Emmanuelle Cinquin, NDS (born 16 November 1908 – 20 October 2008), widely known just as Sœur Emmanuelle, was a

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer and ...

of both Belgian and French origins, noted for her involvement in working for the plight of the poor in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. She was honoured with Egyptian citizenship in 1991.

Life

She was born Madeleine Cinquin in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium, the daughter of a French father, Jules Cinquin, and a Belgian mother, Berthe Lenssens. Her parents were wealthy lingerie manufacturers; their background was from

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; ; Picard: ''Saint-Onmé'') is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Sa ...

. Her paternal grandmother, Laure Mélanie Dreyfus, was the daughter of an Alsatian Jew named Emmanuel Moïse Augustin Dreyfus and a Christian mother. He was born in

Wissembourg Wissembourg (; South Franconian: ''Weisseburch'' ; German: ''Weißenburg'' ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Wissembourg was a sub-prefecture of the department until 2015. The name ''Wissembourg'' ...

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

, and started the family

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashio ...

business. At the age of six she saw her father drown. Madeleine Cinquin was educated at the Sorbonne, earning a degree in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. In 1929, she became a

in the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, where she took the

religious name A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for religious purposes, and which is generally used in such contexts. Christianity Catholic Church Baptismal name In baptism, Catholic Church, Catholics are given a Christian name, which should n ...

''Emanuelle''. In the 1930s, Sr. Emmanuelle started teaching at the Notre-Dame de Sion High School in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, where she lived until the 1960s, with teaching assignments by her congregation of several years in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

and

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

in between. In 1971, Sr. Emmanuelle witnessed the impoverished conditions of the trash collectors in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, Egypt, and decided to live among them. She remained there until 1993, when she returned to France. It was upon her return that she gained the status of a media sensation in France, as she was well received by audiences and talk-show hosts. In addition to her charity work, she was known for her unorthodox religious views, including her approval of the use of

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...

and of the idea of allowing

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...

to marry. She was voted one of the most popular people in both France and Belgium, and was compared to

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...

, although she herself regarded the comparison as "ridiculous". In 2003, a French television station broadcast the documentary, ''Soeur Emmanuelle: An Exceptional Woman''. In 2005 Sr. Emmanuelle ended in fifth place in the Walloon version of

Le plus grand Belge ''Les plus grands Belges'' (French language, French for "The Greatest Belgians"), is a television show that aired in 2005 on the Belgium, Belgian French-speaking public channel RTBF. In the program the audience could vote for the greatest Belgian ...

(The Greatest Belgian). Sr. Emmanuelle died on 20 October 2008, in Callian, Var, in France. She died in her sleep from natural causes, less than four weeks from celebrating her 100th birthday.

Honors

''Les Amis de Soeur Emmanuelle'' ("The Friends of Sister Emmanuelle") is a charitable organization based in Brussels. French Singer Calogero dedicated a song to her named "Yalla", which means "move on, move forward" in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, something she was famous for saying. The song was sung to her for her 98th birthday. In 2018, for the 10th anniversary of her death, the city of Paris decided to name a street after her. The Allée Soeur-Emmanuelle is situated on the boulevard Raspail, between the allée Claude-Cahun-Marcel-Moore and the boulevard du Montparnasse, where are the headquarters of Congregation of Our Lady of Sion.

Writings

Works written by Sœur Emmanuelle

* Sœur Emmanuelle (pref. Jean-Marie Cavada), ''Chiffonnière avec les chiffonniers'', ’Chiffonniere with ragpickers’, Ivry-sur-Seine, Éditions de l'Atelier, 1989 and 2007 () * Sœur Emmanuelle, ''Une vie avec les pauvres'', ‘A life with the poor’, Paris, Éditions de l'Atelier, 1991 () * Sœur Emmanuelle, ''Yalla, en avant les jeunes'', Paris, LGF - Livre de Poche, 1999 () * Sœur Emmanuelle, ''Les Mots du Rosaire'', ‘The words of the Rosary’, Arles, Actes Sud, 2001 () * Sœur Emmanuelle, ''Un pauvre a crié'', le Seigneur l'écoute, ‘A poor man shouted, the Lord listened’, Paray-le-Monial, Emmanuel, 2005 () * Sœur Emmanuelle, ''Vivre, à quoi ça sert ?'', ‘Living, what is the purpose?’, Paris, J'ai lu, 2005, 149 p. () * Sœur Emmanuelle, Agenda 2009. ''Une année avec Sœur Emmanuelle'', Presses de la Renaissance, 21 August 2008 () * Sœur Emmanuelle, ''365 Méditations de Sœur Emmanuelle'', Paris, Presses de la Renaissance, 9 October 2008 () * Sœur Emmanuelle, ''Je Te Salue Marie'', ‘I hail you, Mary’, Bordeaux, Elytis, 15 October 2008 () * Sœur Emmanuelle, ''Les Confessions d'une religieuse'', ‘The confessions of a religious woman’, Flammarion, 23 October 2008 ()

