The film "Abbé Pierre: A Century of Devotion" (L'Abbé Pierre - Une vie de combats) released in theaters on November 8, 2023, provides an opportunity to revisit the journey of this resistant priest, deputy, and advocate for the homeless. It also allows (re)discovery of his numerous connections with the Jesuits in Lyon. The archives service of our Province has indeed found numerous precious documents revealing the family intimacy of Henri Grouès, the future Abbé Pierre, his youth, and his religious vocation.

A student among the Jesuits, Henri Grouès, was born on August 5, 1912, in Lyon, into a wealthy Catholic family. He is the fifth of eight children. His father, the director of the Fonderies du Rhône, was actively involved in numerous associations, particularly the Hospitaliers-Veilleurs, a charitable organization in Lyon. Henri attended a Jesuit school, the Externat Saint-Joseph in Lyon, from 1921 to 1930, as evidenced by his school report and the proclamation registers below.

Henri Grouès was also a neighbor of the Jesuits on Rue Sala on the peninsula in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon. Indeed, he lived with his family at 26 Rue Sala, and the Jesuit community resided at number 20, as is still the case today.

A Capuchin ordained as a priest with the Jesuits In 1927, he participated in a trip to Rome and Assisi. He was deeply influenced by the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, which guided his vocation through the embodiment of simplicity. In 1931, at the age of 19, he joined the Capuchins and took the name 'Brother Philippe.'

After 7 years of contemplative and cloistered life, Henri Grouès was ordained as a Capuchin priest with 24 Jesuits on August 24, 1938. The ordination took place in the chapel of his former school, the Externat Saint-Joseph (currently the chapel of the Saint-Marc School Center). A letter from Father Henri Chabert SJ, dated December 1997, explains the circumstances of this ordination:

"He was part of the promotion of new ordinands with the Jesuits because his father, ill, still lived in the family home at 26 Rue Sala at the time of his ordination, and he only had a few steps to take to attend his son's ordination. In fact, Mr. Antoine Grouès passed away a month before the ordination, but we did not change the arrangements that had been made."