Founder of the Emmaus Movement dies aged 94
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Abbé Pierre, who died on 22nd January at the age of 94. The inspirational activist and founder of the Emmaus Movement had been admitted to hospital on 14th January with a lung infection.
A tireless human rights activist, Abbé Pierre founded the international Emmaus Movement which today has more than 400 Communities in 39 countries. There are thirteen Emmaus Communities in the UK, which offer a home and work to homeless men and women and which are run along the lines established by Abbé Pierre in Paris in the 1950s.
Increasingly incensed by what he saw as the government’s indifference to the housing crisis, Abbé Pierre was spurred into action in the winter of 1954 when a baby and an old lady both froze to death on the streets of Paris. He was allowed to broadcast a passionate and impromptu denunciation of the scandal of homelessness on the radio. The nation responded with donations and the construction of 12,000 emergency dwellings began.
Though a media celebrity for decades and the recipient of many honours and decorations at home and abroad, Abbé Pierre remained what he termed “ a flea in the ear of the great”, never shying away from uttering uncomfortable truths. He saw active service to those most in need as the joy and mission of his priesthood.
Selwyn Image, founder of Emmaus in the UK, first met Abbé Pierre in 1991. “When we were working to establish the first Emmaus Community in the UK we only had a cow shed in a field. Abbé Pierre came to visit us and I remember that he grilled me to check that I was truly serious. After he returned home he sent us £30000 and said that when we had made a success of the first Community we should pass the money onto the next one.
"He was as sharp as a razor and utterly committed. He never, never gave up on something he felt was just. He lived on a combination of will and faith. He was a wise and extraordinary man.”
There will be a Memorial Service at St Martin In the Fields.
Published on 22nd January, 2007
KEEP ME POSTED! Sign up for emailed content alerts:
