Abbé Pierre
Encyclopedia
L'Abbé Pierre, was a French Catholic
priest
, member of the Resistance during World War II, and deputy of the Popular Republican Movement
(MRP). He founded in 1949 the Emmaus
movement, which has the goal of helping poor and homeless
people and refugee
s. Abbé
means abbot
in French, and is also used as a courtesy title given to Catholic priests in French-speaking countries. He was one of the most popular figures in France, but had his name removed from such poll
s after some time.
, France to a wealthy Catholic
family of silk
traders, the fifth of eight children. He spent his childhood in Irigny
, near Lyon. He was twelve when he met François Chabbey and went for the first time with his father to an Order circle, the brotherhood of the "Hospitaliers veilleurs" in which the mainly middle-class members would serve the poor by providing barber services.
Henri became a member of the Scouts de France in which he was nicknamed "Meditative Beaver" (Castor méditatif). In 1928, aged 16, he made the decision to join a monastic order, but he had to wait until he was seventeen and a half to fulfill this ambition. In 1931 Henri entered the Capuchin Order
, the principal off-shoot of the Franciscans, renouncing his inheritances and offering all his possessions to charities. Known as frère Philippe (Brother Philippe), he entered the monastery of Crest
in 1932, where he lived seven years. He had to leave in 1939 after developing severe lung
infections, which made the strict and hard monastic life difficult to cope with. He became chaplain
in the hospital of La Mure
(Isère), and then of an orphanage
in the Côte-Saint-André (also in the Isère department). After being ordained
a Roman Catholic priest on 24 August 1938, he became curate
of Grenoble
's cathedral in April 1939, only a few months before the invasion of Poland
. The Jesuit
Fr. Henri de Lubac
told him on the day of his priestly ordination: "ask to the Holy Spirit that he grants you the saints' anti-clericalism
".
broke out in 1939, he was mobilised as a non-commissioned officer
in the train transport corps. According to his official biography, he helped Jewish people to escape Nazi persecution following the July 1942 mass arrests in Paris, called the Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv, and another raid in the area of Grenoble in the non-occupied zone: "In July 1942, two fleeing Jews asked him for help. Having discovered the persecution taking place, he immediately went to learn how to make false passports. Starting in August 1942, he guided Jewish people to Switzerland".
His pseudonym dates from his work with the French resistance
during the Second World War, when he operated under several different names. Based in Grenoble, an important center of the Resistance, he helped Jews and politically persecuted escape to Switzerland. In 1942, he assisted Jacques de Gaulle (the brother of Charles de Gaulle
) and his wife escape to Switzerland. Moreover, Henri participated in creating a section of the maquis
where he officially became one of the local leaders in the Vercors Plateau
and in the Chartreuse Mountains
. He also helped people to avoid being taken into the Service du travail obligatoire
(STO), the Nazi forced-labour program agreed upon with Pierre Laval
, by creating in Grenoble the first refugee for resistants to the STO. He also founded the clandestine newspaper L'Union patriotique indépendante.
He was arrested twice, once in 1944 by the Nazi police in the city of Cambo-les-Bains
in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques
, but was quickly released and went therefore to Spain then Gibraltar
to finally join the Free French Forces
of General de Gaulle in Algeria
. In the Free North Africa, he became a chaplain
in the French Navy
on the battleship Jean Bart
in Casablanca
. He had become an important character and symbol of the French Resistance.
At the end of the war, he was awarded with the Croix de guerre 1939-1945
with bronze palms and the Médaille de la Résistance
. As other members of the Resistance, his experience would mark him for life, teaching him the necessity of engaging himself to protect fundamental human rights
through legal means and, if need be, through a sort of civil disobedience
doctrine.
, Abbé Pierre was elected deputy
for Meurthe-et-Moselle department
in both National Constituent Assemblies in 1945–1946 as an independent close to the Popular Republican Movement
(MRP), mainly consisting of Christian democratic members of the Resistance. In 1946, he was re-elected as a member of the National Assembly, but this time as a member of the MRP.
Abbé Pierre became vice-president of the Confédération mondiale in 1947, a universal federalist movement. He also co-founded with writers Albert Camus
and André Gide
the support committee for Garry Davis
, an American who tore apart his passport before the US embassy in a gesture of protest against nationalism. In 1945, he invited philosophers Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit inventor of the concept of the noosphere
, and who wasn't in particularly good terms with the Roman Curia
, and the Russian Nikolai Berdyaev
at his home, but both men couldn't understand each other. He then met Albert Einstein
in Princeton
in 1948, to discuss of the "three nuclear explosions" and call with him for a worldwide nuclear disarmament
movement based on pacifism
. Einstein would sign in 1955 the Russell-Einstein Manifesto
which called for international disarmament.
After a bloody accident resulting in the death of a blue-collar worker, Édouard Mazé, in Brest in 1950, Abbé Pierre decided to put an end to his MRP affiliation on 28 April 1950, writing a letter titled "Pourquoi je quitte le MRP" ("Why I quit the MRP"), where he denounced the political and social attitude of the MRP party. He then joined the Christian socialist movement named Ligue de la jeune République
, created in 1912 by Marc Sangnier
, but decided to finally end his political career: in 1951, before the end of his mandate, he returned to his first vocation: to help homeless people. With the small indemnities he received as deputy, he invested in a run-down house near Paris in the wealthy Neuilly-Plaisance
neighbourhood. Astounding his neighbours, the priest began to repair the roof and the whole house, and finally made of it the first Emmaüs base (because, according to him, it was simply too big for one man alone).
Although the Abbé then put a definitive end to his involvement in representative politics
, preferring to invest his energies in the Emmaus charity movement, he never completely abandoned the political field, taking strong stances on many and various subjects, not hesitating in scolding or at outright criticisms against what he saw as heartless decisions, nor in using the influence brought by the media
to enforce causes which he supported.
Thus, when the decolonization
movement was slowly beginning to emerge in the whole world, he attempted in 1956 to convince Tunisian leader Habib Bourguiba
to obtain independence without using violence. Present in various international conferences at the end of the 1950s, he met Colombian priest Camilo Torres
(1929–1966), a predecessor of Liberation theology
, who asked for his advice on the Colombian Church's criticism of "workers' priests." He was also received by US president Eisenhower and Mohammed V of Morocco
in 1955 and 1956.
In 1962 he resided several months in Charles de Foucauld
's retreat in Béni-Abbés (Algeria).
The Abbé was then called to India in 1971 by Jayaprakash Narayan
to represent, along with the Ligue des droits de l'homme (Human Rights League) France in the issues of refugee
s. Indira Gandhi
then invited him to deal with the question of Bengali refugees, and the Abbé founded Emmaus communities in Bengladesh.
(Emmaüs in French) was started in 1949. Its name is a reference to a village in Israel
appearing in the Gospel of Luke
, where two disciples extended hospitality to Jesus
just after his resurrection without recognizing him. In that way, Emmaus's mission is to help poor and homeless people. It is a secular organization.
In 1950 was created the first community of Emmaus companions in Neuilly-Plaisance
close to Paris in France.
The Emmaus community raises funds for the construction of housing by selling used goods. "Emmaus, it's a little like the wheelbarrow, the shovels and the pickaxes coming before the banners. A sort of social fuel derived from salvaging defeating men." However, there were initial difficulties raising funds, so in 1952, Abbé Pierre decided to be a contestant on the Radio Luxembourg
game show
Quitte ou double (Double or Nothing) for the prize money; he ended up winning 256,000 francs
.
on 1 February 1954, and asked Le Figaro
, a conservative newspaper which, as he said, was read by "the powerful", to publish his call:
The next morning, the press wrote of an "uprising of kindness" (insurrection de la bonté) and the now-famous call for help ended up raising 500 million francs in donations (Charlie Chaplin
gave 2 million). This enormous amount was totally unexpected; telephone operators and the postal service were overwhelmed, and owing to the volume of donations, several weeks were needed just to sort them, distribute them, and find a place to stock them throughout the country. Moreover, this call attracted volunteers from all over the country to help them, including wealthy bourgeoises
who were emotionally shaken by the Abbé's call: first to do the redistribution, but then to duplicate the effort all around France. Quite quickly, Abbé Pierre had to organise his movement by creating the Emmaus communities on 23 March 1954.
