CORRESPONDANT, LE. - A French Catholic periodical, published as a weekly from 1829, then biweekly until 1831. From 1843 it was published as a magazine. An organ of liberal Catholics, its primary aim was to harmonize Catholicism with the aspirations of contemporary society, especially the exercise of political freedoms.
In 1855 it was barely surviving under the direction of Carlo Le-normant; Count de Montalembert revived it with the help of illustrious collaborators such as Dupauloup, Falloux, Alberto de Broglie, Agostino Cochin, to counter "L'univers" of Luigi Veuillot. Between "L'univers," then adhering to the empire, and "Le c." an endless struggle flared up, reaching its peak at the time of the Vatican Council. Opposing the definition of infallibility, it nevertheless sincerely submitted after the Council's decision (1870).
After the war of 1870, the magazine, successively directed by Leone Lavedan (1876-1904), Stefano Lamy (1905-10), Eduardo Trogon (1910-29), enjoyed real success. Eminent men and academics contributed to it and courageously defended religious freedoms. Unfortunately, growing material difficulties led, in October 1933, Count de Luppé, who had taken the reins since 1929, to announce the end of "Le c." and entrust the Jesuit magazine *Études* with the task of preserving its legacy. This disappearance was met with unanimous regret among Catholics.
The collection of the magazine offers a rich selection of articles, chronicles, and bulletins on a wide range of subjects in theology, history, politics, art, and literature; the list of writers who contributed to it represents a considerable part of the intellectual elite of French Catholicism from 1845 to the present day.