GAUME, JEAN-JOSEPH. — French theologian and writer, born in Fuans (Doubs) on 5 June 1802, died in Paris on 19 November 1879. Ordained a priest in 1825, professor of dogmatic theology in 1827–28, rector of the minor seminary of Nevers from 1828 to 1831, he was finally, from 1843 to 1852, vicar general of the diocese. For 20 years he directed the catechisms of perseverance. Greatly deserving of the Church and the Holy See, he was made a Knight of St. Sylvester by Gregory XVI (1842) and an apostolic protonotary by Pius IX (1854); the University of Prague conferred upon him the title of doctor. Having left Nevers because of disagreements with his bishop over the question of the classics, he subsequently became vicar general of Reims and Montauban. His works (more than 50), largely polemical and social in character and not all equally praiseworthy, deal, alongside contemporary issues, with subjects in asceticism, history, theology, catechetics, and education. His name is particularly associated with the unfortunate controversy over the study of the classics. G. traced to them 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: 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).