François Désiré Drure

François Désiré Jean Drure, OCD (30 January 1859 – 27 May 1917) was a French prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in Iraq as a bishop and apostolic delegate.

In July 1884 he earned a degree in mathematics from the Faculté Catholique de Lyon and in October became a professor at the minor seminary in Rimont.

He then, with the endorsement of the bishop of Autun, joined the Carmelites at Montélimar where he took the name Father John of the Holy Family.

[1] He was visiting France when World War One began and hostilities in the Ottoman Empire prevented him from returning to Mosul.

[3] Drure died unexpectedly in his sleep at the chateau of Fragne near Montluçon, France, where the Carmelites of Meaux had taken refuge, on 27 May 1917 at the age of 58.