Jacques Benigne Bossuet

Jacques Bénigne Bossuet , 1627-1704, French prelate, one of the greatest orators in French history. At an early age he was made a canon at Metz; he became bishop of Condom and was (1670-81) tutor to the dauphin (father of Louis XV), for whom he wrote his great Discourse on Universal History (1681, tr. 1778, 1821), Politics Derived from Holy Writ (1709), and Treatise of the Knowledge of God and One's Self (1722). In 1681 he became bishop of Meaux. Unrivaled for his eloquence, he is celebrated for his Funeral Orations (1689), particularly those on Henrietta of England, on her daughter, and on Condé, which are masterpieces of their kind. He was also a great moralist, a magnificent stylist, and a powerful controversialist, brilliantly attacking Fénelon and the quietists, the Jesuits, and the Protestants.

Bibliography: See biography by E. E. Reynolds (1963); studies by A. Rabelliau (5th ed. 1900) and M. C. Gotaas (1953, repr. 1970).

Bossuet, Jacques-Bénigne (1627–1704), French preacher. In 1669 he was appointed Bp. of Condom and also delivered the first of his great ‘Funeral Orations’ (on Henrietta Maria). From 1670 to 1681 he was tutor to the Dauphin, in 1681 becoming Bp. of Meaux. He then took a prominent part in French ecclesiastical affairs. In 1682 he was mainly instrumental in securing the support of the French clergy for the moderate Gallicanism of the Four Gallican Articles which he drew up. He approved the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) and directed various works against the Protestants. In his last years the case of Mme Guyon led him into a bitter controversy with F. Fénelon, and Bossuet was mainly responsible for Fénelon's condemnation in 1699. His Méditations sur l’Évangile (published 1731) and his Élévations sur les mystères (published 1727) are classics of French Catholic devotional literature.