August 24

Born in 1909 to a Jewish family in Paris, Simone Weil excelled academically, entering the École Normale Supérieure at 18. She immersed herself in factory work to understand labor conditions, leading to her essays on oppression and ethics. Weil volunteered for the Spanish Republican forces in 1936 and later joined the Free French Army, then worked as a teacher until ill health forced her to return to England. Deeply influenced by Christian mysticism, her posthumous works like Gravity and Grace explore the intersection of faith and social justice. Weil's profound insights continue to resonate in philosophy and theology.