The second of nine children of very pious workers, Manuel soon received his first communion and confirmation. He grows up with a good religious formation not only thanks to his family, but also for his participation in various Catholic associations: he is enrolled first among the scouts and then, from the age of fifteen on, in the Christian working youth, convinced of the need to spread the Joc among the workers. From 1934 to 1943 he worked in a printing house.
In 1942 he got engaged, but was unable to marry, because on March 19, 1943 he was forced by the Nazis to work in Germany. In fact, since 1940 with the occupation of France, the Germans transfer workers to Germany for compulsory work in their factories. Many young people choose the resistance, while Marcel leaves to be a "missionary and help others resist" in the hard work of the factories.
In Germany, Marcel is in Thuringia, where he organizes Christian groups which he supports with advice and various initiatives. On April 19, 1944, together with eleven companions, he was arrested on charges of being "too Catholic". In reality, the Nazis think that there is a link between the "too Catholic" and the resistance; the young people are taken to the extermination camp, Marcel in Mauthausen, perhaps the cruelest of all.
Prisoners are whipped, bitten by police dogs, they are affected by gangrene, tuberculosis… and many die as a result. This fate also befell Marcel who, on March 19, 1945, was found dying in a latrine. Transferred to the infirmary, he dies assisted by another prisoner, a non-believer who would later convert, struck by Marcel's serene smile in the face of death. He's not 24 yet.
In one of the many letters sent from Germany, he wrote: «Christ is a friend who does not leave you even for an instant and who knows how to support you, with Him you can bear everything... I feel Christ at my side, he helps me, he comforts me...».
He was beatified on October 4, 1987, in Rome.
«Let's not say that today it is more difficult;
it's different. Let's learn rather
by the saints who have gone before us
and they faced the difficulties
characteristic of their era".