CRÉTINEAU-JOLY, JACQUES. — Catholic historian and publicist, born on 23 September 1803 at Fontenay-le-Comte (Vendée), died at Vincennes on 1 January 1875. Founder of Vendéen and contributor to other legitimist newspapers, an elegant and effective polemicist, he wrote some forty volumes, chiefly historical, which are still useful for their wealth of information.
Among these, particular controversy was aroused by Histoire religieuse, politique et littéraire de la Compagnie de Jésus, composées sur les documents inédits et authentiques (6 vols., Paris 1844–46), intended to expose the sectarian hatred that had erupted in France against the Society in 1843. Fr. G. Roothaan, Superior General of the Society, facilitated C.-J.’s work in every way, placing at his disposal not only the documents of the General Curia in Rome, but also those of the Society in other European countries. After the history of the Society, the author returned to the subject in order to treat more fully of the pontificate of Clement XIV and this Pope’s relations with the Jesuits, resulting in the volume Clément XIV et les Jésuites (Paris 1847), which provoked heated controversy. In 1864 he published the memoirs of Cardinal E. Consalvi (Mémoires du card. Consalvi, secrétaire d'État du pape Pie VII, ibid. 1864). Among his other works we may mention: Histoire de la Vendée militaire (ibid. 1841); Histoire du Sonderbund (ibid. 1850); L'Église romaine en face de la révolution (ibid. 1859); Histoire de Louis Philippe et de l'oriéanisme (ibid. 1863); Bonnaparte, le Concordat de 1801 et le card. Consalvi (ibid. 1869).