In an Emmaus community, volunteers help homeless people by giving them accommodation, and somewhere to eat and work. A number of Emmaus volunteers are also formerly homeless people themselves, from all age groups, religious or ethnic origins, and social backgrounds. The Abbé Pierre strived to show desperate people that they too could help others, and thus that the weakest could still help even weaker people.
The Emmaus communities quickly spread worldwide. The Abbé traveled to Beyrouth (Beirut, Lebanon) in 1959, to assist in the creation of the first multiconfessional Emmaus group there; it was founded by a Sunni (Muslim)
, a Melkite (Catholic)
archbishop and a Maronite (Christian)
writer.
of President François Mitterrand
(Socialist Party, PS) (during which he called for blank vote), the Abbé Pierre supported the initiative of the French Premier Laurent Fabius
(PS) to create in 1984 the Revenu minimum d'insertion
(RMI), a welfare system for indigents.
The same year, he organized the operation "Charity Christmas", which, relayed by France Soir
, brought 6 millions Francs and 200 tons of products. The actor Coluche
, who had organized the charitable Restos du Cœur, offered him 150 millions French cents received by his organisation. Coluche's huge success with the Restos du Cœur, caused by his popularity (Coluche had even tried to present himself to the 1981 presidential election
before withdrawing), convinced Abbé Pierre once again of the necessity and value of such charitable struggles and the usefulness of the media in such endeavours.
In 1983, he talked with Italian President Sandro Pertini to plead the cause of Vanni Mulinaris, imprisoned on charge of assistance to the Red Brigades
(BR), and even observed eight days of hunger strike
from May 26 to 3 June 1984 in the Cathedral of Turin
to protest against detention conditions of "Brigadists" in Italian prisons and the imprisonment without trial of Vanni Mulinaris, who was recognized innocent sometimes afterwards. Italian magistrate Carlo Mastelloni recalled in the Corriere della Sera
in 2007 that a niece of the Abbé was a secretary at Hyperion language school in Paris, directed by Vanni Mulinaris, and married to one of the Italians refugees then wanted by the Italian justice. According to the Corriere della Sera, it would even have been him who convinced then president François Mitterrand
(PS) to grant protection from extradition to left-wing
Italian activists who took refuge in France and had broken up with their past.
More than 20 years later, the ANSA, Italian press agency, recalled that he had supported in 2005 one of his physicians, Michele d'Auria, who was a former member of Prima Linea
, an Italian far-left group, and was accused of having participated to hold-ups in 1990. As many other Italian activists, he had exiled himself to France during the "years of lead", and then joined the Emmaus companions. La Repubblica
specified that Italian justice has recognized the innocence of all people close to the Hyperion School However it is only a matter of conjuncture
s to see any relation between this 2005 intervention in favor of an Emmaus companion and his support in the 1980s for strong guarantees in favor of Italian political refugees, since the philosophy of the Emmaus movement in itself is to accept anyone willing to work in the community at helping others, without any restrictions concerning one's individual past.
Following Abbé Pierre's death in January 2007, Italian magistrate Carlo Mastelloni declared to the Corriere della Sera
that during the abduction of Aldo Moro
Abbé Pierre had gone to the Christian Democrats' headquarters on piazza del Gesù (Jesus Place) in Rome in an attempt to speak with its secretary Benigno Zaccagnini
, in favor of a "hard line" of refusal of negotiations along with the BR.
The Abbé Pierre then met in 1988 representatives of the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) to discuss the difficult financial, monetary and human issues brought by the huge Third World debt (starting in 1982, Mexico had announced it could not pay the service of its debt, triggering the 1980s Latin American debt crisis
).
In the 1990s, the Abbé criticized the apartheid regime in South Africa. In 1995, after a three-year long siege of Sarajevo
, he went there to exhort nations of the world to put an end to the violences, and requested French military operation against the Serbs
positions in Bosnia
.
The Abbé did not hesitate in calling real estate
developers "salopards" ("assholes") or in chaining himself to the grilles of the Church of Saint-Ambroise in Paris, in a gesture of solidarity, along with illegal aliens (sans-papiers, litt. "without documents." Supporting the DAL NGO in favor of requisition of empty lodgings and of squatting
, the Abbé made enemies among conservatives, declaring that "Chirac
is incapable of governing" or that "Alain Juppé
[French Premier in charge during the 1995 general strikes
] is a liar."
During the Gulf War
(1990–91), the Abbé directly addressed himself to US President George H. W. Bush
and Iraq President Saddam Hussein
. He also asked French president François Mitterrand to engage himself in matters concerning refugees, in particular by the creation of a stronger organisation than the current UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(HCR). He also encountered this year the Dalai Lama during inter-religious peace encounters.
A staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause
, he has attracted attention with some of his statements on the Israeli-Palestine conflict One of his most controversial act, and possibly only smear on his career, was his support "à titre amical" ("in title of friendship") for Roger Garaudy
in 1996. The "Garaudy Affair" had been revealed in January 1996 by the Canard enchaîné
satirical newspaper, which prompted a series of denunciations against his book, "The Foundational Myths of Israeli Politics," and led Garaudy to be charged of negationism
(before being convicted in 1998, under the 1990 Gayssot Act). But Garaudy provoked public indignation when he announced in March that he was supported by the Abbé Pierre, who was immediately excluded from the honour committee of the LICRA
(International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism). The Abbé Pierre then condemned those who tried to "negate, banalize or falsify the Shoah," but his continued support to Garaudy as a friend was criticized by all anti-racist, Jewish organisations (MRAP, CRIF
, Anti-Defamation League
, etc.) and the Church hierarchy. His friend Bernard Kouchner
, co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF), criticized him for "absolving the intolerable," while Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger (and archbishop of Paris from 1981 to 2005) publicly disavowed him. The Abbé then went into retreat in the Benedictine
monastery of Praglia in Italy, near Padua, where, according to the Voltaire Network
, he would have met again Roger Garaudy. The Voltaire Network wrote that the Abbé had declared to the Corriere della Sera
that the French press was "inspired by an international Zionist lobby". In the film documentary Un abbé nommé Pierre, une vie au service des autres, the Abbé declared that his support had been towards the person of Roger Garaudy, and not towards his statements in his book, which he had not read. This latter justification has been criticized by those underlining that the Abbé Pierre usually took the time to think and meditate enough to forge his opinion thoughtfully and on his own.
On the other hand, the curator of the Deportation and Resistance Museum of the Isère
department where Henri Grouès carried on most of his Resistant activities declared that the abbé would have merited ten times to be named Righteous Among the Nations
for his struggle in favor of Jews during Vichy
.
Following this 1996 controversial support to a personal acquaintance, the Abbé was shunned for a small period by the media, although the Abbé remained a popular figure.
In 2004, he went to Algeria after the rebuilding of lodgings by the Fondation Abbé Pierre, following the 2003 earthquake which destroyed parts of the country.
and the Vatican
. His positions concerning social issues and engagements, at times explicitly left-wing, have made him both controversial and popular. The Abbé Pierre also maintained a relationship with the progressive French Catholic Bishop Jacques Gaillot
, to which he recalled his duty of "instinct of a measured insolence", and wasn't personally close to Mother Teresa
. He had difficult relations with the Vatican and the Church hierarchy, which was made apparent by L'Osservatore Romano
, Vatican's newspaper's silence following his death in January 2007, and the lack of any public statement immediately following his death from Pope Benedict XVI
. Father Lombardi, spokesman of the Vatican, sent journalists to the statement made by the French Church, while Benedict XVI only alluded to the visit of Montenegro
's embassador to the Vatican. The only official reactions from the Church came in two interviews of French cardinals, Roger Etchegaray and Paul Poupard. The Abbé Pierre's critics of the lavish lifestyle of the Vatican, i.e. when he reproached John Paul II his expensive travels, or his provocative stances, for example by signing his Memoirs, were not well seen. Cardinal Secretary of State
Tarcisio Bertone finally gave grace to the Abbé more than 24 hours after his death, by lauding his "action in favor of poor": "Informed of the death of Abbe Pierre, the Holy Father gives thanks for his activity in favor of the poorest, by which he bore witness to the charity that comes from Christ. Entrusting to divine mercy this priest whose whole life was dedicated to fighting poverty, he asks the Lord to welcome him into the peace of His kingdom. By way of comfort and hope, His Holiness sends you a heartfelt apostolic blessing, which he extends to the family of the departed, to members of the communities of Emmaus, and to everyone gathering for the funeral."
