Born on March 11, 1933, in Sherbrooke to Georges Albéric Dionne, a customs officer, and Louise Emerilda Brissette, Maurice Dionne began his humanities studies at the Sherbrooke Seminary from 1945 to 1948, then completed them at the Juvénat of Sainte-Annede-Beaupré from 1949 to 1952. At the end of his final school year, he was admitted to the Redemptorist Novitiate in Sherbrooke. There he began his studies in philosophy and theology and took his temporary vows on August 15, 1953. In 1956, the young Redemptorist candidate took another step toward the priesthood by pronouncing his perpetual vows in Aylmer. That same year, he completed his bachelor’s degree at Laval University. Maurice Dionne was ordained a priest on July 21, 1959, in Aylmer, by Bishop Marie-Joseph Lemieux.

Newly ordained, Father Dionne eagerly embarked on his missionary journey. After a three-year assignment as parish Vicar in Timmins, Ontario, he was appointed parish priest at Sainte Anne des Chênes, Manitoba, in 1965. He worked there for 17 years, during which time he studied Pastoral and Canon law at the Catholic Institute of Paris. He then put his new knowledge to good use by serving as an auditor at the Regional Tribunal of Regina from 1976 to 1979, before being promoted to the position of Assistant judicial Vicar, also in Regina. Finally, Father Dionne enrolled at St. Paul University in Ottawa, where he obtained his Canon Law License, in 1986. He was appointed Judge of the Tribunal of Quebec in 1986, then Assistant Judicial Vicar of the Court of Appeal in 1989, Judicial Vicar of the Court of Appeal in 1993, and finally Provincial Vicar and Appeal Judge from 1999 to 2002. Throughout his career as a canonist, Father Dionne resided in the Redemptorist Houses of St. John Neumann in Quebec City and Aylmer.

During the first session of the Chapter of the Redemptorist Province of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in 2002, he was elected Provincial Superior. As required by his position, he moved to the Monastery of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, where he took on this important position of authority for two consecutive three-year terms, from 2002 to 2008. Once his six-year mandate was over, Father Maurice Dionne was appointed Superior of the Redemptorist Community of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures. In 2011, he returned to Sainte-Anne-deBeaupré, where he provided his support to the Shrine ministry, while serving as Superior of the Sainte Anne Community from 2017 to 2019. At the end of this period, his health began to decline, and he moved to Les Jardins de la Côte Residence in Beaupré. However, this did not prevent him from continuing his apostolate with pilgrims who came to visit good Saint Anne in her Shrine. In fact, it was only a few months before his passing to the Father that illness forced him to stop providing pastoral support to the Redemptorist team at the Shrine.

Father Maurice Dionne, C.Ss.R., has gone to be with his parents, the late Georges A. Dionne and the late Louise E. Brissette, as well as his sisters, the late Monique (the late Pierre Thiébault), the late Thérèse, his brother, the late Richard. In addition to his Redemptorist family, he is survived by his brother, Father Bernard Dionne; his sister Agathe Dionne (Michel Gagnon); his brother-in-law Gilles Gaudette, his sister-in-law Johanne Charlebois; as well as many nephews and nieces, including Martin Gaudette, who cared for him with kindness, and several grandnephews, grandnieces, relatives, and friends.

On Friday, March 20, 2026, beginning at 9:00 a.m., Father Dionne lay in repose at the Dupont Funeral Home at the Sainte-Anne Museum, where the family and the Redemptorists received condolences. A funeral Mass was then celebrated at 10:30 a.m. at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. Father Dionne was laid to rest at the parish cemetery of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.