RAVIGNAN, GUSTAVE-XAVIER DE LA CROIX DE. -
Jesuit, orator, b. at Bayonne on 1 Dec. 1795, d.
at Paris on 26 Feb. 1858.
Having abandoned the magistracy, he entered the
Society of Jesus in 1822, and, ordained a priest in 1828,
taught theology at the college of Saint-Acheul. In 1837
he succeeded Fr. Lacordaire in the pulpit of Notre-Dame in
Paris, which he held until 1846, when he had to withdraw
because of the weakening of his voice. In the conferences he studied the
religious struggle, the fundamental truths, the relations between
reason and faith, dogma and the decalogue considered as
a law of respect. In order to influence souls even more,
from 1842 he added to the Lenten conferences the
Easter retreats. His preaching, made of persuasive
eloquence, profound religiosity, and animated by his sonorous voice,
by his broad and sober gesture, which demonstrated his intimate
faith (his sign of the Cross at the beginning
of the conferences has remained famous) won him admiration and esteem, but
above all aroused many conversions, especially among
intellectuals and the aristocracy. From 1846 he still devoted himself to
more intimate conferences, tridua, exercises, spiritual
exhortations in colleges and convents.
He was also a vigorous apologist in defense of his Order:
De l'existence et de l'institut des Jésuites (Paris 1844; 11th
ed., Brussels 1898; followed by many translations); Clément XIII
et Clément XIV (2 vols., Paris 1854), against the exaggerations
of Crétineau-Joly and Theiner. The conferences and
the other ascetical works, so sought after and reprinted, were
published posthumously: Dernière retraite... aux religieux car-
mélites pendant le mois de Novembre 1857 (ibid. 1857);
Entretiens spirituels... recueillis par les Enfants de Marie
(ibid. 1859); Suite des entretiens... suivie de quelques passa-ges de sa correspondance (ibid. 1863); Conférences du rev.
p. de R. (4 vols. edited by C. Aubert, ibid. 1860); La vie
chrétienne d'une dame dans le monde (ibid. 1860).