Venues for clerical formation in Catholic Reformation Paris: Vincent de Paul and the Tuesday Conference and Company
Recommended Citation
Alison Forrestal (2010) 'Venues for Clerical Formation in Catholic Reformation Paris: Vincent de Paul and the Tuesday Conference and Company'. Proceedings of the Western Society for French History, 38 :44-60.
Published Version
Abstract
In the eulogy he delivered at Vincent de Paul's memorial
service in November 1660, the bishop of Puy, Henri Maupas du
Tour, praised his subject for having "virtually changed the face
of the Church by Conferences, by instructions, by seminaries . . .
it is he who re-established the Clergy's glory in its first splendor,
by ordinands' exercises, by spiritual Retreats, by the opening of
his heart and house."
1
It has since become commonplace to
credit de Paul with the lion's share of praise for the
transformation of the French clergy during this period of
Catholic Reformation. While admitting that de Paul "did not
inaugurate a movement destined to end in the regeneration and
organisation of the clergy," his principal modern biographer,
Pierre Coste, concludes adamantly that "he was, in the hands of
God, the instrument that most powerfully contributed to its
success."
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