Jean Madiran


Jean Arfel, better known by his pen name Jean Madiran was a French far right nationalist and a traditionalist Catholic writer who was born in Libourne. He has also used the pen name Jean-Louis Lagor.
During the German occupation of France, Madiran was the private secretary of Charles Maurras and was awarded the Order of the Francisque, the decoration, in the form of a stylised double-headed francisca, that was granted by Vichy France. He contributed to the newspaper Action Française. This was the organ of the movement of the same name and was published from 21 March 1908 to 24 August 1944.
After the Second World War, he retired to Madiran in southwestern France and became noted as a journalist and essayist. In 1948, he published his first book, , under the pen name Jean-Louis Lagor and with a preface by Maurras.
In 1956, Madiran and Louis Salleron co-founded Itinéraires, a review of Catholic themes which later became a leading organ for criticism of the reforms within the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council of 1962–65.
Itinéraires originally appeared monthly, but after the 1988 Ecône Consecrations became quarterly. Madiran remained its editor until publication ceased in 1996. He was also one of the founders in 1982, of the daily newspaper Présent, of which he was editor in chief. This publication is associated with the Front National, but refused to take sides in the conflict between Jean-Marie Le Pen and Bruno Mégret, whereupon Le Pen called for it to be boycotted.
In an article published in Itinéraires, Madiran declared:
On 6 February 1995, the fiftieth anniversary of the execution, for collaboration with the German occupation, of Robert Brasillach, the poet, writer and journalist supporter of Action Française, Madiran, with François Brigneau and others, organised a meeting in Paris, at which Madiran declared: "Young people who are here this evening, we entrust to your hands the remembrance of the National Revolution, we entrust to you the remembrance of the France that awaits, hopes for and desires its liberation."

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