Jean Vanier

Early Life

As a young boy, Jean Vanier attended school in France, Canada and England. He grew up speaking French and English. At the age of 13, in 1942, Vanier began an eight-year naval career, first with the British Royal Navy and later with the Royal Canadian Navy. In 1950, Vanier resigned his naval commission to follow a more spiritual calling.

Vanier moved back to France to study theology and philosophy. He joined Eau Vive, a faith-based organization for lay people headed by Dominican priest Father Thomas Philippe, who would go on to serve as Vanier’s spiritual mentor. Vanier also began his doctoral studies in philosophy at the Institut Catholique de Paris. In 1962, Vanier defended his thesis on happiness and the ethics of Aristotle. By 1963, he was a teaching professor at St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto.

Founding of L’Arche

Jean Vanier was deeply affected by a visit to a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Jean-les-Deux-Jumeaux, just outside of Paris. He was outraged by the bleak living conditions in the hospital and touched by the longing for friendship he observed in those who lived there. In 1964, Vanier left academia and established L’Arche (the Ark), a home for men with disabilities, in Trosly-Breuil, France. L’Arche was designed as a family-like environment where people with developmental disabilities could be full participants in the community, instead of living like patients in institutions. Vanier would serve as the head of this household for the next 17 years.

In 1969, L’Arche expanded to Canada. The first Canadian community, L'Arche Daybreak, was founded in Richmond Hill, Ontario. By 2019, there were 29 L’Arche communities across the country. L’Arche Canada’s national structure includes the L’Arche Canada Foundation (LCF), the Association des Arches du Québec (AAQ) and the Fondation des Arches du Québec (FAQ). There are more than 150 L’Arche communities in 38 countries around the world. Vanier personally remained the leader of the L'Arche community in Trosly-Breuil until 1981. He lived there until just a few weeks before his death.

Vanier also co-founded Faith and Light, a movement bringing people with and without intellectual disabilities together in friendship. Faith and Light has communities in 86 countries.

Writing and Honours

Jean Vanier was well-known for his writing about spirituality, community and humanity. He published many books, including Tears of Silence (1970), Eruption to Hope (1971), Followers of Jesus (1976), Community and Growth (1979), The Broken Body (1988), From Brokenness to Community (1992), Becoming Human (1998) and Befriending the Stranger (2005). Becoming Human was the basis for Jean Vanier’s 1998 CBC Massey Lecture.

In addition to his nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, Vanier won many honours in Canada and abroad including the French Legion of Honour (1994), the Gaudium and Spes Prize, L’Ordre des Chevaliers de Colomb (2005) and the Globe and Mail’s Nation Builder Award (2008). He was also the recipient of the prestigious Templeton Prize (2015), placing him in the company of previous recipients such as Mother Teresa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama. Vanier was named a Companion of the Order of Canada (1986) and Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec (1992).

In 2017, Vanier was the subject of two documentaries: Summer in the Forest and Jean Vanier, the Sacrament of Tenderness, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2019, Jean Vanier died at the age of 90 in Paris, France.

Allegations of Sexual Abuse

In 2014, L’Arche Internationale was confronted with allegations of sexual abuse committed by its co-founder, Father Thomas Philippe, who died in 1993.

The organization condemned the actions of abuse. Jean Vanier responded to the findings in a 2015 letter, saying he was “overwhelmed and shocked, absolutely unable to understand how this could have happened.”

In 2019, L’Arche Internationale commissioned an external organization to conduct an independent inquiry in order to better understand the history of these events. It sought to “refine its work to prevent abuse and to improve its policies and procedures.” The investigation revealed in 2020 that Vanier had “manipulative sexual relationships” with at least six women between 1970 and 1995. It reported that Vanier would often use spiritual justifications to support his sexual misconduct.

In 2023, L’Arche Internationale revealed findings from a commission of inquiry on Vanier and Father Philippe’s patterns of sexual abuse. The report found that 25 women experienced situations “involving a sexual act or an intimate gesture” with Vanier between 1952 and 2019. It also found further evidence of Vanier’s adherence to Father Philippe’s doctrines and practices of sexual abuse. These findings have led to a difficult reckoning of Vanier’s reputation as a spiritual leader and his legacy of service.