GAUME, JEAN-JOSEPH. - French theologian and writer, b. at Fuans (Doubs) on 5 June 1802, d. at Paris on 19 Nov. 1879. A priest in 1825, professor of dogmatics in 1827-28, rector of the minor seminary of Nevers from 1828 to 1831, he was finally vicar general of the diocese from 1843 to 1852. For 20 years he directed the catechisms of perseverance. Greatly deserving of the Church and of the Holy See, he was made a knight of St. Sylvester by Gregory XVI (1842) and apostolic protonotary by Pius IX (1854); the University of Prague conferred on him the title of doctor. Having left Nevers because of disagreements with his bishop over the question of the classics, he was subsequently vicar general of Reims and of Montauban. His works (more than 50), for the most part with a polemical-social background, not all equally appreciable, treat, together with topics of current interest, subjects of ascetics, history, theology, catechetics, and formation. His name is linked particularly to the bitter controversy over the study of the classics. G. traces back to them the cause of the decline of morals, of the secularism of science, and of political and social upheavals. He therefore proposes to replace them with the study of the Fathers and of the Christian classics.
Principal works: Catechisme de persévérance (8 vols., Paris 1838; 13th ed. ibid. 1889); L'Europe en 1848... Le communisme et le christianisme (ibid. 1848); Les trois Rome (4 vols., ibid. 1848); Le ver rongeur des sociétés modernes ou le paganisme dans l'éducation (ibid. 1851); Bibliothèque des classiques chrétiens (30 vols., ibid. 1842-55); 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).