CHÂTELLIER, Louis 1935-

PERSONAL: Born March 3, 1935, in Pont-de-l'Arche, France; son of Raymond (a judge) and Gabrielle (a homemaker; maiden name, James) Châtellier; married Hildegard Schwanhausser (a university professor), 1961 (divorced, 1975); married Annikz Schon (a college professor), 1988; children: Anne, Julien, Sophie, François. Ethnicity: "French." Education: Sorbonne, University of Paris, degree 1963; University of Strasbourg, doctorat d'etat, 1979. Hobbies and other interests: Abstract art.

ADDRESSES: Home—12 rue de la Côte, Nancy 54000, France. Office—Department of History, University of Nancy II, 23 blvd. Albert I, Nancy 54000, France.

CAREER: High school teacher in Strasbourg, France, 1963-66; Centre Nationale Recherche Scientifique, Strasbourg, research assistant, 1966-70; University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, assistant principal, 1970-80; University of Lyon, Lyon, France, professor, 1980-81; University of Nancy II, Nancy, France, professor of modern history, 1981—. Institut Universitaire de France, professor, 1996.

MEMBER: Academy of Stanislas, Academy of San Carlo.

AWARDS, HONORS: Officier des Palmes Académiques.

WRITINGS:

Tradition chrétienne et renouveau catholique: dans le cadre de l'ancien diocèse de Strasbourg (1650-1770) (title means "Christian Tradition and Catholic Renewal in the Old Diocese of Strasbourg"), Ophrys (Paris, France), 1981.

(With Francis Rapp and others) Le Diocèse de Strasbourg, Beauchesne (Paris, France), 1982.

(Editor) Les Réformes en Lorraine, 1520-1620, Presses universitaires de Nancy (Nancy, France), 1986.

L'Europe de dévots, illustrated by Annik Schon, Flam-marion (Paris, France), 1987, translation by Jean Birrell published as The Europe of the Devout: The Catholic Reformation and the Formation of a New Society, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 1989.

La religione des pauvres: les missions rurales en Europe et la formation du catholicisme moderne, XVIe-XIXe siècle, Aubier (Paris, France), 1993, translation by Brian Pearce published as The Religion of the Poor: Rural Missions in Europeand the Formation of Modern Catholicism, c. 1500-c. 1800, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 1997.

Le catholicisme en France: limites actuelles, 1500-1650, Volume 1: Le XVIe siècle, 1500-1600, Volume 2: Le XVIIe siècle, 1600-1650, Sedes (Paris, France), 1995.

Religions en transition dans la seconde moitié du dixhuitième siècle, Voltaire Foundation (Oxford, England), 2000.

Les espaces infinis et le silence de Dieu: science et religion, XVI-XIXe siècle, Aubier-Flammarion (Paris, France), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: In the sixteenth century the Jesuits established institutions known as "Marian congregations" throughout Europe for the purpose of teaching laymen how to practice their Catholic faith and lead Christian lives. Professor Louis Châtellier, a sociologist of religion, asks if these congregations reformed the world in his book L'Europe de dévots. Using extensive materials from the archives of Marian congregations in Belgium, the Rhineland, Bavaria, Austria, Rome, and Naples, Châtellier traces the dense network of these communities developed by 1600, following the Council of Trent in 1545.

Elizabeth G. Gleason, in a review of the English translation for the American Historical Review, explained: "The author believes that Marian congregations were the ferment of a new society. Resolutely rejecting the idea of large-scale dechristianization in the eighteenth century, he argues that the network of confraternities helped maintain religious devotion among the Catholic population of Europe." Lawrence S. Cunningham, writing in Commonweal, remarked that "there was, as the subtitle of Châtellier's interesting study indicates, a Catholic reformation that was not motivated solely by the events connected with Protestantism." The controversial Counter-Reformation, or Catholic Reformation, was a reaction to Luther's idea of the priesthood of all believers.

Reviewer Alastair Hamilton observed in the Times Literary Supplement, "Often in the face of popular resistance, due sometimes to ignorance and sometimes to sheer resentment of State coercion, a variety of rulers tried at different times to turn their Lutheran territories into Calvinist ones, to convert Catholics to Protestantism, and, in previously Protestant areas, to introduce the Catholicism of the Counter-Reformation." In his book, Châtellier concludes that it was the example of the Jesuit groups, with members taking communion, attending masses, saying prayers, practicing meditation, and performing works of charity, rather than the formal implementation of the teachings of the Council of Trent, that transformed Christian society. Of L'Europe de dévots, Gleason claimed, "This book definitely deserves notice."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

American Historical Review, June, 1991, Elizabeth G. Gleason, review of L'Europe de dévots, pp. 862-863.

Canadian Journal of History, December, 1998, Alexander Sedgwick, review of La religione des pauvres, p. 444.

Catholic Historical Review, October, 1990, p. 856; July, 1994, p. 598.

Choice, July, 1990, p. 1875; May, 1998, review of La religione des pauvres, p. 1546.

Church History, March, 1992, p. 105; September, 1998, review of La religione des pauvres, p. 582.

Commonweal, June 15, 1990, Lawrence S. Cunningham, review of L'Europe de dévots, p. 395.

English Historical Review, April, 1993, p. 457; April, 1999, Christopher F. Black, review of La religione des pauvres: les missions rurales en Europe et la formation du catholicisme moderne, XVIe-XIXe siècle, p. 442.

French Studies, October, 2001, David Williams, review of Religions en transition dans la seconde moitié du dix-huitième siècle, p. 547.

Historian, summer, 1991, p. 773.

History: Journal of the Historical Association, October, 1999, C. Scott Dixon, review of La religione des pauvres, p. 721.

History Today, September, 1990, p. 59.

Journal of Ecclesiastical History, April, 1999, Martin D. W. Jones, review of La religione des pauvres, p. 375; April, 2002, Derek Beales, review of Religions en transition dans la seconde moitié du dix-huitième siècle, p. 405.

Journal of Modern History, March, 1992, p. 123; December, 1999, R. Po-Chia Hsia, review of La religione des pauvres, p. 919.

Journal of Religion, January, 1999, Carter Lindberg, review of La religione des pauvres, p. 128.

Religious Studies Review, April, 1991, p. 170.

Renaissance Quarterly, summer, 1991, p. 326.

Times Literary Supplement, June 29, 1990, Alastair Hamilton, review of L'Europe de dévots, p. 690.*