Hence, some conservatives have criticized his support to the ordination of women
, and married clergy
, stances which — according to BBC
allegations — have made him popular among the French population. In his book Mon Dieu... pourquoi? (God... Why?, 2005), co-written with Frédéric Lenoir, he implicitly admitted once having had casual sex with a woman despite his vow of clerical celibacy
in the Capuchin Order. The book also supports parenting and adoption by homosexual couples, but does not support same-sex marriage
. The Abbé also opposed the Pope
's policy against contraceptives concerning the AIDS pandemic
.
, moving into second place. In 2005 Abbé Pierre came third in a television poll to choose Le Plus Grand Français
(The Greatest Frenchman).
In 1998, he has been made Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec
while in 2004, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor by Jacques Chirac
Abbé Pierre was also awarded the Balzan Prize
for Humanity, Peace and Brotherhood among Peoples in 1991 "For having fought, throughout his life, for the defence of human rights, democracy and peace. For having entirely dedicated himself to helping to relieve spiritual and physical suffering. For having inspired – regardless of nationality, race or religion – universal solidarity with the Emmaus Communities."
All of these experiences together created the image of Abbé Pierre being a miraculé.
military hospital in Paris, following a lung infection, aged 94.
He took a stance on most social struggles: supporting illegal aliens
, assisting the homeless (the "Enfants de Don Quichotte" movement (end of 2006-start of 2007)) and social movements in favor of requisitioning empty buildings and offices (squats
), etc. He continued to read each day La Croix
, the Christian social daily newspaper. In January 2007, he went to the National Assembly to oppose those deputies wanting to change the law on lodging for homeless people, promoted by President Jacques Chirac after the mobilization of the Enfants de Don Quichotte NGO. Following his death, the Minister of Social Cohesion Jean-Louis Borloo
(UMP
) decided to give Abbé Pierre's name to the law, despite the latter's scepticism of the real value and use of the law. In 2005 he had opposed conservative deputies who wanted to reform the Gayssot Act
on housing projects (loi SRU), which sought to impose a 20% housing project limit in each town, on penalty of fines.
After homage by dignitaries, several hundred ordinary Parisians (among them professor Albert Jacquard
, who struggled with the Abbé for the cause of homelessness) went to the Val-de-Grâce chapel to see Abbé Pierre's corpse. His funeral on 26 January 2007 at the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris
was attended by numerous distinguished people: President Jacques Chirac
, former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
, many French Minister
s, and of course the Companions of Emmaus, who were placed at the front of the congregation in the cathedral, according to Abbé Pierre's last wishes. He was buried in a cemetery in Esteville
, a small village in Seine-Maritime
where he used to live. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, evoked a possible beatification
, but it seems unlikely in the near future.
and John Paul II a few times, but wasn't able to meet Pope Benedict XVI. According to his official biography, he also met many notable people, including French president Charles de Gaulle
as soon as 1944, Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba
, US president Dwight David Eisenhower, Indian Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru
and Indira Gandhi
, socialist Jayaprakash Narayan
, comedian Coluche
, president François Mitterrand
, president Jacques Chirac
and Mohammed V of Morocco
.
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
, member of the Resistance during World War II, and deputy of the Popular Republican Movement
Popular Republican Movement
The Popular Republican Movement was a French Christian democratic party of the Fourth Republic...
(MRP). He founded in 1949 the Emmaus
Emmaus (charity)
Emmaus is an international charitable movement founded in France in 1949 by the priest Abbé Pierre to combat poverty and homelessness.Since 1971 regional and national initiatives have been grouped under a parent organisation, Emmaus International, now run by Jean Rousseau, representing 310 groups...
movement, which has the goal of helping poor and homeless
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
people and refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s. Abbé
Abbé
Abbé is the French word for abbot. It is the title for lower-ranking Catholic clergymen in France....
means abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
in French, and is also used as a courtesy title given to Catholic priests in French-speaking countries. He was one of the most popular figures in France, but had his name removed from such poll
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
s after some time.
Youth and education
Henri Grouès was born on 5 August 1912 in LyonLyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, France to a wealthy Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
family of silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
traders, the fifth of eight children. He spent his childhood in Irigny
Irigny
Irigny is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France....
, near Lyon. He was twelve when he met François Chabbey and went for the first time with his father to an Order circle, the brotherhood of the "Hospitaliers veilleurs" in which the mainly middle-class members would serve the poor by providing barber services.
Henri became a member of the Scouts de France in which he was nicknamed "Meditative Beaver" (Castor méditatif). In 1928, aged 16, he made the decision to join a monastic order, but he had to wait until he was seventeen and a half to fulfill this ambition. In 1931 Henri entered the Capuchin Order
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
, the principal off-shoot of the Franciscans, renouncing his inheritances and offering all his possessions to charities. Known as frère Philippe (Brother Philippe), he entered the monastery of Crest
Crest, Drôme
Crest is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France.-Population:Its inhabitants are called Crestois.-Sights:* The Tour de Crest, one of the highest medieval keeps in France - 52 m. Its height dominates the town. The tower was part of a castle which guarded one of the entrances to the...
in 1932, where he lived seven years. He had to leave in 1939 after developing severe lung
Lung
The lung is the essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart...
infections, which made the strict and hard monastic life difficult to cope with. He became chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
in the hospital of La Mure
La Mure
La Mure is a commune in the Isère département in south-eastern France.It is located south of Grenoble on the plateau Matheysin.-Neighbour communes:* Prunières* Sousville* Susville* Ponsonnas* Pierre-Châtel* Saint-Honoré-Main sights:...
(Isère), and then of an orphanage
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...
in the Côte-Saint-André (also in the Isère department). After being ordained
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
a Roman Catholic priest on 24 August 1938, he became curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
of Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
's cathedral in April 1939, only a few months before the invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
. The Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
Fr. Henri de Lubac
Henri de Lubac
Henri-Marie de Lubac, SJ was a French Jesuit priest who became a Cardinal of the Catholic Church, and is considered to be one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century...
told him on the day of his priestly ordination: "ask to the Holy Spirit that he grants you the saints' anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
".
World War II
When warWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out in 1939, he was mobilised as a non-commissioned officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
in the train transport corps. According to his official biography, he helped Jewish people to escape Nazi persecution following the July 1942 mass arrests in Paris, called the Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv, and another raid in the area of Grenoble in the non-occupied zone: "In July 1942, two fleeing Jews asked him for help. Having discovered the persecution taking place, he immediately went to learn how to make false passports. Starting in August 1942, he guided Jewish people to Switzerland".
His pseudonym dates from his work with the French resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
during the Second World War, when he operated under several different names. Based in Grenoble, an important center of the Resistance, he helped Jews and politically persecuted escape to Switzerland. In 1942, he assisted Jacques de Gaulle (the brother of Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
) and his wife escape to Switzerland. Moreover, Henri participated in creating a section of the maquis
Maquis (World War II)
The Maquis were the predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire to provide forced labour for Germany...
where he officially became one of the local leaders in the Vercors Plateau
Vercors Plateau
The Vercors is a range of plateaux and mountains in the départements of Isère and Drôme in the French Prealps. It lies west of the Dauphiné Alps, from which it is separated by the rivers Drac and Isère...
and in the Chartreuse Mountains
Chartreuse Mountains
The Chartreuse Mountains is a mountain range in eastern France, stretching to the north from the city of Grenoble to the Lac du Bourget. It is the southernmost range in the Jura Mountains and belongs to the French Prealps....
