Hello everyone. This is the continuation of the story of my French family.

The story starts here
Previous episode: Part 11

My Paternal Grandfather Léonce

Léonce was born in 1885 in the city of Le Mans. Yes, this is where the sports car race "24 Heures du Mans" is held every year, but the race was created in 1923, when Léonce was already 38 years old and was living in Paris.
Léonce's father, Alexandre, was an important lawyer in Le Mans. In particular, he was the main lawyer of the catholic bishopric and catholic congregations. Because of his work for the catholic church, Alexandre was ennobled by the Pope in 1911 and made a count.

As was often the case then, Léonce was not his first name, but his third. His full name was "Henri, Marie, Léonce Celier". However, all his life he was called Léonce, never Henri.

Léonce was a gifted student and when he was 16 years old, in 1901, he started École nationale des chartes. École nationale des chartes is what is called in France a "grande école" (literally a "large school"), that is a school of higher education outside of the the main framework of the French university system.

École nationale des chartes was created in 1821. The students spent 4 years at the school and become archivist-paleographers. Paleography is the study of ancient and historical manuscripts.

Here is a picture of the students of École nationale des chartes in 1903 during one of their study trips.

I have no idea which one is Léonce. Could you imagine 18 or 20 years old students in such formal dress nowadays?

At the École nationale des chartes, Léonce continued to be a star student and he finished the school at the first place in February 1905, when he was just 20 years old. Already, in 1903 and 1904 he had some articles published.

Then, in 1905, Léonce went to Italy to spent two years at the École française de Rome. This is a school installed in Rome in the Palazzo Farnese which is also where the French embassy in Rome is installed.

Palazzo Farnese

Palazzo Farnese is one of the most important High Renaissance palaces in Rome. build in the XVIth century. It is the property of the Italian government and has been leased in 1936 to France for 99 years.

Léonce studied two years in Rome and continued to publish articles while there.

In September 1907, Léonce came back to Paris. He got a law degree in 1908 and he was then ready to enter professional life, at the age of 23.

Continu to Part 13

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Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4
Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8
Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11
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