CHARDON, LOUIS. – Born at Clermont (Oise) in 1595, died in Paris on 17 August 1651, a Dominican mystical writer, much sought-after spiritual director, and prolific author, he has been placed by modern critics alongside St Giovanni della Croce as one of the greatest masters of spirituality of the seventeenth century. La Croix de Jésus (Paris 1647) received, thanks to H. Bremond, enthusiastic and universal recognition.
BIBL.: H. Bremond, Histoire littér. du sentiment rel. en France, VIII, Paris 1928, pp. 1–77; R. Garrigou-Lagrange, L'amore di Dio e la Croce di Gesù, Italian trans., II, Turin 1936, p. 146 ff.; F. Florand, L. C.: La Croix de Jésus (text with introduction and notes), Paris 1937; id., s. V. in DSp, II, cols. 498–503. Innocenzo Casati