Soeur Emmanuelle is dead

Tributes have been paid across France after the news that one of the country's most remarkable and much-loved women is dead.

Soeur Emmanuelle, who dedicated her life to helping the poor and was often compared to Mother Therese. died on Monday morning at the age of 99.

She died peacefully in her sleep at the home where she was being cared for in Callian in the south of France, the president of the association "Asmae-Association Sœur Emmanuelle" Trao Nguyen announced.

The comparison to Mother Therese is one Soeur Emmanuelle - born Madeleine Cinquin in Brussels, Belgium - repeatedly downplayed with the comment that she was "no saint".

But hers was a rich life that included setting up an association for unmarried mothers, working in Turkey and Tunisia and then at the age of 63 in the slums of Cairo, where she remained for 21 years.

Even when she returned to France at the age of 85 - supposedly to retire - she continued working with the homeless, and made a number of television appearances to promote humanitarian causes.

For the past decade she spent most of her time in a retirement home in Callian, receiving visitors but not leaving the village.

Apart from many memories, Soeur Emmanuelle also leaves behind a series of books including one published in August "J'ai 100 ans et je voudrais vous dire " (I'm 100 years old and I would like to tell) in which she not only outlined what she considered her many faults but also left us with the thought that, "Without helping others and without sharing, humanity cannot progress."

The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner was among one of the first to respond to the news.

"My Soeur Emmanuelle is dead, she would have been 100 years old, always young, admirable and beautiful, and I have a very heavy heart" he said in a statement.

"I always remember what a joy it was to work alongside her. I will always keep the memory of the life force she gave and her ability to make mountains move," he added.

"A woman of the streets. An incredible force who would tenderly tell you off."

Even though she was sometimes at odds with the conventional thinking of the Catholic church - she spoke out in favour of the clergy being allowed to marry and even wrote to Pope John-Paul II telling him she thought contraception should be allowed - the Vatican was also quick to respond to news of her death.

A spokesman for the Vatican, Father Federico Lombardi, said the church had lost "one if the greatest examples of Christian charity."

"Her life showed how Christian charity could succeed regardless of national, racial or religious differences," he said.

Soeur Emmanuelle made many appearances on French television and radio over the years, and as recently as July in a poll of this country's most popular people, she ranked sixth.

There is simply too much to say about an exceptional woman who made such a difference to the lives of so many, and televised tributes have already been announced for the coming days.

According to her wishes there will be a simple funeral ceremony in the village of Callian on Wednesday.

But perhaps the last word for the moment is best left with the woman herself.

"I've had a good and happy life," she said in her recent book

"I can only keep repeating that it's necessary to give others optimism , the will and love."


Addition

Soeur Emmanuelle truly was an extraordinary person, and neither this post nor the previous one I wrote really gets across just how remarkable she was.

Her spirit, energy and humanity were a lesson to us all - regardless of religion, nationality or race. And that has been a point made time and time again throughout the course of today (Monday) here in France.

She spoke and appealed to generations of French, and they appeared to listen to her. She addressed everyone, French presidents, clergy, the homeless, intellectuals - you name it - in the informal "tu" form, and cajoled, bullied, smiled and won her way into the hearts of an enormous number of people.

In a statement on Monday, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy said (and I paraphrase)
"She was a Sister to us all, a woman of the highest conviction, but also one of action, for whom charity actually meant doing something concrete for the benefit of humanity worldwide."

Politicians from Left to Right and religious leaders here in France have either issued statements or spoken to press, radio and television today about what she meant to the French and world at large.

Lunchtime TV news was dedicated in the most part to her death, and doubtless the story will lead the prime time news this evening on both the country's major national channels. There are further special programmes scheduled for the coming weeks and in particular for November 16, when she would have celebrated her 100th birthday.