Aline de Saint-Hubert was born in Luxembourg on 22 August 1874. The family, originally from Diekirch, ran a timber wholesale business in the capital. Aline attended the "Sartorius" boarding school in Bonn. In 1894, she married Emile Mayrisch, an engineer and steelworker, who was to become managing director of ARBED. They settled in Dudelange and had two children: Jean (who died shortly after her birth in 1899) and Andrée dite Schnouki (1901-1977). During this period, Aline Mayrisch-de St Hubert discovered her passion for literature and wrote numerous articles and reviews under the pen name Alain Desportes.
Aline Mayrisch-de St Hubert committed herself body and soul to the emancipation of women. In 1905, the Association pour les intérêts de la femme (Association for the interests of women) was created on her initiative. This association, which not only aimed to help the most disadvantaged and to promote the education of young girls, launched one of the first social surveys in Luxembourg. The survey was carried out in the Grund districts where living conditions were disastrous. Aline Mayrisch-de St Hubert also worked for the creation of the foundation of the Lycée de jeunes filles, the current Lycée Robert-Schuman in Luxembourg. A fervent supporter of art and literature, an admirer and friend of many intellectuals and writers such as André Gide, she played a mediating role, as did her husband. In 1920, the couple of patrons moved to the Château de Colpach. During the interwar years, Emile Mayrisch encouraged Franco-German political mediation, while Aline Mayrisch-de St Hubert made their castle a literary salon and a meeting place for artists and politicians.
Aline de St Hubert initiated many social works and ardently supported the creation of a Luxembourg section of the Red Cross, of which she was also president.
In 1932, Grand Duchess Charlotte awarded Aline Mayrisch-de St Hubert the Cross of Honour for Ladies of the Civil and Military Order of Adolphe de Nassau. At the dawn of the Second World War, she left for Cabris, in the Maritime Alps.
On 20 January 1947, Aline de Saint-Hubert died in her villa in Cabris. Her ashes were repatriated and buried in the tomb in the park of Colpach, next to her husband, who had died nineteen years earlier.
In her will, Aline Mayrisch-de St Hubert bequeathed the castle of Colpach and its estate as well as 500 shares in the Belgo-Mineira company to the Red Cross of Luxembourg. The Red Cross makes Colpach a resting place for convalescents.
Sources :
● Germaine Goetzinger und Claude D. Conter: Mayrisch-de St Hubert Aline, dans : Luxemburger Autorenlexikon –, Centre National de Littérature Mersch, 2007 p. 402.
● Katja Rausch : Portrait de femmes célèbres luxembourgeoises, Edition Kará, 2007, pp. 29-34.
● Germaine Goetzinger : Aline Mayrisch-de St Hubert, dans : Lieux de mémoire au Luxembourg, Sonja Kmec et Michel Margue, Imprimerie Saint-Paul, 2e édition 2008, pp.103-108.
● http://www.laml.lu