Jump to content

Louis Veuillot

From Catholicism Wiki
Louis Veuillot
Portrait by Nadar, 1873
Portrait by Nadar, 1873
Born 11 October 1813
Boynes, Loiret Department, France
Died 7 April 1883 (aged 69)
Paris, France
Resting place Montparnasse Cemetery, Paris
Occupation Journalist
Spouse Mathilde
Children Marie
Agnès
Relatives Eugène Veuillot (brother)
François Veuillot (brother)

Louis Veuillot (11 October 1813 – 7 March 1883) was a French journalist and author who helped to popularize ultramontanism (a philosophy favoring Papal supremacy).

Career overview

Veuillot was born of humble parents in Boynes (Loiret). When he was five years of age, his parents relocated to Paris. With little education, he gained employment in a lawyer's office, and was sent in 1830 to serve with a newspaper of Rouen, and afterwards to Périgueux. Initially, Veuillot supported the July Monarchy of Louis Phillippe criticizing both Republicans and supporters of the deposed Bourbon Dynasty.[1]

He returned to Paris in 1837, and a year later visited Rome during Holy Week. There he embraced ultramontane sentiments, and became an ardent champion of Catholicism. The results of his conversion were published in Pélerinages en Suisse (1839), Rome et Lorette (1841) and other publications.[2] Veuillot's embrace of Ultramontanism led to his violent rejection of Bourgeois society and norms.[3] He had little regard for theological nuance and held fast to the overall philosophies of Joseph de Maistre and Louis de Bonald, the original Catholic counter-revolutionary thinkers.[4] Veuillot viewed all issues through the prism of their relationship to the Church and thought any disruption of the faith was a catastrophe. For this reason, he expressed surprise when he learned that his friend Joseph-Théophile Foisset was working on a new edition of Blaise Pascal since he was a Jansenist.[5]

In 1840, Veuillot joined the staff of the newspaper Univers Religieux, a journal created in 1833 by Abbé Migne, and soon helped make it the leading organ of ultramontane propaganda as L'Univers. His methods of journalism, which made great use of irony and ad hominem criticism,[6] had already provoked more than one duel, and he was imprisoned for a brief time for his polemics against the University of Paris. In 1848, he became editor of the newspaper, which was suppressed in 1860,[7] but revived in 1867, when Veuillot resumed his ultramontane propaganda, causing a second suppression of his journal in 1874.[8] Veuillot then occupied himself by writing polemical pamphlets[9] against liberal Catholics, the Second French Empire and the Italian government. His services to the papal see were recognized by Pope Pius IX, on whom he wrote (1878) a monograph.[2] Matthew Arnold said of him:

M. Louis Veuillot is a polemic worthy of the golden age of polemics. He is singly devoted to ultramontanism; he lives on a small fixed salary from the proprietors of the Univers; he is a man of the purest and simplest domestic life; he is poor, and has a large family, but he has refused all offers of place and salary from the government, and maintains his entire independence.[10]

And Orestes Brownson wrote:

[Veuillot] manifests the temper and breeding of a fanatic, and seems to act on the principle that whoever differs on any important point in history, politics, or philosophy, from himself, must needs be a bad Catholic, or no Catholic at all. We question not his sincerity, we question not his personal piety; but we do question his qualification to be a Catholic leader. His mind is too narrow and one-sided for that, and his leadership, with the best intentions on his part, is fitted only to bring about the very results he most deprecates. Notwithstanding his hostility to those who regret the loss of parliamentary freedom, and his devotion to Imperialism, he has not been able to save his journal from an avertissement; and it would seem that, after having aided in erecting an Absolute government for his country, and in breaking down all the safeguards established by constitutionalism to freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and public discussion, the police have had the cruelty to take him at his word, and give him a taste of the despotism he has been willing to fasten upon others.[11]

Some of his papers were collected in Mélanges Religieux, Historiques et Littéraires (12 vols., 1857–1875), and his Correspondance (7 vols., 1883–85) has great political interest. His younger brother, Eugène Veuillot, published (1901–1904) a comprehensive and valuable life, Louis Veuillot.

