HENRI D OMINIQUE LACORDAIRE A V Z AZAZ SAME A UTHOR. Madame L ouise de France, Daughter of Louis XV., known also as the Mother TÉRESE DE S. AUGUSTIN. A D ominican Artist ; a Sketch of the Life of the REv. PERE BEsson, of the Order of St. Dominic. Henri P errey ve. By A. GRATRY. Translated. S. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Prince of Geneva. The Revival of Priestly Life in the Seventeenth Century i n France. CHARLEs DE ConDREN–S. Philip NERI and CARDINAL DE BERULLE—S. VINCENT DE PAUL–SAINT SULPICE and JEAN JAQUES OLIER. A C hristian Painter of the Nineteenth Century; being the Life of HIPPolyte FLANDRIN. Bossuet a nd his Contemporaries. Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai. la ± | ERS. S NIN, TOULOUSE. HENRI D OMINIQUE LACORDAIRE Ø 1 5ío grapbital = kett) BY H.. L SIDNEY LEAR |\ a“In l sua Volum fade e mostra pace." PARADiso III. * t 1 . - - - - -, 1 - - - - VR I IN GT ON S WVA TER LOO PLACE, LONDO W MDCCCLXXXII *==v---------------- - - - - - PREF A CE. THIS s ketch of a great man and his career has been framed entirely upon his own writings—his Conferences and others—the contemporary literature, and the two Memoirs of him published by his dearest friend the Comte de Montalembert, and by his disciple and companion Dominican, Père Chocarne. I have aimed only at producing as true and as vivid a portrait of Lacordaire as lay in my power, believing that at all times, and specially such times as the present, such a study must tend to strengthen the cause of Right, the cause of true Liberty, above all, of Religious Liberty. .H. L SIDNEY LEAR. May 1882. 252615 CONTENTS. page . S ECULAR LIFE II. ISSYND A ORDINATION . 38 III. DEA L MENNAis—The “Avenir"—ROME— LA C HESNA.ie. 56 IV. CONFERENCES 92 . M ME. SwetCHINE—PREACHING ORDER IO I VI. THE N ovitiate—LA QUERCIA—SANTA SA BINA-NOTRE D AME—ROME—BOSCO-THE PROVINCES—NANCY . I43 VII. LIBERTY-PREACHING 179 VIII. CHALAIS-PERSONAL I NFLUENCE, 1848—THE REPUBLIC–POLITICS . 2O6 IX. P RIvate LIFE—THE Coup-d'ÉTAT—FLA VIGNY–OULLINS—TOULOUSE—LAST C ON FERENCES 250 X. SoRize—THE A CADEMIE FRANÇAISE—DEATH 296 - - - - --- - *- - - * * * * --- - * * - - ** • . -. * * I. S ECULAR LIFE. “/M B ION un rey, Taben perdut '” Such was the heartfelt cry of a poor woman from the moun tains, one among the crowd of all ranks and ages gathered at Sorèze, November 28, 1861, to render the last tokens of love and respect to the mortal remains of one of the greatest men France has given to Christianity, although they be not few. A king in the world of thought, of patriotism, of influence over the hearts of men; and verily these are royalties dearer to the noble soul, made after the image and likeness of God, than all that this world's pomp and power can give. A great part of Lacordaire's life may simply be described as a reign over the hearts and spirits of his fellow-creatures. But my aim is not to write his panegyric, and facts will suffice to set forth in true yet glowing colours the strangely blended beauty and harmonies of his career. They were wild, fierce times in which Lacordaire entered into this world. His father, Nicolas Lacordaire, was a d octor in the little country town of Recey-sur A. /* 2 A V/COLAS LA COA’DA/A’E. Ource, n ot far from Chatillon-sur-Seine in Burgundy —a man of strong Liberal opinions, but seemingly of the same large, generous heart which in his son was so marked a feature. It was in the year 1793 that the Curé of the town, a certain Abbé Magné, having refused to accept the Civil Constitution which was then being pressed on the French clergy, and being resolved to render to Caesar only the things that be Caesar's, reserving to God those that be His ; when, surrounded by a tumultuous mob, which pursued him to the very steps of the altar, where he daily renewed his pledge, this venerable man, while sabres and guns were pointed at him on all sides, steadily made reply, “Cut me down an you will; but as to a sacrilegious oath, never will I take it !” Their good angels saved them from the cowardly crime of shedding the brave priest's blood, but they drove him forth from the village with savage execrations and threats of vengeance should he ever return, and then forgot their personal spite in the ex citement of pillaging his poor presbytery. For a while the brave priest wandered in the forest, then journeyed to Rome; but eventually, yearning after his own country and his own people, he made his way back to Recey, staff