PÁQUET, LOUIS-ADOLPHE. - Theologian and canonist, b. at St-Nicolas de Levis (Quebec) on 4 Aug. 1859, d. at Quebec in 1943.
After obtaining his degree in theology in 1883 following a public disputation held in the Vatican in the presence of Leo XIII, he became professor of theological subjects at the Seminary of Quebec and, from 1903, dean of the Faculty of Theology at Laval University. In 1905-1906 he served as procurator in Rome for the bishops of the province of Quebec. In 1909 he was delegate of the same province to the Canadian Plenary Council and entrusted with drafting the schemas. In 1926 he organized and directed the Higher School of Philosophy. A zealous advocate of Thomism, he was a member of the Roman Academy of St Thomas Aquinas and its first president in Canada (1929). He was also a sociologist, professor of ecclesiastical public law at Laval University, founder of the School of Social Sciences and of the Social Weeks of Canada. He exercised an intense intellectual apostolate and tenaciously upheld French religious, cultural, and linguistic traditions. He was apostolic protonotary *ad instar* and honorary vicar general.
Among his works are to be noted: *Disputationes theologicae seu Commentaria in Summum Theologicam D. Thomae*, 6 vols., Quebec 1893-1903; *Droit public de l'Eglise*, 4 vols., ibid. 1908-15; *Etudes et appréciations*, 6 vols., ibid. 1922-32, 2nd ed. 1935.
PARABLE (from παράβολή, *parabolē*, “to place beside, compare, liken”). - A literary genre not unknown to Greek and Roman authors (cf. Aristotle, *Rhetoricorum libri*, II, 20; Cicero, *De inventione*, I, 30; *Epist. ad Lucil.*, 59,6; Quintilian, *Institutiones orat.*, VIII, 3), used by rabbinic writers and, in an unsurpassed manner, by Jesus Christ in His teaching. It consists of a comparison or similitude, extended throughout a brief narrative, drawn from an ordinary event to inculcate a moral or spiritual truth. It is distinguished from a mere example by its literary form, centered on the comparison, and often by its breadth.
The subject of the comparison or developed image, which is very plausible in itself, is usually drawn from human life; in a fable, preference is given to the fantastic representation of the animal or plant kingdom. The parable is distinguished from allegory in that the latter is based on a metaphor and follows different principles of interpretation. In fact, while in a perfect allegory each metaphorical element has a corresponding element in the moral or ideal world, in a pure parable only the formal object does not possess the ethical longing, but does not possess the metaphor. However, in practice the distinction between the two genres is not simple, since allegorical elements are frequently present in a parable and purely ornamental or supplementary details in an allegory. In such a case, in the interpretation of the parable, one must take into account these special teachings inherent in the allegorical parts, while disregarding whatever results only as a supplementary hint in the allegory.
The origin of the biblical parable is found in a simpler literary genre used in the Old Testament, particularly in the sapiential books, namely the *māšāl*, generally rendered as παράβολή in Greek. Usually this term indicated a brief maxim, capable of effectively expressing a general truth. It appears as a popular proverb and not infrequently in the form of a parable. But true parables do not appear in the Old Testament, although allegories with parabolic elements are not lacking. The same genre is likewise found in profane literature. When compared with the use made of it by the rabbis, all acknowledge that the finest parables are found in the Synoptic Gospels, often extolled as true “miracles” for their literary refinement and instructive power. Already Roman rhetoricians (cf. Cicero, *De oratore*, III, 38; Quintilian, *op. cit.*, VIII, 3, 15) recognized in the metaphorical language of a similitude