BERNIÈRES-LOUVIGNY, JEAN de. - French mystical writer, b. at Caen in 1602, d. there on 3 May 1659. Devoted to good works from his youth and a member of the Company of the Blessed Sacrament founded at Caen by the baron de Renty (1645), he took over its direction after the latter's death (1649). He then abandoned his post as royal treasurer and withdrew to a house ("l'Ermitage") next to the Ursuline monastery founded by his sister Giordana; he made it a kind of house of retreat, of pious works and a center of an intense spiritual movement, in contact with the leading mystics of his time (Mary des Vallées, St. John Eudes, Henri Boudon, Mary of the Incarnation, the missionary bishops de Laval and Lambert, etc.). Not content with taking an active part in all the religious foundations at Caen and its surroundings, he courageously assisted the apostolic undertakings of Madame de la Peltrie in Canada (beginning by feigning a marriage with her in order to overcome the opposition that her family raised to his embarkation). He was one of the most remarkable figures of the spiritual 17th century in France.
While he lived, de B. published nothing. The spiritual notes that he wrote or dictated (besides 174 letters) were after his death arranged and reworked by others: Le chrétien intérieur, ou la conformité intérieure que doivent avoir tous les chrétiens avec Jésus-Christ (Rouen 1660 and Paris 1661; by 1670 already twelve editions in Paris) through the work of the Capuchin Ludovico Franc. d'Argentan, who produced a 2nd vol. at Rouen in 1677; Les œuvres spirituelles de M. de B.-L., ou conduite assurée pour ceux qui tendent à la perfection (Paris 1670) edited by Fr. Roberto di St-Gilles, of the Minims.
These writings of the pious layman were widely read in devout circles, more so than the works of the great French mystics of his time. They had translations into various languages, beginning with the Italian: Il christiano interiore..., trans. by Alessio Cenami, Venice 1668; Opere spirituali del sig. de B.-L., Todi 1676. But they were soon condemned by the Index (in 1666 the Christiano interiore, in 1669 the French edition, in 1690 the Oeuvres spirituelles and in 1728 a new Italian translation) because, it seems, of exaggerated expressions or ones that, written before the semi-Quietist danger, seemed to favor it. The second part of the Chrétien intérieur (1677) was not condemned, nor were Les pensées de M. de Bernières-Louvigny ou sentiments du chrétien intérieur sur les principaux mystères de la foi (Paris 1678). The Règles des associés à l'enfance de Jésus, inserted in the Index under his name, are not by him, but by Guyon. Of the condemned works, only modern expurgated editions of his are now to be found (Marseille 1834, Lyon 1852-54, Paris 1867, etc.).
Bibliography4 works
Edmondo Lamalle