RAVIGNAN, Gustave-Xavier Delacroix de. Jesuit, orator, b. at Bayonne on 1 Dec. 1795, d. in Paris on 26 Feb. 1858.
Having abandoned a career in the magistracy, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1822, and, after ordination to the priesthood in 1828, taught theology at the college of Saint-Acheul. In 1837 he succeeded Fr. Lacordaire in the pulpit of Notre-Dame in Paris, a position he held until 1846, when he was obliged to retire due to the weakening of his voice. In his Lenten conferences he addressed the struggle of religion, fundamental truths, the relationship between reason and faith, dogma and the Decalogue considered as a law of respect. To exert even greater influence on souls, from 1842 he added Easter retreats to his Lenten conferences. His preaching, marked by personal eloquence, profound piety, and enlivened by a resonant voice and measured, ample gestures—demonstrating his unshaken faith (his sign of the Cross at the beginning of his conferences became famous—earned him admiration and esteem, but above all brought about many conversions, especially among intellectuals and the aristocracy. From 1846 onward he devoted himself to more private conferences, triduums, spiritual exercises, and 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 XVI et Clément XIV* (2 vols., Paris 1854), against the exaggerations of Crétineau-Joly and Theiner. His conferences and other ascetical works, much sought after and frequently reprinted, were published posthumously: *Dernière retraite... aux religieux char-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 passages de sa correspondance* (ibid. 1863); *Conférences du rev. p. de R.* (4 vols. ed. C. Aubert, ibid. 1860); *La vie chrétienne d'une dame dans le monde* (ibid. 1860).