The 1958 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to George Pire, of Belgium, a Father in the Dominican Order and leader of the relief organization for refugees L’Europe du Coeur au Service du Monde. In his acceptance speech he described his humble approach to peacemaking:
“The ‘initial act of love’ . . . helps you not only to become a man of single purpose (in itself a powerful attribute), but further and above all, to maintain contact with mankind itself. Such contact is rewarding both to yourself and to those you meet. No longer do you run the risk of allowing humanity to become a mere concept, increasingly abstract and theoretical until it disappears altogether. It becomes once again what it really is: the individual man, the personal crisis, the single destiny, the specific needs. The heart resumes its role as the source of the noblest virtues that initiate pacific action: Love, Initiative, Tenacity, Realism, Patience.”
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes created by the Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel. Since 1901 it has been awarded annually (with some exceptions) to those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses” Over the next few months we’ll be introducing you to the past Nobel laureates, leading up to the award of the 2016 prize in October.
