Farewell Father Ketterer

The Société Française des Amis de Saint Jacques de Compostelle was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Father Marc Ketterer, parish priest of Montrouge, who had been a fervent pilgrim of Santiago de Compostela since his arrival at the parish to which the church of St. James the Greater belongs.
It was he who, with the town’s Mayor, initiated the Fête de la Coquille in April 2024, introduced by a pilgrimage departure from the church of St. James du Haut-Pas. Father Marc enthusiastically welcomed the nameplate donated by SFASJC on September 29. This is affixed to the entrance to the Montrouge church, indicating the pilgrimage route through Montrouge and its Saint Jacques church.
He had other projects in mind, which we hope will continue to be supported by the parish in conjunction with the town hall.
His funeral was celebrated by Monseigneur Matthieu Rougé, Bishop of the Hauts-de-Seine diocese, on Friday January 03, in the presence of a delegation from the Société Française des Amis de Saint Jacques de Compostelle.

Excerpt from the homily delivered by Monsignor Mathieu Rougé, bishop of Nanterre, at the funeral of Father Marc Ketterer in the Saint-Jacques church in Montrouge on January 3, 2025.

… I’m not forgetting Saint James: Marc was particularly happy to be the parish priest of a stage on the road to Santiago, evoked by the many shells that adorn the stained-glass windows of this unusual church and are sown on the pavement that opens onto the city (and I’m not forgetting the “shell festival” initiative either). Pilgrimages to Rome, the Holy Land and Compostela are like an evocation of and preparation for the pilgrimage par excellence, the pilgrimage to eternal life that is human existence. In a painful, mysterious way, Marc precedes us on The Way, the real “Camino”.

And like the old pilgrims, he encourages us, with the traditional Jacquet cry, to continue our pilgrimage:
“Ultreia!”, “Plus loin! Higher! Yes, brothers and sisters, “Ultreia! may this be our way of keeping and bringing to fruition the best of our brother Mark.