BOOKS.
THE ABBE DE LAMENNAIS.*
IT is well that we have at last a monograph in English of that extraordinary man who shares with Comte de Maistre the position of founder of modern French ultramontanism. In- deed, it is probable that the distinctive character which separates the ultramontanism of Louis Venillot from the nitramontanism of Fenelon—which has in modern times given to the very word " ultramontanism " a connotation suggestive of extreme and uncompromising opinions, and an aggressive temper—is due rather to Lamennais than to De Maistre. Doubtless the views of De Maistre obtained very widely ; but his spirit, less absolute in itself than that of Lamennais, had, moreover, less opportunity for communicating itself to others. De Maistre was a statesman and a writer. As a layman to whom theology was a Xpfp702 he exercised a less direct and imperious influence on the French Church itself than did Lamennais. His influence was that of the ideas be put forth ; and ideas only gradually translate themselves into action. Bnt Lamennais gathered round him in his retreat at La Chesnaie in the later twenties the flower of the French clergy, and fired them by the influence of his own personality. He was " the Master," with a moral and intellectual authority very similar to that which Cardinal Newman exercised at Oxford ten years later, to those of the younger French clergy whose character and genius marked them out as the informing spirits of the future Church of France. The great orator, Henri Lacordaire—the successor of Bossuet, as the late Lord Houghton called him—who transformed public opinion in France by his conferences at Notre Dame, was in early life one of the inmates of La Chesnaie. Gerbet, afterwards Bishop of Perpignan, and Da Salinie, Bishop of Amiens, both of them great powers in the Church for ultramontanism, were pupils of Lamennais. Montalembert, the founder of the parti Catholique, was another. The fiery zealot, Comballot, was yet another. And if the persuasive charm of Montalembert and Lacordaire bore witness to the breadth and humanity of their Master's aims, the distinctive ethos of French ultra- montanism in such a man as Louis Veuillot remained as a painful reminder of the unchristian violence of tone which Lamennais's morbid temperament had first introduced into the Church of France,—a tone which has been exhibited by ultramontanes of this century in other countries, not excluding our own.
Mr. Gibson has told his story, on the whole, very well ; and `,is book displays certain literary qualities which are rarer in 'ngland than it is pleasant to think. It contains nothing lerfluons or redundant. The narrative moves forwards
'‘e Abbg de Larnennals and the Liberal Catholic Movement in France. By the v. Gat eon. London: Longman and Ca.
with directness and ease; he has collected from Lamennais's own letters and writings, and from the works of Cardinal Ricard, M. Forgoes, and others materials for a vivid portraiture of a most remarkable man ; and he has so chosen and limited his extracts that we would not willingly dispense with one of them. In days when the reading public is ready to accept clueless labyrinths of unsorted documents as though they were biographies, such careful workmanship is acceptable. It is a pity that here and there undue accentuation of the writer's personal views and predilections—notably in relation to Auguste Comte—mar the balance and moderation which the work displays on the whole.
The general story is known to educated men. Felicite de Lamennais was by birth and tradition a hater of the Revolu- tion on the'eve of which he was born. Of a self-torturing and morbid temperament, with a strong vein of mysticism and enthusiasm, he had never, so far as we can see, the kind of devotion to the spiritual life without which it is so dangerous for a Catholic to take orders. His youth had evidently been by no means blameless, and he himself appears to have shrunk from ordination. However, at thirty-four, he finally yielded to persuasion, and adopted the clerical state. Two- years later, in 1818, he electrified the Catholic world by the first volume of his Essai sur l'Indiferenee en Matiere de Religion. This essay was a powerful plea against the essential spirit of what is now known as agnosticism. It abandoned the old metaphysical standpoint,—practically conceding, as De Bonald had already done, that self-scrutiny and ideology can only issue in a negative attitude in matters of religious belief. On the other hand, religion is found in the heart of all peoples, and is necessary to social order. It stands as the expression of the reason of society ; and the Catholic Church, as the only embodiment of this idea in a universal external organisation, sums up all that is true in the scattered religions of the world.
