Francois De Sales Research Articles

Renaissance Symposium

Renaissance Symposium Daniel Leary (bio) The Unrepentant Renaissance: From Petrarch to Shakespeare to Milton. Richard Strier. University of Chicago Press. http://press.uchicago.edu. 328 pages; cloth, $5.00, eBook, $7.00–$36.00. Click for larger view View full resolution Detail from Cover Don’t take it unless you’re willing to sit up straight, take notes, and think. I’ve seen him in action before a group right here at City. He’s a sage on stage—like most good teachers, tends toward the histrionic, but he’s in earnest, got what he’d call “sprezzatura”—you know, with your nautical background, “yare,” takes on some of the biggies like Stephen Greenblatt on Thomas More and Stanley Fish on Milton. Strier is a big one himself: Distinguished Service Professor in the English Department and the Divinity School at Chicago and author/editor of books and articles on Renaissance texts and George Herbert’s poetry. Can that opening! My charade of advising a grad student at CUNY is unsustainable. So why did I start that way? Well, I got your attention, didn’t I? Here you are in the second paragraph already—might as well read it all. And there really is schoolroom aliveness in Strier’s give-and-take between text and footnotes—more about footnotes later. Finally, Freud would suggest my indirect approach reflects uneasiness, questioning whether I was unsure, whether I was in sympathy with what he was doing, whether I should—as they say—recuse myself. Professor Richard Strier is a cultural historian focused on “who in the when.” I’m a superannuated new critic focused on “what’s on the page.” The best use both, oriented toward one or the other critical approach, but always open to the unexpected. In Strier’s book, the surprises are in his revealing readings, not in his historical machine, his predetermined conclusions. When Strier chooses to devote a full chapter to a second-rate Shakespearean play—The Comedy of Errors—because it nicely demonstrates domestic materiality and worldliness in the English Renaissance, I’m put in mind of Horace’s Ars Poetica, in which he advises maintaining proportion between effort and result else we have “the mountain giving birth to a mouse.” Again, when Strier devotes the final chapters to the legalistic tangles of Milton’s writings on the Protestant Church and human will and penance, I note ruefully that he gives short shrift to Paradise Lost (1667), though, in fairness, Paradise Regained (1671) and Samson Agonistes (1671) earlier on were given space and attention. After wallowing through the Puritanical prose, is our reward to be Milton’s cautious suggestion that Luther/Calvin may be in error when they teach that half a world of blameless people are predestined for hell? Are we to tally this as an unrepentant’s refusal to accept humbly the dictates of ecclesiastics? This time, I’m put in mind of James Joyce’s Stephen confiding to a friend: “I’ve lost my faith,” and the friend, “You’ve become a Protestant?” and Stephen, “I’ve lost my faith, not my mind!” So that’s part of what my uneasiness is about. In the rest of the volume, Strier deals with major literary works with rich results, in spite of his history-of-ideas orientation. He outlines the five-fold schema that I am so uneasy about in the first sentences of the “Introduction”: Reason, patience, and moderation of anger; a proper understanding of the inferiority of the physical to the spiritual; ordinary decency and morality; a rejection of materialism and worldliness; an assertion of the need for humility—these are certainly recognized and widely voiced values in the…Renaissance period…. The chapters that follow treat, in order, texts that oppose [each of the above]…. That is why these texts are all, as my title suggests “unrepentant.” The texts cover a wide range of the Renaissance. Aside from the three authors in the title, we have Luther, Calvin, Herbert, Ignatius Loyola, Machiavelli, Francois de Sales, Donne, More, Montaigne, Descartes, Erasmus, and throw in these influences or commentators: Aristotle, Plato, St. Augustine and Nietzsche and Burckhardt, all of whom have multiple index citations. In...

Beasts in the Devout Life: Animals in the Writing of St François de Sales

Abstract In both the Introduction a la vie devote and the Traite de l'amour de Dieu, St Francois de Sales (1567–1622) makes extensive reference to the animal world. Writing in a tradition dating back to the medieval Christian bestiary, he draws his evidence from classical sources and from the Bible and Fathers, as well as from more demotic material. His zoological imagery is remarkable by its diversity, and by Francois's readiness to include the fantastic or improbable alongside the more scientifically attested. His pagan examples do not however function as a mythological fable; rather they place classical zoology at the service of Christian theology, with pride of place accorded to elephants and bees. Biblical examples too extend beyond commonplace similes; and even more modest contemporary illustrations are transformed into the means of spiritual encouragement. All such analogies are described by Francois as 'similitudes', and serve to effect a link between the natural and divine worlds. Yet if such zoo...

