AMELOTE (AMELOTTE), DENIS. - Oratorian theologian, b. at Saintes in 1606, d. at Paris in 1679. A doctor at the Sorbonne, he joined Condren (v.), of whom he was one of the principal disciples, for the work of missions to the people; in 1650 he entered the Oratory, becoming its assistant and superior of the mother house.
His major work is the Versione del Nuovo Testamento, con note, in 3 vols., Paris 1666-70, made "from the ancient Latin edition," praised by Richard Simon, which had over 30 editions. He published La vie du père Charles de Condren, Paris 1643, the first notable example of psychological biography, and in 1654 La vie de sœur Marguerite du Saint-Sacrement, which met with much opposition (v. ACARIE). He also produced a Concordance of the four Gospels, in French (1669) and in Latin (1670), and Le Epistole ed i Vangeli di tutto l'anno, with the ordinary of the Mass in French and Latin, reprinted several times. A bitter opponent of Jansenism, he wrote La défense des constitutions d'Innocent X et des décrets de l'Assemblée générale du Clergé de France contre la doctrine de Jansénus, Paris 1660 (Latin trans., Cologne 1690), to which Nicole (v.) replied in 1661. His last work is the excellent Abrégé de la théologie ou des principales vérités de la religion, Paris 1675, imbued with the spirit of Bérulle: God is the principle of all things and must be the end of all our acts; Jesus Christ became man in order to communicate himself to us "uniting himself to all the degrees of being that are gathered together in man"; hope is not an imperfect virtue because it seeks God as our sole end.
Bibliography4 works
Fratel Emiliano