BOUDON, HENRI-MARIE. - Ascetical writer, b. at La Fère (Aisne) on 14 Oct. 1624, d. at Evreux on 31 Aug. 1702. Archdeacon of Evreux from 1654, he soon began to repair the many abuses of the diocese; he restored worship, obliged the parish priests to teach catechism, denied benefices to unworthy priests. Hence bitter opposition and shameful calumnies, exploited by the Jansenists, which caused him to be deposed from his office. B. he endured everything in peace until, having proved his innocence, he was rehabilitated. He spent his last years dictating missions in Lorraine, Belgium, and Flanders.
He himself gives notice of his work in one of his letters (Lettres de H.-M. B., I [Paris 1785], lett. 28, p. 132 ff.); but he does not list them all, and he composed others afterward; of some it is doubted whether they should be attributed to him. All exercised a strong and profound efficacy. Principal ones: Dieu seul ou l'association pour l'intérêt de Dieu seul (Paris 1662), placed however on the Index (decree of Sept. 9, 1688), after the condemnation of Molinos, because of the abuse the Quietists made of it; Le saint esclavage de l'admirable Mère de Dieu (ibid. 1674), disapproved at Rome, but not forbidden, in order to remove certain abuses (P. Pourrat, pp. 152-53); La vie cachée avec Jésus en Dieu (ibid. 1676); L'homme intérieur (ibid. 1684).
The dominant idea of B. is "pure love," not tainted by any motive of self-interest, "God alone," which in practice is realized through love of the cross, of self-abnegation, of passivity; whence a hint of Quietism, favored also by unfortunate formulations.
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