>GreenC bot: Rescued 1 archive link; reformat 1 link. Wayback Medic 2.5

2021-04-21T21:36:16Z

Rescued 1 archive link; reformat 1 link. Wayback Medic 2.5

New page

'''Pierre Ceyrac''' (1914-2012) was a French [[Jesuit]] priest who worked for 75 years outside his home country. He was celebrated for his work in both France and India, earning the French [[Légion d'honneur]] in 2005.<ref name="LaCroix">{{cite news | url=http://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Approfondir/Spiritualite/P.-Ceyrac-Le-grand-desir-de-l-Inde-c-est-la-vision-de-Dieu-_NP_-1999-02-20-812411 | title=P. Ceyrac : " Le grand désir de l'Inde, c'est la vision de Dieu " | work=La Croix | date=20 February 1999 | accessdate=June 5, 2012 | author=Monroe,, Laurence}}</ref><ref name="TheHindu" />

==Personal life==
Pierre Ceyrac was born in [[Meyssac]], [[Corrèze]] into a middle-class Catholic family. The second oldest of six children, he studied at St. Joseph Boarding School in [[Sarlat]], along with all his brothers, including Francois Ceyrac, who would later go on to be president of the National Council of French Employers from 1972 to 1981.<ref name="LaCroix02">{{cite news | url=http://www.la-croix.com/Religion/S-informer/Actualite/Le-jesuite-missionnaire-Pierre-Ceyrac-est-mort-_NG_-2012-05-30-812405 | title=Le jésuite missionnaire Pierre Ceyrac est mort | work=La Croix | date=31 May 2012 | accessdate=June 5, 2012 | author=Lesegretain, Claire}}</ref>

==Career==
Ceyrac was attracted to a [[religious vocation]] early in life and in October 1931, became a [[novice]] of the [[Society of Jesus]].

At the age of 23, he earned a degree in Classical Letters and Philology from [[Sorbonne]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://indianhope.free.fr/site_eng/team.php3 | title=The People Responsible for DACA | accessdate=June 5, 2012}}</ref> He then chose to follow in the footsteps of his uncle Charles Ceyrac, who had been a Jesuit missionary in Southern India.<ref name="LePoint">{{cite news | url=http://www.lepoint.fr/societe/le-pere-pierre-ceyrac-missionnaire-jesuite-en-inde-est-decede-01-06-2012-1468231_23.php | title=Le père Pierre Ceyrac, missionnaire jésuite en Inde, est décédé | work=Le Point | date=1 June 2012 | agency=AFP (Agence France Presse) | accessdate=5 June 2012}}</ref>

In 1937, he sailed from [[Marseilles]] to India, where he would spend the rest of his life. He earned a degree in [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and [[Sanskrit]] from [[Pachaiyappa’s College]] where he also studied [[Vedanta]] and the [[Upanishads]].<ref name="NouvelObs">{{cite news | url=http://leplus.nouvelobs.com/contribution/564670-hommage-au-pere-ceyrac-heraut-de-l-inde-moderne-apres-gandhi.html | title=Hommage au père Ceyrac, héraut de l'Inde moderne après Gandhi | work=Le nouvel Observateur | date=5 June 2012 | accessdate=June 5, 2012 | author=Saint-Cheron, Michaël de}}</ref><ref name="Frontline">{{cite news | url=http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1516/15161210.htm | title=A life of service | work=Frontline | date=1–16 August 1988 | accessdate=June 5, 2012 | author=Krishnakumar, Asha | volume=15 | number=16}}</ref>

He was ordained as a priest in 1945 at the Jesuit Seminary in [[Kurseong]], [[West Bengal]] and finished his [[tertianship]] in 1947. Soon after, he was named as the chaplain to [[St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli|St. Joseph's College]] in [[Tiruchirappalli]]. In 1955, he became chaplain of the All India Catholic University Federation, a post he held until 1967.<ref name="LaCroix02" /> Inspired by [[Mohandas Gandhi]] and [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], he began working towards improving living conditions for the poorest Indians, notably the [[Dalit|Untouchables]].<ref name="TheHindu">{{cite news | url=http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/09/stories/2008050959420200.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512233127/http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/09/stories/2008050959420200.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=12 May 2008 | title=Neither age nor poor health has withered this Jesuit priest’s spirits | date=9 May 2008 | accessdate=June 5, 2012 | work=[[The Hindu]] | author=Jebaraj, Pricialla}}</ref>

His first major project began in 1957, when he and groups of students worked to help the poor in a village near [[Pondicherry (city)|Pondicherry]]. They built roads, houses, and clinics in a place they called "Cherian Nagar" where 20,000 [[Hindus]], [[Muslims]], and [[Christians]] lived.<ref name="LaCroix02" /> With the help of donations from abroad as well as European and Indian volunteers, his organization was able to help thousands more across Southern India.

In 1969, he established a cooperative farm in [[Manamadurai]], [[Tamil Nadu]] that provided thousands of villagers with food and a place to work, helping over 250,000 people. Then, in the villages around the farm he started the "Thousand Wells" (''Mille puits'') campaign that taught the villagers how to farm previously unusable land.<ref name="NouvelObs" />

Following a call in 1980 from [[Pedro Arrupe|Father Arrupe]], [[Superior General]] of the Jesuits and founder of the [[Jesuit Refugee Service]], he volunteered to help the thousands of [[Cambodia]]ns entering Thailand, fleeing the [[Khmer Rouge]]. He taught at the [[Khao-I-Dang]] and [[Site Two Refugee Camp|Site Two]] refugee camps, where he learned the [[Khmer language]]. He ended his work there in 1992, and returned to India.

After his return to [[Chennai]], he created the Ambukarangal Centres near [[Tindivanam]], [[Tamil Nadu]]. Taking their name from a word meaning "open hands," these are places where orphans and children from very poor families can receive shelter, food, health care and education, as well as love and emotional support.<ref name="ceyrac01">{{cite web | url=http://ceyrac.free.fr/fr/projets/les%20mains/les%20mains%202.html | title=Mains ouverte | accessdate=June 5, 2012}}</ref>

Father Ceyrac continued his work well into his nineties, coming to the aid of fishing villages affected by the [[2004 Indian Ocean tsunami]]. He spent the last years of his life teaching at [[Loyola College, Chennai|Loyola College]] in Chennai. Throughout his life, he campaigned for the rights and dignity of the Dalits and was an advocate for human rights. He died 30 May 2012, at the age of 98 in Chennai.<ref>[http://www.battambangparish.org/parish-news/fr-piere-ceyrac-sj-a-friend-of-cambodians FR. PIERRE CEYRAC, SJ: FRIEND OF CAMBODIANS]</ref>

==See also==
{{portal bar|Biography|Catholicism|France|India}}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceyrac, Pierre}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:2012 deaths]]
[[Category:French humanitarians]]
[[Category:20th-century French Jesuits]]
[[Category:21st-century French Jesuits]]

Pierre Ceyrac (Jesuit) - Revision history

>GreenC bot: Rescued 1 archive link; reformat 1 link. Wayback Medic 2.5