Félix Charles SERIN
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Freemason, administrator.
A Freemason, he organised the Union fraternelle d'éducation et d'hygiène sociale, devoted to spreading Masonic morality. He died on 23 October 1918 at the age of eighty, having lived through the Second Empire, the Commune and the Dreyfus affair. His stone bears the motto Igne Natura Renovatur Integra.
The story
Eighty years crossed, from the July Monarchy to the Great War. Félix Charles Serin was born in 1838 and died in 1918: in between came the Second Empire, the Commune, the Dreyfus affair and four years of trenches.
An administrator and a freemason, he belonged to that generation of republican notables for whom the lodge and the civil service went together.
Félix Charles Serin was born in Blois on 25 April 1838 and died in Vincennes on 23 October 1918, aged eighty. His stone carries a motto before the names: “Igne Natura Renovatur Integra”.
The grave
Two Latin inscriptions open the stone before any name: Igne Natura Renovatur Integra — “all nature is renewed by fire”, the alchemical and Masonic expansion of the letters I.N.R.I. — then Requiescat in pace. Five burials follow, under a heading that is not his: “FAMILLE Edouard SERIN Thaïs MAÎTRE”, chemin Serré, 37th row. His own records that he was born at Blois on 25 April 1838 and died at Vincennes on 23 October 1918, aged eighty; his widow Aline Sophie Maître followed him the year after.
On site, do not miss
The stone bears five burials and a Masonic motto in Latin: Igne Natura Renovatur Integra — “by fire, nature is renewed whole”.
Visitors' questions
Where is Félix Charles Serin's grave at Père-Lachaise?
In Division 74, Chemin Serré, thirty-seventh row. It is a family grave headed “FAMILLE Edouard SERIN Thaïs MAÎTRE”, so his name is not the first thing a visitor looks for. Division 74 is also home to Rosa Bonheur.
Théodore BALLUWhat does Félix Charles Serin's gravestone say?
A motto before the names. The stone bears Igne Natura Renovatur Integra, then Requiescat in pace, before listing five burials. The line for Félix Charles Serin says that he was born in Blois on 25 April 1838 and died in Vincennes on 23 October 1918, aged eighty.
Rosa BONHEURWho was Félix Charles Serin?
A Freemason of the Third Republic. He organised the Fraternal Union for Education and Social Hygiene, a society intended to spread Masonic social morality among the wider public.
André MASSÉNAWho rests with Félix Charles Serin?
Four other members of his family, including his mother, born Joséphine Cotte in Blois in 1800 and who died in her ninetieth year, and his widow, born Aline Sophie Maître in Troyes, who died in 1919, less than a year after him.
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