Georges Goyau (31 May 1869 – 25 October 1939) was a French historian and essayist specializing in

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

history.

Biography

Pierre-Louis-Théophile-Georges Goyau was born in

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on rue Saint-Jacques in central Paris. It was founded in the ...

and then

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

both in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where he was influenced by philosopher

Léon Ollé-Laprune Léon Ollé-Laprune (25 June 1839 – 19 February 1898) was a French Catholic philosopher. Life Under the influence of the philosopher Elme Marie Caro and of Père Gratry's book ''Les Sources'', Ollé-Laprune, after exceptionally brilliant ...

. With his studies in Roman history he became known as a classical scholar.Reardon, Bernard M. G., ''Liberalism and Tradition: Aspects of Catholic Thought in Nineteenth-century France'', Cambridge University Press, 1975
In 1892, Goyau joined the École Français de Rome, an institute for

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, and

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

. In 1893, he wrote ''Le Pape, les catholiques et la question sociale'', a democratic interpretation of

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

's 1891 encyclical ''

Rerum novarum ''Rerum novarum'' (from its incipit, with the direct translation of the Latin meaning "of revolutionary change"), or ''Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor'', is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, pass ...

''. Goyau was a prolific writer, publishing 86 monographs. As associate editor, he penned some 110 articles for the ''

Revue des deux mondes The ''Revue des deux Mondes'' (, ''Review of the Two Worlds'') is a monthly French-language literary, cultural and current affairs magazine that has been published in Paris since 1829. According to its website, "it is today the place for debates a ...

'', a monthly literary and cultural affairs magazine, publishing a lot of articles on Catholic history, for example: '' L’Église libre dans l’Europe libre'' (''The free Church in the free Europe''), ''Les Origines religieuses du Canada'' (''The religious origins of Canada''), ''L’Effort catholique dans la France d’aujourd’hui'' (''The Catholic efforts in today's France''), and '' Le Catholicisme, doctrine d’action'' (''Catholicism, doctrine of action''). Bernard Reardon calls his five volume ''L'Allemagne religieuse'', a detailed study of religion in German-speaking lands, Goyau's "literary achievement". Goyau also composed a number of entries for the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. In 1922, he was elected a member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

, where he became secretary in 1938. Apart from his writing, he served as a director of the Hospital of the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul. He was also a Commander of the Legion of Honour. The Académie established the Georges Goyau History and sociology Prize in his honour. In 1903, Goyau married the writer

Lucie Faure Lucie Faure, ''née'' Meyer (6 July 1908 – 25 September 1977) was a French woman of letters, novelist and literary review director. Early life The daughter of a merchant of fabrics of Alsatian origin, she was the niece, on the maternal sid ...

, daughter of the French president

Félix Faure Félix François Faure (; 30 January 1841 – 16 February 1899) was the President of France from 1895 until his death in 1899. A native of Paris, he worked as a tanner in his younger years. Faure became a member of the Chamber of Deputies for Se ...

. His second marriage was to the Catholic writer

Juliette Heuzey Juliette Heuzey (after marriage, Goyau; pen names, Jules-Philippe Heuzey, J.Ph. Heuzey, Mme. Georges Goyau; 1 January 1865 – 7 July 1952) was a French writer. She was a recipient of the Montyon Prize. Biography Juliette Heuzey was born 1 Janua ...

, who published a book titled ''Dieu premier servi. Georges Goyau : sa vie et son œuvre'' in his memory in 1947. Rue Georges Goyau in Bernay is named after him.

Works

* Chronologie de l'Empire Romain. 1891Goyau, G., ''Chronologie de l'Empire Romain
/ref> * Le Pape, les catholiques et la question sociale. 1893 * Le Vatican : les papes et la civilisation. Georges Goyau. 1895 * L'Allemagne religieuse: le Protestantisme. 1898 * L'École d'aujourd'hui. 2 volumes, 1899-1906 * L'Allemagne religieuse: le Catholicisme. 4 volumes, 1905-1909 * Sainte Jeanne d'Arc. 1920 * Un grand missionnaire, le cardinal Lavigerie. 1925 * Le Cardinal Mercier. 1926 * Bismark et l'Église; le Kulturkampf

References

*''This article is based on the corresponding article in French Wikipedia.''

Sources

* Jérôme Grondeux, ''Georges Goyau (1869–1939): Un intellectuel catholique sous la IIIe République'' (Rome: École française de Rome. 2007) (Collection de l'École Francaise de Rome, 38). {{DEFAULTSORT:Goyau, Georges 1869 births 1938 deaths Writers from Orléans Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni École Normale Supérieure alumni 20th-century French historians Members of the Académie Française French male writers French male essayists Members of the Ligue de la patrie française Contributors to the Catholic Encyclopedia