ARVISENET, CLAUDE. - French ascetical writer, born at Langres on 18 September 1755, died at Gray on 17 February 1831. He studied at the grammar school in Molsheim (Alsace), then theology in Paris at the College of Laon. Ordained priest in 1779, he was recalled to Langres by Bishop C.G. de la Luzerne, who appointed him canon. During the Revolution, he refused the “constitutional” oath and went into exile with his bishop at Lucerne (1794). In Switzerland he published anonymously the ascetical treatise that made him famous: *Memoriale vitae sacerdotalis* (Lucerne 1794; 2nd ed. Constance 1795; 27 reprints from 1822 to 1896; new ed. in *Bibl. asc.-mystica* by A. Lehmkuhl, I, Freiburg im Br. 1906), written in biblical Latin and divided into verses like *The Imitation of Christ*; it enjoyed wide success and in 1801 was praised in Rome.
From 1795 Arvisenet lived at Constance and other places in Baden. He returned in 1801 to Langres, where he published *Maximes et devoirs des pères et mères* (1801). When the Concordat of 1802 suppressed the episcopal see of Langres (united to Dijon), Bishop de la Tour du Pin summoned Arvisenet to Troyes, where he was made canon and vicar general; there he spent the rest of his life devoted to ascetical apostolate through his writings and spiritual direction. The new bishop of Troyes (1808–25), E.-A. de Boulogne, having been imprisoned and then exiled (1811), Arvisenet was named capitular vicar for the diocese of Troyes together with E.-B. Tresfort; but after about a year he resigned, finding that the see was not canonically vacant; the freed bishop returned on 3 July 1814.
Developing the ideas of his *Memoriale*, Arvisenet published ten further works: *Sapientia Christiana*, Langres 1803; *Le Bon Ange de l'Enfance*, Troyes 1803 (50 reprints from 1826 to 1886); *Manuductio iuvenum ad sapientiam*, Troyes 1803, French trans. 1819 (38 reprints from 1826 to 1881); *Le Froment des Elus*, Troyes 1803 (81 reprints from 1826 to 1879); *Tableau du christianisme contenant le précis de la vie de J.-C. et des mœurs de ses vrais disciples*, 1812; *Moyens de perfection pour une vierge chrétienne*, Lyon 1827 (62 reprints 1829–83); *La vertu angélique*, Troyes 1826 (20 reprints 1829–76); *La volonté de Dieu*, 1812 (14 reprints 1830–79). J.-B. Migne issued the *Oeuvres complètes de A.* (in large 8°, Petit-Montrouge 1856), arranging them logically under two heads: a) duties of all Christians, b) duties of particular states.