Louis Evely

Who was Louis Evely?

Louis Évely was a Christian spiritual writer from Belgium. A Roman Catholic priest, he published several books about the spiritual life. After his marriage he left the priesthood but remained active as a spiritual leader.

Évely was a pedagogue of the spiritual life and at the same time a publishing wonder. Several of his works sold in the hundreds of thousands and were translated into 25 languages. The fame of Louis Évely was such in the 1960s that one of his sermons was reproduced in its entirety in a film directed by Éric Rohmer. One of his conferences on prayer held in Spain started a riot, as some conservative Catholics were shocked by his freedom of expression.

Most of Évely's work, rather than the fruit of academic research, stems from preaching at conferences and retreats and from the response that his words worked in the heart of thousands of Christians. Many of his listeners transcribed the text of talks to disseminate them among their churches, often in carbon typescript or photocopies, long before the texts reached editors and printers.