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Jean-Baptiste
Massillon
Bishop of Clermont
(1663–1742)
Biographical
Bishop of Clermont 1717–42†
Director of the Seminary of Saint-Magloire, Paris, 1696
A French bishop and preacher, Massillon was the son of François
Massillon,
a royal notary of that town. At the age of eighteen he joined the Congregation
of the Oratory and taught for a time in the colleges of his order at Pézenas,
and Montbrison and at the Seminary of Vienne. On the death of Henri de
Villars, archbishop of Vienne, in 1693, he was commissioned to deliver
a funeral oration, and this was the beginning of his fame. In obedience
to Cardinal de Noailles, archbishop of Paris, he left the Cistercian abbey
of Sept-Fonds, to which he had retired, and settled in Paris, where he
was placed at the head of the famous seminary of Saint Magloire. He soon
gained a wide reputation as a preacher and was selected to be the Advent
preacher at the court of Versailles in 1699. He was made bishop of Clermont
in 1717, and two years later was elected a member of the French Academy.
The last years of his life were spent in the faithful discharge of his
episcopal duties; his death took place at Clermont on the 18th of September
1742. Massillon enjoyed in the 18th century a reputation equal to that
of Bossuet and of Bourdaloue, and has been much praised by Voltaire, D’Alembert
and kindred spirits among the Encyclopaedists. His popularity was probably
due to the fact that in his sermons he lays little stress on dogmatic
questions, but treats generally of moral subjects, in which the secrets
of the human heart and the processes of man’s reason are described
with poetical feeling. He has usually been contrasted with his predecessor
Bourdaloue, the latter having the credit of vigorous denunciation, Massillon
that of gentle persuasiveness. Besides the Petit Carême, a sermon
which he delivered before the young king Louis XV in 1718, his sermons
on the Prodigal Son, on the small number of the elect, on death, for Christmas
Day, and for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, may be perhaps cited as his
masterpieces. His funeral oration on Louis XIV is only noted now for the
opening sentence: 'Dieu seul est grand'. But in truth, Massillon is singularly
free from inequality. His great literary power, his reputation for benevolence,
and his known toleration and dislike of doctrinal disputes caused him
to be much more favourably regarded than most churchmen by the
philosophies
of the 18th century.
His
nephew, Joseph Massillon, published 15 volumes of his orations.
Place of birth: Hyères, Provence
Place of death: Beauregard
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