Louis Antoine (1846-1912) was born in Mons-Crotteux, Belgium, in what we now call Wallonia. He followed his father into the coal mines at the age of 12; receiving what he believed to be a vision, he quit after two years and became a steelworker, and after that a hammerer.
As was typical for a semi-skilled worker in the Europe of that era, he went back and forth in search of employment between Belgium, Prussia and Poland. Marrying in 1873, he and his wife welcomed their only child later that year. Although baptised Catholic and considered devout in his youth, Antoine became interested in Spiritism – a Francophone variant of Spiritualism concocted by French devotee Allan Kardec – which held séances and believed in reincarnation. Initiated into a Spiritist circle in 1884, he nevertheless maintained a nominal membership in the Church for nine years. He renounced his Catholic Faith officially when his son, never very robust, died aged 20.
