Father of Sion who saved more than 500 during WWII completes 50 years of death.
This Saturday (January 28) marks 50 years since the death of the remarkable father of Sion who saved hundreds of Jewish children during the Second World War.
Father Théomir Devaux (d. 28 January 1967) devoted most of his life to the development of Judeo-Christian relationship. He spent several years at Ratisbonne Monastery, in Jerusalem and was editor of the newspaper “La Question d’Israël” (The Israel Issue) and made of Sion property in Paris a center of research and teaching. During the Occupation, Devaux contributed to the rescue of hundreds of Jewish children, some of whom had lost their parents or had been forcibly separated from them. He cooperated with representatives of Jewish organizations to provide false papers to children and find Christian institutions or families willing to welcome and hide them.
After the war, the Monastery resumed its fight against bigotry and anti-Semitism. Its new journal, Les Cahiers Sioniens, which emphasized the evolution of Christian thought on Jews and Judaism, contributed to the preparation of the Document Nostra Aetate on the Relation of the Church with non-Christian Religions, which was promulgated by Pope John XXIII .
On 6 August 1996, Yad Vashem awarded Father Théomir Devaux the title of “Righteous among the Nations”.
Those recognized as “Righteous among the Nations” receive from Yad Vashem a diploma of honor and a medal on which is engraved this sentence of the Talmud: “Whoever saves a life saves the whole universe”. This is the highest civilian honor of the State of Israel.
Click here to see more details in French.
Source: Comité Français pour Yad Vashem
