Pierre-Justin Delort, often anglicized to Peter, was a French priest and academic who was exiled following the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

and moved to Ireland. Born in Bordeaux in December 1748. A priest in the

Archdiocese of Bordeaux The Archdiocese of Bordeaux (–Bazas) (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Burdigalensis (–Bazensis)''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Bordeaux (–Bazas)''; Occitan: ''Archidiocèsi de Bordèu (–Vasats)'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or a ...

in France, he held a Doctor of Laws from the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (French: ''Université de Bordeaux'') is a public university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Ta ...

. Delort was a professor of philosophy at the Collège de Guyenne, before the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

. Following the revolution, he emigrated to London.

Maynooth College

In 1795 he was appointed the first professor of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics at the newly established Royal College, of St. Patrick, Maynooth, Ireland. Delort was one of the first four professors present in Maynooth in 1795, the others being former professor of philosophy in Paris, Maurice Aherne (Dogmatic Theology), James Bernard Clinch (Humanity), and John Chetwode Eustace (Rhetoric). Delort's first class contained only three students. Delort was one of the four exiles from France; the others being

Francois Anglade Francois (Francis) Anglade (1758-1834), was a French priest and academic, who was exiled following the French revolution and moved to Ireland. Life Pre-revolution Anglade from Millau (in Occitan, Milhau), studied at the College of Rodez before goin ...

(Sorbonne, Paris),

André Darré André (Andrew) Darré (1750–1833) was a French priest and academic. He was one of the four exiles from France, the others being professors Francois Anglade, Louis-Gilles Delahogue, and Pierre-Justin Delort, sometimes called the French "founding ...

(Toulouse), and

Louis-Gilles Delahogue Louis-Gilles Delahogue (1739-1827) was a French priest and academic, who was exiled following the French Revolution and moved to Ireland. His surname particularly in French is sometimes written as ''De La Hogue''. Delahogue graduated from the Sorbon ...

(Sorbonne, Paris), sometimes called the French ''founding fathers'' of Maynooth. In 1801 following the concordat between the papacy and the French government, he returned to France initially for six months on a leave of absence, but he never returned to Maynooth; his fellow Frenchman Darré became chair of natural philosophy and mathematics.

Return to France and Eucharistic miracle of Bordeaux

Delort became canon and secretary to the Archdiocese of Bordeaux; he also served as Chair of Theology at the local Seminary. While saying

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

in the Church of St. Eulalia in Bordeaux on February 3, (

Septuagesima Septuagesima (; in full, Septuagesima Sunday) is the name for the ninth Sunday before Easter, the third before Ash Wednesday. The term is sometimes applied to the seventy days starting on Septuagesima Sunday and ending on the Saturday after Easte ...

Sunday) 1822, Abbot Delort, substituting for Venerable Pierre Bienvenu Noaille who usually said Mass for the nuns, consecrated the host. When he looked at the host, Jesus appeared in the host. This became known as a

Eucharistic miracle In Christianity, a Eucharistic miracle is any miracle involving the Eucharist. The Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist, Anglican and Oriental Orthodox Churches belief that Christ is really made manifest in the Eucharist and deem ...

Legacy

The Delort Prize is awarded for outstanding performance in Pure Mathematics in the First Year Examinations at

Maynooth University The National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann Mhá Nuad), commonly known as Maynooth University (MU), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. It ...

and is named in his honour.Mathematics and Statistics
Undergraduate Annual Prizes, Maynooth University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delort, Pierre 1748 births 1825 deaths French mathematicians Academics of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Catholic clergy scientists 17th-century French Roman Catholic priests 18th-century French Roman Catholic priests French expatriates in Ireland