Robert Coin

Robert Coin (1901–1988) was a French sculptor and engraver, born in Saint-Quentin on 17 December 1901. He died in Lille on 12 February 1988.

Basilique de Lisieux

Some of Coin's best known works are those which he executed at the Basilique de Lisieux. Lisieux is in Calvados in Basse-Normandie. In the pediment at the front of the Basilica is a tympanum with depictions of those who had contributed to the creation of the Basilica, ranged on either side of Coin's statue of St Therese herself. These people are from left to right: Monseignor Octave Germain, Mother Agnès de Jésus (1861-1951) Sister Pauline Martin, Sister Thérèse, the Prioress of Carmel, Cardinal Pacelli (1876-1958) the future Pope Pius XII, Monseigneur Picaud, the Bishop of Bayeux who became Pope Pius XI (1857-1939), Cardinal Suhard (1874-1949) Archbishop of Paris and Father Maurice-Marie-Louis Bellière (1874-1907) a missionary. Around these people are a soldier and some children. The inscriptions on the tympanum read-