Brief History

Les petits frères des Pauvres (Little Brothers of the Poor) was founded in France in 1946 by Armand Marquiset – a French nobleman who died in 1981. Armand Marquiset decided to devote his life and his fortune to the service of the poorest of the poor in the aftermath of the destruction of World War II.

His mentor, the Abbé Audouin, told him, "The great victims of the war are the old. They have, for the most part, used up their savings. They are barely hanging on to their homes; many are disabled. They are the poor of today, and you should concern yourself with them."

Armand began alone in an impoverished neighborhood in Paris, carrying the meals he cooked himself up six flights of stairs to the attic rooms where so many lonely and forgotten elderly persons lived, no longer able, physically or financially, to look after themselves.

Soon he was surrounded by a group of young volunteers, and aided by the money he unashamedly cajoled from his wealthy friends. Les petits frères des Pauvres grew quickly into the international organization it is today.

At the same time as the affiliates in France (Paris, Lille, Nantes, Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse) were established, other affiliates were founded in the course of the years in Casablanca, Morocco, and Chicago, USA.

Currently, les petits frères des Pauvres operates in the nine following countries:

France, USA, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Poland.

These different and nationally independent organizations are united in the Fédération Internationale des petits frères des Pauvres, which has consulting status (category II) with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.