LE CARDONNEL, LOUIS - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. VII, p. 617

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

LE CARDONNEL, LOUIS. - French poet, b. at Valence (Drôme) on 25 Feb. 1862, d. at Avignon on 28 May 1936. In his youth he actively participated in the Symbolist movement, following the Nous autres group (1882) and collaborating with L'Ermitage and Le Mercure de France.

After coming to Italy, he completed his religious education and, having been ordained priest in Rome (1896), he undertook a series of travels in France and Italy, the literary and artistic recollections of which are gathered in Du Rhône d'Arno (1920). In 1905 he retired to Assisi. The previous year he had published his major collection of verse (Poèmes), in which, breaking away from Symbolism, he linked himself to the humanistic and Platonic tradition, concluding with an “itinerary to God” his confident search for truth. His subsequent volumes of poetry (Carmina sacra, 1912; De l'une à l'autre, 1924) bear witness to this.MONUMENTS. — The Cathedral preserves nothing of its original construction, since G. Zimbalo (1661-82) rebuilt it in that Baroque style which is the most characteristic mark of the art of Lecce. The same artist is responsible for the bell tower; and to him, together with Gabriele Riccardo and Cesare Penna, belong the various Baroque restorations and the enormous decorative profusion (1549-1695) of the basilica of S. Croce, built in 1353 by Gualtieri VI of Brienne, Duke of Athens. Other richly Baroque works are the former Celestine convent, now the prefecture, the buildings of the Seminary (1694-1709) designed by G. Cino, and the episcopal palace, which still retains some simple original lines (1420-28). Outside the city is the celebrated church of SS. Nicola and Cataldo, to which the Baroque has only minimally altered its composite Romanesque structure: the interior is distinctly ultramontane, the dome and base decorations display Oriental and Apulian styles and forms, the main portal has a triple ornamental band, a remarkable fusion of Arab-Norman art. Finally, the Basilian church of S. Maria di Cerrate (c. 13th century) is singular and still intact, rich in sculptures and frescoes.

BIBL.: L. De Simone, L. e i suoi monum. descritti e illustrati, Lecce 1874; C. S. De Giorgi, Maria di Cerrate, ivi 1889; id., Cronologia dell'arte in terra d'Otranto, ivi 1911; E. Bertaux, L'art dans l'Italie méridionale, Paris 1904, passim; G. Gigli, Il tallone d'Italia, I, L. e dintorni, Bergamo 1911; Lanzoni, I, pp. 310-12; G. Paladini, Studi e memorie storiche sull'antica Lupiae, Lecce 1932; H. Krass, Storia di L., Bari 1936; B. De Sanctis, La chiesa di S. Nicola e Cataldo in L. e le sue iscrizioni relative alla sua fondazione, in Riv. d'arch. christ., 23-24 (1947-48), pp. 353-65; Cottinau, I, col. 1578. Pasquale Testini

LECCE,

Article illustration — (photo Gab. fol. nesc.)
Lecce, diocese of — Cathedral. Façade of the 18th century. Bell tower, work of G. Zimbalo.
DIOCESE of — Little church known as “dei Veneziani” (16th century with later modifications) — Lecce.

its continuous journey in faith. In 1929 in Paris his complete works were published.

BIBL.: P. J. Richard, Le poète Le C., Avignon 1925; J. Wilich, L. Le C., Munich 1932; R. Christofour, L. Le C., humaniste chrétien et poète mystique, in Mercure de France, 240 (1932), pp. 562-69; E. Baumann, E. Ripert, etc., Hommage à L. Le C., in Le correspondant, 3 (1936), pp. 3-70; M. Coulon, L. Le C., poète et prêtre, Uzès 1937; M. Savigny-Vesco, Du Quartier latin au sacerdoce, Lettres de L. Le C. à M. et M. me Allidor Delsaint, in Etudes, 3 (1937), pp. 162-76; R. Christofour, L. Le C., pèlerin d'Université, Paris 1938; N. Richard, L. Le C., ibid. 1946 (with extensive bibliography). Giacinto Spagnoletti