FLÉCHIER, ESPRIT. - Writer and sacred orator, b. at Pernes on 10 June 1632, d. at Montpellier on 16 Feb. 1710. Having devoted himself successfully to eloquence, in 1672 he became a member of the Académie française. Bishop of Lavaur in 1686, he was afterwards transferred to the see of Nîmes, where he remained 25 years, wholly given over to works of apostolate.

His literary output is very abundant: funeral and synodal discourses, homilies, letters, poems, in which the man of letters, indulgent to the preciousness of the time, prevails over the theologian and the moralist. He also wrote some historical works of little value: Histoire de l'empereur Theodosius le Grand (Paris 1679); Histoire du card. Ximenes (Amsterdam 1679); De vita Ioannis Francisci Commendoni card. (ibid. 1669), republished 2 years later in French. A complete edition of F.'s works was edited by Ducreux in 10 vols. at Nîmes in 1782 and then at Paris in 1825-38.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: Hurter, IV, coll. 900-61; L. Sorrento, s. v. in Enc. Ind., XV (1632), p. 541 with bibliography; G. Grente, F., Paris 1634; M. Lanciore, Quel est l'auteur des grands jours d'Auvergne?, in Revue des deux mondes, 1937, VI, pp. 880-92.

Cosimo Perino

@incollection{ec5_flechier_esprit, author = {Petino, Cosimo}, title = {Flechier, esprit}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1449}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/flechier-esprit} }

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Fléchier, Esprit

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