| Olivier Maire | |
| Type: | priest |
| Birth Date: | 19 November 1960 |
| Birth Place: | Besançon, France |
| Death Place: | Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, France |
| Ordination: | 17 June 1990 |
| Church: | Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre |
| Diocese: | Luçon |
| Nationality: | French |
| Occupation: | Roman Catholic priest |
Olivier Maire S.M.M. (19 November 1960 – 9 August 2021) was a French Roman Catholic priest.[1] Assassinated in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, he was a member of the .
Born into a very pious family, Maire became religious from a young age. He entered the Collège de Pelousey and the Lycée Saint-Jean de Besançon, where he earned his baccalauréat. After his studies in biology, he spent his military service in Haiti. He then earned a degree in theology in Rome, being ordained a priest and joining the Company of Mary. He then trained seminarians in Uganda for many years.[2]
A biblical critic, Maire was passionate about the Church Fathers and the Patristics, he also earned a degree in psychology. Upon his return to France, he was elected provincial superior of the Montfortaines and was installed in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre.[3]
Olivier Maire was murdered on 9 August 2021, allegedly by Emmanuel Abayisenga, a Rwandan national who was suspected of having started the 2020 Nantes Cathedral fire and whom he had taken in.[4] His funeral took place on 13 August 2021, in the Basilica of Saint Louis de Montfort in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, celebrated by Monsignor Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the Bishops' Conference of France, Monsignor François Jacolin, Bishop of Luçon, and Reverend Luis Augusto Stefani, Superior General of the Company of Mary.[5] Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti and Senator Bruno Retailleau also attended the ceremony.[6]