Léopold Louis Joubert
| Léopold Louis Joubert | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
22 February 1842 Saint-Herblon, France |
| Died | 27 May 1927 (aged 85) Moba, Belgian Congo |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Soldier |
| Known for | Defense of equatorial African missions |
Léopold Louis Joubertt (or Ludovic Joubert) (22 February 1842 – 27 May 1927) was a French soldier and lay missionary. He fought for the Papal States between 1860 and 1870 during the Italian unification, which he opposed. He later assisted the White Fathers missionaries in East Africa and played an important role in the suppression of the slave trade between 1885 and 1892. He married a local woman and settled by the shore of Lake Tanganyika, where he lived until his death at the age of eighty five.
Léopold Louis Joubert was born at Saint-Herblon, France on 22 February 1842. As a child he wanted to be like the Christian warriors of the past. He was given the nickname "Ludovic" as a child, and was often called by this name as an adult. He attended school at Ancenis (1854–1858) and then Combrée (1858–1860). Joubert left school in 1860 to join the army that Pope Pius IX was raising to defend the Papal States as a member of the Franco-Belgian corps that was later called the Papal Zouaves.
On 18 September 1860 Joubert fought at the Battle of Castelfidardo, where he was wounded, taken prisoner and returned to France. After recovering, he went back to Rome in June 1861, and was appointed Sergeant in 1862. He remained in Rome as a member of the Zouaves after Napoleon III withdrew the French troops from Italy in December 1866. He became a Lieutenant on 30 December 1866 and Captain on 14 December 1867, aged twenty-five. On 29 September 1870 he commanded the defenders of the Porta Salaria during the unsuccessful defense of Rome against the army of the new Kingdom of Italy.
During the Franco-Prussian War General Athanase Charette organized the French Zouaves as a corps of "Volunteers of the West". Joubert served as a captain in this corps but refused an offer of a permanent commission as a captain in the French army, so as to remain at the service of the Pope. After the war ended in 1871 he returned to La Sébilière in Mésanger, where he worked as a farmer until 1879. In 1879 he became secretary to General Charette and tutor to his son. The General was a supporter of the Bourbon monarchy and also a passionate advocate for the Pope's temporal sovereignty.
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