Lejeune, Jean

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LEJEUNE, JEAN

French Oratorian and preacher; b. Dôle, in Franche-Compté, 1592; d. Limoges, Aug. 19, 1672. Lejeune was the son of a successful lawyer, councilor of the parlement of Dôle, and member of a well-known family distinguished for careers in law and renowned for piety. He studied theology at the University of Dôle and had settled down as a canon of Arbois when he came under the influence of Pierre de Bérulle, founder of the French Congregation of the Oratory. In 1611 Lejeune renounced his canonry and entered the Oratory; after serving briefly as director of the seminary at Langres, he devoted the rest of his life to preaching. The next few years saw Lejeune preaching Advent and Lenten courses, missions, and sermons throughout France. He quickly became known as a most persuasive orator, notable for his unusual ardor and an exceptionally popular style. At age 37 he was struck blind in the midst of a Lenten course at Rouen, but he continued to engage in preaching as much as ever with the aid of a devoted confrere, Lefevre, who acted as his companion.

Lejeune soon acquired the nickname of Le Père Aveugle (the blind father), and his handicap served to increase and strengthen his apostolate rather than to diminish it. He was noted for his life of mortification and acquired a reputation for sanctity, so that Lamy could praise him for preaching by his manner of life more than by his style of oratory.

In 1662 he published in Toulouse a collection of 362 sermons, which was later republished under the title they now bear, Le Missionaire de L'Oratoire (Lyons 182527). The sermons deal with the usual topics in a rather unpretentious style without polemics. They do suffer from faults common in the seventeenth century, especially from lengthy classical citations and a somewhat unusual manner of presentation. In a typical sermon, Lejeune would first state the theme of his discourse and then proceed to prove the thesis by successive arguments from Sacred Scripture, from the Fathers of the Church, and from natural reason, so that his talks greatly resembled classroom presentations of theological theses.

In general, he avoided controversial issues and tended to confine himself to the exposition of fundamental Catholic doctrine. Even so, he was personally criticized and shared in the suspicion of Jansenism generally directed toward the French Oratory. Selections of his sermons were translated into Latin and published under the title Johannis Junii deliciae pastorum (Mainz 1667).

Bibliography: g. goyau, Histoire religieuse, v. 6 of g. a. a. hanotaux, Histoire de la nation française, 15 v. (Paris 192035). a. molien, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, 15 v. (Paris 190350) 9.1:196197.

[a. j. clark]