ARVISENET, CLAUDE. - French ascetical writer, b. at Langres on 8 September 1755, d. at Gray on 17 February 1831. He studied at the gymnasium of Molsheim (Alsace), then theology in Paris, at the college of Laon. Ordained a priest (1779), he was recalled to Langres by Bishop C. G. de la Luzerne, who appointed him a canon. During the Revolution, he refused the "constitutional" oath and went into exile in Lucerne with his bishop (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 the Bibl. asc.-mystica of A. Lehmkuhl, I, Freiburg im Breisgau 1906), in a pithy biblical Latin, divided into verses like the Imitation of Christ; it enjoyed wide success and was praised in Rome in 1801.
From 1795 A. lived at Constance and in other places in Baden. He returned in 1801 to Langres, where he published Maxime et devoirs des pères et mères (1801). Since the episcopal see of Langres had been suppressed by the Concordat (1802) (united to Dijon), Bishop De la Tour du Pin summoned A. to Troyes, where he appointed him a canon and vicar general; A. spent the rest of his life there, devoting himself to ascetical apostolate, through his writings and through spiritual direction. The new bishop of Troyes (1808-25), E.-A. de Boulogne, having been imprisoned, then confined (1811), A. was appointed capitular vicar for the diocese of Troyes together with E.-B. Tresfort; but after about a year A. resigned, finding that the see was not canonically vacant; the liberated bishop returned on 3 July 1814.
Adapting and developing the ideas of his Memoriale, A. published ten other works: Sapientia Christiana, Langres 1803; Le Bon Ange de l'Enfance, Troyes 1803 (50 reprints from 1826 to 1886); Manuductio invenum ad sapientiam, Troyes 1803, in French 1819 (38 reprints from 1826 to 1881); Le Froment des Elus, Troyes 1823 (81 reprints from 1829 to 1879); Tableau du christianisme contenant le précis de la vie de J.-C. et des mœurs de ses vrais disciples, ibid. 1824; 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, ibid. 1826 (14 reprints 1830-79). J.-B. Migne published the Oeuvres complètes de A. (in large 8vo, Petit-Montrouge 1856), arranging them logically in two categories: a) on the duties of all Christians, b) on the duties of particular states.
Bibliography3 works
Antonino Romeo