About the Author

Jean Vanier (1928-2019) was a philosopher, theologian and man of letters, with a great and compassionate heart. He was awarded the Templeton Prize in 2015 (past recipients including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and H.H. the Dalai Lama). The first L’Arche Community was started in 1964 in Trosly-Breuil, a village in the north of Paris when Vanier invited two people with intellectual disabilities to live with him in a small house. This house he called L’Arche, French for `The Ark’, a name then adopted by all communities around the world founded on these principles. Today L’Arche is made up of 151 communities spread over five continents.