But also one of the most controversial; not just not just because of the numerous battles he fought for the poor, but also because of certain positions he took against the Vatican.
This is partly why it is so hard to close an explosive character such as that of Abbé Pierre’s into a cosy official box.
But a centenary is a centenary and so on last Sunday, the French celebrated the Capuchin monk’s 100th birthday.
In the second half of the 20th century the monk was an emblem of the Christian effort in the struggle for social justice, alongside figures such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Dom Helder Camara.
Registered officially as Henri Grouès, he was born in Lyon on 5 August 1912. As a priest he was an active member of the French resistance and a vicar of Grenoble Cathedral. Some say he was also a member of the French National Assembly straight after the war.
But Abbé Pierre’s name is linked above all to the “uprising of kindness”, an unprecedented campaign in France to help the homeless through the extremely cold winter of 1954. Emmaus - a movement which involves volunteers living in poor communities, helping them to find material they can sell on in order to earn a living - was created around this initiative.
Today Emmaus is an international movement present in 36 countries across the world with over 300 communities and groups.
General De Gaulle had got it right when, during a meeting with Abbé Pierre, he asked him: “How is your multinational doing?”
The cleric loved answering: “contemplation cannot be separated from action.”
Abbé Pierre died on 22 January 2007 at the age of 94: just a few months before he had sparked a controversy in the Catholic world with a public confession he made in his autobiography about violating the vow of chastity (and especially) his approval of same-sex couples adopting.
But beyond the scandals surrounding his person, his complete dedication to helping the poor remains universally recognised. It is this devotion that the Centre Abbé Pierre – Emmaus aims to commemorate.
The centre was established to keep his memory alive in Esteville, the place in Normandie (northern France) where the cleric spent the last years of his life and where he is buried alongside many friends who found an alternative and dignified way of living thanks to him.
On Sunday, in Esteville, Abbé Pierre will be commemorated during a huge gathering which will be aired on France2 as part of Le Jour du Seigneur, a television programme sponsored by the Bishops’ Conference of France.
Lyon also paid tribute to him by naming a large square after him: the city’s archbishop, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin was present at the ceremony and also presided over the Capuchin monk’s solemn funeral in the Basilica of Notre Dame in Paris.
His commemoration is focused on action, just as he would have wanted: Although the Centre Abbé Pierre – Emmaus has halls that illustrate the various phases of his life, it is not a museum.
It is a place where questions can be asked about today’s poverty; a place that opens its doors to the needy: there are about thirty disadvantaged people who, since 1999, have used the centre as a first port of call before being directed elsewhere.
“The Emmaus community is not made up of saints – said Abbé Pierre in Trieste in 1980 in a statement that was republished in the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions’ Mondo e Missione magazine to mark the cleric’s 100th birthday.
They are ordinary men who are no less good than you, or better.
But amongst the rubbish they found a small excerpt from the Gospel that we found too difficult and so threw it away: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”