Jacques Hamel
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The Reverend Jacques Hamel Servant of God |
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| Church | Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray |
| Archdiocese | Archdiocese of Rouen |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 30 June 1958 by Joseph-Marie Martin |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
30 November 1930 Darnétal, Seine-Maritime, France |
| Died | 26 July 2016 (aged 85) Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, France |
| Buried | Basilica of Notre-Dame de Bonsecours 49°25′18″N 1°07′23″E / 49.4215304°N 1.1229655°ECoordinates: 49°25′18″N 1°07′23″E / 49.4215304°N 1.1229655°E |
| Nationality | French |
| Denomination | Roman Catholicism |
Jacques Hamel (30 November 1930 – 26 July 2016) was a French Catholic priest in the parish of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray. On 26 July 2016, Hamel was murdered during the 2016 Normandy church attack by two Muslim men pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant while he celebrated Mass in his church.
The circumstances of his death have led him to be called a martyr by Christians, including Pope Francis, non-Christians, and the press.
The president of Lombardy, Roberto Maroni, and others publicly called for him to be made a saint. The process to make him a saint commenced in October 2016 after Pope Francis issued a decree of dispensation waving the traditional five-year waiting period before the activation of a cause.
Hamel was born on 30 November 1930 in Darnétal, France. At the age of six he became a choirboy in and at 14 he entered the minor seminary. He served in the military for 18 months in Algeria. He did not wish to be an officer as he did not want to issue orders to other men to kill.
Hamel was ordained as a priest on 30 June 1958. He served as a vicar at the St. Antoine church in Le Petit-Quevilly from 1958, a vicar at the Notre-Dame de Lourdes church in Sotteville-lès-Rouen from 1967, a parish priest in Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf from 1975, and a parish priest in Cléon from 1988. He joined the church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray in 2000. He officially retired at the age of 75, but was allowed to keep serving in the parish. As a result, he assumed his role as the parish's assistant priest from 2005 to his death.
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