GIUSEPPE da Parigi. - Francesco Le Clerc du Tremblay, also known as the Grey Eminence, was born in Paris on 4 November 1577 and died there on 16 December 1638. Of noble and wealthy family, he abandoned worldly life to don the habit of the Capuchins in Orléans (1599). In his religious fervour, he dreamed of organizing a Crusade to liberate Jerusalem, but was unable to carry out this plan. Prefect of the Capuchin missions (1626), he promoted their expansion in the East, from Greece to Persia, with notable benefit also for France’s political interests. His relations with Richelieu began in 1616.
At first he did not share all the minister’s ideas, since he disapproved of alliances with Protestant Germany and would have preferred rapprochement with Austria against Spain. After the Diet of Regensburg, however, he became the most energetic champion of the struggle against the Empire. It was he who initiated the negotiations with the Swedish chancellor Oxenstierna (1633) that led to the Treaty of Compiègne. The agreement that Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar concluded with France was largely his work.
The Rev. G., whom romantic novelists turned into a legendary figure of dark intrigue-monger, combined the ardent faith of those medieval monks who preached the Crusades—he was also a subtle mystical writer, attempting a reconciliation of Ignatian asceticism with Franciscan mysticism—with a clear vision of the temporal interests of his country. His supreme ideals were religious and political unity: to preserve the former he was an implacable opponent of the Calvinists; to secure the latter he placed all the resources of his intellect and sagacity at Richelieu’s service in the war that the latter waged against the Habsburgs. A man of lucid intelligence and profound judge of both court and common people, his unshakable confidence in success often gave Richelieu, in moments of doubt and discouragement, invaluable support; Richelieu could always count on him as his most intimate and trusted collaborator.
Of his works, partly still in manuscript, the following may be noted: Exercice des bienheureux pratiquable en terre par les âmes dévotes et despouillées des affections de la terre, Troyes 1610, Paris 1633, Nîmes 1895; for the instruction of novices, of whom he was master (1604–1605), he wrote Introduction à la vie spirituelle, Poitiers 1616, Paris 1620, 1626, Le Mans 1897, on mental prayer, recollection during Mass and the Divine Office, and the exercise of pure love; for his brethren he composed De la perfection séraphique, Paris 1624; various short treatises are collected in Practique intérieur des principaux exercices de la vie chrétienne, Paris 1621, 1626, 1631; he founded and directed the Benedictine Sisters of Calvary, for whom he wrote various booklets and exhortations, including a course of instruction, Les dix jours, Toulouse 1913; he combated the Quietist doctrines of the “Illuminati.”
Roberto Palmarocchi-Ilarino da Milano