CLAUDE AMÉLINE. - Oratorian theologian, b. in Paris in 1635, d. there in 1706. At the age of 25 he entered the Oratory and there met Malebranche. Archdeacon of Paris, he collaborated in the drafting of the Breviary of 1680 and the Missal of 1684.
He published a *Traité de la volonté, de ses principales actions, de ses passions et de ses égarements*, Paris 1684, commonly cited under the title *Trattato sull'ego passioni*, of Malebranchian imprint: the principle of all passions as of all virtues is love; passions are distinguished according to the proximity or distance of the object, and virtues according to the obstacle to be overcome in order to attain, while the passion endures, that happiness toward which God has directed our inclinations. The idea that we must seek happiness in virtue also guides his polemic against Molinism, contained in the *Traité de l'amour du souverain bien qui donne le véritables caractères de l'amour de Dieu*, Paris 1699: man cannot, by principle of reason, renounce the desire to be happy; nor, by principle of faith, abandon the desire for his own salvation. Similar ideas are found in *L'Art de vivre heureux*, Paris 1694, though many attribute this work to Louis Pascal.