“I lead a very simple and frugal life, that is to say that I absolutely only eat vegetables. I wear the simplest possible clothes, no hat. I walk barefoot and I live in the greatest possible harmony with my ideas about Nature.” – Marius CAYOL – Vegan & Simple-Lifer – writing circa 1910
All of the original items, which we share in this post, are being cared for in our Ernest Bell Library.
Marie Claire VIDAL (left) & Marius CAYOL (right)
Known as –
Mr. and Mme Marius-Cayol – Nature’s Apostles
Marius – (birth name – Maxime Felix CAYOL) was born – 28 March 1872 – in FRANCE.
Marie Claire – was born – 31 October 1871 – in FRANCE.
They married on 6 June 1908. – more.
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Le végétarisme
a pour but de rendre l’homme vigoureux
par un régime conforme aux Lois de sa nature,
par l’exercise, l’air et l’alimentation rationelle.
Il exclut la chair de tout animal; parce que les dèchets de sa desassimilation pendant la vie et les produits de la dècomposition qui suit immèdiatement la mort, sont tous des poisons redoutables qu’on ne peut introduire impunèment dans l’organisme.
De plus, la viande est privèe des substances hydro-carbonèes, veritables productrices de force.
Le végétarisme autorise tous les autres aliments. Mais il considere les Céréales, les Légumes et surtout les Fruits, comme les aliments naturels de l’homme.
La “Vie Simple” – ou la – “Vie Naturelle” nous fera vivre libre et de même nous rendra heureux.
Mr. and Mme Marius-Cayol
1905 – 1911
Les Apôtres de la Nature
Vegetarianism
is intended to make people vigorous
with a regime which conforms to the Laws of nature,
by exercise, good air and rational diet.
It excludes the flesh of any animal; because of its unsuitability for life and the products of decomposition which appear in it IMMEDIATELY following death, are all formidable poisons that cannot be introduced with impunity in the body.
Moreover, meat does not contain carbohydrate substances, which beneficially produce energy.
Vegetarianism permits all other foods. But it considers the Cereals, the Vegetables and especially the Fruits as the natural foods of man.
The “Simple Life” – or – “Natural Life” will make us live in freedom and also makes us happy.
Mr. and Mme Marius-Cayol
1905 – 1911
Nature’s Apostles
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From the book – HISTOIRE DU NATURISME | Arnaud Baubérot
Chapitre IX. Anarchisme individualiste et réforme des modes de vie
Marius Cayol, par exemple, sorte de prophète naturiste errant, s’attache à « propager “la vie naturelle” à travers le monde ». Sur les photographies qui illustrent les brochures qu’il édite, il pose vêtu d’une longue tunique, chaussé de sandales, avec barbe et cheveux longs tombant sur ses épaules. « Je mène une vie très simple et très frugale, affirme-t-il, c’est-à-dire que je ne mange absolument que des végétaux. Je porte le moins possible de vêtements, point de chapeau. Je marche nu-pieds et je vis en accord le plus possible avec mes idées sur la Nature. » Il propose ensuite un vaste catalogue de recommandations en matière d’habillement, de sommeil, d’alimentation ou de procréation, inspirées, pour l’essentiel, du programme végétarien de réforme des modes de vie. Marius Cayol adhère d’ailleurs à la Société végtarienne de Belgique en février 1909. Toutefois, aux côtés de La Réforme alimentaire, dont il recommande la lecture, apparaît un ensemble hétéroclite de références parmi lesquelles on trouve pêle-mêle Sébastien Kneipp, Élisée Reclus, Henri Zisly, Diogène, Bouddha et la Bhagavad-Gita.
Marius Cayol, for example, a kind of wandering naturist prophet, is attached to propogating “natural living” around the world. In the photographs that illustrate the brochures which he publishes, he poses wearing a long tunic, wearing sandals, with beard and with long hair falling over his shoulders. “I lead a very simple and frugal life”, he says, “that is to say that I absolutely eat only vegetables. I wear the simplest possible clothes, no hat. I walk barefoot and I live in the greatest possible harmony with my ideas about Nature.” He then offers an extensive catalog of recommendations in terms of clothing, sleeping, feeding and and also reproduction, inspired, essentially vegetarian reform program lifestyles. Marius Cayol connected himself to the Vegetarian Society of Belgium in February 1909. Alongside Food Reform, he recommends reading, he quotes a patchwork of references among which are jumbled those of Sébastien Kneipp, Élisée Reclus, Henri Zisly, Diogenes, Buddha and the Bhagavad Gita.
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From the paper –
DE BELOFTEN VAN HET LICHAAM
Lebensreform in België 1890-1940
by – Evert Peeters
Het ideaal van een meer natuurlijke levensstijl dat een deel van de nieuwe middenklassen zich in deze nieuwe context vormde, had nog nauwelijks iets te maken met het voorouderlijke landelijke leven. Het natuurlijke leven dat Cayol propageerde was een modernistische utopie. Daarin kreeg een heel nieuw ideaalbeeld de contouren van een verloren paradijs. Dat nieuwe ideaal kreeg bovenal gestalte in een nieuwe lichamelijkheid. Het lichaam waarover Cayol in zijn brochures schreef, droeg de tekenen van de moderne samenleving – het bleek aangetast door het ongezonde stedelijke leven, door het gebrek aan licht en lucht, door alcoholisme en tabaksgebruik.
The ideal of a more natural lifestyle that a portion of the new middle classes formed in this new context, had little to do with the ancestral rural life. The natural life Cayol propagated was a modernist utopia. It was a whole new ideal image the shape of a lost paradise. This new ideal was above all embodied in a new physicality. The lifestyle which Cayol wrote in his pamphlets, referred to the symptoms of modern society – he talked about being affected by the unhealthy urban life, by the lack of light and air, by alcoholism and tobacco use.
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Marius was French by birth – he later moved to Belgium. He published pamphlets with titles such as –
1) La vie naturelle. – Het natuurleven. (Natural life.)
2) A lire et relire. – Lezen en herlezen. (Read and reread.)
3) Les humains heureux par le savoir et la volonté. – Het menschdom gelukkig door weten en willen. (Humans pleased by the knowledge and willingness.)
4) Maximes de la nature. – Grondregels van de natuur. (Maxims of nature.)
5) La vie sans maladies. – Het leven zonder ziekten. (Life without disease.)
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What became of Marius & Marie Claire? We do not know!
They had a daughter who died in infancy and a son who lived and married – more.
Marius is reported to have moved to Belgium & remarried in 1910 – here.
On September 26, 1910, Ghent newspaper La Flandre Libérale dedicated a small article to a marriage ceremony – special editorial. One day earlier, the report said, civil registrar at the town of Mons had joined an unusual couple in matrimony. The local citizen Louise-Marie-Josephe Boncalet was married to Marius Cayol, from Brussels a ‘Naturist’.
A later postcard from Belgium.
‘La vie simple fera le bonheur de l’humanité’ – Marius Cayol
‘The simple life will make the happiness of mankind’ – Marius Cayol
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The Reverse of the First Postcard
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