Abbé Pierre

French deputy and Roman Catholic priest, ordained in 1938. In World War II he organized an escape route for Jews to Switzerland and formed resistance groups. After being detected and arrested by the Germans, he managed to escape. "Abbe Pierre" was the ecclesiastical name he chose, and he was the founder in 1949 of Emmaus, a non-profit organization through which 12,000 housing units were built for the hungry and the cold, and which set up communities to give shelter to the poor. The old priest prayed for the redemption of his aunt Louise a.k.a. Hera Mirtel and his niece Paule, both of whom were accused of murder. He spent his last years in a norman monatery. He died on 22 January 2007 in Paris following a lung infection, aged 94, after receiving the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour in 2004.