IN FRANCE, the legendary Father Marie-Benoit (born Pierre Peteul), a monk in the Capuchin monastery in Marseille, resolved to thwart the Nazis after witnessing frequent roundups of Jewish refugees. Gifted with extraordinary ability as an organizer, he turned the monastery into a far-reaching rescue operation, working with frontier guides who smuggled Jews and anti-Nazi refugees into Spain and Switzerland. In the basement of the monastery, the printing press turned out countless false ID cards, certificates of baptism and other documents needed by the escaping refugees. Affectionately called "Father of the Jews," the Capuchin monk was instrumental in saving untold Jewish lives.
Abbe Joseph Folliet, the Catholic chaplain of Jeunesse ouvriere chretienne (JOC), was a vital cog in assisting dozens of refugees crossing the border into Switzerland. Border escorts or guides directed their charges to Abbe Folliet who arranged for them to stay at church sanctuaries in the department of Haute-Savoie, the women at the convent of Chavanod near Annecy, and the men at the Abbaye de Tamie, north of Faverges.
Jesuit Father Pierre Chaillet, hero of the French resistance and the publisher of an underground newspaper, used to haunt the street of Lyons and countryside looking for abandoned children. During one search, he found four children huddling in a cave and led them to a monastery, where several hundred other refugees were being housed. He also rescued 30 Jewish children from French police stations, where they were being held for questioning.
When 19-year-old Betty Dornfest and her mother were being sheltered in a convent in Correze, France, the mother superior made it possible for them to practice their religion. Sister Marie-Gonzague Bredoux provided them with candles and oil from the church which they in turn used to welcome the Sabbath on Friday evenings. When the High Holy Days neared, Mother Marie supplied them with the necessary ingredients and special pots and dishes to prepare their food in the convent's kitchen. According to Mordecai Paldiel, the research chief of Israel's Yad Vashem: "There are few instances (certainly none before the Holocaust period) of Jews helped to practice their religion inside Catholic convents."
Other French clerics and religious who were instrumental in rescuing or sheltering refugees in church institutions:
Monseigneur Paul Remond, the bishop of Nice, supplied a letter of introduction to Moussa Abadi, a Syrian Jew of the OSE child rescue network, that opened the doors to local Catholic institutions when placing Jewish youngsters. The bishop also provided Abadi with a private office within his residence.
Mother Maria of Notre-Dame de Sion in Melun is reported to have saved more than 500 Jewish children by directing them to nearby convents and schools.
Reverend Father Superior Charles Devaux, head of the Fathers of Our Lady Zion, a Catholic missionary organization, is credited with saving more than 400 Jewish Children and 500 adults by finding them shelter with workmen's families and in convents and monasteries.
Shatta and Bouli Simon, indefatigable workers for the Jewish Boy Scouts of France, recalled the cooperation they received from Monseigneur Theas: "I must say that Monseigneur Theas opened for us, as for others, the college de Sorreze, that of Saint Antoine de Padoue near Brive, and other religious secondary establishments, where we were able to place a very large number of young people."
Jean-Gerard Saliege, archbishop of Toulouse, gave Georges Garel of the OSE, a personal letter of introduction and encouraged him to place Jewish children in the church's boarding schools, orphanages, hospitals and youth hostels. Garel later remarked: "From my first contact with him, I knew I was in the presence of a superior person. That man, I can and I must say, had the stuff of a saint."
Joseph Bass, colorful founder of Service Andre, a clandestine network that hid over 1,000 refugees in Le Chambon, also worked with Father Regis de Perceval, who provided the group with quarters in a monastery in Marseille for their operations. To conceal his identity, Bass disguised himself as a Dominican monk, conducted meetings and enlisted the aid of resident monks.
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