. He also helped people to avoid being taken into the Service du travail obligatoire
Service du travail obligatoire
The Service du travail obligatoire was the forced enlistment and deportation of hundreds of thousands of French workers to Nazi Germany in order to work as forced labour for the German war effort during World War II....
(STO), the Nazi forced-labour program agreed upon with Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval was a French politician. He was four times President of the council of ministers of the Third Republic, twice consecutively. Following France's Armistice with Germany in 1940, he served twice in the Vichy Regime as head of government, signing orders permitting the deportation of...
, by creating in Grenoble the first refugee for resistants to the STO. He also founded the clandestine newspaper L'Union patriotique indépendante.
He was arrested twice, once in 1944 by the Nazi police in the city of Cambo-les-Bains
Cambo-les-Bains
Cambo-les-Bains is a town in the traditional Basque province of Labourd, now in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.-People:...
in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a department in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.- History :...
, but was quickly released and went therefore to Spain then Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
to finally join the Free French Forces
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
of General de Gaulle in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. In the Free North Africa, he became a chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
in the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
on the battleship Jean Bart
French battleship Jean Bart (1940)
The Jean Bart was a French battleship of World War II named for the seventeenth-century seaman, privateer, and corsair Jean Bart.Derived from the Dunkerque class, Jean Bart were designed to counter the threat of the heavy ships of the Italian Navy...
in Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
. He had become an important character and symbol of the French Resistance.
At the end of the war, he was awarded with the Croix de guerre 1939-1945
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
with bronze palms and the Médaille de la Résistance
Médaille de la Résistance
The French Médaille de la Résistance was awarded by General Charles de Gaulle "to recognise the remarkable acts of faith and of courage that, in France, in the empire and abroad, have contributed to the resistance of the French people against the enemy and against its accomplices since June 18,...
. As other members of the Resistance, his experience would mark him for life, teaching him the necessity of engaging himself to protect fundamental human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
through legal means and, if need be, through a sort of civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
doctrine.
Political career (1945–51) and the 1960–70s
When the war was over, following de Gaulle's entourage's advice and the approbation of the archbishop of ParisArchbishop of Paris
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris is one of twenty-three archdioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century by St. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on...
, Abbé Pierre was elected deputy
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
for Meurthe-et-Moselle department
Meurthe-et-Moselle
Meurthe-et-Moselle is a department in the Lorraine region of France, named after the Meurthe and Moselle rivers.- History :Meurthe-et-Moselle was created in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War from the parts of the former departments of Moselle and Meurthe which remained French...
in both National Constituent Assemblies in 1945–1946 as an independent close to the Popular Republican Movement
Popular Republican Movement
The Popular Republican Movement was a French Christian democratic party of the Fourth Republic...
(MRP), mainly consisting of Christian democratic members of the Resistance. In 1946, he was re-elected as a member of the National Assembly, but this time as a member of the MRP.
Abbé Pierre became vice-president of the Confédération mondiale in 1947, a universal federalist movement. He also co-founded with writers Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
and André Gide
André Gide
André Paul Guillaume Gide was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.Known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works, Gide...
the support committee for Garry Davis
Garry Davis
Garry Davis is a peace activist who created the first World Passport.-Early life:Davis was the son of Meyer and Hilda Davis. He was graduated from the Episcopal Academy in 1940 and attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology...
, an American who tore apart his passport before the US embassy in a gesture of protest against nationalism. In 1945, he invited philosophers Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit inventor of the concept of the noosphere
Noosphere
Noosphere , according to the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, denotes the "sphere of human thought". The word is derived from the Greek νοῦς + σφαῖρα , in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere". Introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1922 in his Cosmogenesis"...
, and who wasn't in particularly good terms with the Roman Curia
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
, and the Russian Nikolai Berdyaev
Nikolai Berdyaev
Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev was a Russian religious and political philosopher.-Early life and education:Berdyaev was born in Kiev into an aristocratic military family. He spent a solitary childhood at home, where his father's library allowed him to read widely...
at his home, but both men couldn't understand each other. He then met Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
in Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1948, to discuss of the "three nuclear explosions" and call with him for a worldwide nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated....
movement based on pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
. Einstein would sign in 1955 the Russell-Einstein Manifesto
Russell-Einstein Manifesto
The Russell–Einstein Manifesto was issued in London on July 9, 1955 by Bertrand Russell in the midst of the Cold War. It highlighted the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and called for world leaders to seek peaceful resolutions to international conflict...
which called for international disarmament.
After a bloody accident resulting in the death of a blue-collar worker, Édouard Mazé, in Brest in 1950, Abbé Pierre decided to put an end to his MRP affiliation on 28 April 1950, writing a letter titled "Pourquoi je quitte le MRP" ("Why I quit the MRP"), where he denounced the political and social attitude of the MRP party. He then joined the Christian socialist movement named Ligue de la jeune République
Ligue de la jeune République
The Young Republic League was a French political party created in 1912 by Marc Sangnier, in continuation of Le Sillon, Sangnier's Christian social movement which was disavowed by the Pope Pius X...
, created in 1912 by Marc Sangnier
Marc Sangnier
Marc Sangnier was a French Roman Catholic thinker and politician, who in 1894 founded le Sillon , a liberal Catholic movement. He aimed to bring Catholicism into a greater conformity with French Republican ideals and to provide an alternative to anticlerical labour movements...
, but decided to finally end his political career: in 1951, before the end of his mandate, he returned to his first vocation: to help homeless people. With the small indemnities he received as deputy, he invested in a run-down house near Paris in the wealthy Neuilly-Plaisance
Neuilly-Plaisance
Neuilly-Plaisance is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-History:*The commune of Neuilly-Plaisance was created on 13 April 1892 by detaching its territory from the commune of Neuilly-sur-Marne....
neighbourhood. Astounding his neighbours, the priest began to repair the roof and the whole house, and finally made of it the first Emmaüs base (because, according to him, it was simply too big for one man alone).
Although the Abbé then put a definitive end to his involvement in representative politics
Representative democracy
Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy...
, preferring to invest his energies in the Emmaus charity movement, he never completely abandoned the political field, taking strong stances on many and various subjects, not hesitating in scolding or at outright criticisms against what he saw as heartless decisions, nor in using the influence brought by the media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
to enforce causes which he supported.
Thus, when the decolonization
Decolonization
Decolonization refers to the undoing of colonialism, the unequal relation of polities whereby one people or nation establishes and maintains dependent Territory over another...
movement was slowly beginning to emerge in the whole world, he attempted in 1956 to convince Tunisian leader Habib Bourguiba
Habib Bourguiba
Habib Bourguiba was a Tunisian statesman, the Founder and the first President of the Republic of Tunisia from July 25, 1957 until 7 November 1987...
to obtain independence without using violence. Present in various international conferences at the end of the 1950s, he met Colombian priest Camilo Torres
Camilo Torres Restrepo
Father Camilo Torres Restrepo was a Colombian socialist, Roman Catholic priest, a predecessor of liberation theology and a member of the National Liberation Army guerrilla organisation...
(1929–1966), a predecessor of Liberation theology
Liberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...
, who asked for his advice on the Colombian Church's criticism of "workers' priests." He was also received by US president Eisenhower and Mohammed V of Morocco
Mohammed V of Morocco
Mohammed V was Sultan of Morocco from 1927–53, exiled from 1953–55, where he was again recognized as Sultan upon his return, and King from 1957 to 1961. His full name was Sidi Mohammed ben Yusef, or Son of Yusef, upon whose death he succeeded to the throne...
in 1955 and 1956.
