LETOURNEUX, NICOLAS. - Preacher and ascetic writer, b. in Rouen on 30 Apr. 1640, d. in Paris on 28 Nov. 1686. He soon distinguished himself in Rouen as a preacher, so much so that in 1675 the French Academy awarded him the Balzac prize for eloquence.
Having obtained a benefice at the Ste Chapelle and an annual pension from the king, he came to Paris, but, preferring retirement and silence, he moved to Port-Royal, where, however, his friend Le Maistre de Sacy urged him to take up preaching again. He devoted himself to it with the greatest success, due to clarity and simplicity, enlivened by a great fire of zeal. In 1682 he retired permanently to Maine, as prior of Villier-sur-Fère.
He left several works, appreciated by his contemporaries: Le Catéchisme de la Pénitence (1676); Principes et règles de la vie chrétienne (1671); a translation of the Breviary (4 vols., 1688) which was censured by the ecclesiastical authority of Paris and defended by Arnauld. A posthumous work, L'année chrétienne (13 vols., 1685 ff., completed by Ruth d'Ans) was placed on the Index on 7 Sept.
Bibliography2 worksF. Carreyre, s. v. in DThC, IX, col. 458 ff.; H. Bremond, Hist. littér. du sentiment religieux en France, X, Paris 1932, pp. 39 ff., 80 ff.
BIBL.: F. Carreyre, s. v. in DThC, IX, col. 458 ff.; H. Bremond, Hist. littér. du sentiment religieux en France, X, Paris 1932, pp. 39 ff., 80 ff.
Renaud, Ferdinando. “Letourneux, nicolas.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, col. 1210. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/letourneux-nicolas.
MLA
Renaud, Ferdinando. “Letourneux, nicolas.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, col. 1210. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/letourneux-nicolas.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec7_letourneux_nicolas,
author = {Renaud, Ferdinando},
title = {Letourneux, nicolas},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VII},
pages = {1210},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/letourneux-nicolas}
}
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