PERREYRE, HENRI. – Writer and preacher, born in Paris on 11 April 1831, died there on 26 June 1865.
Having entered the Oratory of France, restored by Fr. Gratry, in 1853, he had to leave it after 18 months because of poor health; in 1858 he was ordained a priest; in 1860 he became professor of religion at the Lycée S. Louis in Paris; in 1861 he took the chair of ecclesiastical history at the Sorbonne. The lucid depth of his thought, his lively language, and his close contact with the spirit and aspirations of his contemporaries won his works, especially his ascetical ones, great esteem and wide circulation. The following should be mentioned: Méditations sur le chemin de la Croix (Paris 1859); Méditations sur les saints Ordres (there 1860); La journée des malades (there 1861); Entretiens sur l'Église catholique (there 1861); the collection: Les lettres de Lacordaire à des jeunes gens (there 1862), Sermons (there 1863). Published posthumously: Lettres de l'abbé H. P. (1850-65) preceded by a notice (there 1879); Lettres de H. P. à un ami d'enfance, 1847-65 (there 1880); Etudes historiques (there 1875).