Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu

Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu
Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu as Charles de Gaulle's representant in Canada, March 1941.
Born	7 August 1889 (1889-08-07) Brest, France
Died	7 September 1964(1964-09-07) (aged 75) Brest, France
Allegiance	France  Free French Forces
Service/branch	French Navy  Free French Naval Forces
Years of service	1912-1947
Rank	Admiral
Awards	Grand Cross of the Légion d'Honneur Compagnon de la Libération Médaille Militaire Croix de Guerre

Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu, in religion Father Louis of the Trinity, O.C.D. (7 August 1889 – 7 September 1964), was a Discalced Carmelite friar and priest, who was also a diplomat and French Navy officer and admiral; he became one of the major personalities of the Forces navales françaises libres. He was the chancellor of the Ordre de la Libération.

He was born in Brest on 7 August 1889, in a family of Navy officers. He joined the École navale (Naval Academy) at 17.

D'Argenlieu served on the Du Chayla as a midshipman, taking part in the campaign in Morocco, which led to the Treaty of Fez, in 1912. During the campaign, he was awarded the Legion of Honour, and befriended Hubert Lyautey, something that d'Argenlieu later recalled as one of the happy memories in his life.

During the First World War, d'Argenlieu served in the Mediterranean; in 1915, while on leave in Malta, he became a member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites. He was promoted to lieutenant de vaisseau in 1917. The next year, as commanding officer of a patrol boat, the Tourterelle, he distinguished himself in the rescue of a troop transport.

Upon the conclusion of the war, d'Argenlieu undertook theological studies at the Pontifical Angelicum College, the future Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome, which he completed in 1920. That year, he entered the novitiate of the Discalced Carmelite friars in Avon, Seine-et-Marne. He professed his initial religious vows as a member of the Order on 15 September 1921 and was given the religious habit and the religious name of Louis de la Trinité (Louis of the Trinity).