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Jean Joseph Languet de Gergy

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Name
  
Jean-Joseph de

Jean-Joseph Languet de Gergy
Born
  
25 August 1677 (
1677-08-25
)
Dijon, France

Died
  
May 11, 1753, Sens, France

Books
  
The Life of the Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque: Religious of the Order of the Visitation

Jean-Joseph Languet de Gergy ([ʒɑ̃ ʒozef lɑ̃ɡe də ʒeʁʒi]; 25 August 1677 – 11 May 1753) was a French ecclesiastic and theologian. He was first bishop of Soissons, then a member of the Academie francaise, and finally archbishop of Sens.

Contents

Biography

Son of the public prosecutor of the parlement of Bourgogne, Languet de Gercy was a protege of Jacques Benigne Bossuet, who introduced him to Louis XIV and had him named as the chaplain to the princess. At the same time he was the general vicar of the diocese of Autun, which includes the parish of Paray-le-Monial where the saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque is buried. Ordered to investigate the miracles that were said to have occurred at her hand, he wrote a biography of Alacoque in 1729. Furthermore, he was named bishop of Soissons in 1715, and elected member of l'Academie francaise in 1721. He was also named archbishop of Sens in 1730 and the Conseil d'Etat (Council of State) in 1747.

Languet de Gergy's work on the life of Alacoque was violently attacked by the Jansenites opposed to the catholic devotion of the Sacred Heart. Also defender of the papal bull Unigenitus, he meddled in numerous political-religious controversies, and was equally known for both the content of his pamphlets, and their number. He belonged to the parti des devots opposed to the philosophies of the Age of Enlightenment and fought fiercely against the candidacies of Montesquieu and Voltaire to l'Academie francaise.

In addition to his treatises and religious pamphlets, Languet de Gergy was the author of books on the Divine Office, catechism, and of pastoral letters.

Publications

  • Du Veritable esprit de l'Eglise dans l'usage de ses ceremonies, ou Refutation du traite de D. Cl. de Vert intitule : « Explication simple et historique des ceremonies de l'Eglise » (1715, Of the True Spirit of the Church in the Usage of its Ceremonies, or Refutation of the Treatise of Claude de Vert, titled "Simple and Historical Explanation of the Ceremonies of the Church)
  • Traite de la confiance en la misericorde de Dieu, augmente d'un Traite du faux bonheur des gens du monde et du vrai bonheur de la vie chretienne (1718, Treatise on the Belief and Graciousness in God, an addition to a Treatise of False Happiness of the People of the Word and the True Happiness of the Christian Life). Online Text, in French: [1]
  • La Vie de la venerable Mere Marguerite-Marie, religieuse de la Visitation Sainte Marie du monastere de Paray-le-Monial en Charolais, morte en odeur de saintete en 1690 (1729, The Life of the Venerable Mother Marguerite-Marie, nun of the Visitation of Saint Mary of the Monastery of Paray-le-Monial in Charolais, who died in sanctity in 1690)
  • Traite sur les moyens de connaitre la verite dans l'Eglise (1749, Treatise on the Ways to Know the Truth in the Church)
  • Recueil d’ecrits polemiques (1752, Collection of Polemic Writings)
  • Memoires inedits de Languet de Gergy, archeveque de Sens (1863, Inedited Memories of Languet de Gergy, archbishop of Sens). In La Famille d'Aubigne et l'enfance de Madame de Maintenon by Theophile Lavallee.

    • References

    Jean-Joseph Languet de Gergy Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA