James Celerità

Albert Houssiau

Portrait de Mgr Albert Houssiau, évêque émérite de Liège, pris en mars 2026, quelques mois avant son décès.

Mgr Houssiau célébrant l'eucharistie dans la chapelle de la résidence du Balloir à Liège.

Mgr Houssiau lors de la célébration de son centième anniversaire en novembre 2024 à Liège, entouré de la communauté diocésaine.

Mgr Houssiau lors des célébrations de son centième anniversaire en novembre 2024, à Liège.

Albert Jean Charles Ghislain Houssiau est né le 2 novembre 1924 à Halle, en Brabant flamand, quatrième enfant d'une famille francophone de six enfants. Dès ses années de formation à l'Institut Notre-Dame de Cureghem, puis au séminaire de Malines-Bruxelles, il manifeste une vocation profonde nourrie d'exigence intellectuelle et d'un sens aigu du service pastoral.

Ordonné prêtre le 6 février 1949 par le cardinal Joseph-Ernest Van Roey dans la chapelle privée du palais archiépiscopal de Malines, il célèbre sa première messe le 13 février suivant à la Basilique de Notre-Dame de Hal, entouré de sa famille. À l'Université catholique de Louvain, où il enseigne la théologie sacramentaire et la liturgie de 1959 à 1986, il s'impose comme une figure de référence — deux fois doyen de la Faculté de théologie (1972-1977 puis 1982-1985) — et consacre sa thèse à la christologie de saint Irénée, Père de l'Église du IIe siècle, posant les bases d'une réflexion patristique qui ne le quittera jamais.

Le 17 mars 1986, le pape Jean-Paul II le nomme 90e évêque de Liège. Sacré le jour de la Pentecôte, le 18 mai 1986, en la cathédrale Saint-Paul, il arrive avec une promesse solennelle aux Liégeois : « Je vous promets que je serai liégeois ! » — promesse tenue en apprenant le wallon et en s'immergeant pleinement dans la vie diocésaine. Durant quinze ans d'épiscopat, il conduit avec discernement le « Projet 2000 », qui regroupe 530 paroisses en quelque 150 unités pastorales, et se distingue comme précurseur dans la promotion des femmes dans l'Église, notamment par la formation des premières assistantes paroissiales. Attentif aux détresses sociales, il rend visite aux demandeurs d'asile lors de la crise de 1993 et préside les messes funèbres de Julie et Mélissa en 1995-1996. Sa devise épiscopale, « Par Lui, avec Lui et en Lui », résumait à elle seule son rapport au mystère eucharistique.

Retiré en 2001, Mgr Houssiau n'abandonna ni la plume ni l'autel : il continua ses recherches sur les Pères grecs de l'Église et célébra régulièrement l'eucharistie à la résidence du Balloir. En novembre 2024, il fêta son centième anniversaire entouré de la communauté diocésaine, demeura, aux dires de tous, un homme de foi rayonnante et d'esprit vif. Il s'est éteint dans la nuit du 12 au 13 octobre 2026 à Liège, à l'âge de 101 ans, trois semaines avant son 102e anniversaire, laissant derrière lui un diocèse profondément marqué par sa foi, sa rigueur théologique et sa bienveillance pastorale.

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Albert Houssiau

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