BÉRULLE, PIERRE de. – Cardinal, founder of the Oratory of France, b. 4 Feb 1575 at the château of Serilly (near Troyes), d. in Paris on 2 Oct 1629.
He pursued his studies with the Jesuits in Paris. At the Sorbonne he studied rhetoric under Giovanni Morel and logic under Fr. Eustachio di S. Paolo. In matters of the spirit, until about 1610, he was guided by Dom Beaucousin. “At seventeen he already seemed a consummate doctor in the science of salvation” (Caraccioli); at twenty-two he wrote the *Traité de l'abnégation intérieure*. On 5 June 1599 he was ordained, and began his work of spiritual direction and controversy. He assisted Cardinal Du Perron in the dispute with Du Plessis in the presence of Henry IV. From the *Mémorial de direction* we discern the characteristic notes of his ministry: abundant insight and clarity; from his controversial pamphlets on the Eucharist and the Mass, especially from the *Discours* against the Calvinist minister Pierre Du Moulin (1609), his substantial dialectic, rich in comparisons, broad in deductions, effective and courteous. In the *Retraite de monsieur le card. de B.*, there is preserved the long discourse which, in 1600, on the point of embracing the religious state, he addressed to himself, and the motives that led him to preserve his freedom.
Remaining in the world, he was made “aumônier” to the king; but he did not abandon either the spiritual direction of a great number of souls, especially in convents and female communities, nor his polemical activity against heretics. Among the souls he directed was Mme Acarie. Convinced that this was the will of God, he went to Spain (1604) and, after laborious negotiations, transplanted the reformed Carmel to France. From the *Lettres aux Carmelites de France* it appears that Bérulle did not intend at all to found a Carmel different from the Teresian one. Appointed by Paul V, together with Galland and Duval, superior of the French Carmelites, he had to face lively opposition.
He declined the office of educating the Dauphin offered him by Henry IV. In 1605 he received his own mother (Louise Scignier) into the Carmel. Confessor to Marie de’ Medici, he remained at her side with Fr. Cotton when, after the death of Henry IV (1610), the queen assumed the regency. Meanwhile Mme Acarie told him that God destined him to found a new Congregation in the Church, and she wrote of this to Fr. Cotton, who at that time was directing Bérulle. Other very pious souls, such as the Abbess of Notre-Dame-de-Xaintes, asked him to provide the Church with holy priests. Cardinal de Retz intervened, moved by his sister, the Marquise de Maignelay, and at their request the Archbishop of Paris did so. Since he already had the design of forming a society of priests devoted to prayer and instruction, Bérulle consulted Fr. Cesare de Bus, turned to St. Francis de Sales asking him to take charge, and then to Fr. Romillon; he asked Rome in vain for some Oratorians to begin the work.
Finally, on 11 Nov 1611, in Paris, with five companions, he gave life to the Congregation of the Oratory of Jesus. Paul V promptly granted the bull of approval, and the new Congregation spread rapidly in France. “The same God who has restored, in many Orders, the spirit and fervor of their first institution, now seems to wish to grant the same grace to ecclesiastics by renewing them in the perfection that befits them; to welcome this heavenly grace, so as to live and work under the guidance of Jesus Christ Himself, we are here gathered” (*Discorso ai Padri dell’Oratorio*, in *Œuvres complètes*, col. 29). About 1612 Bérulle composed his triple *Elevation* (*à Jésus sur ses principaux états et mystères*, *à la T. S. Trinité sur le mystère de l’Incarnation*, *à Dieu en l’honneur de la part qu’il a voulu donner à la V. Marie dans le mystère de l’Incarnation*). Sharp theological controversies followed. With his masterpiece, *Discours de l’état et des grandeurs de Jésus par l’union ineffable de la divinité avec l’humanité*... (1623), Bérulle won wide acclaim.
At the Oratory, both theological and secular studies were highly cultivated. Having come into possession of numerous Platonic codices, Bérulle began their study and publication. In 1628, he summoned Descartes, who had been heard by the nuncio in Paris, and obliged him to continue and publish his studies, which were being attacked from many quarters. His Berullian colleagues, like those of the time, were of humanistic stamp; nevertheless, in the lower classes the national language was prescribed for the teaching of religion and national history. They flourished greatly, despite lively opposition from the university and other colleges.
About 1616, Bérulle began to take an active part in politics; until the rise of Richelieu he had been more a confidant than an advisor to Marie de’ Medici in the struggle between the queen and Concini on one side, and the great families of the Condés, Bouillons, and Nevers, who had allied themselves with the Huguenots against the “foreign woman,” on the other. In these events, more than the political aspect, Bérulle saw the religious one, limiting his action to doctrinal controversy and the defense of the religious unity of his country. Richelieu found Bérulle already at the queen’s side and made use of him.