In 1962 he resided several months in Charles de Foucauld
Charles de Foucauld
Charles Eugène de Foucauld was a French Catholic religious and priest living among the Tuareg in the Sahara in Algeria. He was assassinated in 1916 outside the door of the fort he built for protection of the Tuareg and is considered by the Catholic Church to be a martyr...
's retreat in Béni-Abbés (Algeria).
The Abbé was then called to India in 1971 by Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan , widely known as JP Narayan, Jayaprakash, or Loknayak, was an Indian independence activist and political leader, remembered especially for leading the opposition to Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and for giving a call for peaceful Total Revolution...
to represent, along with the Ligue des droits de l'homme (Human Rights League) France in the issues of refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s. Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
then invited him to deal with the question of Bengali refugees, and the Abbé founded Emmaus communities in Bengladesh.
1949: the origin
EmmausEmmaus (charity)
Emmaus is an international charitable movement founded in France in 1949 by the priest Abbé Pierre to combat poverty and homelessness.Since 1971 regional and national initiatives have been grouped under a parent organisation, Emmaus International, now run by Jean Rousseau, representing 310 groups...
(Emmaüs in French) was started in 1949. Its name is a reference to a village in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
appearing in the Gospel of Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
, where two disciples extended hospitality to Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
just after his resurrection without recognizing him. In that way, Emmaus's mission is to help poor and homeless people. It is a secular organization.
In 1950 was created the first community of Emmaus companions in Neuilly-Plaisance
Neuilly-Plaisance
Neuilly-Plaisance is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-History:*The commune of Neuilly-Plaisance was created on 13 April 1892 by detaching its territory from the commune of Neuilly-sur-Marne....
close to Paris in France.
The Emmaus community raises funds for the construction of housing by selling used goods. "Emmaus, it's a little like the wheelbarrow, the shovels and the pickaxes coming before the banners. A sort of social fuel derived from salvaging defeating men." However, there were initial difficulties raising funds, so in 1952, Abbé Pierre decided to be a contestant on the Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (French)
Radio Luxembourg - 1933-1939 and 1951- is the name of a Long Wave commercial radio station that began broadcasting from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in 1933 as a daytime and evening service in the French language from Monday to Saturday and until 12 Noon on Sundays.The station closed down at the...
game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
Quitte ou double (Double or Nothing) for the prize money; he ended up winning 256,000 francs
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...
.
Winter 1954: "Uprising of kindness"
Abbé Pierre became famous during the extremely cold winter of 1954 in France, when homeless people were dying in the streets. Following the failure of the projected law on lodgings, he gave a well-remembered speech on Radio LuxembourgRadio Luxembourg (French)
Radio Luxembourg - 1933-1939 and 1951- is the name of a Long Wave commercial radio station that began broadcasting from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in 1933 as a daytime and evening service in the French language from Monday to Saturday and until 12 Noon on Sundays.The station closed down at the...
on 1 February 1954, and asked Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
, a conservative newspaper which, as he said, was read by "the powerful", to publish his call:
"My friends, come help... A woman froze to death tonight at 3:00 AM, on the pavement of Sebastopol Boulevard, clutching the eviction notice which the day before had made her homeless... Each night, more than two thousand endure the cold, without food, without bread, more than one almost naked. To face this horror, emergency lodgings are not enough.
"Hear me; in the last three hours, two aid centers have been created: one under canvas at the foot of the PanthéonPanthéon, ParisThe Panthéon is a building in the Latin Quarter in Paris. It was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve and to house the reliquary châsse containing her relics but, after many changes, now functions as a secular mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens...
, on Montagne Sainte-GenevièveMontagne Sainte-GenevièveThe Montagne Sainte-Geneviève is a hill on the left Bank of the Seine in the 5th arrondissement of Paris.On the top of the Montagne, one can visit the Panthéon or the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, which is often full of students from La Sorbonne and other nearby universities...
Street; the other in CourbevoieCourbevoieCourbevoie is a commune located very close to the centre of Paris, France. The centre of Courbevoie is situated 2 kilometres from the outer limits of Paris and 8.2 km...
. They are already overflowing, we must open them everywhere. Tonight, in every town in France, in every quarter of Paris, we must hang out placards under a light in the dark, at the door of places where there are blankets, bunks, soup; where one may read, under the title 'Fraternal Aid Center', these simple words: 'If you suffer, whoever you are, enter, eat, sleep, recover hope, here you are loved.
"The forecast is for a month of harsh frosts. For as long as the winter lasts, for as long as the centers exist, faced with their brothers dying in poverty, all mankind must be of one will: the will to make this situation impossible. I beg of you, let us love one another enough to do it now. From so much pain, let a wonderful thing be given unto us: the shared spirit of France. Thank you! Everyone can help those who are homeless. We need, tonight, and at the latest tomorrow, five thousand blankets, three hundred big American tents, and two hundred catalytic stoves. Bring them quickly to the Hôtel Rochester, number ninety-two, la Boetie Street. The rendez-vous for volunteers and trucks to carry them: tonight at eleven, in front of the tent on Montagne Sainte-Geneviève. Thanks to you, no man, no child, will sleep on the asphalt or on the waterfronts of Paris tonight.
Thank you."
The next morning, the press wrote of an "uprising of kindness" (insurrection de la bonté) and the now-famous call for help ended up raising 500 million francs in donations (Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
gave 2 million). This enormous amount was totally unexpected; telephone operators and the postal service were overwhelmed, and owing to the volume of donations, several weeks were needed just to sort them, distribute them, and find a place to stock them throughout the country. Moreover, this call attracted volunteers from all over the country to help them, including wealthy bourgeoises
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
who were emotionally shaken by the Abbé's call: first to do the redistribution, but then to duplicate the effort all around France. Quite quickly, Abbé Pierre had to organise his movement by creating the Emmaus communities on 23 March 1954.
In an Emmaus community, volunteers help homeless people by giving them accommodation, and somewhere to eat and work. A number of Emmaus volunteers are also formerly homeless people themselves, from all age groups, religious or ethnic origins, and social backgrounds. The Abbé Pierre strived to show desperate people that they too could help others, and thus that the weakest could still help even weaker people.
The Emmaus communities quickly spread worldwide. The Abbé traveled to Beyrouth (Beirut, Lebanon) in 1959, to assist in the creation of the first multiconfessional Emmaus group there; it was founded by a Sunni (Muslim)
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
, a Melkite (Catholic)
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Melkites, Byzantine Rite Catholics of mixed Eastern Mediterranean and Greek origin, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, Syria, of...
archbishop and a Maronite (Christian)
Maronite Church
The Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See of Rome . It traces its heritage back to the community founded by Maron, a 4th-century Syriac monk venerated as a saint. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th...
writer.
1980s to 2000s
After the 1981 electionFrench presidential election, 1981
The French presidential election of 1981 took place on 10 May 1981, giving the presidency of France to François Mitterrand, the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic....
of President François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
(Socialist Party, PS) (during which he called for blank vote), the Abbé Pierre supported the initiative of the French Premier Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius is a French Socialist politician. He served as Prime Minister from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. He was 37 years old when he was appointed and is, so far, the youngest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic.-Early life:...
(PS) to create in 1984 the Revenu minimum d'insertion
Revenu minimum d'insertion
The Revenu minimum d'insertion is a French form of social welfare. It is aimed at people without any income who are of working age but do not have any other rights to unemployment benefits...
(RMI), a welfare system for indigents.
The same year, he organized the operation "Charity Christmas", which, relayed by France Soir
France Soir
France Soir is a French daily newspaper that prospered during the 1950s and 1960s, but it has declined since then under various owners. It was re-launched as a populist tabloid in 2006.-History:...
, brought 6 millions Francs and 200 tons of products. The actor Coluche
Coluche
Michel Colucci , better known as Coluche, was a French comedian and actor, famous for his irreverent sense of humour....
, who had organized the charitable Restos du Cœur, offered him 150 millions French cents received by his organisation. Coluche's huge success with the Restos du Cœur, caused by his popularity (Coluche had even tried to present himself to the 1981 presidential election
French presidential election, 1981
The French presidential election of 1981 took place on 10 May 1981, giving the presidency of France to François Mitterrand, the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic....
before withdrawing), convinced Abbé Pierre once again of the necessity and value of such charitable struggles and the usefulness of the media in such endeavours.
