CLICHTOVE, JOSSE. - Humanist and theologian, b. at Newport in 1472 or 1473, d. at Chartres on 22 Sept. 1542. From the beginning of the 16th century he figures among the most renowned doctors of Paris. In close relations with Le Fèvre d'Étaples, his master, and with French humanist circles, he shared their ideas and favored their plans for the reform of the sacred sciences and of Christian life.
The publication of his Elucidatorium in 1516 aroused against him the opposition of the Sorbonne and involved him for four years in the polemics between the Sorbonne and the first French reformers. The doubt of having fallen into error - the condemnation of Luther had taken place in the meantime - and the fear of being implicated in the condemnation that hung over Le Fèvre d'Étaples, led him to reject his innovative principles and to draw closer to the Sorbonne. In the years after 1520 he devoted all his activity to polemics against the Lutherans and to action against the innovators in France. From 1527 he retired to Chartres with the office of canon theologian, and he still had a significant part in the celebration of the Synod of Sens convened in Paris by Card. Duprat in 1528. C. was one of the most prolific writers of his time. The character of his works differs according to the different periods of his life. He first published a good number of classical treatises of predominantly rhetorical and philosophical content; then a great series of patristic and exegetical writings issued with the intention of seeking a renewal of traditional theology; there followed the discussions with the Sorbonne (1516-20), and, better known than all the rest, the anti-Lutheran writings. Moreover a large production of moral, ascetic, liturgical and exegetical opuscules extends throughout his whole life. C. is not one of the greatest men of the 16th century, yet he is of interest because his work summarizes and reflects in a comprehensive manner all the spiritual currents of his time.
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Igino Rogger