Bérulle was grateful to Marie de’ Medici for her constant protection of the Carmel and the Oratory, and dedicated to her his translation of the *Life of St. Charles Borromeo*. In 1617 the queen mother was exiled to Blois, while Richelieu retired to Avignon, preferring not to offend Luynes: Bérulle remained in Paris and worked to reconcile the son (Louis XIII) with his mother; this was achieved in 1620.
Richelieu sent Bérulle to Rome to obtain the dispensation for the marriage of Henrietta of France to the Prince of Wales (the future Charles I), which was celebrated in 1625. Bérulle accompanied the unfortunate princess to England, and after her ecclesiastical household, remained at her side until the Duke of Buckingham, under the accusation of plotting against her life and property, forced him to recross the Channel. To comfort Henrietta, Bérulle wrote his *Élévations sur Marie Madeleine*.
In the same year 1625, by order of Louis XIII, he negotiated with Cardinal Barberini, legate of Urban VIII, over the question of the Valtellina and the Grisons; but his proposals were not accepted. Bérulle disapproved of Richelieu’s policy, which seemed to ally itself with the Protestants and to harm the Catholic cause, but he followed it for reasons of national interest: better the Protestants with France than the Catholics with Austria. Richelieu would later falsely accuse him, in his *Testament politique* written years afterward, of having, to please the Pope and contrary to his instructions, negotiated the peace with Spain in 1627.
In 1627, immediately after the negotiations with Spain, Bérulle was created cardinal. In 1629 he was named head of the queen’s council. During the king’s absence, acting in the queen’s name, Bérulle had Maria Gonzaga of Mantua, the king’s brother’s mistress, arrested after vainly warning her. Returning from Casale, Louis XIII found the struggle against Bérulle rekindled, in disorder with Richelieu. Bérulle refused to sign the peace treaty with England and opposed the treaty of alliance with the Dutch desired by Richelieu. Marie de’ Medici once more tried to favor Bérulle and removed from Richelieu the superintendence of her household: Richelieu tendered his resignation to the king, who, perplexed, confirmed Richelieu as his first minister and superintendent of the queen’s household. Wishing to remove Bérulle from the queen, Richelieu entrusted him with an embassy to Rome. Bérulle declined the invitation and retired from court.
Soon after, Louis XIII drew him from his solitude to meet again with his brother. Bérulle set out on the journey, but was forced by fever to stop in Paris, and died at the house of his fathers at St-Magloire while celebrating Mass. The rumor of poisoning by his enemies is calumnious.
Despite a life so divided, Bérulle composed many works of the highest spirituality.
Some of his works were published in various editions during his lifetime; the manuscripts were collected with the earlier ones by Fr. Bourgoing, B.’s successor, enriched with summaries and some notes by Fr. Gibieuf, and printed in Paris in 1644 and again in 1657.
B. is commonly regarded as the founder of the great French spiritual school of the 17th century; to him are variously connected, besides the Oratory, St Vincent de Paul, Olier and St Sulpice, St John Eudes, St Louis Grignion de Montfort, St John Baptist de La Salle. His doctrine inspired, among many others, the Venerable Libermann and the Fathers of the Holy Spirit, de Renty, de Bernières, Boudon, and Mgr Gay. The oblivion that covered his works is due in part to the very value of his disciples, such as Condé and Olier, who expounded his doctrine in a more accessible and easy manner.
The doctrine of B., in which all earlier forms of Catholic spirituality converge—from the Fathers to St Francis de Sales—is founded on the dogma of our incorporation into Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit, who reproduces within us the interior virtues of Christ, constituting us in a state of mystical adherence to the Incarnate Word, in those of His mysteries which He wills to communicate and as it were continue in each of His faithful, who form His Mystical Body. By Urban VIII B. was called “the apostle of the Incarnate Word.”
The form of his prayer is called “elevation.” Notable examples of it are found in Bossuet’s *Élévations sur les mystères*: supernatural in its dialectic, it begins from an act of faith in a scriptural fact or maxim and rises to God.
B. had a brother who was a councillor of state, from a younger son of whom descends the abbé de Bérule, prior of St-Roman-du-Puy near Lyons, who died in 1704.
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HUGUES de
Troubadour of Burgundy, who lived between the 12th and 13th centuries, author of a satirical-moral poem of 838 verses (*Bible*), in which, recounting the story of humankind, he highlights the fleeting nature of earthly life and the evil produced by sin and human vices. The poem, which contains various allusions to events of the years 1204–1207, may also be considered the sincere act of contrition of a man who had led a dissolute and unprincipled youth. Indeed, H. had taken part in the Fourth Crusade (1201–1205), leading a scandalous life in Constantinople, and had then completely repented. A collection of his lyric poetry also survives, published by K. Engelcke (Rostock 1885).
The *Bible* of the Seigneur de B. was published by E. Barbazan and M. Méon in *Fabliaux et contes des poètes françois*, II (Paris 1808), pp. 394–420, and more recently by F. Lecoy (VII 1938).