French cardinal; archbishop of Paris.
 
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed: three panels of heraldic-crest stationery. Paris, 27 December 1949.  Addressed to a fellow cardinal. Letter speaks of the grand rector of the Catholic Institute, Paris (Catholic University).
 
NOTA BENE:  According to the Archdiocesan archivist, much of the war correspondence of Verdier (incoming and outgoing) was destroyed lest it get into the hands of the Reich.
 
During his episcopate, Verdier built over 100 churches to minister to working class neighborhoods that had sprung up around Paris. An advocate of social justice, he regularly denounced racism from his cathedral pulpit, making pointed reference to Nazi Germany.  Verdier, along with Cardinals Schuster and van Roey, supported Pope Pius XI in his condemnation of Kristallnacht. He often slipped away from his office to work in a soup kitchen run by the Little Sisters of Paris. He also was a strong opponent of Fascism, describing World War II as …a crusade…We are struggling to preserve the freedom of people throughout the world, whether they be great or small peoples, and to preserve their possessions and their very lives. No other war has had aims that are more spiritual, moral, and, in sum, more Christian.