Marc Sangnier was a French Roman Catholic thinker and politician, who in 1894 founded le Sillon

Le Sillon

Le Sillon was a French political and religious movement founded by Marc Sangnier which existed from 1894 to 1910...

 ("The Furrow"), a liberal Catholic movement. He aimed to bring Catholicism into a greater conformity with French Republican ideals and to provide an alternative to anticlerical labour movements. The movement was initially successful, but was eventually condemned by the Pope in the letter Notre charge apostolique

Notre Charge Apostolique

Notre Charge Apostolique was a papal encyclical promulgated by Pope Pius X on August 15, 1910. The Pope took issue with what he viewed as the socialist leanings of the Catholic 'Le Sillon' movement of Marc Sangnier....

in 1910. In 1912 Sangnier founded a replacement group, the League of the Young Republic to promote his vision of social Catholicism.

Sangnier founded a newspaper, La Démocratie, which campaigned for equality for women, proportional representation at elections, and for pacifism. He was also one of the pioneers of the French youth-hostelling movement. In 1928 he employed the 19 year old Émilien Amaury

Émilien Amaury

Émilien Amaury was a French publishing magnate whose company now organises the Tour de France. He worked with Philippe Pétain, head of the French government in the southern half of France during the second world war but used his position to find paper and other materials for the French Resistance...

in his first job, from which he went on to found the Amaury publishing empire.

External links

• Biography (in French)