SÉGUR, GASTON de. - Apologetic and ascetic writer, b. to the counts of S. in Paris on 15 April 1820, d. there in the odour of sanctity on 9 June 1881. His mother, Sophie Rostopchine, daughter of the governor of Moscow who had the city burned when it was occupied by Napoleon's troops (1813), is the Comtesse de S., known for many fine narrative books for children (Gribouille, Mémoires d'un âne, etc.). Gaston was chiefly educated by the latter's mother (herself converted from the Russian schism), who directed him toward the priesthood.
He was among the first to welcome the appeal of F. Ozanam and joined the "Conferences of St. Vincent de Paul." He entered the diplomatic service and was attaché at the embassy in Rome in 1842. But he soon left this post to enter the seminary. A priest in 1847, he devoted himself to the care of "patronages" for apprentices. Auditor of the Rota in Rome in 1852, he there enjoyed the affectionate confidence of Pius IX; but, having become blind in 1853, he resigned. He was then appointed apostolic protonotary and canon-bishop of the Chapter of St-Denis, without however receiving episcopal consecration because of his blindness. He was afterwards chaplain of the Collège Stanislas, but he also worked enormously as a preacher and as confessor to many religious congregations. He encouraged and assisted Canon H. Chaumont (1838-96) in the founding (19 Sept. 1876) of the Society of the Fathers of St. Francis de Sales.
S. wrote a great deal. He left some sixty works, mostly simple pamphlets in a lively style, in which he treats themes of ascetics and apologetics. They were all published in Paris; some had a very wide circulation and were translated into many languages. Here are the principal ones: Recueil d'antilogies ou discussions religieuses (1843, just after he entered the seminary); Réponses courtes et familières aux objections... contre la religion (1851; 194th ed. 1881); Jésus-Christ (1856; 24th ed. 1907); La très Ste Communion (1860; 143rd ed. 1906); Le Pape (1860; 78th ed. 1899); L'Eglise (1861; 63rd ed. 1903); L'Enfer (1876; 39th ed. 1905); La Révolution (1861; 3rd ed. 1900); La piété et la vie intérieure (1864; prohibited by the Holy Office for certain singular ideas); La présence réelle (1866); Les francs-maçons (1867); La Ste Vierge (1867); Le Tiers-Ordre de St François (1868); Le dogme et
Memorie e narrazioni d'un fratello, Turin 1914); Marquis de Moussac, Mgr de S., Paris 1912.
Ferdinando Renaud