Works written in collaboration with Sœur Emmanuelle

* et Matthieu Ricard (pref. Sœur Emmanuelle), ''Enfants du Tibet : De cœur à cœur'' avec Jetsun Pema et Sœur Emmanuelle, ‘Children of Tibet : from heart to heart' with Jetsun Pema and Sœur Emmanuelle, Desclée de Brouwer, 2000 () * Sœur Emmanuelle et Edmond Blattschen, ''L'Évangile des chiffonniers'', ‘The Gospel of Ragpickers’, Bruxelles, Alice, 2000 () * Sœur Emmanuelle et Philippe Asso, ''Richesse de la pauvreté'', ‘The wealth of poverty’, Paris, Flammarion, 2001 () * Sœur Emmanuelle et Marlène Tuininga, ''Jésus tel que je le connais'', ‘Jesus as I know him’, Paris, J'ai lu, 2003 () * Sœur Emmanuelle et Philippe Asso, Vivre, ''à quoi ça sert ?'', ‘Living, what is the purpose?’, Paris, Flammarion, 2004 () * Sœur Emmanuelle et Marlène Tuininga, ''Le Paradis, c'est les autres'', ‘Paradise is the others ‘, Paris, J'ai lu, 1995 () * Sœur Emmanuelle et Sofia Stril-Rever, ''La Folie d'Amour. Entretiens avec sœur Emmanuelle'', ‘The Madness of Love. Interviews with Sister Emmanuelle ‘, Flammarion, 2005 () * Jacques Duquesne, Annabelle Cayrol et Sœur Emmanuelle, ''J'ai 100 ans et je voudrais vous dire…'', ‘I’m 100 years old and I would like to say to you…’, Plon, 20 August 2008 () * Sofia Stril-Rever, ''Mon testament spirituel: De Sœur Emmanuelle'', ‘My Spiritual Testament: of Sœur Emmanuelle’, Paris, Presses de la Renaissance, 2008 ()

Works dedicated to Sœur Emmanuelle

* Pierre Lunel (pref.

Bernard Kouchner Bernard Kouchner (born 1 November 1939) is a French politician and doctor. He is the co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Médecins du Monde. From 2007 until 2010, he was the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in t ...

), ''Sœur Emmanuelle, la biographie'', Paris, Anne Carrière, 2006 () * Sœur Emmanuelle, ''Mille et Un bonheurs : Méditations de Sœur Emmanuelle'', Paris, Carnets Nord, 2007 () * ''Documentaire Sœur Emmanuelle, le cœur et l'esprit'' (réalisé par Elisabeth Kapnist) - diffusé sur France 5 en 2007. * Spectacle de Pierrette Dupoyet intitulé ''"L'Amour plus fort que la mort ou une Fleur chez les chiffonniers"'' (création Festival d'Avignon 1997)- texte paru aux Éditions La Traverse année 1999 (Show by Pierrette Dupoyet entitled "Love stronger than death or a flower among the ragpickers" –for the Avignon Festival 1997- Text published in Éditions La Traverse année 1999 (ISSN 1262-3423) * Fabell chante ''Sœur Emmanuelle: Ma grande sœur Emmanuelle, in Tout feu, tout femme!'', ‘My great sister Emmanuelle, in All fire, all woman!’, Rouge Orange 2013 (Sacem RO201311/1/1) * "Yalla", crée et chantée en 2004 par Calogero, en son honneur et par reconnaissance de son action auprès des enfants d'Égypte (‘Created and sung in 2004 by Calogero, in her honor and recognition of her work with the children of Egypt’)

References

External links

95-year-old nun is France's favourite womanFrance's beloved nun Sister Emmanuelle dies at 99

De Madeleine Cinquin à Sœur Emmanuelle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cinquin, Emmanuelle 1908 births 2008 deaths Anti-poverty advocates Roman Catholic activists 20th-century Belgian Roman Catholic nuns Belgian emigrants to France Belgian people of French descent French people of Belgian descent French expatriates in Turkey French expatriates in Egypt French expatriates in Tunisia Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour People from Brussels University of Paris alumni 20th-century French nuns