The Conversion of Polyeucte 's Félix: The Problem of Religion and Theater

The relationship between religion and theater gave rise in seventeenth century France to much discussion and dissent, commonly referred to as the Querelle de la moralite du theatre. The 1640s were a rare period during which religious subjects were popular on the French stage; almost all of the major playwrights wrote at least one play that could be thus categorized (Pasquier 201). I propose to examine the friction between the domains of theater and religion through a discussion of the two most enduringly famous religious plays of this period, Pierre Corneille's Polyeucte (1643) and Jean Rotrou's Le Veritable Saint Genest (1645). I will approach the broader issues by tackling the long-standing problem of Felix's sudden conversion in Polyeucte's final scene. The quarrel between religion and theater, or more precisely, the objections that religious authorities have to theater, date back to ancient times. Marc Fumaroli argues that the common belief that modern theater has religious roots may be based on a misunderstanding. (1) From the perspective of the seventeenth-century Church the two domains do not have, or perhaps rather should not have, anything in common, religion dealing with the sacred and theater entailing un contrat mercantile between actors and the public (450-51). Seventeenth-century thought on the relationship between religion and theater is in line with Plato's reflections on mimesis (Thirouin 22). In Platonic thought, the concrete reality of our world is merely a shadowy representation of the ideal, an ideal that is to be found in the higher realm of the divine. Plato and the seventeenth-century religious writers both criticize theater for compounding the distance from the ideal by providing an (inferior) imitation of reality, a reality that is itself but a pale imitation of the ideal. Thus the theatrical representation is at a double remove from the reality. (2) While the favor of Richelieu and the Declaration royale de 1641 help make this brief period of tolerance for religious plays possible, and while certain moderates such as Francois de Sales assert theater's potential for moral utility, the voices and arguments rallied against the stage in France were strident and powerful. There seems to be no doubt that Corneille and Rotrou were both profoundly devout men. We may thus assume that in writing Polyeucte and Saint Genest they sought to write sincerely Christian plays. It is important to establish from the onset that I am not interested in questioning the intentions of the authors. That the plays the two men wrote pose certain problems when judged against such devout intentions is not to be credited to the authors so much as to larger and more fundamental incompatibilities. It is worth noting at this juncture, however, the degree to which all discussion of religious theater seems to be personalized. Not only are the religious beliefs of Corneille and Rotrou at issue, but those of the literary scholar discussing their religious plays are as well. Kosta Loukovitch's observation is shared by many, although usually stated less baldly: La psychologie de Corneille dans ces deux pieces [Polyeucte and Theodore] est une psychologie theologique. Qui les etudie en profane, comme Lemaitre, n'en saisit que la moitie, et la moindre (231; see also Cairncross 571). If one speaks from outside a religious perspective, as I do, one may be readily dismissed for a lack of true understanding. If one speaks as a believer, a defensive posture toward all discrepancies or inadequacies is seemingly automatic. In discussion of other kinds of plays, the personal beliefs of the person examining the work are almost never at issue. The mere mention of religion, even in a context over 350 years old, remains polarizing. (3) In Polyeucte, and later Theodore, Corneille seems to have set himself the challenge of reconciling theater and religion, perhaps the two most important domains in the playwright's life. …

Queer (re)readings in the French Renaissance: homosexuality, gender, culture

Contents: Introduction: pre-modern (homo)sexuality: historical and theoretical issues Homosexuality and gender: historical (trans)formations Homosexuality, nature and taste Queer (re)readings Italian imports: tales of Sodom and other cities Splitting hairs: (re)reading (with) Ronsard Mourning/scorning the mignons: representations of heroism and favouritism at the court of Henri III Montaigne's itchy ears: friendship, marriage, (homo)sexuality, and scepticism Androgynes, hermaphrodites, and courtesans: women, queer nature and (queer?) pleasures Towards modernity: on kissing, whipping, confession, and the closet - Francois de Sales and Henri III Bibliography Index.

Albrecht Burkardt, Les clients des saints: maladie et quête du miracle à travers les procès de canonisation de la première moitié du XVIIe siècle en France, Collection de l'Ecole Française de Rome, Rome, Ecole Française de Rome, 2004, pp. viii, 623, €66.00 (paperback 2-7283-0681-8).