Lamennais's Work was approved in Rome. Hevisited Leo XII. in 1824; found' his own picture in the Pope's room ; was received with ate utmost distinction ; was universally believed to have been reserved in petto as a Cardinal. How his en- deavours to use the influence he had now acquired in arousing- the Galilean French Church from the apathy belonging to a State institution led him to that singular combination of extreme liberalism with extreme ultramontanism which brought about his ruin, is told in Mr. Gibson's pages. To emancipate the Church horn State control he advocated in his newspaper, the Avenir, something like total Disestablish- ment—the resignation of all stipend by the clergy—and claimed unrestricted freedom for the Church as a voluntary in- stitution. With characteristic impetuosity he raised the cry of "liberty," without limitation for all voluntary associations, identified though this very principle had become with the Re- volution of 1830 in France, in Poland, in Italy. He appealed to- Pope Gregory XVI., hoping that the Papacy which his peculiar- version of ultramontanism had invested with almost unlimited powers, would support him. The Pope was at that moment in the midst of the troubles which the Carbonari had begun to raise in the Papal States in 1830. He tried to avoid giving a decision ; but Lamennais would not be put off. He insisted, and he got it. His doctrines were condemned. Though he submitted at first, the exasperating persecution carried on by his enemies in France was ultimately more than his high- strung temperament could endure. Rome, which had been all in all to him when he had been honoured there in 1824, became now to his irritated imagination the vilest of places. He left the Catholic Church ; and the story of his remaining twenty years of life—in poverty and misery, without faith, and with hopes which one after another flickered and vanished —can scarcely be read with dry eyes. His colleague, Lacordaire, submitted to the condemnation, which he regarded as a pro- nouncement that their principles were unsuitable to existing circumstances. Lamennais's imperious and absolute spirit refused any such compromise in its interpretation. He thought himself the destined saviour of France, and could not brook the insult of a condemnation. Thus while the movement which he had fashioned imparted all his own zeal, far more than his own piety, and some of his own un- charitable aggresE;iveness, to the Church of France, and trans- formed it from a home of Gallicanism to a stronghold of ultramontanism, his own career withered away, a branch cut off from what had been the centre of its life.
The traditional account of the critical interview with Pope Gregory, when Lamennais hoped to discuss his views and to obtain for them Papal sanction, is especially interesting from the opposite effect which the incident had on Lacordaire and, on Lamennais. To Lacordaire it suggested vividly the wisdom of the man who was spokesman for the Church of the ages, that the Pope resolutely declined entering on the subject at all in conversation, and left it to be examined thoroughly by a commission of theologians, who would in due time report their decision. To Lamennais, on the contrary, convinced that he alone could save the Church, morbidly impatient to gain the strength derivable from Papal support, the Pope's placid conversation on indifferent topics seemed the un- worthiest trifling, and drove him to exasperation. Here is the scene as described in Mr. Gibson's pages :--
"Lamennais fell on his knees Gregory XVI. raised him up immediately with a smile of kindness. He held in his hand a large snuff-box and, after slowly opening it, he said quietly, Do you take snuff ? ' The Abbe took a pinch for polite- ness sake, inwardly cursing, and saying that he had not come to take snuff. The Pope then took one himself, gravely sniffed it in, not without soiling the front of his cassock. Are you fond of art ? ' he said abruptly.—' At times, Holy Father.'—' At times ? That is not enough.'—' I like it in its place,' said Lamennais, slightly angered but just now '—` You know
it is what is best in Rome,' said the Pope quickly —' After some- thing else,' replied Lamennais, ' and, if your Holiness will permit
me ' Tho Pope interrupted him. Have you been to see the Church of St. Peter's Chains, Monsieur l'Abbe ? I have, Holy Father ; and would to God it was the only church in chains in the Christian world!' The Pope pretended not to notice the allusion. I suppose you saw Michael Angelo's Moses?'—' It is his masterpiece ; but, for my part, with all the devotion
—‘ I think you are wrong,' said the Pope, with warmth. can show you another masterpiece of Michael Angelo, which can well bear comparison with it.' And he took from his writing-table a silver statuette, Do you not recognise the claw of the lion ? ' he added, handing it to Lamennais. Lamennais looked at it with a far-off air, as a man preoccupied with another thought. Examine it carefully,' said the Pope. Lammenais looked at it• again. I should like to be able to make you a present of it,' continued the Pope, but nothing here belongs to me ; I have received, and I must hand it on to my successor.' He laid his hand on Lamennais' head. Farewell, Monsietir l'Abbe.' And he gave him his benediction."