After the First Vatican Council, Veuillot's influence began to wane. In 1879, Pope Pius IX released a letter praising him, but also regretting his "bitter zeal" in advocating his views. Among the lower clergy Veuillot retained influence. Politically he returned to advocating the restorations of the Bourbon Monarchy under Henri, Count of Chambord.[12]

Antisemitism

Veuillot was a virulent antisemite. As early as the 1840s, he wrote articles in L'Univers defaming Jews, portraying them as alien vagabonds, accusing them of blood libel, and asserting that the Talmud commanded Jews to hate all Christians.[13][14] He contemptuously dismissed Jews who criticized him as "the deicide people", claiming they were a foreign element which plotted to control all of French society.[15] Veuillot's hatred intensified during the Mortara case to the point where it put him at odds with Napoleon III whom he had previously supported, causing the latter to temporarily suppress the journal.[13] Veuillot's two-pronged assault on the Jews and liberalism would influence the antisemitism of Édouard Drumont, who worked for L'Univers in his youth.[16] Drumont, who in his turn was an employer of Charles Maurras, was admired by Karl Lueger, whom Adolf Hitler acknowledged as an influence in Mein Kampf.[17]

Legacy

A misattributed quote to Veuillot, "When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles", is quoted in Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.

Works

Works in English translation

See also

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Louis Veuillot — Journalist and writer, b. at Boynes, Loiret, 11 Oct., 1813; d. in Paris, 7 April, 1883. He was the son of a poor cooper and at the age of thirteen was obliged to leave the primary schools and earn his living, obtaining a modest position with a Paris attorney, the brother of the then famous poet Casimir Delavigne. The poet's friends frequented the lawyer's studio, even the clerics among them being more or less engaged in literary pursuits, and in these surroundings the youthful Veuillot became conscious of his vocation as a writer. He was encouraged by some well-intentioned friends, some of whom gave him advice and lessons. He devoted every free moment, especially at night, to the study of literature and history. At seventeen he was the editor of a newspaper at Rouen, and shortly after of another at Perigueuz. Attention was soon drawn to his talent as manifested in his style and wit and he was called to enter Parisian journalism, where his successes followed one another rapidly. But he was troubled to know what political party he should adopt definitively. Political questions under discussion at that time (reign of Louis-Philippe) did not seem interesting to the young writer, imbued with eagerness and strength. He did not despise religion, but he lacked almost any conception of it, and he complained that he did not know what use to make of his life and his devotion. A friend who had just turned to the practice of religion took him to Rome and there he discovered the splendours of faith. When he returned to Paris he had sworn to devote himself completely to the cause of Catholicism.

In France at that time this cause had very few resolute and active partisans. The Government declared itself favourable to religion, but it also feared to displease the public, still more or less animated by the prejudices and hatreds diffused by Voltaire and the Revolution. Veuillot wrote several works entirely devoted to depicting the beauty of Christian doctrine and life and then he found the journal of which he stood in need, the "Univers", which had been established some years previously and was still unknown and almost without financial resources. At this juncture friends of Veuillot's in official positions offered him an enviable post. He had as yet acquired no fortune, being content to gain a livelihood and to assist his family, but he refused all the advantages offered him and became a Catholic journalist, resolved never to be anything else. The chief question then being discussed (1843-50) was liberty of teaching, which was claimed by the Catholics headed by Montalembert. Transformed by the ardour and talent of Veuillot, the "Univers" became the organ of the party and contributed greatly to its ultimate success. But this struggle was long and impassioned. The unbelieving Press and, in general, even that which claimed or imagined itself to be favourable to religion, passionately opposed the Catholic journalist. The widespread prejudices would not suffer Catholics to display daring, talent, or wit. These three qualities Veuillot possessed abundantly, and the use he made of them won him not only much renown and admiration but also inflexible hatred. In 1844 he was sentenced to a month's imprisonment for having in the "Univers" undertaken the defence of the Abbé Combalot, a preacher whom the Government had just condemned in connection with the controversy concerning the university. Even among Catholics there was a party which always remained hostile to him. After the partial triumph of liberty of instruction (1850), Veuillot found himself in conflict with his former friend Montalembert, with bishops (especially Mgr Dupanloup), and other persons who reproached him with carrying doctrinal intransigentism too far and with defending religion with too great violence, though all he asked for the Church was mere liberty.