Albrecht Burkardt, Les clients des saints: maladie et quête du miracle à travers les procès de canonisation de la première moitié du XVIIe siècle en France, Collection de l'Ecole Française de Rome, Rome, Ecole Française de Rome, 2004, pp. viii, 623, €66.00 (paperback 2-7283-0681-8). - Volume 51 Issue 2

Before imagination: embodied thought from Montaigne to Rousseau

Before imagination became the transcendent and creative faculty promoted by the Romantics, it was for something quite different. Not reserved to a privileged few, imagination was instead considered a universal ability that each person could direct in practical ways. To imagine something meant to form in the mind a replica of a thing - its taste, its sound, and other physical attributes. At the end of the Renaissance, there was a movement to encourage individuals to develop their ability to imagine vividly. Within their private mental space, a space of embodied, sensual thought, they could meditate, pray, or philosophize. Gradually, confidence in the self-directed imagination fell out of favor and was replaced by the belief that the few - an elite of writers and teachers - should control the imagination of the many. This book seeks to understand what imagination meant in early modern Europe, particularly in early modern France, before the Romantic era gave the term its modern meaning. The author explores the themes surrounding early modern notions of imagination (including hostility to imagination) through the writings of such figures as Descartes, Montaigne, Francois de Sales, Pascal, the Marquise de Sevigne, Madame de Lafayette, and Fenelon.

A Confessor and His Spiritual Child: Francois de Sales, Jeanne de Chantal, and the Foundation of the Order of the Visitation

A Confessor and His Spiritual Child: Francois de Sales, Jeanne de Chantal, and the Foundation of the Order of the Visitation

Appealing to the Senses: The Forty Hours Celebrations in the Duchy of Chablais, 1597-98

This article explores Catholic missionaries' use of emotions to promote conversions in the duchy of Chablais from 1597 to 1598, highlighting in particular three Forty Hours Devotions celebrated in the Alpine villages of Annemasse and Thonon. Evoking early Christianity through images of the Eucharist and the Crucifixion, a small band of missionaries, led by Francois de Sales and Capuchin Cherubin de Maurienne, hoped to spark overt emotions in their audience and to distinguish baroque Catholicism from the more introspective Calvinist faith of nearby Geneva. Published accounts of the devotions, correspondence of the organizers, and records of the reactions from Geneva indicate the success of the Forty Hours Devotions and demonstrate the missionaries' willingness to shape the presentation of their message to appeal to people's senses rather than to their intellects.

Descartes and Corneille: A re-examination

It is now over a century since the striking resemblances were first put forward between Corneille's characters and the implied `hero' of Descartes' Traite des Passions. Since direct influence of one on the other seemed precluded by the dates of their writings, the puzzle invited many attempts at other explanations. One which was published in this journal in the early part of the last century ascribed the similarities to the direct influence of St Francois de Sales, in whose writings additional textual resemblances were found. Another detailed study promoted the influence of Honore d'Urfe. A decade or so later, it was suggested that the resemblances in the four writers could perhaps be explained by the fact that all four went to Jesuit schools. This article explores that possibility by restating some of the basic similarities already noted and, for each category, comparing with them some brief extracts from Jesuit-Scholastic texts of the period. Is the puzzle solved?.

:Theory and Theology in George Herbert's Poetry: Divinitie and Poesie Met

In seventeenth-century England the poet George Herbert became known as 'Divine Herbert', his poetry a model for those aspiring to the status of inspired Christian poet. This book explores the relationship between the poetry of George Herbert and the concept of divine inspiration rooted in devotional texts of the time. Clarke considers three very different treatises read and approved by Herbert: Savonarola's De Simplicitate Christianae Vitae, Juan de Valdes's The Hundred and Ten Considerations, and Francois de Sales's Introduction to the Devout Life. These authors all saw literary production as implicit in a theological argument about the workings of the Holy Spirit. Clarke goes on to offer a new reading of many of Herbert's poems, concluding that implanted in Herbert's poetry are many well-established codes which to a seventeenth-century readership signified divine inspiration.

Elephantine Marriage: The Elephant and Devout Table Manners

Before the apogee of the Moralist tradition and its radical critique of the grounding of subjectivity in the representations of self-love, the first half of the seventeenth century concentrated its analysis of passions around the development of an ethical discourse on love as the foundation of a Christian pragmatics. This ethical drive is most apparent in the construction, organization and structure of a work like Senault's De l'usage des passions (1641). A major and unfortunately often neglected and ignored tradition behind this pragmatic ethics finds its most significant and polished expression in the two central works of Saint Francois de Sales. Between the Introduction a la vie devote (1608) and the Traite de l'amour de Dieu (1616), we find a remarkable distillation of the ideal of devout life in all its rami-

