Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu
Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu
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1948012

Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu

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1948012

Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu

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Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu

Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu (French pronunciation: [ʒɔʁʒ tjɛʁi daʁʒɑ̃ljø]), in religion Father Louis of the Trinity, OCD (7 August 1889 – 7 September 1964), was a Discalced Carmelite friar and priest, who was also a diplomat and French Navy officer and admiral; he became a major personality of the Forces navales françaises libres. He was the chancellor of the Ordre de la Libération.

He was born in Brest on 7 August 1889, in a family of Navy officers. He joined the École navale (Naval Academy) at 17.

D'Argenlieu served on the Du Chayla as a midshipman, taking part in the campaign in Morocco, which led to the Treaty of Fez, in 1912. During the campaign, he was awarded the Legion of Honour, and befriended Hubert Lyautey, something that d'Argenlieu later recalled as one of the happy memories in his life.

During the First World War, d'Argenlieu served in the Mediterranean; in 1915, while on leave in Malta, he became a member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites. He was promoted to lieutenant de vaisseau in 1917. The next year, as commanding officer of a patrol boat, the Tourterelle, he distinguished himself in the rescue of a troop transport.

Upon the conclusion of the war, d'Argenlieu undertook theological studies at the Pontifical Angelicum College, the future Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome, which he completed in 1920. That year, he entered the novitiate of the Discalced Carmelite friars in Avon, Seine-et-Marne. He was given the religious habit and the religious name Louis de la Trinité (Louis of the Trinity) and he made his first vows on 15 September 1921.

Fr. Louis then studied theology for four years at the Catholic University of Lille. He finished his studies there and was ordained a priest there in 1925. The Discalced Carmelite friars re-established the province of Paris in 1932, and Fr. Louis was elected Prior Provincial in 1935.

In September 1939, d'Argenlieu was mobilised as a reserve Navy officer, rising to the rank of capitaine de corvette in 1940. During the Battle of France, d'Argenlieu was captured as he was defending the arsenal of Cherbourg. After three days, he escaped from the prisoner train to Germany and joined Charles de Gaulle on 30 June.

D'Argenlieu joined the Free French Forces, intending to serve as chaplain, but eventually took on the duties of a fighting naval officer, with a special authorisation of his religious superiors because of the small number of Navy officers in the Free French Naval Forces. He was made chief of staff in July.

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