Under the Second Empire this double conflict continued. Veuillot combated free-thinking, which assumed a philosophical character, and the liberal world, which sought, then, "to reconcile religion with modern ideas". In 1859, during the war of Napoleon III with Austria, Veuillot foresaw that this undertaking would result inevitably in the destruction of the temporal sovereignty of the pope, and he pointed out the dangers of the Napoleonic policy. Soon the "Univers" was suppressed by the Government for having published the Encyclical, "Nullis certe", in which Pius IX denounced the same dangers (29 Jan., 1860). Deprived of his journal Veuillot devoted himself to writing pamphlets and books which made a great stir. All were devoted to a single cause, religious truth. In 1867 he was once more able to publish the "Univers". The subjects which engaged him were of the utmost importance to France, Europe, and the world. They may be classified in three categories: the visible decline of the imperial régime, the European conspiracy against the temporal power of the pope, the Vatican Council and its preliminaries. The discussions were incessant. Veuillot withstood the opposition of ten journals. His adversaries included men of talent, such as Prévost-Paradol, Guéroult, About, and many others who represented free-thinking, philosophy, or the revolutionary policy known as Liberal, and during this time he was often the object of attacks from Catholic sources.

This double conflict became still more acute prior to and during the session of the council. Numerous and prolonged discussions were sustained by Veuillot with the free-thinkers, who were extremely irritated by the announcement of the council, and with the Catholic opponents of the doctrine of infallibility. Several times in the course of the disputes entered into by the "Univers", Pius IX declared himself in favour of that journal which several bishops were attacking vigorously, while many others defended it. Veuillot refrained from allying himself with any political party. His rule of conduct formulated in 1842 was: "Avoid factions of all kinds; we belong only to our Church and our country." He supported or opposed the successive Governments according to the manner in which they treated the Church. Hence, after having vigorously upheld the Second Empire he withdrew his support when Napoleon III favoured the free-thinking or revolutionary ideas. In 1871 he supported Comte de Chambord who wished to restore the Christian monarchy.

Veuillot's work as a journalist is comprised in 12 volumes entitled, "Mélanges religieux, historiques, politiques et littéraires". This collection represents the political and religious history of a period of forty years, many of the articles being masterpieces. This is acknowledged by the free-thinkers themselves, who recognize Veuillot not only as an incomparable journalist but as one of the greatest writers of France. Since his death his reputation has continued to spread. In the free-thinking world, where formerly he was furiously attacked, his talent and character are now admired. Besides countless works as a journalist, he wrote also romances and poems, all inspired by a love of religious faith. Of his voluminous correspondence, and eminent critic, a skeptic, but one always respectful towards religion, M. Jules Lemaitre, says that it is "With that of Voltaire-for what different reasons-the most extraordinary ever left by a man of letters". The same critic says again, "Among writers who count, Veuillot seems to me the best in the tradition of the language, while he is likewise one of the most free and individual...I do not hesitate to number him among the half-dozen very great prose writers of the century." Louis Veuillot's brother, Eugene Veuillot, intimately sharing his life, labours, and combats, himself a very brilliant polemist, and who until his death at the age of 87 (1905) continued to edit the "Univers", wrote an account in three volumes of his brother's career and history.

The works of Louis Veuillot comprise 58 volumes. They are: "Les Pèlerinages de Suisse" (2 vols., 1838); "Pierre Saintive" (1839); "Rome et Lorrette" (1841); "Histoirettes et fantaisies" (1844-66); "Agnes de Lauwens: Mémoires de Soeur Saint-Louis" (1845); "L'honnète femme" (1844; 1908); "Les Français en Algérie" (1845); "Les libre penseurs" (1848; 1866); "L'esclave Vindex"; "Le lendemain de la victoire"; "La légalité"; (pamphlets, 1851; 1871); "La vie de la bienheureuse Germaine Cousin" (1854; 1909); "Le droit du seigneur au moyen-Age" (1854); "La guerre et l'homme de guerre" (1855); "Cà et Là" (2 vols. 1859; 1874); "Le parfum de Rome" (2 vols. 1861; 1867); "Le fond de giboyer" (1863); "De quelques erreurs sur la papauté" (1859); "La Vie de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ" (1864; large illustrated edition, 1875); "Les odeurs de Paris" (1867); "Corbin et d'Aubecourt" (1854; 1869); "Paris pendant les deux sieges" (2 vols., 1871); "Rome pendant le concile" (1876; from the Mélanges); "Moliere et Bourdaloue" (1877); "Oeuvres poetiques" (1878); "Etudes sur Victor Hugo" (1886); "Cara" (posthumous poems); "Mélanges" etc. (22 vols. in 4 series, 1856; 1859; 1876; 1909); "Correspondance" (7 vols. 1884; 1885; 1887; 1892).

