Olichon, Armand-Louis-Joseph-Marie

OLICHON, ARMAND-LOUIS-JOSEPH-MARIE. - Born in Rennes on 11 April 1876, and died in Paris on 19 May 1936. After completing his secondary studies, he entered the Dominican novitiate at Flavigny (Seine-et-Oise) in 1896.

Illness prevented him from continuing, and having returned to secular life in 1899, he began the study of medicine and then turned toward philosophy, and in 1903 became professor of philosophy at the college of St. Dominic. In 1904 he entered the Seminary of St. Sulpice and on 15 June 1908 was ordained a priest. From 1911 to 1913 he was private secretary to the bishop of Meaux and then chaplain of the school "des Francs Bourgeois" in Paris. On 3 December 1921 he became secretary of the Missionary Union of the Clergy in Paris and on 20 February 1926 director of the Work of St. Peter the Apostle, which on 24 June 1927 was united with the Work of the Propagation of the Faith. He then devoted himself entirely to the Missionary Union of the Clergy, of which he became national director in 1930. He published various pamphlets and works, exerting a profound influence. Mention is made only of Les missions. Histoire de l'expansion du catholicisme dans le monde (Paris 1936).