The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1875-01-10
The Eagle OF Meaux.


the great Dominican preacher Lacordaire-
Moutalembert, even while turning, rs ii were
from the grave of that true friend and brother
Of his soul, exsiaimeGs eI in the closing sentenoe
one greater, one more eloquent than he, can
only think of Bossuet and when / open Bos-
suet, find in him ssying which sums up the
that divine brightness which is within us, and
in which we discover, as in globe of light,
the immortal charm OF honor and virtue.n It
Is with Bossuet. in fact. among pulpit orators,
as it is with Shakespeare among poets. The
eulogists of all others, however great, are con-
strained, in their panegyrics, to yield to him
the unquestioned superiority. Great was Mas
Ravignan, great Lacordaire; but the greatest
of all incomparably, and by common consent,
was Bossuet, the peerless Bishop of Meaux.
Born during the night of September 9th. 1927,
house situated immediately behind the Cathe-
dral, the fnture tutor of the Dauphn of France
was the fifth son aud the seventh child in q
family of ten-the offspring of a race. both on
the fathers and the mothers's side, strictly of
the bourgeois class among the Burgupdians.
His father, Benigne Bossuet, who had been
Avocat Postulant before the Grand Conseil at
Paris, was twice Echevin of Diion. The maid
en- name of Bossuet's mother was Madeleine
Mochette. The grandfather, Jacques Bossuet,
upon the morrow of the birth of the infant
who was to give his name to renown, entered
upon the fyleaf of the family Bible the record
| of the child's birth, adding to it, almost under
the inspiration Of prophecy, the lovely words
from Deuteronomy" Ciroumduxit cam, ct
And like the very Apple of His eye, he was led
about, taught and guarded.
When Bossnet was six years of age, his
father, in 1888, removed to Metz, on his ap-
pointment, by Cardinal Rchelieu, as President
of the Parliament, or Doyen des Conseillers.
| Benigne Bossnets numerous children however
were left behind him at Dijon, under the care
l of his eldest brother, Claude Bossuet. Happily
II S~.T ami i1na hot in
l nal uncle was man of highly intellectual
tastes and predictions, having passionate
love for literature. Tutored at home by his
uncle Claude, and sedulously instructed OF the
Jesuits' College of Dion, the bright boy won
his way with astonishing facility through the
humanities. His mastery of the Greek and
Latin classics was for its precocity theme Of
| general admiration. The summons came to him
| early, however, calling him to loftier studies
| and sublimer themes of contemplation. It came
| to him as it came to Samuel. Opening the Bible
| forth the Holy Book was his constant com
panion. Throughout the whole of the rest oi
4 his life the Old and the New Testaments and q
| Concordance were ever at hand upon hit
eela," be would often remark. At the College
| de Navarro, in Paris, whittier he went next as
| most precocious student, he had the advantage
| of a more than ordinarily skilled instructor II
the then Grand Maitre, Nicolas Cornet. At tn,
unusually early age of sixteen Jacques Benign,
maintained his thesis of philosophy. His repu
| tatiou an orator even then, mere stripping
though he was, became 80 remarkable, that il
consequence of boast of the then Governor O
Verdun, the Marquis de FeuTuieres, that b
| Bossuet, could discourse upon any subject at
few hours notice, he actually performed tina
feat when suddenly summoned in the dead Q
the night for the purpose to the Hotel d
Observation-Disclosures Voiture, looking q
his watch, and seeing that it was past mid
precher nj 81 tot, nj 81 tard." His oration o
the Sorbonne was especially noticeable as i'm
parting an air Of dignity, for once, to tn
usually inane Paranymghs, Boesuet havin
King" According to the Cardinal de Bossuet
his name was second on the class list, the frs
place having been accorded to the Abbe d
Rancy, afterw ards famous as the recluse of L
Trappe. HIS doctors degree was taken on tn
1S5h May, 1852, when he himself exclaimed i
his Latin discourse, "Quid enim doctor; nit
testis veritatis 7" And that witness of the trut
he was to the very end. On the 21st September
1649 he was ordained Deacon-receiying tn
priests orders in the Ember Week of the Len
of 1852. When enumeratiDg the personal gift
of Bossuet, writers speak of him rs strikiDgl
! handsome, even when an old man. Lashai
his most inte'i3 gent Editor, has divided tn
epoch of his fame as o Pulpit Orator into thre
| Periods. First--au Metz, where his sermon
were long, elaborately developed, with acen
where they were remarkable for rapidity, rush
mulated texts, and couched for the most par
in antiquated language; second-at Paris
strength, pathos, dignity, and sublimity
) Il
dered, regular, finished, symmetrical bn
with somewhat abated force, enorEy an
effusion. Louis XIV. was struck wit
admiration at Bossuet's eloqueuce, in III
Advent of 1861, that he caused his Privat
Secretary, President Rose, to write i
his, the Kings name, to Bossuet's fathe
to congratulate him on having such
son! Four years later Louis XIV, Will
listening to Bossuet, daring the Lent G
1865. aud observing an old man standing be
hind the pulpit, who seemed. more than ord
parily attentive, and at intervals greatly NOV
ed, the King asked who he was, and being toll
that be was Benigne Bossuet, the preacher
father, the Grand Monarque exclaimed, with
burst of natural feeling-"How happy he mus
be to hear his son preach 60 wellp Chateau
BRAND said of him-"The Bishop of Mean:
has created q language which it is his alone Z
speak, where often the simplest terms and tn
NEST natural ideas, an expression the mos
common or an image the most terrible, assume
as in the Scriptures, enormous and startling di
mensioDs." Sainte Beuve has spoken of hin
as the most puissant of all men by sheer forc
of words, the most veritably eloquent oG9anl
one in our language. Charles Butler said, il
reference to Bossuets discourse on Universe
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