Amélie Boudet (23 November 1795 – 21 January 1883) was a French teacher and artist, and wife of

Allan Kardec Allan Kardec () is the pen name of the French educator, translator, and author Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (; 3 October 1804 – 31 March 1869). He is the author of the five books known as the Spiritist Codification, and the founder of S ...

, the founder of

Spiritism Spiritism (French: ''spiritisme''; Portuguese: ''espiritismo'') is a spiritualist, religious, and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer, and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Riva ...

. After his death, she became the world's leading authority on Spiritism.

Early life

She was the only daughter of Julien Louis Boudet, notary, and Julie-Louise Seigneat of Lacombe, teacher. Growing up, she was known by the nickname "Gaby."

Marriage

On February 9, 1832, she married

Career

According to the biographer Henri Sausse, she was a first-class teacher who founded the first Escola Normal Leiga with the guidance of

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (, ; 12 January 1746 – 17 February 1827) was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach. He founded several educational institutions both in German- and French-speaking r ...

Boulevard Saint-Germain Boulevard Saint-Germain () is a major street in Paris on the Rive Gauche of the Seine. It curves in a 3.5-kilometre (2.1 miles) arc from the Pont de Sully in the east (the bridge at the edge of Île Saint-Louis) to the Pont de la Concorde ( ...

in Paris, where she lived all her life. She graduated from the École Normale and became a primary school teacher, and later a professor of literature and of the fine arts. She is the author of three books: ''Fabulae Primaveris'' (1825), ''Notions de Dessin'' (1826)'','' and ''L'Essentiel dans les Beaux-arts'' (1828). She was also a poet and artist, and was said to have a mastery of traditional techniques.

Role in the creation of Spiritism

Beginning in 1856, Amélie Boudet aided her husband in codifying

, served as his secretary, and gave him advice, of which he took great account. When Allan Kardec was asked to found the ''Revue Spirite'', the spiritualist bookshop and local Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, it was Boudet who encouraged him to devote himself to this publication despite many detractors.Article : Compte Rendu des Obsèques de Madame Allan Kardec, ''La Revue Spirite'', January 1883 After the death of her husband in 1869, Boudet assumed all the necessary responsibilities for the management of Spiritism in France and the world. She assumed the management of the ''Revue Spirite'' and its publications, gaining rights to the spiritualist works of Kardec.

Death

Boudet died in her Paris home on 21 January 1883 and was buried next to her husband in Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Published works

* ''Fabulae Primaveris'' (1825) * ''Notions de Dessin'' (1826) * ''L'Essentiel dans les Beaux-arts'' (1828)

Honours

In 2004, a Parisian spiritual center of Spiritism, L'Institut Amélie Boudet, was named after her.

References

Bibliography

* Souto Maior, Marcel. ''Kardec - A Biografia'' (1ª edição). São Paulo: Ed. Record, 2013. * Wantuil, Zêus, and Francisco Thiesen. ''Allan Kardec, Meticulosa Pesquisa Biobibliográfica''. Vol. 3. Rio, RJ, Brasil: Federação Espírita Brasileira, Departamento Editorial, 1979. Print.

External links

Institut Amélie Boudet website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boudet, Amelie 1795 births 1883 deaths Spiritism French educators French spiritual writers French women writers Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery French artists People from Thiais 19th-century French educators 19th-century women writers 19th-century women educators