Il pensiero filosofico e scientifico di Antoine Arnauld (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 529 II pensiero filosofico e scientifico di Antoine ArnauM. Volume I. By Leonardo Verga. Publicazioni della UniversitA Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. (Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 1972. Pp. vi + 430. L. 20,000 for volumes I and II) This book is the first of a two-volume work on Amauld's thought. It begins with a long first chapter (167 pages) attempting to place his thought in the framework of his theology and the latter, in turn, in the framework of the religious problems of the time. The remaining four chapters deal respectively with the content and details of Amauld's logic, geometry , theory of language, and philosophical psychology. The promised second volume will contain, we are told (p. 167), two chapters dealing with his epistemology and theodicy, and a discussion of his moral philosophy interpreted as evangelical ethics. The first chapter is the most readable and interesting one. Entitled "Theology and Philosophy in Arnauld," it begins with a discussion of the crisis which faced religious thinkers in seventeenth-century France. This crisis had three elements: relativism regarding the merits of Christian faith and morals vis-A-vis those of other cultures, which relativism stemmed from the geographical-anthropological discoveries; skepticism toward some articles of faith, stemming from astronomical-cosmological developments; and doubts concerning the applicability of Christian morality to the real world of practical action, especially politics. Verga discusses three responses to this crisis: Libertinism, Devout Humanism (originating from Francois de Sales), and Jansenism. In the latter he distinguishes an extremist and a moderate form and regards Arnauld as the leader of the latter. Some of Verga's main theses about the general character of Arnauld's thought are the following: Arnauld accepted Cartesianism not only because he could thereby justify certain doctrines fundamental to Christian apologetics, but primarily because he could thereby save both the transcendence of faith and the rights of reason in scientific and philosophical inquiries (p. 112); at the same time, the rigorous separation of faith and reason was for Arnauld the only means of avoiding certain dangers that Cartesianism represented for religion and of exploiting it fully in favor of the latter, and for these two goals the doctrine of divine voluntarism was crucial (p. 125); Arnauld's acceptance of the thesis that extension is the essence of bodies is used by Verga as an illustration of how Arnauld's methodological interest in Cartesianism coincides with his substantive interest in it (pp. 176 ft.). The best description of chapters 2, 3, and 4 is perhaps the one Benedetto Croce used in his book on Hegel to refer to the character of almost all accounts of Hegel found in histories of philosophies or in monographs on him, namely "an abbreviated repetition of his books"; in our case the books are La Logique, ou L'Art de penser; Nouveaux ~l~ments de g~ometrie; and Grammaire gdn~rale et raisonnde. Chapter 5, the last, entitled "Philosophical Anthropology," contains discussions of the following topics: the clear idea of the soul; the distinction of the soul and the body; the union of the soul and the body; and the faculties of the soul. The book has the disturbing characteristic of containing many long quotations. I estimate that they make up at least one-half of the text. Their main purpose seems to be explanatory rather than justificatory. My feeling is that almost all of them could have been omitted. Many of the quotations are in Latin and many in French. The book has no index. MALIRICEA. FINOCCHIARO University o/Nevada, Las Vegas ...

Book Review: The Spirit of St. Francois de Sales.

Book Review: The Spirit of St. Francois de Sales.

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:Lex Levitarum. By the Rt. Rev. John Cuthbert Hedley, O.S.B., Bp. of Newport. With Regula Pastoralis of St. Gregory the Great.Civilization. An Essay by Clive Bell.Men and Manners in the Days of Christ: Studies and Character Sketches of the First Century. By J. P. Arendzen, M. A., D.Ph., D.D.Saint Gregoire le Grand. Par Mgr. Pierre Batiffol.A Daughter of the Cross. Life and Mystical Letters of Sister Emilie. By the Rev. C. Richstaetter, S.J. Translated by F. C.More The Life and Illustrious Martyrdom of Sir Thomas More, formerly Lord Chancellor of England. (Part III of ‘Tres Thomae,’ Chancellor of England. (Part III of ‘Tres Thomae,’ printed at Douay, 1588). By Thomas Stapleton. Translated for the first time into English by Philip E. Hallett, Rector of St. John's Seminary, Wonersh.A Handbook of Heresies. By M. L. Cozens.S. Francois de Sales, 1967–1622. By E. K. Sanders.The Catholic Church and the Citizen. By John A. Ryan.The Church and Economics. By the Rev. Patrick McDowell.“TREASURY OF THE FAITHrsquo; SERIESThe Angels (8). By the Rt. Rev. Dom Anscar VonierJesus Christ, Priest and Redeemer. (No. 14). By the Rev. M. D'Arcy, S. J.Actual Grace. (No. 17). By the Rev. E. Towers, Ph.D., D.D.The Supernatural Virtues(18). By Rev. T. E. Flynn, Ph.D., M.A.Eternal Punishment. (No. 33). By the Rev. J. P. Arendzen, Ph.D., D. D., M. A.