Background
Rodier was born in 1829 in Malveille, near to Chambon-sur-Dolore, France.
Rodier was born in 1829 in Malveille, near to Chambon-sur-Dolore, France.
Born Vital Rodier; 1839–1904) was a French missionary brother in Algeria. He is credited with creating the clementine variety of mandarin orange in 1902. Brother Marie-Clément worked with the orphanage"s citrus trees, and made grafts from an uncultivated tree that had grown among some thorn bushes in the orchard.
This graft resulted in the clementine, which was named in honor of its creator.
lieutenant was neither a mandarin tree nor an orange tree. Its fruit was redder than a mandarin and had a delicious taste and, moreover, it had no pith".
He died in 1904. In 2010, a building on the campus of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was named Clement Hall in honor of Brother Marie-Clément.
Originally a member of the Brothers of the Annunciation at Misserghin in Algeria, he helped to run an orphanage.