Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MAURISTS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 912 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

MAURISTS , a See also:

congregation of See also:French See also:Benedictines called after St Nlaurus (d. 565), a See also:disciple of St See also:Benedict and the legendary introducer of the See also:Benedictine See also:rule and See also:life into See also:Gaul.' At the end of the 16th See also:century the Benedictine monasteries of See also:France had fallen into a See also:state of disorganization and relaxation. In the See also:abbey of St Vaune near See also:Verdun a reform was initiated by Dom Didier de la Cour, which spread to other houses in See also:Lorraine, and in 1604 the reformed congregation of St Vaune was established, the most distinguished members of which were See also:Ceillier and See also:Calmet. A number of French houses joined the new congregation; but as Lorraine was still See also:independent of the French See also:crown, it was considered desirable to See also:form on the same lines a See also:separate congregation for France. Thus in 1621 was established the famous French congregation of St Maur. Most of the Benedictine monasteries of France, except those belonging to See also:Cluny, gradually joined the new congregation, which eventually embraced nearly two See also:hundred houses. The See also:chief See also:house was See also:Saint-Germain-See also:des-Pres, See also:Paris, the See also:residence of the See also:superior-See also:general and centre of the See also:literary activity of the congregation. ' His festival is kept on the 15th of See also:January. He founded the monastery of Glanfeuil or St Maur-sur-See also:Loire. The See also:primary See also:idea of the See also:movement was not the undertaking of literary and See also:historical See also:work, but the return to a strict monastic regime and the faithful carrying out of Benedictine life; and throughout the most glorious See also:period of Maurist See also:history the literary work was not allowed to interfere with the due performance of the choral See also:office and the other duties of the monastic life. Towards the end of the 18th century a tendency crept in, in some quarters, to relax the monastic observances in favour of study; but the constitutions of 1770 show that a strict monastic regime was maintained until the end. The course of Maurist history and work was checkered by the ecclesiastical controversies that distracted the French See also:Church during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Some of the members identified themselves with the Jansenist cause; but the bulk, including nearly all the greatest names, pursued a See also:

middle path, opposing the lax moral See also:theology condemned in 1679 by See also:Pope See also:Innocent XI., and adhering to those strong views on See also:grace and See also:predestination associated with the Augustinian and Thomist See also:schools of See also:Catholic theology; and like all the theological faculties and schools on French See also:soil, they were See also:bound to See also:teach the four Gallican articles. It seems that towards the end of the 18th century a rationalistic and See also:free-thinking spirit invaded some of the houses. The congregation was suppressed and the monks scattered at the revolution, the last superior-general with See also:forty of his monks dying onthescaffold in Paris. The See also:present French congregation of Benedictines initiated by Dom Gueranger in 1833 is a new creation and has no continuity with the congregation of St Maur. The See also:great claim of the Maurists to the gratitude and admiration of posterity is their historical and See also:critical school, which stands quite alone in history, and produced an extraordinary number of See also:colossal See also:works of erudition which still are of permanent value. The See also:foundations of this school were laid by Dom Tarisse, the first superior-general, who in 1632 issued instructions to the superiors of the monasteries to See also:train the See also:young monks in the habits of See also:research and of organized work. The pioneers in See also:production were Menard and d'Achery. The following tables give, divided into See also:groups, the most important Maurist works, along with such See also:information as may be useful to See also:Epistle of See also:Barnabas Menard 1645 I in4to (editio princeps) See also:Lanfranc d'Achery 1648 I See also:Guibert of Nogent d'Achery 1651 I See also:Robert Pulleyn and See also:Peter of See also:Poitiers Mathou 1655 1 See also:Bernard See also:Mabillon 1667 2 See also:Anselm See also:Gerberon 1675 I. See also:Cassiodorus Garet 1679 I See also:Augustine (see Kukula, Delfau, Blampin, See also:Die Mauriner-Ausgabe Coustant, Guesnie 1681—1700 II des Augustinus, 1898) See also:Ambrose du Frische 1686-1690 2 Acta martyrum sincera Ruinart 1689 Hilary Coustant 1693 I See also:Jerome Martianay 1693-1706 5 See also:Athanasius Loppin and Mont- faucon 1698 3 See also:Gregory of See also:Tours Ruinart 1699 I Gregory the Great Sainte-Marthe 1705 4 See also:Hildebert of Tours Beaugendre 1708 I See also:Irenaeus Massuet 1710 I See also:Chrysostom See also:Montfaucon 1718-1738 13 See also:Cyril of See also:Jerusalem Touttee and Maran 1720 I Epistolae romanorum Coustant 172I I pontificum 2 See also:Basil See also:Garnier and Maran 1721-1730 3 See also:Cyprian (See also:Baluze, not a Maurist) finished by Maran 1726 See also:Origen Ch. de la See also:Rue (1, 2, 3) V.de la Rue(4)1733-1759 4 See also:Justin See also:ant' the Apolo- Maran 1742 gists Gregory Nazianzen 3 Maran and Clemen- cet 1778 2 14 vols. of materials collected for the continuation are at Paris. 2 The See also:printing of vol. ii. was impeded by the Revolution. students. All works are See also:folio when not otherwise noted:—I.—THE See also:EDITIONS OF THE FATHERS 11.—BIBLICAL WORKS St Jerome's Latin See also:Bible Martianay 1693 I Origen's See also:Hexapla Montfaucon 1713 2 Old Latin versions Sabbathier 1743-1749 3 111.—GREAT COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS IV.—MONASTIC HISTORY Acta of the Benedictine d'Achery, Mabillon See also:Saints and Ruinart Benedictine See also:Annals (to Mabillon (1-4), Mas- 1157) See also:suet (5), Martene (6) V.—ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF FRANCE A.—General.