in hand, knapsack on shoulder; and while fully realising the danger of his position, he felt such confidence in Dr. Lacordaire and his true gene rosity of heart, that it was at his door that the Abbé A/R7A. 3 sought r efuge, and found it. He was kindly harboured and carefully concealed, and then an altar was secretly raised, where the faithful found access to the Sacraments and to the Word of God. Here, on May 12, 1802, the future great Dominican was born, and baptized by the true-hearted confessor of the Faith to whom his father had thus shown no little kindness. Four years later that father died of consumption, not at Recey, but at Bussières; and the mother (Anne Marie Dugied, daughter of a Burgundian avocat) was left with four young sons, of whom Henri was the second. Dr. Lacordaire had been married before, and had a son born 1789 by his first marriage. In a letter to Madame Swetchine, August 20, 1835, Lacordaire describes the last hours of this eldest brother, who had lived the quiet life of a chronic invalid : “His mind was cultivated, and he had such perfect taste in Art matters that in the family he was habitually called “the artist.’ Horticulture was his favourite pursuit; no other garden produced such marvellous fruits and vegetables, or was kept with such exquisite neatness and order. This was a tradition from my father, whom he resembled personally more than any of us, he alone possessing blue eyes, which were pene trating in spite of their sweetness. His other passion was “la chasse.’ He had bought some land on the slope of a hill (at Aisey le Duc), and had built a 4 A C OA DA/RE'S MOTHER. pretty h ouse. He had been in possession barely two months—his life's dream fulfilled—for twenty-nine years he had held his hand because he thought his life too uncertain to build. At last he had gained confidence, and scarcely had he laid down and risen up twenty times in his house, when he laid down to rise up no more.” Madame Lacordaire was one of those strong-hearted, morally powerful women who are so often moulded by times of danger and disaster when the weak and purposeless are winnowed out by the storm. Lacor daire described her himself in three words: “Chris tian, courageous, strong.”" She was naturally undemonstrative, dignified, and perhaps somewhat severe, intensely anxious to bring up her sons to a high level both of faith and education. The picture we gather of her in her widowhood, surrounded by her four boys, is a noble one; reading aloud with them the classics of their language, specially Racine and Corneille; talking to them of the sovereign greatness of the Faith, of honour, uprightness, and an unsullied name; of the necessity of a clear, strong will for what is good; lessons stamped upon the lads by their mother's own firm, decided, truthful character. The father had been a man of considerable intellectual power and cultiva tion ; his varied acquirements and a singularly happy 1 “Chrétienne, courageuse, et ſorte.” AAA’ L V A FOA/E LAFE. 5 mannerf o expression, added to a very attractive manner, gave him much of that gift of fascination which was so marked a characteristic of his son through life. It was a great inheritance to begin with ; and though Lacordaire barely recollected his father, he always held his memory in most loving remem brance. An old friend of the family tells how, going to see the Dominican Father at the height of his career, their whole conversation was concerning details familiar to the elder man; and how, when he rose to take leave, Lacordaire, holding both his hands, exclaimed, “Tell me more about my father " Not long before the close of his life he revisited the old house at Recey, and seemed to recall the scenes of fifty years past. Nothing was changed in the house; and when Lacordaire expressed his surprise at finding all so unaltered, the owner answered without hesitation that all was so precious to him because of the memories and name it cherished, that in his lifetime at least no rude hand should touch a detail. His own warm clinging to these early links finds vent in many of his utterances; e.g. in a Conference of 1845 at Notre Dame he exclaims, “O the hearth and home of Christian men that father's home, where from our first hour we drank in with the air and light of day pure love of all things holy; verily we may grow old, but we must ever return to you with a youthful heart; and were it not that the Eternal calls us forth, we 6 A T DIJON.