VILLEFRANCHE, Dix grands chretiens du siecle (1892); LEMAITRE, Les contemporains (Paris, 1896); LONGHAYE, Equisses litteraires et morales (Paris, 1906); ALBALAT, Louis Veuillot, pages choises (Paris, 1906) with biographical and literary introduction; CERCEAU, L'ame d'un grand chretien (Paris, 1908); EUGENE VEUILLOT, Louis Veuillot (3 vols. Paris, 1899, 1901, 1904); BELLESSORT, Conference sur Louis Veuillot in Revue française (19 Feb., Paris, 1911).

References

  1. Back to citation Gurian 1951, p. 387.
  2. Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Chisholm 1911.
  3. Back to citation Gurian 1951, pp. 388–389.
  4. Back to citation Gurian 1951, pp. 387–388.
  5. Back to citation Gurian 1951, pp. 389–390.
  6. Back to citation "In Paris M. Louis Veuillot has given us another shameful specimen of Ultramontanism. Not satisfied with comparing savants to the phylloxera, he likens Protestantism to a loathsome disease whose name is usually confined to medical works." — "The Jesuits in France," The New York Times, August 16, 1875, p. 4.
  7. Back to citation "The Greater Excommunication, The Emperor and the Pope," The New York Times, April 20, 1860.
  8. Back to citation "The Clerical Press and Marshall Serrano," The New York Times, September 24, 1874.
  9. Back to citation "An impetuous, brutal journalist, whose verve and ardour came from Rabelais and Voltaire through Joseph de Maistre, Louis Veuillot was at the same time an exquisite writer and a violent Christian; he distributed holy water as though it were vitriol and handled the crucifix like a club." — Hanotaux, Gabriel (1905). Contemporary France. London: Archibald Constable & Co., p. 622.
  10. Back to citation Arnold, Matthew (1960). "England and the Italian Question." In: On the Classical Tradition, R. H. Super (Ed.), University of Michigan Press, p. 89.
  11. Back to citation Greene, Benjamin H. (1857). Brownson's Quarterly Review, Volume 2. New York: E. Dunigan and Brother. p. 398.
  12. Back to citation Gurian 1951, pp. 407–408.
  13. Back to citation occurrence 13.0 Back to citation occurrence 13.1 Levy, Richard S. (2005). Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 738.
  14. Back to citation Kaplan, Zvi Jonathan (2009). Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea?: French Jewry and the Problem of Church and State. Society of Biblical Lit. p. 65.
  15. Back to citation Michael, R. (2008). A History of Catholic Antisemitism: The Dark Side of the Church. Springer. p. 128.
  16. Back to citation Arnoulin 1902, pp. 73–75.
  17. Back to citation Birnbaum 1993, p. 72.