Gallia christiana (3 other Sainte-Mart he vols. were published (1, 2, 3) 1715-1785 13 1856-1865) Monuments de la mon- Montfaucon archie frangaise Histoire litteraire de la See also:

Rivet, Clemencet, France (16 other vols. See also:Clement 1733-1763 12 in 4t° were published 1814- 1881) Recueil des historiens de Bouquet (1-8), Brial la France (4 other vols. (12-19) 1738-1833 19 were published 184o- 1876) Concilia Galliae (the Labbat 1789 printing of vol. U. was interrupted by the Re- volution; there were to have been 8 vols. B. Histories of the Provinces. Bretagne Lobineau 1707 2 Paris Felibien and Lobi- 1725 5 neau See also:Languedoc Vaissette and de Vic 1730-1745 5 Bourgogne Plancher (1-3), Merle 1739-1748, 4 (4) 1781 Bretagne Morice 1742-1756 5 VI.—See also:MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF TECHNICAL ERUDITION De re diplomatica Mabillon 1681 See also:Ditto Supplement Mabillon 1704 Nouveau traite de See also:dip- Toustain and Tassin 1750-1765 6 in 00 lomatique Montfaucon 1708 Paleographia graeca Bibliotheca coisliniana Montfaucon 1715 1 Bibliotheca bibliotheca- Montfaucon 1739 2 See also:rum manuscriptorum nova L'Antiquite explique Montfaucon 1719-1724 15 New ed. of Du Cange's Dantine and See also:Car- glossarium pentier 1733-1736 6 Ditto Supplement Carpentier 1766 4 Apparatus ad biblio- le Nourry 1703 2 thecam maximam Dantine, See also:Durand, patrum L'See also:Art de verifier See also:les See also:dates Clemencet 1750 1in4to Ed. 2 Clement 1770 Ed. 3 Clement 1783-1787 3 The 58 works in the above See also:list comprise 199 great folio volumes and 39 in 4koor 8V0. The full Maurist bibliography contains the names of some 220 writers and more than 700 works. The lesser works in large measure See also:cover the same See also:fields as those in the list, but the number of works of purely religious See also:character, of piety, devotion and edification, is very striking. Perhaps the most wonderful phenomenon of Maurist work is that what was produced was only a portion of what was contemplated and prepared for.

The French Revolution cut See also:

short many gigantic undertakings, the collected materials for which fill hundreds of See also:manuscript volumes in the Bibliotheque nationale of Paris and other See also:libraries of France. There are at Paris 31 volumes of Berthereau's materials for the Historians of the See also:Crusades, not only in Latin and See also:Greek, but in the See also:oriental See also:tongues; from them have been taken in great measure the Recueil des historiens des croisades.whereof 15 folio volumes have been published by the Academie des See also:Inscriptions. There exist also the preparations for an edition of See also:Rufinus and one of See also:Eusebius, and for the continuation of the Papal Letters and of the Concilia Galliae. Dom Caffiaux and Dom Villevielle See also:left 236 volumes of materials for a Tresor genealogique. There are Benedictine Antiquities (37 vols.), a Monasticon Gallicanum and a Monasticon Benedictinum (54 vols.). Of the Histories of the Provinces of France barely See also:half a dozen were printed, but all were in See also:hand, and the collections for the others fill 800 volumes of See also:MSS. The materials for a See also:geography of Gaul and France in 50 volumes perished in a See also:fire during the Revolution. When these figures were considered, and when one contemplates the vastness of the works in progress during any See also:decade of the century 168o-178o; and still more, when not only the quantity but the quality of the work, and the abiding value of most of it is realized, it will be recognized that the output was prodigious and unique in the history of letters, as coming from a single society. The qualities that have made Maurist work proverbial for See also:sound learning are its See also:fine critical tact and its thoroughness. The chief source of information on the Maurists and their work is Dom Tassin's Histoire litteraire de la congregation de Saint-Maur (1770) ; it has been reduced to a See also:bare bibliography and completed by de Lama, Bibliotheque des ecrivains de la congr. de S.-M. (1882). The two works of de See also:Broglie, Mabillon (2 vols., 1888) and Montfaucon (2 vols., 1891), give a charming picture of the inner life of the great Maurists of the earlier See also:generation in the midst of their work and their See also:friends.

Sketches of the lives of a few of the chief Maurists will be found in McCarthy's See also:

Principal Writers of the Congr. of S. M. (1868). Useful information about their literary undertakings will be found in De See also:Lisle's See also:Cabinet des MSS. de la Bibl. Nat. Fonds St Germain-des-Pres. General information will be found in the See also:standard authorities: See also:Helyot, Hist. des ordres religieux (1718), vi. c. 37; Heimbucher, Orden and Kongregationen (1907) i. § 36; Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexicon (ed. 2) and See also:Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklopadie (ed. 3), the latter an interesting appreciation by the See also:Protestant historian See also:Otto Zockler of the spirit and the merits of the work of the Maurists. (E.

C.

End of Article: MAURISTS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MAURICE, JOHN FREDERICK DENISON (1805-1872) 		[next]
MAURITIUS

Site © 2006 - Net Industries