Simone Weil, a brilliant French philosopher, died in an English hospital on August 24 1943. Raised in a secular Jewish home, she was driven by an exacting conscience to share in the experience of working people. She took a year’s leave from her teaching job to work in factories.

A series of deep religious experiences brought her spiritual inclinations to the fore. Ultimately she felt that “Christ himself came down and took possession of me.” She remained at the threshold of the Church, but without crossing.