Raïssa Maritain
1883-1960 20th century
The demand for truth pushed to its limit, and hidden contemplation in the midst of a life of conversations.
Who was Raïssa Maritain?
A Russian Jew who emigrated to Paris and studied at the Sorbonne, she made a pact with Jacques Maritain: to die rather than live without truth. Meeting Léon Bloy led them to baptism in 1906. A poet and contemplative at the heart of an intellectual home through which the century's seekers of God all passed, she left a Journal that Jacques published after her death.
In their own words
We would have accepted death, by a free refusal, had it been impossible to live according to the truth.
Once past the threshold of that house, all values were displaced.