Philippe Christory


Philippe Christory, born on February 28, 1958, in Tourcoing, is a French Catholic prelate, and bishop of Chartres since his nomination on February, 2018.

Life

Youth

Philippe Christory was born on February 28, 1958, in Tourcoing, into a practising Catholic family. He lost faith and stopped practising at the age of 16. in 1984, he discovered the charismatic renewal within a prayer group of the Emmanuel community.

Formation

He is a qualified engineer, after he graduated from the ICAM engineering school in Lille in 1980. He completed his military service as a mechanical officer in the Marine Nationale, after which, he travelled around Asie from 5 months and then worked as an engineer in Sudan and in France. He entered the Pontifical French Seminary in Rome and attended classes at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Marianum Pontifical Institute. He holds a canonical licence in theology with a special mention in mariology.

Priesthood

As a member of the Communauté de l'Emmanuel, he was ordained as a priest on June 27, 1992, for the archidiocese of Paris. From 1992 to 1998, he served as a vicar at the Parisian parish of the Sainte-Trinité and as a et youth chaplain for the lycée Condorcet. In 1998, he was appointed as parish priest at Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs, where he remained until 2004. From 2001 to 2003, he also served as spiritual director at the Catholic seminary in Paris and was in charge of the Saint-Martin-de-Tours formation house, which hosts Parisian seminarians from the Emmanuel community.
From 2004 to 2007, he was sent on mission to the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon where he was appointed as parish priest in solidum at Sainte-Maxime and Cogolin.
He returned to Paris where he was parish priest at Saint-Laurent from 2007 to 2015 and then at the Sainte-Trinité from 2014 to 2018 when he was made a bishop.
From 2002 to 2011, he was also a member of the international board of the Emmanuel community.

Bishop of Chartres

On February 2, 2018, Pope Francis named him bishop of Chartres, a see vacant since the nomination of bishop Michel Pansard as bishop of Évry on August 1, 2017. His episcopal ordination took place on April 15, 2018, in the cathedral of Chartres.