Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

Félix Kir (22 January 1876 - 26 April 1968) was a French Catholic priest, resistance fighter and politician.

Life

He was born at

Alise-Sainte-Reine Alise-Sainte-Reine (Alise-Ste-Reine) is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of eastern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Alisiens'' and ''Alisiennes''. Geography Alise-Sainte-Reine i ...

on the

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.Plombières-lès-Dijon Plombières-lès-Dijon (, literally ''Plombières near Dijon'') is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. Population Personalities *Chantal Sébire, teacher and euthanasia activist * Paillet, Julien (de Plombières), 1771- ...

in 1891 and was ordained in 1901. He then worked as a parish priest. During the occupation of France during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he took an active part in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

, helping with the escape of 5,000 prisoners of war from a camp at

Longvic Longvic () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. Population Personalities Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scott ...

. He was arrested and condemned to death, but he was released because of his status. He continued organising operations and was seriously wounded, but escaped interrogation by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

. In 1945, he was made a knight of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

and was elected to the position of

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

and to the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...

. He remained the mayor of Dijon up to his death in 1968.

Legacy

A local drink, then locally known as ''blanc-cassis'', consists of white burgundy wine, traditionally

Aligoté Aligoté is a white grape used to make dry white wines, especially in the Burgundy region of France where it was first recorded in the 18th century.winepros.com.au. Since it is tolerant to cold, this variety is also cultivated in Eastern Euro ...

, mixed with

crème de cassis Crème de cassis () (also known as Cassis liqueur) is a sweet, dark red liqueur made from blackcurrants. Several cocktails are made with crème de cassis, including the popular wine cocktail, kir. It may also be served as an after-dinner li ...

, a sweet, blackcurrant-flavoured liqueur. Kir habitually served this local drink to delegations, and so the drink itself is now known internationally as a '' Kir''.Dale DeGroff, ''The Essential Cocktail: The Art of Mixing Perfect Drinks'' (Random House Digital, Inc., 2008)."Sherry-Lehmann Reports on the Apéritif Hour," ''New York Magazine'', Oct 23, 1972. Vol. 5, No. 43, p.45.A. J. Rathbun, ''Wine Cocktails: 50 Stylish Sippers That Show Off Your Reds, Whites, and Roses'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009). Alternately, some contend that German soldiers confiscated most of the region's red wine, so Kir converted a local brew of red wine and crème de cassis into a combination of white wine and crème de cassis, thus creating the drink.Kir cocktail
/ref> An artificial lake built to the west of Dijon was named '' Lac Kir'' in his honour. ()

References

External links

1876 births 1968 deaths Mayors of Dijon French Roman Catholic priests National Centre of Independents and Peasants politicians Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1945) Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1946) Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 2nd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 2nd National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic French Resistance members Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People from Côte-d'Or {{France-RC-clergy-stub