• Of Lamennais' personality the best account is that of our .cosmopolitan fellow-countryman, Cardinal Wiseman, who knew him intimately. It is given in Mr. Gibson's pages, but is too long for quotation in this review. Of the peculiar, genius displayed in his prose poems which made so great an impression on his followers, some idea may be gained from the following Hymn to the Dead :-
" Its out aussi passe sur cette terre, ils out descendu le &aye da temps ; on entendit leurs voix sur ses bords, et puis on n'en- tendit plus rien. Ou sont-ils ? Qui nous le dira? Heureux les _mods qui meurent dans Is Seigneur. Pendant gulls passaient, ruffle ombres values se presenthrent e, leurs regards : le monde que le Christ a maudit leur montra sea grandeurs, sea richesses, .ses voluptes ; ils le virent, et soudain ils ne virent plus quo l'eternite. Oh sont-ils ? Qui nous lo dira? Heureux les morts qui meurent dans le Seigneur. Semblable k un rayon d'em haut, use croix dans le lontain apparaissait pour guider leur course ; inais tom ne la regardaient pm. Oh sont-ils ? Qui nous is dira ? Heureux les mods qui meurent dana le Seigneur. Il y en avait qui disaient Qu'est-ce que ces Sots qui nous emportent ? Y a-t-il quelque chose apres ce voyage rapids? Nous ne le savons pas, nul ne le sait. Et comme ils disaient eels., lea rives s'evanouis- aaient. Ou sont-ils ? Qui nous le dira ? Heureux lea morts qui meurent dans lo Seigneur. Il y en avait aussi qui semblaient dana un recueillement profond Scouter une parole secrete ; et
puis, fire sur le coucbant, tout it coup ils chantaient une aurore invisible et un jour qui ne finit jamais. Oh sont-ils ? Qui nous le dira ? Heureux les morts qui meurent dana is Seigneur. Entrains pale-mele, jeunes et vienx, tons disparaissaient, tele que le vaisseau quo Chasse la tempete. On compterait pluttit les sables de la. mer quo le nombre de ceux qui se hitaient de passer. Oit:sont-ils ? Qui nous le dire ? Heureux les morts qui meurent dans is Seigneur. Ceux qui les virent out raconte qu'une grande tristesse etait dana leur cceur l'angoisse soulevait leur poitrine, et, comme fatigues du travail de vivre, levant les yeux au ciel, Rs pleuraient. Oh sont-ils ? Qui nous le dira? Heureux les morts qui meurent dans le Seigneur. Des lieux incennus oh le fleuve se perd, deux voix s'elevent incessamment. L'une dit : Du fond de I'abime erg vera vous, Seigneur : Seigneur, ecoutez mes gemissements, pretez Poreille I ma priere. Si vous scrutez nos iniquites, qui soutiendra votre regard ? Mais pros de vous est la nusericorde et une redemption immense. Et l'autre : Nous vous louons, 6 Dieu! nous vous benissons : Saint, saint, saint est le Seigneur Dieu des Armees ! La terre et les cieux sent remplis de votre gloira. Et nous aussi, nous irons lh d'oh partent ces plaintes ou ces chants de triomphe. Oh serons-nous ? Qui now le dira ? Ileureux les snorts qui meurent dans le Seigneur."
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