Alain Richard (monk)

{{Infobox person

| name = Alain Richard

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1924|10|04}}

| birth_place = France{{Cite web|url=https://paceebene.org/blog/2021/6/25/remembering-alain-richard-pace-e-bene-co-founder-and-relentless-nonviolence-advocate|title=Remembering Alain Richard, Pace e Bene co-founder and relentless nonviolence advocate|date=25 June 2021|access-date=10 April 2022|first=Ken|last=Butigan}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2021|06|24|1925|10|04}}

| nationality = French

| occupation = Franciscan friar

}}

Alain Richard (4 October 1924 – 24 June 2021) was a French Franciscan friar.{{cite news |last=Henning|first=Christophe|date=24 June 2021|title=Mort du franciscain Alain Richard, fondateur des Cercles de silence|trans-title= |url=https://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Mort-franciscain-Alain-Richard-fondateur-Cercles-silence-2021-06-24-1201163005|language=French|work=La Croix|location= |access-date=27 June 2021}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z28D2KxisPEC|title=A Circle of Prayer: Coming Together to Find Spirit, Caring, and Community|page=78|first=Holly|last=Bridges|publisher=Council Oak Books|date=1997|isbn=9781885171177|via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CjNgKHfVrWMC|title=Allow the Water : Anger, Fear, Power, Work, Sexuality, Community, and the Spirituality and Practice of Nonviolence|page=413|first=Leonard|last=Desroches|date=1996|publisher=Editions Dunamis Publishers|isbn=9780968082805|via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVEoAQAAMAAJ|title=Unarmed Bodyguards: International Accompaniment for the Protection of Human Rights|first1=Liam|last1=Mahony|first2=Luis|last2=Enrique Eguren|publisher=Kumarian Press|page=15|date=1997|isbn=9781565490680|via=Google Books}} He was a part of Peace Brigades International and founded so-called "Cercles de silence" ("Circles of silence").

Biography

Richard graduated from university with a degree in agricultural engineering. He entered the Franciscan novitiate in 1947 and took his vows in 1953.{{Cite web|url=http://www.franciscainstoulouse.fr/fraternite/freres/ar.htm|title=Br. Alain Richard|date=|access-date=10 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224164700/http://www.franciscainstoulouse.fr/fraternite/freres/ar.htm|archive-date=24 December 2014|url-status=live|via=Wayback Machine|language=French}} He then served as a vicar in Orsay and was chaplain of Paris-Sud University until 1967.

In 1973, Richard began living in the United States. He participated in his first Peace Brigades International in 1983 and subsequently the Pace e Bene in 1989. He returned to France in 1998 and joined the Franciscan community in Toulouse. He helped organize a cercle de silence in 2007. He also served as vice-president of the International Network for a Culture of Nonviolence and Peace.

Alain Richard died on 24 June 2021 at the age of 95.

Bibliography

Piliers pour une culture de la non-violence (2001)
Une vie dans le refus de la violence, Alain Richard, entretiens avec Christophe Henning (2010)

References

Category:1924 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:French Franciscans

Category:French engineers

Category:French emigrants to the United States