In 1983, he talked with Italian President Sandro Pertini to plead the cause of Vanni Mulinaris, imprisoned on charge of assistance to the Red Brigades
Red Brigades
The Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...
(BR), and even observed eight days of hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
from May 26 to 3 June 1984 in the Cathedral of Turin
Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist (Turin)
Turin Cathedral is the major Roman Catholic church of Turin, northern Italy. Dedicated to Saint John the Baptist , it was built during 1491-1498 and it is adjacent to an earlier campanile...
to protest against detention conditions of "Brigadists" in Italian prisons and the imprisonment without trial of Vanni Mulinaris, who was recognized innocent sometimes afterwards. Italian magistrate Carlo Mastelloni recalled in the Corriere della Sera
Corriere della Sera
The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...
in 2007 that a niece of the Abbé was a secretary at Hyperion language school in Paris, directed by Vanni Mulinaris, and married to one of the Italians refugees then wanted by the Italian justice. According to the Corriere della Sera, it would even have been him who convinced then president François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
(PS) to grant protection from extradition to left-wing
Mitterrand doctrine
The Mitterrand doctrine was a policy established in 1985 by French president François Mitterrand concerning Italian far-left terrorists who fled to France: those convicted for violent acts in Italy, but excluding "active, actual, bloody terrorism" during the "Years of Lead" would not be extradited...
Italian activists who took refuge in France and had broken up with their past.
More than 20 years later, the ANSA, Italian press agency, recalled that he had supported in 2005 one of his physicians, Michele d'Auria, who was a former member of Prima Linea
Prima Linea
Prima Linea was an Italian Marxist-Leninist terrorist group of the 1970s. It was formed in 1976 by members of hard-line factions within the far left, extra-parliamentary organization Lotta Continua, which disbanded that year, together with members of Potere Operaio and of other far left groups...
, an Italian far-left group, and was accused of having participated to hold-ups in 1990. As many other Italian activists, he had exiled himself to France during the "years of lead", and then joined the Emmaus companions. La Repubblica
La Repubblica
la Repubblica is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. Founded in 1976 in Rome by the journalist Eugenio Scalfari, as of 2008 is the second largest circulation newspaper, behind the Corriere della Sera.-Foundation:...
specified that Italian justice has recognized the innocence of all people close to the Hyperion School However it is only a matter of conjuncture
Conjuncture
In general, a conjuncture is a period marked by some watershed event which separates different epochs.In economics, conjuncture is a critical combination of events....
s to see any relation between this 2005 intervention in favor of an Emmaus companion and his support in the 1980s for strong guarantees in favor of Italian political refugees, since the philosophy of the Emmaus movement in itself is to accept anyone willing to work in the community at helping others, without any restrictions concerning one's individual past.
Following Abbé Pierre's death in January 2007, Italian magistrate Carlo Mastelloni declared to the Corriere della Sera
Corriere della Sera
The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...
that during the abduction of Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years....
Abbé Pierre had gone to the Christian Democrats' headquarters on piazza del Gesù (Jesus Place) in Rome in an attempt to speak with its secretary Benigno Zaccagnini
Benigno Zaccagnini
Benigno Zaccagnini was an Italian politician and physician.-Political career:Zaccagnini was among the founders of the Democrazia Cristiana , and was elected at the Constituent Assembly and the Chamber of Deputies of the new-born Italian Republic...
, in favor of a "hard line" of refusal of negotiations along with the BR.
The Abbé Pierre then met in 1988 representatives of the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
(IMF) to discuss the difficult financial, monetary and human issues brought by the huge Third World debt (starting in 1982, Mexico had announced it could not pay the service of its debt, triggering the 1980s Latin American debt crisis
Latin American debt crisis
The Latin American debt crisis was a financial crisis that occurred in the early 1980s , often known as the "lost decade", when Latin American countries reached a point where their foreign debt exceeded their earning power and they were not able to repay it.-Origins:In the 1960s and 1970s many...
).
In the 1990s, the Abbé criticized the apartheid regime in South Africa. In 1995, after a three-year long siege of Sarajevo
Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
, he went there to exhort nations of the world to put an end to the violences, and requested French military operation against the Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
positions in Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
.
The Abbé did not hesitate in calling real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
developers "salopards" ("assholes") or in chaining himself to the grilles of the Church of Saint-Ambroise in Paris, in a gesture of solidarity, along with illegal aliens (sans-papiers, litt. "without documents." Supporting the DAL NGO in favor of requisition of empty lodgings and of squatting
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
, the Abbé made enemies among conservatives, declaring that "Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
is incapable of governing" or that "Alain Juppé
Alain Juppé
Alain Marie Juppé is a French politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac and the Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs from 2010 to 2011...
[French Premier in charge during the 1995 general strikes
1995 strikes in France
The 1995 strikes in France were a series of general strikes in France, mostly in the public sector in late 1995. The strikes received great popular support despite paralyzing the country's transportation infrastructure...
] is a liar."
During the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
(1990–91), the Abbé directly addressed himself to US President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
and Iraq President Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. He also asked French president François Mitterrand to engage himself in matters concerning refugees, in particular by the creation of a stronger organisation than the current UN High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...
(HCR). He also encountered this year the Dalai Lama during inter-religious peace encounters.
A staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
, he has attracted attention with some of his statements on the Israeli-Palestine conflict One of his most controversial act, and possibly only smear on his career, was his support "à titre amical" ("in title of friendship") for Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy or Ragaa Garaudy is a French philosopher. Formerly a prominent communist author, he has converted to Islam and written several books which have been controversial due to his anti-Zionist positions and denial of the Holocaust.-Early life, politics and religion:Born to Catholic and...
in 1996. The "Garaudy Affair" had been revealed in January 1996 by the Canard enchaîné
Le Canard enchaîné
Le Canard enchaîné is a satirical newspaper published weekly in France. Founded in 1915, it features investigative journalism and leaks from sources inside the French government, the French political world and the French business world, as well as many jokes and humorous cartoons.-Early...
satirical newspaper, which prompted a series of denunciations against his book, "The Foundational Myths of Israeli Politics," and led Garaudy to be charged of negationism
Historical revisionism (negationism)
Historical revisionism is either the legitimate scholastic re-examination of existing knowledge about a historical event, or the illegitimate distortion of the historical record such that certain events appear in a more or less favourable light. For the former, i.e. the academic pursuit, see...
(before being convicted in 1998, under the 1990 Gayssot Act). But Garaudy provoked public indignation when he announced in March that he was supported by the Abbé Pierre, who was immediately excluded from the honour committee of the LICRA
International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism
The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism – or Ligue Internationale Contre le Racisme et l'Antisémitisme in French— was established in 1926, and is opposed to intolerance, xenophobia and exclusion....
(International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism). The Abbé Pierre then condemned those who tried to "negate, banalize or falsify the Shoah," but his continued support to Garaudy as a friend was criticized by all anti-racist, Jewish organisations (MRAP, CRIF
Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France
Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France is an umbrella organization of French Jewish organizations. CRIF opposes anti-Semitism and policies that they perceive to be anti-Semitic....
, Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
, etc.) and the Church hierarchy. His friend Bernard Kouchner
Bernard Kouchner
Bernard Kouchner is a French politician, diplomat, and doctor. He is co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières and Médecins du Monde...
, co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières
Médecins Sans Frontières
' , or Doctors Without Borders, is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic diseases. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland...
(MSF), criticized him for "absolving the intolerable," while Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger (and archbishop of Paris from 1981 to 2005) publicly disavowed him. The Abbé then went into retreat in the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monastery of Praglia in Italy, near Padua, where, according to the Voltaire Network
Voltaire Network
The Réseau Voltaire is an international non-profit organisation, based in Paris. It stated aim is the promotion of freedom and secularism , that is separation of church and state, faith and politics...
