Marie-Benoît Péteul,O.F.M. Cap. | |
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| Born | Pierre Péteul (1895-03-03)3 March 1895 Bourg d'Iré, France |
| Died | 5 February 1990(1990-02-05) (aged 94) |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church Order of Friars Minor Capuchin |
| Righteous Among the Nations |
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Père Marie-Benoît (Anglicized,Father Mary Benedict; inItalian, known asPadre Maria Benedetto; 30 March 1895 – 5 February 1990) was bornPierre Péteul. As aCapuchinFranciscan friar he helped smuggle approximately 4,000Jews into safety fromNazi-occupiedSouthern France. On 1 December 1966, he was honored with theMedal of the Righteous among the Nations for his courage and self-sacrifice. His actions to save Jews duringthe Holocaust were the reason for hisepithetFather of the Jews (French:Père des juifs).[1]
Born Pierre Péteul, Father Marie-Benoît served inWorld War I inNorth Africa, and was wounded atVerdun.[2] He received the distinction of five citations and theCroix de Guerre. After the war he joined theFranciscan Capuchin Order and earned a doctorate intheology atRome.[3][4] In 1940 he returned to France and became a priest stationed inMarseille.[3]
In Marseille in 1940, he found thousands of refugees trying to escape the horrors of World War II. He was determined to help them because, in his own words,
WeChristians claim to be spiritual children of the patriarchAbraham. This should be enough reason to exclude any kind ofanti-Semitism whatsoever, anti-Semitism being an ideology which we Christians cannot in any way share and be part of.[2]
Father Marie-Benoît's operation focused on finding ways to successfully smuggleJews out of an increasingly hostile France. Marie-Benoît transformed the Capuchin monastery in Marseille, at 51 Rue de la Croix de Régnier, into his first headquarters.[2] There he organized a massive forging operation, installing and improvising printing facilities to create fakepassports,baptism certificates, and other documents that aided hundreds of refugees in crossing the border toSpain andSwitzerland.[3] This was often done with the collaboration of Jewish organizations and members of theFrench resistance.
In November 1942, the Nazis had occupiedFrance's Free Zone, which included Marseille. This precluded the option of helping Jews escape to Switzerland and Spain. Accordingly, Father Benoît turned his attention to theRiviera andHaute-Savoie, occupied by theItalians.[4]
Traveling toNice, he persuaded Italian officials to permit Jews to cross into the Italian zone.[5] Specifically, he met withGuido Lospinoso, the Italian commissioner of Jewish affairs, whomMussolini had sent at the Germans' insistence. Father Benoît persuaded Lospinoso to refrain from action against the 30,000 Jews who lived in the vicinity of Nice.[6][7]
Also in Nice, Father Benoît metAngelo Donati, a Jewishbanker and director of the French-Italian Bank of Credit. Donati had a plan to transport over the Italien Jews toNorth Africa by boat. However, in order to approach the Italian authorities, he needed the cooperation of theHoly See.[5]
In July 1943, Father Benoît traveled to Rome to seek the help ofPope Pius XII in transferring Jews to northern Africa.[3] A meeting was arranged between Father Benoît and the pope. When Father Benoit explained that the police inVichy France were acting against the Jews, Pius XII was surprised, saying, "Who could ever expect this from noble France?"[2] He promised to diligently deal with the situation. However, the North African plan was eventually foiled when the Germans occupied northern Italy and the Italian-occupied zone of France.[6]
Father Marie-Benoît returned briefly to France in order to carry out "the Spanish part of his plan". With authority from theSpanish government ofFrancisco Franco to decide which French Jews qualified as being ofSpanish descent, he managed to save another 2,600 people; there is no record of how many of them actually had any Spanish blood.[5]
Upon the urging of his friends, Father Marie-Benoît disappeared from France and resurfaced in Rome as Padre Benedetti.[7] One of his hiding places was commemorated by theInternational Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, a non-governmental organization which researches Holocaust rescuers and advocates for their recognition.
He was elected to the board ofDELASEM (Delegazione Assistenza Emigranti Ebrei: "Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants"), the central Jewish welfare organization in Italy of which he eventually became president.[5]
Marie-Benoît transferred the DELASEM headquarters to the International College of the Capuchins, and inaugurated an operation to forge documents there.[4][5] His office was raided several times by theGestapo, early in 1945, with the arrest, torture, and execution of most of the rest of the DELASEM leadership, Father Benoît was persuaded to go into hiding. Against everyone's expectations, he actually survived the war.[4]
WhenRome was liberated in June 1944, the Jewish community—led by RabbiIsrael Zoller—held an officialsynagogue ceremony in honor of Father Benoît, "shower[ing] him with praise."[6] Years later,U.S. PresidentLyndon Johnson delivered a speech in which he said that Father Benoît's "wonderful actions" should "inspire the American people in the protection and preservation of the rights of citizens, irrespective of race, color or religion."[6]
On 1 December 1966,Yad Vashem officially recognized Father Benoit as aRighteous Among the Nations.[7] Overall, he helped thousands of Jews to reach Switzerland and Spain from the South of France, or escape by other means. Even while pursued by the Gestapo, he escaped to Rome, where he continued his efforts for the Jews.[2]
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