Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

French theologian and writer

• Born: September 27, 1627
• Died: April 12, 1704

Bossuet was one of the most eloquent orators in seventeenth century France. In his sermons and funeral orations, he expressed profound psychological insights in a very refined and effective style. His major contributions were to rhetoric and sacred oratory.

Early Life

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (zhahk-bay-neen boh-syew-eh) was born in the Burgundian city of Dijon, where his father, Bénigne, was a lawyer. From 1636 to 1642, he attended a Jesuit school in Dijon, where he studied rhetoric, Greek, and Latin. During his lifetime, Bossuet read an enormous amount of works written in both Latin and Greek. His lengthy study with the Jesuits would help him years later to understand the many influences of the classical tradition on the development of Christian theology.

In October of 1642, he began his preparation for the priesthood and his formal study of theology at the College of Navarre in Paris. Bossuet’s major professor was the learned theologian Nicolas Cornet, who convinced Bossuet that a solid understanding of the early church fathers and Saint Thomas Aquinas was essential for the proper exposition of biblical texts. In 1652, Bossuet was ordained a priest and also received his doctorate in theology. Later in 1652, he moved to the French city of Metz, where he soon established a reputation as a very eloquent preacher. His fame would spread throughout France by the end of the 1650’s. Even before he reached the age of thirty, Bossuet had enriched the cultural and spiritual life of France through his sermons.

Life’s Work

Although Bossuet had a long and distinguished career as a bishop, as the private tutor for King Louis XIV’s eldest son, as a respected member of the French Academy, and as a writer on such varied subjects as the history of Christianity, biblical exposition, and political theory, his fame rests largely on several well-crafted sermons and funeral orations that he delivered between the 1650’s and the 1680’s. Although his contemporaries greatly admired his very learned historical work Discours sur l’histoire universelle (1681; A Discourse on the History of the Whole World, 1686), this book and other of his extensive writings on the differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism are considered irrelevant by many contemporary theologians. Bossuet’s eloquent sermons and funeral orations, however, included such universal themes as fear, despair, hope, the search for moral values, social injustice, and death that these speeches still continue to move even those readers who may not share Bossuet’s religious beliefs.

Divine Providence constituted the unifying theme in Bossuet’s works. Readers since his day have revered Sermon sur la providence (1662; Sermon on Providence , 1801), Sermon sur la mort (1662; Sermon on Death, 1801), and Oraison funèbre d’Henriette Anne d’Angleterre (1670; Funeral Oration for Henrietta of England, 1801). These masterpieces of French prose illustrate Bossuet’s creativity in expanding the meaning of divine Providence in order to enrich his listeners’ understanding of widely different human emotions.

On March 10, 1662, Bossuet preached his Sermon on Providence at the Louvre, then the French royal court. Twelve days later, he delivered Sermon on Death. These were part of a series of fourteen Lenten sermons that he gave at the royal court in 1662. Based on the sermon titles, listeners may well have thought that these two sermons would differ significantly in perspective and in subject matter, yet these two sermons both illustrate the Christian belief that divine justice eventually rewards the just and punishes evildoers.

Bossuet argues quite sensibly that worldly success and pleasure are ephemeral. He uses a curious but effective comparison to convey this truth to his listeners. He reminds them that “pure wine” pleases the palate, whereas watered-down or “mixed wine” merely satisfies the thirst. Bossuet affirms that the pleasures of “pure wine” represent the eternal joys of the beatific vision, whereas the satisfaction from “mixed wine” symbolizes the happiness and disappointments of daily life. Bossuet begins Sermon on Providence by citing Saint Luke’s contrast between the cruel rich man whose soul will never leave Hell and the virtuous but poor Lazarus, who is spending eternity in Paradise. Bossuet ends this sermon with an equally powerful biblical image. He tells his listeners that if they imitate Lazarus, who was never discouraged by injustice in this life, they too “will rest in the bosom of Abraham and possess with him eternal riches.”

Despite its title, Bossuet’s Sermon on Death presents a highly optimistic view of the human condition by stressing the essential grandeur and excellence of each person. This sermon develops extensively the opposition between appearance and reality. Bossuet makes a curious reference to chemical compounds to explain the meaning of death for Christians: “The nature of a compound is never more distinctly observed than in the dissolution of its parts.” He justifies the relevance of this comment by stating that each man and woman is composed of a soul and a body that separate upon death. The body will return to dust, whereas the soul will return to Heaven. Physical death is thus both an end and a beginning. Each person possesses a dual nature: The body is mortal and the soul is immortal. In Sermon on Death, Bossuet explains that an acceptance of this dual nature consoles humans in their period of grieving and enables them to endure suffering in this life because of the belief that pure happiness awaits them in Paradise. In this well-structured sermon, Bossuet describes eternal life as a reality that no one should wish to deny.

Bossuet’s contemporaries greatly admired the formal beauty in his sermons and funeral orations. After his ordination in 1652, Bossuet served fifty-two years as a priest and thirty-three years as a bishop. Since he was such an influential clergyman, he was often asked to deliver funeral orations for famous French persons, including Queen Marie-Thérèse (Louis XIV’s first wife) and Michel Le Tellier (chancellor of France). Although these two dignitaries were both exemplary Christians, their deaths were not personal tragedies for Bossuet himself.

