Célestin Nat, (7 September 1870, in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

– 31 October 1895, in the penal colony of

Cayenne Cayenne (; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Caye ...

), was an

individualist Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and a ...

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

militant and terrorist. Orphaned, he grew up in poverty and vagrancy but eventually managed to secure a job in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

at the beginning of the Era of Attacks (1892-1894). However, he was soon dismissed from this job, which led him to visit the chief of staff of the city's mayor, who also refused to provide him with employment. He then carried out the 1894 Marseille stabbing, two days before the execution of Émile Henry, where he went to the Quai des Augustins in Marseille and stabbed the first

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

he encountered. This attack, one of the first to align with the dynamics of indiscriminate terrorism, led to his arrest and trial. He was sentenced to twenty years of imprisonment in a penal colony, where he died the following year.

Biography

Célestin Nat was born in Toulouse on 7 September 1870. He was orphaned, and his parents were unknown; Nat had to spend part of his childhood wandering. He studied for some time in Royat, where he trained in agricultural work. In 1886, he received a silver medal from the Royat farm school upon passing his exam. During this period, he worked in various jobs, particularly as a gardener or as a 'sandwich man'. Nat attended

Sébastien Faure Sébastien Faure (; 6 January 1858 – 14 July 1942) was a French anarchist, convicted sex offender, freethought and secularist activist and a principal proponent of synthesis anarchism. Biography Before becoming a free-thinker, Faure w ...

's lectures in Marseille when they were held there and frequented the Bar de la Croix de Malte, then a gathering place for radical Marseille anarchists. At the beginning of 1894, he was reported to the police in an anonymous letter as a 'dangerous anarchist', leading to an investigation against him—which yielded no conclusive results. Nat lost his job at the end of April 1894; he attempted to approach the chief of staff of the mayor of Marseille to request employment, but he was refused and turned away. On 19 May 1894, Nat walked for some time along the Quai des Augustins, searching for a target—he stabbed a bourgeois under the left ear with a tire-point before fleeing. The victim, Louis Blanc, an olive oil company owner, survived. Nat was later arrested, and upon searching him, the authorities found a notebook containing ''La Chanson du Père Duchesne'', sung by

Ravachol François Claudius Ravachol (; born Koenigstein; 14 October 1859 – 11 July 1892) was a French illegalist anarchist mainly known for his terrorist activism, impact, the myths developed around his figure and his influence on the anarchist moveme ...

on his way to the guillotine, verses from

Auguste Vaillant Auguste Vaillant (; 27 December 1861 – 5 February 1894) was a French anarchist known for his bomb attack on the French Chamber of Deputies on 9 December 1893. The French government's reaction to this attack was the passing of the infamous rep ...

’s tomb, and Émile Henry’s manifesto. Nat bagne papers 1894

This attack took place two days before the scheduled execution of Émile Henry and bore many similarities to the attack carried out by

Léon Léauthier Léon-Jules Léauthier (January 1874, in Manosque - assassinated on 22 October 1894 at the penal colony of the Salvation Islands), was shoemaker, activist, and Anarchism, anarchist terrorist in France. An anarchist from a young age, he is best k ...

on 13 November 1893, a few months earlier. While incarcerated and on the eve of Henry’s execution, he declared to his jailers: More broadly, he stated that he had no regrets and that the entire bourgeoisie should disappear. The anarchist was then put on trial in early August 1894, where he completely denied being an anarchist. The prosecutor sought the death penalty, but on 3 August 1894, he was ultimately sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in the penal colony. He died there on 31 October 1895.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nat, Célestin 1870 births People from Toulouse French anarchists French revolutionaries Propaganda of the deed 1895 deaths