BERNIÈRES-LOUVIGNY, JEAN de. – French mystical writer, b. at Caen in 1602, d. there on 3 May 1659. From his youth he devoted himself to good works and was a member of the Company of the Blessed Sacrament founded at Caen by Baron de Renty (1645), taking over its leadership after the latter’s death (1649). He then resigned his position as royal treasurer and retired to a house (“l’Ermitage”) beside the Ursuline convent founded by his sister Giordana, turning it into a kind of retreat house, a centre of pious works and a hub of intense spiritual activity, in touch with the leading mystics of his day (Marie des Vallées, St John Eudes, Henri Boudon, Marie de l’Incarnation, the missionary bishops Laval and Lambert, etc.). Not content with taking an active part in all the religious foundations at Caen and its surroundings, he courageously supported the apostolic enterprises of Madame de la Peltrie in Canada (beginning by pretending to marry her so as to overcome the opposition of her family to her embarkation). He was one of the most striking figures of the French spiritual life of the 17th century.
During his lifetime de B. published nothing. The spiritual notes he wrote or dictated (besides 174 letters) were, after his death, arranged and edited 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 Paris editions) through the work of the Capuchin Louis François d’Argentan, who issued a 2nd volume 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 Robert of 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 contemporary French mystics. Indeed, they were translated into various languages, beginning with Italian: Il christiano interiore..., tr. by Alessio Cenami, Venice 1668; Opere spirituali del sig. de B.-L., Todi 1676. But they were soon placed on the Index (in 1666 Il Christiano interiore, in 1669 the French edition, in 1690 the Oeuvres spirituelles and in 1728 a new Italian translation), apparently because of exaggerated expressions or passages that, written before the semi-Quietist controversy, seemed to favour II. Not condemned were the second part of the Chrétien intérieur (1677) nor Les pensées de M. de Bernières-Louvigny ou sentiments du chrétien intérieur sur les principaux mystères de la foi (Paris 1678). The Régles des associés à l’enfance de Jésus, listed in the Index under his name, are not his but Madame Guyon’s. Of the condemned works, only modern expurgated editions survive (Marseille 1834, Lyons 1852-54, Paris 1867, etc.).