Charles de Condren, Cong. Orat. , a Doctor of the Sorbonne (15 December 1588 - 17 January 1641), was a French mystic of the 17th century, and is considered a leading member of the French School of Spirituality.
Charles de Condren, Cong. Orat. , a Doctor of the Sorbonne (15 December 1588 - 17 January 1641), was a French mystic of the 17th century, and is considered a leading member of the French School of Spirituality.
Condren was born on 15 December 1588 in Vauxbuin, near Soissons. His father, governor of the royal castle of Piles near Meaux, had converted from Protestantism to Catholicism. He sought to instill in his son an attraction for military life, and had the boy outfitted with a military uniform when still very young. Charles was tutored by M. le Masson, a canon of Soissons, and displayed a remarkable memory even at a young age. [1]
Charles had a decisive spiritual experience at the age of eleven and half and decided to become a priest. He studied in the secondary school of Harcourt from 1603 till 1605, but because of an illness returned to his family for several months. His father was still determined that Charles should join the army either at Calais or in Holland, but perceiving the serious of the illness, agreed that should his son recover, he could enter religious life. [1]
He continued his studies at the Sorbonne and was ordained to the priesthood in 1614, receiving his doctorate from the Sorbonne the next year. He gave up his family inheritance, which by the law of primogeniture was his, and entered the house of the French Oratory founded by the Abbé (later Cardinal) Pierre de Bérulle on the Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, having thought before that of becoming a Capuchin friar.
In 1615, Condren participated in the foundation of a new house of the Oratory in Nevers and in 1619 was in Langres for the opening of a seminary, in conformity to the decrees of the Council of Trent. He returned to Paris in 1620 to open a new house of the Oratory in Poitiers and in 1624, one at the former Abbey of St. Magloire, which doubled as a seminary. [2]
In 1625, he returned to the house in the Rue de Saint-Honoré. In 1627, he became the confessor of Prince Gaston of France, (Monsieur), brother of King Louis XIII of France. He brought about a reconciliation between the king and his brother, who had been estranged, on 18 April 1630 in Troyes. Condren also bore the responsibility of being the confessor of Bérulle. [1]
After Bérulle's death in 1629, Condren succeeded him as Superior General of the Oratory. [3] Condren was elected very quickly to avoid intervention by Cardinal Richelieu. The Oratory had 71 houses in 1631, but Condren was discouraged and came near to resigning in 1634. He was also a member of the Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement. [4]
The work Condren had most at heart was the foundation of seminaries after the Counter-Reformation model mandated by the Council of Trent. The Catholic Church felt that its success in its own renewal lay in the thorough and systematic formation of the clergy through their education in these schools. Condren gathered a few young ecclesiastics around him for that purpose. The missions in which he employed them were meant to impress on their minds the religious needs of the country. A disciple of both Vincent de Paul, and Condren, Jean-Jacques Olier took part in "missions" organized by them in France. Condren was Olier's confessor, and counseled him not accept an appointment to a bishopric; [5] instead Olier went on to found the Society of Saint Sulpice whose main purpose was the education of priests.
In 1638 he created the College of Juilly, where, at his death, he was laid to rest in the chapel, [6] next to the tomb of Cardinal Bérulle. His first biography was published in 1643 by a member of the French Oratory, Denis Amelote (reviewed in 1657).
Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, the Abbé (Abbot) of Saint-Cyran, was a French Catholic priest who introduced Jansenism into France.
Pierre de Bérulle was a French Catholic priest, cardinal and statesman in 17th-century France. He was the founder of the French school of spirituality, who could count among his disciples Vincent de Paul and Francis de Sales, although both developed significantly different spiritual theologies.
The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice, also known as the Sulpicians, is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where it was founded. The members of the Society add the nominal letters PSS after their names to indicate membership in the Congregation. Typically, priests become members of the Society of the Priests of St. Sulpice only after ordination and some years of pastoral work. The purpose of the society is mainly the education of priests and to some extent parish work. As their main role is the education of those preparing to become priests, Sulpicians place great emphasis on the academic and spiritual formation of their own members, who commit themselves to undergoing lifelong development in these areas. The Society is divided into three provinces, operating in various countries: the Province of France, Canada, and the United States.
Auguste Joseph Alphonse Gratry was a French Catholic priest, author and theologian.
Charles de Bourbon was a French prince du sang and military commander during the struggles over religion and the throne in late 16th century France. A first cousin of King Henry IV of France, he was the son of the Huguenot leader Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé and his second wife, Françoise d'Orléans-Longueville. He gave his name to the Hôtel de Soissons after his title Count of Soissons.
Jean-Jacques Olier, S.S. was a French Catholic priest and the founder of the Sulpicians. He also helped to establish the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal, which organized the settlement of a new town called Ville-Marie in the colony of New France.
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The French school of spirituality was the principal devotional influence within the Catholic Church from the mid-17th century through the mid-20th century, not only in France but throughout the Church in most of the world. A development of the Catholic Reformation like the Spanish mystics and the Society of Jesus, it focused the devotional life of the Catholic faithful on a personal experience of the person of Jesus and the quest for personal holiness. It was perhaps more concrete than the Iberian example and thus easier to teach, but it shared with the Spanish saints their focus on the divine person. This movement in Catholic spirituality had many important figures over the centuries, the first being its founder, Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575–1629), along with St. Francis de Sales, who in 1877 was declared a Doctor of the Church.
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Denis Amelot was a French biblical writer and scholar who is notable for his French translation of the New Testament. In his translation he quoted Greek minuscule manuscripts: 42, 43, 44, and 149.
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Charles Henri Joseph Binet was a French Archbishop of Besançon and Cardinal.
Robert Phillip was a Scottish Roman Catholic priest, the confessor to Henrietta Maria of France.
Louis Legrand, S.S. was a French Sulpician priest and theologian, and a Doctor of the Sorbonne.
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The Église réformée de l'Oratoire du Louvre, is an historic Protestant church located at 145 rue Saint-Honoré – 160 rue de Rivoli in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, across the street from the Louvre. It was founded as a Roman Catholic church in 1611, became the royal chapel of France and under Louis XIII, and then became a Protestant Church under Napoleon I in 1811.It is now a member of the United Protestant Church of France.
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