confides a man of about forty years. Between us, it was a subject of jokes. But those who were touched by the priest did not say it, they would have been mocked. I do not criticize, I did not say anything either ... But I would not have believed that that went to the rape. And many parents said as long as he didn't touch the girls, the boys were stronger, they were going to recover . Even today, since I said publicly that he had put his hand on my knee, it's been laughing. They throw me in the cantonade is your knee better? ! "
"What he did was monstrous but I can't hate him, he was so great"
Since his death, some have protested that the image of their parish priest has been tarnished. A former resident of the Jura colo where the father took young boys goes so far as to exhort to "differentiate pedophilia and pederasty", inviting us to question the consent of the children.
Most, however, have "no words to describe what he did" and claims to have a thought for "the young murderer, whose life has been ruined." But a sentence comes back in a loop: "Anyway, finish like that, at that age, there was no longer for a long time ... He was a good priest, he did not deserve that. "
"Even I find it hard to hate him," says a former altar boy. What he did was monstrous but I can't hate him, he was so great. I can't help but differentiate between the priest and the monster. "He was a good priest, we can't take him away, but it's true that he had this little pedophile side ...", even dares a former altar boy. The summary of 40 years of omerta.
All episodes:
1. A priest suffocated with his crucifix
2. A family destroyed over several generations
3. In 1984, the first complaint buried
4. Multiple alerts ignored
5. The deep grip of the "predator"
