GAUME, JEAN-JOSEPH. - French theologian and writer, b. at Fuans (Doubs) on 5 June 1802, d. in Paris on 19 Nov. 1879. Ordained priest in 1825, professor of dogmatic theology in 1827-28, rector of the Gaudeneio Seminary, he was from 1828 to 1831 rector of the Seminary of Nevers and finally from 1843 to 1852 vicar general of the diocese. For 20 years he directed the perseverance catechisms. Greatly deserving of the Church and the Holy See, he was made a knight of St Sylvester by Gregory XVI (1842) and protonotary apostolic by Pius IX (1854); the University of Prague conferred on him the title of doctor. Removed from Nevers because of disagreements with his bishop over the question of the classics, he subsequently served as vicar general of Reims and Montauban. His works (more than 50), largely of a polemical and social nature and not all equally praiseworthy, deal, alongside current topics, with subjects of ascetics, history, theology, catechetics, and formation. His name is particularly associated with the unfortunate controversy over the study of the classics. He traced to these the cause of the decline of morals, the secularization of science, and political and social upheavals. He therefore proposed replacing them with the study of the Fathers and Christian classics.
Principal works: Catéchisme de persévérance (8 vols., Paris 1835; 13th ed. ibid. 1836); L'Europe en 1848... Le communisme et le christianisme (ibid. 1848); Les trois Rome (4 vols., ibid. 1848); Le ver ronger des sociétés modernes ou le paradigme dans l'éducation (ibid. 1851); Bibliothèque des classiques chrétiens (30 vols., ibid. 1852-53); La Révolution (12 vols., ibid. 1856-59); Traité du St-Esprit (2 vols., ibid. 1864); La peur du Pape (ibid. 1875); Pie IX et les études classiques (ibid. 1875); La question des classiques (ibid. 1892).