John Flory (1886 in

Lure, Haute-Saône Lure () is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Saône Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. At 8,207 inhabitants (2017), Lure is the third most populous town in th ...

– 9 May 1949, in

Montbéliard Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department. History Montbéliard is ...

) was a French

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

, teacher and resistant. He was

archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogo ...

of the Cathedral of Montbéliard. He was a

seminarist A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

Delle Delle () is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in northeastern France. Delle is the last French town on the railway line from Belfort to Berne, in Switzerland. The railway station in Delle is served ...

and studied theology in

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

. He was awarded the title "

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

" and was buried in Thann.

Biography

Jean Flory's family originates from

Thann, Haut-Rhin Thann (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Dànn'', , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the northeastern French Departments of France, department of Haut-Rhin, in Grand Est.Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

. As a teenager, he was active in the Association Catholique de la Jeunesse Française ,Bernard Comte, ''L’honneur et la conscience : catholiques français en résistance (1940-1944)'', Éditions de l’Atelier, 1998, p. 216. and became a seminarian in

. He studied theology in Besançon and was ordained on July 30, 1911 as vicar of Saint-Joseph parish in Belfort. In July 1914, he was appointed chaplain of

San Luigi dei Francesi The Church of St. Louis of the French (, , ) is a Catholic Church, Catholic church near Piazza Navona in Rome. The church is dedicated to the patron saints of France: Virgin Mary, Dionysius the Areopagite and King Louis IX of France. The churc ...

(Rome), but following the outbreak of the First

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he became a

Military chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases, they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term ''cha ...

in the Chasseurs Alpins from 1914 to 1918. In 1917 in

Seppois-le-Bas Seppois-le-Bas (; ; ) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. The inhabitants of Seppois-le-Bas are called Bas-Seppoisiens and Bas-Seppoisiennes. Geography Bordering the neighboring town of Seppois-le-Haut, ...

, he rescued the

Torah scroll A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Interior, Tora Cases.jpg">Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India ...

from the synagogue destroyed by bombing. From 1921 to 1937 he was chaplain at the Lycée Victor Hugo in Besançon and with the Jeunesse Étudiante Chrétienne. From 1937 to 1949, he was archpriest of Saint-Maimbœuf church in Montbéliard, whose

Parvise A parvis or parvise is the open space in front of and around a cathedral or church, especially when surrounded by either colonnades or porticoes, as at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It is thus a church-specific type of forecourt, front yard or ...

now bears his name. At Christmas 1942, Jean Flory defied the Germans by recalling the Jewish origins of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, to whom he affixed yellow stars in effigy, and on Prisoners of War Day, he read out from the

Pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

the names of the prisoners, as well as those deported and the Montbéliard Jews deported by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. Jean Flory had suffered from asthma since 1941, and died at the age of 62 on May 9, 1949 in

.Archives de la Haute-Saône, commune de Lure, acte de naissance , année 1886 (avec mention marginale de décès) (page 29/33)
/ref> Among Abbé Flory's alumni were thirty-eight priests, including Pierre Bockel,

from Thann.

Legacy

* He was awarded "Righteous Among the Nations" * In Montbéliard, the front of the cathedral is named after him * In Thann, a street is named after him

References

Bibliography

* ''L'Enfant du rire'', preface by

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...

, Grasset, Paris 1973. Reed. 1991, 204 p. () * ''Chrétiens et Juifs sous Vichy, 1940-1944 : sauvetage et désobéissance civile,'' Limore Yagil, Le Cerf ed., Paris, 2005, p. 601 and foll. () * ''L'abbé Flory (1886-1949)'', documents and testimonies gathered by Joseph Ball, 337 p., Besançon, 1978 * ''Témoins de l'Évangile : quinze siècles d’écrits spirituels d'auteurs comtois'', Jean Thiébaud, preface by Lucien Daloz, L'Harmattan ed., 1999, 390 p. () 1886 births 1949 deaths People from Lure, Haute-Saône 20th-century French Roman Catholic priests Catholic Righteous Among the Nations French Resistance members {{France-RC-clergy-stub