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Abbé Pierre's life

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Residents of the Family Hotel Ecohcère preparing their meal

The Foundation launched on April 3rd, 2012 "Roofs First", its new programme for highly social housing.

Upgrading to standards, insulation, accessibility for the disabled... safety, decency and comfort must be guaranteed in housing persons in difficulty.

2 young women getting help in housing procedures

Evictions, undignified habitat... the Foundation accompanies each and every person in need when it comes to their access to housing rights.

On October 12th, the Languedoc Roussillon centre took part in the inauguration of a new Family Hotel partly funded by the Foundation.

An assessment of article 55 of the SRU law which stipulates that municipalities must have at least 20% council housing available on their territories.

Staff, volunteers and sympathisers gather in front of the Ministry of Justice.

The Foundation finances construction and renovation projects in France and abroad, with the help of the beneficiaries.

View of the inner yard of the farm house

A commemorative plate in honour of Abbé Pierre's call was revealed during the inauguration of the centre in Cambrai.

Three persons having lunch at the social restaurant of the Foundation in Metz

Change the way others look at you, change the way you look at yourself. Beyond "housing"; "living together".

Also in the news

18 November 2015

An overview of housing exclusion in europe 2015

19 September 2013

Expulsions locatives : la Fondation Abbé Pierre en colère

05 September 2013

Inauguration of a new Family Hotel in Castelnaudary, in the Aude department

05 September 2013

First signature of a social microcredit in Haute Provence

05 September 2013

An apartment in the heart of Paris for a single-parent family

The Foundation Abbé Pierre in France

Regional Agencies

Birth of Henri Grouès in Lyon

The Grouès family first settled down in Sala Street, in the bourgeois neighbourhood of Ainay in Lyon before moving to one of the prosperous suburbs of the city, Irigny…

1912

Meditative Beaver

Henri Grouès, who took the name Abbé Pierre during the Résistance, was part of the first Lyon scout patrol.

1931

The Abbé Pierre becomes MP of Meurthe-et-Moselle

The Abbé Pierre becomes MP of Meurthe-et-Moselle: he wears the priestly cloth but doesn’t have the priestly speech. He will be re-elected twice (from 1945 to 1946 and from 1946 to 1951).

1945

Neuilly-Plaisance, first Emmaüs community

“The beauty of a city lies neither in its museums nor in its cathedrals… the beauty of a city is the absence of slums, the absence of homeless people.”

1949

Permit to live

At the beginning of the 50s, there are some fifty shantytowns in the Paris region.

1950

Birth of the Ragmen

“The origin of everything was my meeting with Georges, a parricide assassin who wanted to commit suicide. I get called and I say to him: well then, before killing yourself, come help me!”

1951

A woman by Abbé Pierre’s side

“Mother Coutaz” is there, with her typewriter, and the “little fellow with his cassock”, the Abbé’s nickname during that time…

1951

The Abbé, first call for generosity

“In turn, I would like to ask those listening to me a question: what will you do to help me build houses for the homeless?”

1952

The beginning of the lobbying

“True charity is about acting against injustice.”

1953

The Killer Winter

A series of tragedies push the Abbé to draw the attention of the politicians

1954

Donations are deposited at the Hotel Rochester

The insurrection of kindness

Mrs Lamier’s hotel, 92 La Boétie Street, Paris.

1954

The Abbé Pierre, building agitator

“The honour of a country lies not in the beauty of its monuments; it truly lies with the fact that all its residents have a roof.”

1955

Tents under the arches of the Pont de Sully

The arches of Sully Bridge

One day during the winter of 1956, a Minister, most likely annoyed by the Abbé Pierre's public addresses, declares in a national newspaper: “the poor of Abbé Pierre should go sleep under bridges!”

1956

Raymond Etienne, current president of the Fondation, with Abbé Pierre

Creation of the Foundation Abbé Pierre

“To make a positive contribution to the search for adequate solutions to the housing needs, the Foundation Abbé Pierre for the Housing of the Underprivileged is created.”

Pont-Saint-Esprit, October 1987

1988

The Besson Law concerning the right to housing

Art. 1 guarantees that the right to housing is a solidarity duty for the whole nation.

1990

Wage war on misery

The Abbé Pierre and Simone Weil inaugurate the Solidarity Shop, Bichat Street in Paris, in 1993.

1991

Abbé Pierre received at the Elysee by President François Mitterrand

Creation of the High Committee for the Housing of the Underprivileged

“We all need to use our gifts, talents and skills to help everyone in a brotherly spirit.”

1992

Abbé Pierre reads a newspaper which the law against exclusion

The fight against exclusion: housing, a fundamental right

“The 21^st century will either be brotherly or will not be. It’s up to each one of us, regardless of belief or thought, to make sure this certitude comes to life.”

1998

The Abbé is named Grand Croix of the Order of the Legion of Honour

The defence of the rights of the human person and the promotion of his dignity.

2001

Abbé Pierre in Marseille Boutique Solidarity

Family Hotels, Solidarity Habitat Space : solidarity at work

“It’s not up to our governments to tell us how to act in solidarity. It’s up to us to show them the society we want. They will understand.”

2002

The Abbé Pierre at the Sorbonne; the 50th anniversary of the call of February 1, 1954.

“My friends, this is the real dimension of what brings us together tonight. It is war. And our minds must be made up to do all it takes to win.”

2004

The Abbé draws the attention of the MPs at the National Assembly

“My friends, I am sad, because in my country we have cheated… how did we come to favour those who least needed favours?”

2006

The Abbé Pierre stays in touch with Annie…

Towards the end of his life, in 2007, he was still in close contact with this family.

2007

The crowd in front of the Church of Val de Grace in Paris

Death of the Abbé Pierre at 5:25 am in Val de Grâce, in Paris

“If I die tomorrow, everything is organised and ready to go on smoothly… I am not worried.”

2007

National funeral of the Abbé Pierre

In the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, attended by Jacques Chirac, members of the government and numerous figures.

“Thank you, Abbé Pierre, for setting such an example” Philippe Barbarin, Cardinal-Archbishop of Lyon.

2007

A tribute stamp representing the Abbé is issued

2010

Play

The Foundation commemorates the fourth anniversary of Abbé Pierre’s passing

Saturday January 22, 2011, the Foundation paid tribute to its founder, everywhere in France. Events were planned in Paris, Lille, Marseille, Metz…

2011

Play

Philippe Torreton pays tribute to the Abbé Pierre

This Friday January 20 at 5:30 pm, Philippe Torreton, one of the Foundations’s sponsors, read Abbé Pierre’s call – broadcasted on February 1, 1954 – on the Leopold Senghor footbridge, facing the Orsay museum in Paris.

2012

Inauguration of the Abbé Pierre Centre in Esteville

On the morning of Saturday, January 21, the Abbé Pierre Centre in Esteville was inaugurated in the presence of numerous personalities as well as several donors of the Foundation, who made the trip to discover this place of remembrance and life.

2012

Unveiling of Abbé Pierre’s statue at the Foundation Abbé Pierre’s headquarters in Paris.

In tribute to the 6^th anniversary of its founder’s passing, the Foundation unveils this Tuesday January 22, at 11 o’clock, a full statue of Abbé Pierre.

2013

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