“A forgotten hero?” the old woman muttered, adjusting her shawl. “Right here on Rue Frère Benoît.” Rue Frère Benoît. It’s an unassuming street, nestled between Rue du Professeur-Patel and Avenue Barthélémy-Buyer in Lyon’s 9th arrondissement. But beneath its quiet exterior lies a powerful story of compassion and resilience. This small street, once a fragment of the Rue des Deux-Amants, now bears the name of a remarkable man. Henri Galdin, known as Frère Benoît.
Frère Benoît, a Franciscan friar, dedicated his life to serving others. Born in 1896, his path to religious life began at the Franciscan seminary in Monaco. World War I interrupted his studies, leaving him with a permanent injury – a missing thumb. This prevented him from becoming a priest. Undeterred, he embraced the role of a “frère convers” in 1921, taking the name Frère Marie-Benoît. He arrived at the Couvent des Buers near La Doua, Villeurbanne, in 1934. Little did he know the horrors he would soon face.
During World War II, Frère Benoît became a beacon of hope in a city shrouded in darkness. He tirelessly organized aid for deported Jews. He worked with the Red Cross, rescuing victims of the bombings that ravaged Lyon in 1944. He even alerted Cardinal Gerlier to the horrific massacres at Saint-Genis-Laval. Frère Benoît’s bravery didn’t end with the liberation of Lyon. He took on the grim but necessary task of exhuming and identifying victims from mass graves in La Doua, Saint-Genis-Laval, Bron, Chasse-sur-Rhône, Saint-Vallier, and the Vercors. His meticulous records, compiled in the “Cahier de Frère Benoît,” became a testament to the atrocities of war. He later shared these harrowing experiences in lectures. His courageous actions earned him recognition for his “heroic action in favor of the victims of oppression.”
After the war, Frère Benoît continued his life of service. In 1958, he became director of the Saint François reception center in Avignon, where he passed away in 1968. In a remarkable tribute, his body was transferred in 1974 to the National Necropolis of La Doua, a final resting place among those he worked so tirelessly to identify and honor. Rue Frère Benoît, then, is more than just a street. It’s a quiet reminder of a man who found his calling in serving others. His legacy lives on, not only in this street but in the hearts of those who remember his unwavering compassion amidst unimaginable suffering.