Élie Allégret

Élie Allégret (8 January 1865 – 28 October 1940) was a French Protestant pastor and missionary in Africa.

Biography

Élie Allégret studied at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Paris.

In 1885, he was invited by Juliette Rondeaux, widow of University of Paris law professor Paul Gide (1832–1880) and mother of writer André Gide, to the château de La Roque-Baignard to work as the private tutor of André and direct both his reading and his religious education.

In 1889, he became a pastor and was sent on a mission to Gabon, to the mission station of .

In 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, Allégret, who had become a military chaplain, went on a mission to Cameroon before becoming co-director of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society.

After the end of World War I, Allégret left on a mission around the world. Between July 1926 and February 1928, he traveled through Oceania.

Family

En 1891, Élie Allégret married Suzanne Ehrhardt (1869–1950). They had six children: Jean-Paul (1894–1930), Éric (1896–1971), André, Marc (1900–1973), Yves (1905–1987) and Valentine (1909–1988). Jean-Paul and André were born in Talagouga, in Africa. Éric was born in Paris when Élie was working at the headquarters of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society in Paris. Filmmaker Marc Allégret was born in Basel, Switzerland, followed by Yves Allégret, also a filmmaker, in Paris where the family had settled in 1903.

Élie Allégret is the biological grandfather of Catherine Allégret.

Suzanne Ehrhardt had a sister, Valentine Ehrhardt (1873–1906), who also participated in evangelical missions.

Correspondence with André Gide

Allégret was the tutor and friend of the writer André Gide. The two met in 1885, and quickly developed a deep friendship.

In 1889, Allégret wrote whilst aboard the ship ''Portugal'', en route to Gabon. A significant correspondence maintained their bond of friendship, especially during Allégret's long stays in Africa.

In 1914, after Élie Allégret departed for a mission of evangelization in Cameroon, Suzanne Allégret established her own correspondence with André Gide. Suzanne, matriarch of the family with six children, would recount in detail the activities of each, at the request of Gide.

Honours and distinctions

* Namesake of the Collège Élie Allégret de Bandjoun
* 1909: ''honoris causa'' doctorate from the University of Geneva
* 1919: Chevalier of the Legion of Honour

References

Bibliography

* Pierre Billard, ''André Gide et Marc Allégret, le roman secret'', Plon, 2006
* Émilie Gangnat, ''Élie Allégret'', in Patrick Cabanel and André Encrevé (dir.), ''Dictionnaire biographique des protestants français de 1787 à nos jours'', tome 1 : A-C, Les Éditions de Paris Max Chaleil, Paris, 2015,
* Pierre Masson, Jean Claude, ''André Gide et l'écriture de soi'', Presses Universitaires de Lyon, 2002
* Alexandra Loumpet-Galitzine, ''Njoya et le royaume bamoun, les archives de la Société des missions évangéliques de Paris'', éditions Karthala, 2006.
*''L'Enfance de l'art. Correspondances avec Élie Allégret (1886–1896)''. Letters of André Gide, Juliette Gide, Madeleine Rondeaux and Élie Allégret, edited by Daniel Durosay. Gallimard, Paris : 1998
''Why Do We Need the White Man’s God? African Contributions and Responses to the Formation of a Christian Movement in Cameroon, 1914–1968''
Guy Alexander Thomas (PhD thesis) University of London, 2001

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alleget, Elie
1865 births
1940 deaths
20th-century French theologians
21st-century French theologians
Clergy from Lyon
Clergy from Paris
French Protestant missionaries
French military chaplains
Protestant missionaries in Cameroon
Protestant missionaries in Gabon
Protestant Faculty of Theology in Paris
Knights of the Legion of Honour