CALMET, AUGUSTIN. — One of the most famous commentators on the Bible and historians of the Church of the eighteenth century, born at Ménil-la-Horgne (Lorraine) in 1672, died on 25 October 1757; after his early studies at Breuil, at the age of sixteen he entered the Benedictine Order. He taught himself Greek and Hebrew. Ordained a priest in 1696, two years later he was teaching philosophy and theology at Moyen Moutier, beginning the prodigious activity that accompanied him throughout his life.
Between 1707 and 1716 he published in Paris La Sainte Bible en latin et en français, avec un Commentaire littéral et critique, in 23 volumes, a work frequently republished and translated (into Latin by J. D. Mansi, 9 vols., Lucca 1730–38). Drawing on earlier exegetes, he formed an opinion of his own, which he presented clearly, freed from the burden of humanistic erudition that encumbered the exegetes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, reducing moral and allegorical considerations to what was appropriate without neglecting the critical and philological aspect (cf., for example, Ec. 19:10). He was one of the first exegetes to pay particular attention to the literal sense, and for this reason he confronted the objections of Guillemin and others, tenacious supporters of spiritual interpretation. He treated the more important passages and introductory questions in appended dissertations, which were later also published separately (1st ed., Paris 1720) and widely circulated throughout Europe. Although the author could not avoid the defects of his age and left traces of haste in his immense work, he deserves praise for his rare balance and historical insight, which at times anticipated modern exegetical positions, for example in Dan. To supplement the Commentary, C. subsequently published Histoire Sainte de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament et des Juifs (2 vols., Paris 1718) and Dictionnaire historique et critique etc. de la Bible (2 vols., ibid. 1722; Supplément, ibid. 1728), both of which were also frequently published and translated.
Meanwhile, the pious and learned monk was being elevated to the highest offices of the Order (from 1728, abbot at Senones in Lorraine); but his humility frustrated Benedict XIII’s plan to make him a bishop. His attention increasingly turned to historical studies; he published: Histoire universelle sacrée et profane depuis le commencement du monde jusqu'à nos jours (17 vols., Strasbourg, Senones, and Nancy 1735–71); Histoire ecclésiastique et civile de Lorraine (4 vols., Nancy 1728; 7 vols., ibid. 1745–57), later enlarged and still appreciated today; various minor works, especially on chronology; and Commentaire... sur la Règle de st. Benoît (2 vols., Paris 1732).