Madeleine Delbrel: A Life Beyond Boundaries

Who? Madeleine Delbrel (1904-1964), an unconventional Frenchwoman, grew from precocious child to bohemian adolescent and from confirmed atheist to Catholic convert. A woman of great compassion and awareness, she was vigorously involved in the major social, political, cultural, and religious movements of 20th-century France. After her conversion, she founded an experimental community of professional women who lived and worked among the French Communists in the Paris suburb of Ivry-sur-Seine. A true humanitarian with a contemplative spirit, she came to love God intimately in the streets, cafes, subways, and people of Paris. Today Madeleine Delbrel is revered in Europe as both a social activist and a "secular mystic." Her "Cause for Beatification," the first step to sainthood, is currently under study in Rome.