Bibliography

  • Ages, Arnold (1974). "Veuillot and the Talmud," Jewish Quarterly Review 64, pp. 229–260.
  • Allison, John M.S. (1916). Church and State in the Reign of Louis Philippe. Princeton University Press.
  • Arnoulin, Stéphane (1902), M. Edouard Drumont et les Jesuites, Paris: Librairie des Deux-Mondes
  • Birnbaum, Pierre (1993), "Dreyfus avant Dreyfus: Drumont et la mise en scène de l'affaire", Mil neuf cent. Revue d'histoire intellectuelle, 11: 71–76
  • Boureau, Alain (1998). "God's Party in the Great Combat." In: The Lord's First Night: The Myth of the Droit de Cuissage. University of Chicago Press.
  • Brown, Marvin L. Jr. (1977). Louis Veuillot: French Ultramontane, Catholic Journalist and Layman, 1813–1883. Durham, N.C.: Moore Publishing Company.
  • Cornut, Etienne (1891). Louis Veuillot. Paris: Victor Retaux et Fils.
  • Corrigan, Raymond (1938). The Church in the Nineteenth Century. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company.
  • Christophe, Lucien (1967). Louis Veuillot. Paris: Wesmael-Charlier.
  • Dimier, Louis (1917). Les Maîtres de la Contre-Révolution au 19e Siècle. Paris: Nouvelle Librairie Nationale.
  • Fernessole, Pierre (1923). Les Origines Littéraires de Louis Veuillot, 1813-1843. Paris: J. de Gigord.
  • Foucart, Claude (1978). L'Aspect Méconnu d'un Grand Lutteur. Atelier National de Reproduction des Thèses, Université de Lille III.
  • Gough, Austin (1996). Paris et Rome. Les Catholiques Français et le Pape au XIXe Siècle. Paris: Éditions de l'Atelier.
  • Gurian, Waldemar (1951), "Louis Veuillot", Catholic Historical Review, 36 (4): 385–414 JSTOR 25015203
  • Isser, Natalie (1979). "The Mortara Affair and Louis Veuillot," Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Western Society for French History 7, pp. 69–78.
  • Laurioz, Pierre-Yves (2005). Louis Veuillot: Soldat de Dieu. Éd. de Paris, 2005.
  • Le Roux, Benoît (1984). Louis Veuillot: Un Homme, un Combat. Paris: Téqui, 1984.
  • MacCaffrey, James (1905). "Louis Veuillot," The Irish Ecclesiastical Record 16, pp. 430–441; Part II, Part III, The Irish Ecclesiastical Record 17, pp. 323–334, 541–555.
  • MacCaffrey, James (1910). "The Church in France." In: History of the Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Century. M.H. Gill & Son, pp. 233–251.
  • McMillan, James F. "Remaking Catholic Europe: Louis Veuillot and the Ultramontane Project." Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte 14, no. 1 (2001): 112–22. JSTOR 43100025
  • Menczer, Béla (1962). "Louis Veuillot." In: Catholic Political Thought, 1789-1848. University of Notre Dame Press, pp. 192–196.
  • Mirecourt, Eugène de (1856). Louis Veuillot. Paris: Gustave Havard.
  • Murray, Eustace Clare Grenville (1873). "M. Louis Veuillot." In: Men of the Third Republic. London: Strahan & Co., pp. 188–201.
  • Myers, Rev. E. (1903). "Louis Veuillot," The Catholic World 77, pp. 597–610.
  • Neill, Thomas Patrick (1951). "Louis Veuillot." In: They Lived the Faith; Great Lay Leaders of Modern Times. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, pp. 299–324.
  • Nielsen, Fredrik Kristian (1906). The History of the Papacy in the XIXth Century, Vol. 2. London: John Murray.
  • O'Connor, R.F. (1879). "Louis Veuillot," Part II, The Monitor 1, pp. 333–346, 413–428.
  • O'Connor, R.F. (1913). "Louis Veuillot," The American Catholic Quarterly Review 38, pp. 612–627.
  • Parsons, Reuben (1901). "Louis Veuillot." In: Studies in Church History. New York: F.R. Pustet & Co., pp. 427–440.
  • Pierrard, Pierre (1998). Louis Veuillot. Paris: Éditions Beauchesne.
  • Preuss, Arthur (1914). "The Veuillot Centenary," The Fortnightly Review 21, pp. 3–4.
  • Preuss, Arthur (1902). "A Fighting Editor," Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, The Review 9, pp. 535–537, 546–548, 564–567, 582–585, 598–601, 616–618.
  • Sainte-Beuve, C.A. (1885). "Veuillot as Journalist." In: Causeries du lundi. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 86–90.
  • Soltau, Roger Henry (1959). "Veuillot and L'Univers." In: French Political Thought in the 19th Century. New York: Russell & Russell, pp. 176–188.
  • Sparrow-Simpson, W.J. (1918). "Louis Veuillot." In: French Catholics in the Nineteenth Century. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, pp. 107–121.
  • Spencer, Philip (1954). Politics of Belief in Nineteenth-Century France: Lacordaire, Michon, Veuillot. London: Faber and Faber.
  • Tavernier, Eugène (1913). Louis Veuillot; l'Homme, le Lutteur, l'Écrivain. Paris: Plon.
  • Teeling, T.T. (1905). "Louis Veuillot and L'Univers," Part II, The Dolphin 8, pp. 546–558, 693–706.
  • Veuillot, Eugène (1904). Louis Veuillot, Tome II, Tome III. Paris: Victor Retaux.
Retrieved from "https://catholicism.wiki/index.php?title=Louis_Veuillot&oldid=100954"