Scandal among the religious, Abbot Pierre lived with this older woman “she…

She is a woman in the shadows, but whose actions have changed the lives of millions of people: close to Abbé Pierre, Lucie Coutaz shared everything with him. Secretary, partner, associate and best friend, she has long been inseparable from him, his discreet but essential double. Too often forgotten, it is highlighted in a new film.

Abbé Pierre, as a couple? The question surprises. Having entered the orders in the 1930s, when he was only in his twenties, the man could not have had a love affair. But that did not prevent him from being accompanied throughout his life by a woman essential to his journey, Lucie Coutaz. A woman met during the war, and who followed him until the end.

In 1943, the man who was still only the vicar Henri Grouès, was an active member of the Resistance. He is 32 years old and is looking for allies for false papers intended for Jews who must leave for Switzerland. In this context, he meets Lucie. Aged 45, she, like him, went through religion after being saved by a miracle in Lourdes, and is a Christian trade unionist undercover in Notre-Dame-de-Sion. It’s love at first sight between them, a friendly love at first sight that will never be denied.

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