Marie Andrieu

Marie Andrieu (13 July 1851 – 2 September 1911), also known as Marie de Saint-Rémy, Romanoff, or the Seer, was a French spiritualist, cartomancer, editor of newspapers, and anarchist. She is best known for her work as an anarchist editor, founding nearly a dozen newspapers, the most famous of which was titled Le Christ Anarchiste ('The Anarchist Christ').

Born in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Andrieu married and had several children while simultaneously beginning to establish press outlets and practicing as a cartomancer. Following her husband's death in 1890, she found herself supporting four children and joined the anarchist movement around that time. Over the following decade, she distinguished herself by founding seven press publications; her most renowned title, Le Christ anarchiste, was published over a period of two years.

Andrieu was arrested on numerous occasions, both for her statements supporting propaganda of the deed and anarchist actions, and for the illegal practice of medicine, as the sale of her remedies served as her primary source of income.

Her unique synthesis of spiritualism, religion, and anarchism earned her criticism from certain anarchists—such as those associated with the journal Les Temps nouveaux. Conversely, others like Jacques Gross maintained that, outside her involvement with spiritualism, she was a reliable and highly intelligent anarchist.

Andrieu died in Évenos on 2 September 1911 at the age of 60.

Biography Marie Andrieu was born on 13 July 1851 in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. She married a boilermaker, Claude Marius Teissier, with whom she had four children. In 1872, she was convicted of fraud. In 1885, she founded her first newspaper, titled Le journal d'Outre-tombe ('The Journal from Beyond the Grave'). Five years later, her husband died, leaving her as the sole provider for her four children.

In the early 1890s, while practicing as a "somnambulist cartomancer" in Marseille under the name Marie de Saint-Rémy, she became a subscriber to the newspaper Le Parti Ouvrier ('The Workers' Party'). The publication was run by the laborer Joseph Babinger, with whom she began a relationship in 1893. During this same period, Andrieu began hosting various anarchist companions in her home.thumb Poem by Marie de Saint-Rémy to Émile Henry in Le Christ anarchiste (N°05)Living in Toulon at the time and supporting her family through the sale of medicinal remedies, the anarchist began a series of press publications in 1893. She started with Le Gambetta and Le Jugement dernier ('The Last Judgment') before founding her most famous work, Le Christ Anarchiste ('The Anarchist Christ'). In this publication, where her daughter Emma Teissier also significantly collaborated, Andrieu featured contributions from living anarchists while also invoking deceased figures such as Émile Henry, Isaac Newton, Jesus, and Charlotte Corday.

Legacy Anarchist circles and thought Andrieu was simultaneously criticized by Les Temps nouveaux and praised by other anarchists. For instance, Jacques Gross stated the following about her in a letter to the historian of the anarchist movement, Max Nettlau:She is a brave woman with an excellent heart, intelligent in all matters, but when one brings up the subject of spirits, she becomes incoherent and inexhaustible. Historian Marie-Pier Tardif observes that, unlike Louise Michel, who always presented a vision of pure anarchism, Marie de Saint-Rémy intertwined it with various religious beliefs, such as Christianity.

Works

Books Les Dieux des anarchistes ('The Gods of Anarchists'), Librairie du magnétisme, 1899

Press Collection of the site-archive Archives Anarchistes uploaded to Commons and comprising:

9 issues of Le Christ anarchiste