, he would have met again Roger Garaudy. The Voltaire Network wrote that the Abbé had declared to the Corriere della Sera
Corriere della Sera
The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...
that the French press was "inspired by an international Zionist lobby". In the film documentary Un abbé nommé Pierre, une vie au service des autres, the Abbé declared that his support had been towards the person of Roger Garaudy, and not towards his statements in his book, which he had not read. This latter justification has been criticized by those underlining that the Abbé Pierre usually took the time to think and meditate enough to forge his opinion thoughtfully and on his own.
On the other hand, the curator of the Deportation and Resistance Museum of the Isère
Isère
Isère is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region in the east of France named after the river Isère.- History :Isère is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Dauphiné...
department where Henri Grouès carried on most of his Resistant activities declared that the abbé would have merited ten times to be named Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
for his struggle in favor of Jews during Vichy
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
.
Following this 1996 controversial support to a personal acquaintance, the Abbé was shunned for a small period by the media, although the Abbé remained a popular figure.
In 2004, he went to Algeria after the rebuilding of lodgings by the Fondation Abbé Pierre, following the 2003 earthquake which destroyed parts of the country.
Positions on the Church hierarchy and the Vatican's policies
Abbé Pierre has also been somewhat controversial, first of all because of his positions towards the ChurchRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
. His positions concerning social issues and engagements, at times explicitly left-wing, have made him both controversial and popular. The Abbé Pierre also maintained a relationship with the progressive French Catholic Bishop Jacques Gaillot
Jacques Gaillot
The Most Reverend Dr. Jacques Jean Edmond Georges Monseigneur Gaillot , Titular Bishop of Partenia, is a French Catholic clergyman and social activist. He was from 1982 to 1995 Bishop of Évreux in France...
, to which he recalled his duty of "instinct of a measured insolence", and wasn't personally close to Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
. He had difficult relations with the Vatican and the Church hierarchy, which was made apparent by L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano is the "semi-official" newspaper of the Holy See. It covers all the Pope's public activities, publishes editorials by important churchmen, and runs official documents after being released...
, Vatican's newspaper's silence following his death in January 2007, and the lack of any public statement immediately following his death from Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
. Father Lombardi, spokesman of the Vatican, sent journalists to the statement made by the French Church, while Benedict XVI only alluded to the visit of Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
's embassador to the Vatican. The only official reactions from the Church came in two interviews of French cardinals, Roger Etchegaray and Paul Poupard. The Abbé Pierre's critics of the lavish lifestyle of the Vatican, i.e. when he reproached John Paul II his expensive travels, or his provocative stances, for example by signing his Memoirs, were not well seen. Cardinal Secretary of State
Cardinal Secretary of State
The Cardinal Secretary of State—officially Secretary of State of His Holiness The Pope—presides over the Holy See, usually known as the "Vatican", Secretariat of State, which is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia...
Tarcisio Bertone finally gave grace to the Abbé more than 24 hours after his death, by lauding his "action in favor of poor": "Informed of the death of Abbe Pierre, the Holy Father gives thanks for his activity in favor of the poorest, by which he bore witness to the charity that comes from Christ. Entrusting to divine mercy this priest whose whole life was dedicated to fighting poverty, he asks the Lord to welcome him into the peace of His kingdom. By way of comfort and hope, His Holiness sends you a heartfelt apostolic blessing, which he extends to the family of the departed, to members of the communities of Emmaus, and to everyone gathering for the funeral."
Hence, some conservatives have criticized his support to the ordination of women
Ordination of women
Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...
, and married clergy
Clerical marriage
Clerical marriage is the practice of allowing clergy to marry. Churches such as the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox exclude this practice for their priests, while accepting already married men for ordination to priesthood...
, stances which — according to BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
allegations — have made him popular among the French population. In his book Mon Dieu... pourquoi? (God... Why?, 2005), co-written with Frédéric Lenoir, he implicitly admitted once having had casual sex with a woman despite his vow of clerical celibacy
Clerical celibacy
Clerical celibacy is the discipline by which some or all members of the clergy in certain religions are required to be unmarried. Since these religions consider deliberate sexual thoughts, feelings, and behavior outside of marriage to be sinful, clerical celibacy also requires abstension from these...
in the Capuchin Order. The book also supports parenting and adoption by homosexual couples, but does not support same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
. The Abbé also opposed the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
's policy against contraceptives concerning the AIDS pandemic
AIDS pandemic
The acquired immune deficiency syndrome pandemic is a widespread disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus .Since AIDS was first recognized in 1981, it has led to the deaths of more than 25 million people, making it one of the most destructive diseases in recorded history.Despite recent...
.
International recognition
Abbé Pierre also had the distinction of having been voted France's most popular person for many years, though in 2003 he was surpassed by Zinedine ZidaneZinedine Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane is a retired French footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Zidane was a leading figure of a generation of French players that won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship...
, moving into second place. In 2005 Abbé Pierre came third in a television poll to choose Le Plus Grand Français
Le Plus Grand Français
Le Plus Grand Français de tous les temps was a France 2 show of early 2005, based on an original series of Great Britons on the BBC. The show asked the French viewers who they thought was the Greatest Frenchman or Frenchwoman...
(The Greatest Frenchman).
In 1998, he has been made Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec
National Order of Quebec
The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...
while in 2004, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor by Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
Abbé Pierre was also awarded the Balzan Prize
Balzan Prize
The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organisations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the brotherhood of man.-Rewards and assets:Each year the...
for Humanity, Peace and Brotherhood among Peoples in 1991 "For having fought, throughout his life, for the defence of human rights, democracy and peace. For having entirely dedicated himself to helping to relieve spiritual and physical suffering. For having inspired – regardless of nationality, race or religion – universal solidarity with the Emmaus Communities."
Accidents and health problems
He was regularly sick, particularly in the lungs when he was young. He was left unscathed in several dangerous situations:- In 1950, while on a flight in India, he survived when his plane had to make an emergency landing due to engine failure.
- In 1963, his boat shipwrecked in the Río de la PlataRío de la PlataThe Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
, between Argentina and Uruguay. He survived by clinging to a wooden part of the boat, while around him 80 passengers died. Later on, while on a trip to Algiers, he showed the pocket knife, which had enabled him to survive this ordeal. He was full of gratitude also for the children lodged at an orphanage, and asked the cardinal archbishop of Algiers, Léon-Etienne DuvalLéon-Etienne DuvalLéon-Etienne Duval was a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Algiers in Algeria from 1954 to 1988, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965.-Biography:...
, to help out the orphanage (or Kasbah).
All of these experiences together created the image of Abbé Pierre being a miraculé.
Death
Abbé Pierre remained active until his death on 22 January 2007 in the Val-de-GrâceVal-de-Grâce
This article describes the hospital and former abbey. For the main article on Mansart and Lemercier's central church, see Church of the Val-de-Grâce....
military hospital in Paris, following a lung infection, aged 94.
He took a stance on most social struggles: supporting illegal aliens
Illegal Aliens
Illegal Aliens is a 2007 film starring Anna Nicole Smith and Joanie Laurer. This comedy/science-fiction film is made in the mold of classic 1980s B-movies. Hitting stores on May 1, 2007, the release of the movie was pushed back following the death of Smith in February 2007 and it is her final film...
, assisting the homeless (the "Enfants de Don Quichotte" movement (end of 2006-start of 2007)) and social movements in favor of requisitioning empty buildings and offices (squats
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
), etc. He continued to read each day La Croix
La Croix
La Croix is a daily French general-interest Roman Catholic newspaper. It is published in Paris and distributed throughout the country, with a circulation of just under 110,000 as of 2009...
, the Christian social daily newspaper. In January 2007, he went to the National Assembly to oppose those deputies wanting to change the law on lodging for homeless people, promoted by President Jacques Chirac after the mobilization of the Enfants de Don Quichotte NGO. Following his death, the Minister of Social Cohesion Jean-Louis Borloo
Jean-Louis Borloo
Jean-Louis Borloo is a French politician, and was the French Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning between 2007 and 2010.-Professional résumé:Education...
