Francois Petit

Francois Petit is a French Bahá’í who served on the National Spiritual Assembly of France.

Biography

Petit's mother was of Jewish descent but converted to Catholicism. He had become a Bahá’í by the 1950's declaring while in Luxembourg and he was actively involved in teaching the Faith after returning to France and served as secretary of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Paris. He was elected to the inaugural National Spiritual Assembly of France in 1958, and re-elected in 1959 completing his first term on the body in 1960.

In 1960 Petit married Englishwoman Mary who he had introduced to the Bahá’í Faith and he pioneered to Strasbourg having retired from the National Assembly to do so and in 1963 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Strasbourg was established which he and his wife served on until departing the city in 1965. He and his wife attended the First Bahá’í World Congress in London in 1963.

The Petit's later settled in Nancy, Lorraine, where they assisted with efforts to establish a Bahá’í community with many of their fellow Bahá’ís in the area being university students who lived in the city briefly. They both served on the Children's Committee of France and in 1976 Petit assisted with the organisation of a major Bahá’í Conference held in Paris, accompanying Rúḥíyyih Khánum at the Conference.

Petit had been re-elected to the French National Assembly by the early 1980's and served as the bodies full-time secretary.