In 1670, however, Bossuet had to deliver the funeral oration for Princess Henrietta Anne of England, the twenty-six-year-old wife of Louis XIV’s only brother. This was an essentially painful responsibility for Bossuet. For more than a year, he had served as Henrietta’s spiritual director, and he had come to admire her kindness, her virtue, and her courage. On June 29, 1670, she became suddenly ill, and she died the next morning. Bossuet himself gave her Extreme Unction, and he was at her side when she died. Such a tragic loss inspired Bossuet to compose his most moving and personal funeral oration.

Near the beginning of this oration, Bossuet describes the true paradox of death. He tells his listeners, “Madame (Henrietta) is no longer in the tomb; death, which seemed to destroy everything, has established everything.” He stresses that only Henrietta’s body has died and that death has freed her soul for eternity. He explains that Henrietta had grown spiritually, largely as a result of the real tragedies in her short life. The execution of her father, Charles I , in 1649 and her exile from England gave her the opportunity to reflect on eternal spiritual values that social upheavals cannot destroy. Had she enjoyed an uneventful childhood and adolescence at the English royal court, Bossuet preaches, she might have become a vain and superficial princess. Divine Providence, however, transformed her into a sincere Christian whose brief but exemplary life should inspire in others a profound love for God. Henrietta realized that “the favors of this world” are nothing in comparison to those favors that will be experienced in Heaven.

During his distinguished ecclesiastical career, Bossuet tried consistently to balance his intellectual pursuits with his responsibilities as a priest and as a bishop. He feared that worldly success would detract from his spiritual growth. In 1681, he accepted the position of bishop in the relatively small French city of Meaux. Although he continued to write and preach during the last two decades of his life, Bossuet spent most of this time tending to the spiritual affairs of his diocese. He died in Paris on April 12, 1704, at the age of seventy-six.

Significance

Bossuet’s contemporaries recognized and appreciated his unique contributions to the moral, political, and religious life in the France of King Louis XIV. In his sermons and funeral orations, Bossuet developed persuasive intellectual arguments to support the religious value system on which French society was then based. He convinced his listeners that it was perfectly sensible for them to accept orthodox Christian dogma.

It is difficult to overestimate Bossuet’s influence on generations of French preachers who strove to imitate the eloquence and psychological depth in his sermons. His insightful remarks on divine Providence helped listeners to endure with optimism the travails and suffering of daily life. Bossuet’s affirmation of universal dignity and his commitment to tolerance improved the quality of religious life in France.

Bossuet’s compatriots also admired his writings on political theory. In A Discourse on the History of the Whole World, he argued that the French monarchy, although imperfect, was a very useful form of government because it preserved stability in society and also prevented the country from falling into the political chaos that France had experienced during its civil wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Since the seventeenth century, Bossuet has been admired as a brilliant orator who combined eloquence with profound erudition. Critics still admire both his skills as an orator and his keen insights into the complex motivation for human behavior. His elegant and well-structured speeches were never flowery or overly sentimental, and he expressed himself with restrained passion.

Although he wrote in a consistently formal style and never modified his acceptance of orthodox Catholic theology, he always adapted his arguments to the specific public he was addressing. He participated actively in discussions with Protestant clergymen, but he always respected the beliefs of those with whom he disagreed. He attained a stylistic perfection that no other French preacher has equaled. His speeches have often been favorably compared to the tragedies of Jean Racine and to Madame de La Fayette’s psychological novelLa Princesse de Clèves (1678; The Princess of Clèves, 1679). Such comparisons are both appropriate and thought-provoking. Like Racine and La Fayette, Bossuet was a profound writer whose aesthetically pleasing and yet understated works have created an enriched understanding of the human condition.

Bibliography

Bossuet, Jacques-Bénigne. Letters of Spiritual Direction. Translated by Geoffrey Webb and Adrian Walker. London: Saint Austin Press, 2001. Translations of several of Bossuet’s letters in which he addresses the method of prayer and other spiritual concerns.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture. Translated and edited by Patrick Riley. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. The first English translation of Bossuet’s statement of divine right absolutism, published in 1707. Places Bossuet’s work in historical and intellectual context.

France, Peter. “Bossuet: The Word and the World.” In Rhetoric and Truth in France: Descartes to Diderot. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1972. Examines the importance of rhetorical theory and practice in Bossuet’s sermons and funeral orations, describing his creative use of imagery and argumentative techniques. Analyzes the emotional effect of Bossuet’s speeches on contemporary listeners and modern readers.

Judge, H. G. “Louis XIV and the Church.” In Louis XIV and the Craft of Kingship, edited by John C. Rule. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1969. Informative study of the indirect influence of Bossuet and other French preachers on Louis XIV’s political decisions. Demonstrates that French clergymen, including Bossuet, generally supported Louis XIV’s claim that clergymen possessed much independence within the Catholic Church in France.

Lockwood, Richard. The Reader’s Figure: Epideictic Rhetoric in Plato, Aristotle, Bossuet, Racine, and Pascal. Geneva: Droz, 1996. Analyzes the ceremonial rhetoric of Bossuet and other thinkers.

Perry, Elisabeth. From Theology to History: French Religious Controversy and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Hague, the Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 1973. Excellent study of religious controversies between French Catholic and Protestant theologians in the 1670’s and 1680’s. Describes Bossuet’s active participation as an apologist for Catholic dogma.

Terstegge, Georgiana. Providence as “Idée-Maîtresse” in the Works of Bossuet. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1948. Still the major English-language book on Bossuet. Argues that divine Providence is the unifying theme in his works. Examines Bossuet’s numerous thematic and stylistic uses of Providence, and contains an excellent bibliography of secondary sources on Bossuet’s writings.