(UMP
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...
) decided to give Abbé Pierre's name to the law, despite the latter's scepticism of the real value and use of the law. In 2005 he had opposed conservative deputies who wanted to reform the Gayssot Act
Jean-Claude Gayssot
Jean-Claude Gayssot is a French politician. A member of the French Communist Party , he was Minister of Transportation in Lionel Jospin 's government, from 1997 to 2002. He gave his name to the 1990 Gayssot Act repressing Holocaust denial and speech in favor of racial discrimination...
on housing projects (loi SRU), which sought to impose a 20% housing project limit in each town, on penalty of fines.
After homage by dignitaries, several hundred ordinary Parisians (among them professor Albert Jacquard
Albert Jacquard
Albert Jacquard is a French geneticist and essayist. He is well known for defending ideas related to the concept of degrowth.- Beginnings :...
, who struggled with the Abbé for the cause of homelessness) went to the Val-de-Grâce chapel to see Abbé Pierre's corpse. His funeral on 26 January 2007 at the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
was attended by numerous distinguished people: President Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
, former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...
, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
Dominique de Villepin
Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin is a French politician who served as the Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007....
, many French Minister
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
s, and of course the Companions of Emmaus, who were placed at the front of the congregation in the cathedral, according to Abbé Pierre's last wishes. He was buried in a cemetery in Esteville
Esteville
Esteville is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:A farming village situated in the Pays de Caux, some northeast of Rouen, at the junction of the D15 and the D57 roads.-Heraldry:...
, a small village in Seine-Maritime
Seine-Maritime
Seine-Maritime is a French department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre...
where he used to live. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, evoked a possible beatification
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
, but it seems unlikely in the near future.
Honours
- Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor in 2004
- Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1992
- Commander of the Legion of Honor in 1987
- Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1981
- Médaille militaireMédaille militaireThe Médaille militaire is a decoration of the French Republic which was first instituted in 1852.-History:The creator of the médaille was the emperor Napoléon III, who may have taken his inspiration in a medal issued by his father, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland...
- Croix de guerre 1939-1945 with bronze palms
- Médaille de la RésistanceMédaille de la RésistanceThe French Médaille de la Résistance was awarded by General Charles de Gaulle "to recognise the remarkable acts of faith and of courage that, in France, in the empire and abroad, have contributed to the resistance of the French people against the enemy and against its accomplices since June 18,...
- Grand Officers of the National Order of QuebecNational Order of QuebecThe National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...
- Balzan PrizeBalzan PrizeThe International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organisations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the brotherhood of man.-Rewards and assets:Each year the...
A well-known priest
During his life Abbé Pierre met Popes Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIIIPope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
and John Paul II a few times, but wasn't able to meet Pope Benedict XVI. According to his official biography, he also met many notable people, including French president Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
as soon as 1944, Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba
Habib Bourguiba
Habib Bourguiba was a Tunisian statesman, the Founder and the first President of the Republic of Tunisia from July 25, 1957 until 7 November 1987...
, US president Dwight David Eisenhower, Indian Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
and Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
, socialist Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan , widely known as JP Narayan, Jayaprakash, or Loknayak, was an Indian independence activist and political leader, remembered especially for leading the opposition to Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and for giving a call for peaceful Total Revolution...
, comedian Coluche
Coluche
Michel Colucci , better known as Coluche, was a French comedian and actor, famous for his irreverent sense of humour....
, president François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, president Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
and Mohammed V of Morocco
Mohammed V of Morocco
Mohammed V was Sultan of Morocco from 1927–53, exiled from 1953–55, where he was again recognized as Sultan upon his return, and King from 1957 to 1961. His full name was Sidi Mohammed ben Yusef, or Son of Yusef, upon whose death he succeeded to the throne...
.
Discography (interviews, etc.)
- 2001: Radioscopie: Abbé Pierre - Entretien avec Jacques Chancel, CD Audio - ASIN B00005NK45.
- 1988-2003: Éclats De Voix, suite de CD Audio, Poèmes et réflexions, en 4 volumes:
- Vol. 1: Le Temps des Catacombes, rééd. label Celia - ASIN B00005R2LK.
- Vol. 2: Hors de Soi, rééd. label Celia - ASIN B00005R2LL.
- Vol. 3: Corsaire de Dieu, rééd. label Celia - ASIN B00005R2LM.
- Vol. 4: ?, label Scalen - ASIN B00004VAP4.
- 2005: Le CD Testament..., pour fêter le 56e anniversaire de la Foundation d'Emmaüs (réflexions personnelles, textes et paroles inspirées de la BibleBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
) - ISBN 2227475323. - 2005: Avant de partir..., le testament audio de l’Abbé Pierre, CD audio et vidéos pour PC, prières et musiques de méditation - ASIN B000CCZ2PE.
- 2006: L’Insurgé de l’amour, label Revues Bayard, Paris - ASIN B000EQHSPU.
- 2006: Paroles de Paix de l’Abbé Pierre, CD audio, label Fremeux - ASIN B0001GLG2Y.
Filmography
- 1955: Les Chiffonniers d'Emmaüs from Robert DarèneRobert DarèneRobert Darène is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in twelve films between 1934 and 1959. He also directed nine films between 1951 and 1963.-Selected filmography:* Goubbiah, mon amour...
with Pierre MondyPierre MondyPierre Mondy, whose real name was Pierre Cuq, born 10 February 1925 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, is a French actor and director.He began his film career in 1949 and has appeared in over 140 films. In 1960, he received international revcognition for the role of Napoléon Bonaparte in the film Austerlitz...
. - 1989: Hiver 54, l'abbé Pierre from Denis Amar, with Lambert WilsonLambert WilsonLambert Wilson is a French actor. He is internationally known for his portrayal of The Merovingian in The Matrix He was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of Georges Wilson, who was an actor, theatrical manager and director of the Theatre National de Paris.Wilson screen tested for The...
and Claudia CardinaleClaudia CardinaleClaudia Cardinale is an Italian actress, and has appeared in some of the most prominent European films of the 1960s and 1970s. The majority of Cardinale's films have been either Italian or French...
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Fondation Abbé-Pierre on Facebook
In November 2009, The Foundation's http://www.fondationabbepierre.com/en/ Facebook page was shut down without notice or explanation http://www.parismatch.com/Actu-Match/Societe/Depeches/Facebook-Fondation-Abbe-Pierre-evincee-144450/See also
- Cardinal Henri de LubacHenri de LubacHenri-Marie de Lubac, SJ was a French Jesuit priest who became a Cardinal of the Catholic Church, and is considered to be one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century...
- Popular Republican MovementPopular Republican MovementThe Popular Republican Movement was a French Christian democratic party of the Fourth Republic...
(MRP) and Ligue de la jeune RépubliqueLigue de la jeune RépubliqueThe Young Republic League was a French political party created in 1912 by Marc Sangnier, in continuation of Le Sillon, Sangnier's Christian social movement which was disavowed by the Pope Pius X... - Emmaus (charity)Emmaus (charity)Emmaus is an international charitable movement founded in France in 1949 by the priest Abbé Pierre to combat poverty and homelessness.Since 1971 regional and national initiatives have been grouped under a parent organisation, Emmaus International, now run by Jean Rousseau, representing 310 groups...
- Homelessness, squatts, charity and non-violence
- Emmaus MouvementEmmaus Mouvement-Emmaus Mouvement :Album for the 50th year anniversary of the Emmaus Mouvement founded by Abbé Pierre After many encounters with Abbé Pierre, musician, producer Julien Civange proposed to add his contribution to the 50th year anniversary of the Emmaus Mouvement by gathering together on one album...
External links
- Fondation Abbé Pierre
- Emmaus International
- International Balzan Foundation
- Obituary in Le Monde (Paris), 23 January 2007 (English translation)
- 7 January 1954 call for homeless people, published in Le FigaroLe FigaroLe Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
(22 January 2007) - French review of press titles for his death