Franzi, Georges

Georges Franzi (1914-97) found his calling early in life and was ordained as a priest in 1940. Recognising the importance of a country’s native language in defining its people’s identity, he championed the preservation of his ancestral language, Monegasque. In 1976, Canon Franzi was put in charge of a programme that saw Monegasque taught as a compulsory subject in all of the Principality’s elementary schools. Monegasque was later included in the baccalaureate exam.