Pierre François Le Courayer by Unknown artist with initial H

Pierre François le Courayer (17 November 1681 – 17 October 1776) was a French

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

writer, for many years an expatriate in England.

Life

Pierre François le Courayer was born at

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

. While

canon regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...

and

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

of the abbey of St Genevieve at

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 ...

, he conducted a correspondence with

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

William Wake William Wake (26 January 165724 January 1737) was a priest in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1716 until his death in 1737. Life Wake was born in Blandford Forum, Dorset, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He took ...

on the subject of episcopal succession in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, which supplied him with material for his work, ''Dissertation sur la validité des ordinations des Anglais et sur la succession des évéques de l'Eglise anglicane, avec les preuves justificatives des faits avancés'' (''Dissertation on the validity of the Englishmen's ordinations and on the episcopal succession in the Anglican Church, with the justificatory proofs of the facts advanced''), published anonymously in 1723 with a fake publication location of Brussels. That work was an attempt to prove that there has been no break in the line of ordination from the apostles to the clergy of the Church of England. The following year he wrote to the ''Journal des savants'' to put his name to the work, though his opinions exposed him to attacks from several theologians, a prosecution and 32 of his propositions being labelled heresies. He was rebuked by

Louis Antoine de Noailles Louis-Antoine de Noailles (27 May 16514 May 1729), second son of Anne, 1st duc de Noailles, was a French bishop and cardinal. His signing of the Unigenitus bull in 1728 would end the formal Jansenist controversy. Biography Louis-Antoine de Noa ...

archbishop of Paris The Archdiocese of Paris (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Parisiensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Paris'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is one of twenty-three archdioceses in France ...

then excommunicated by Jean XI Polinier, abbot of

Sainte-Geneviève Saint Genevieve or Sainte-Geneviève may refer to: * Saint Genevieve (419/422–512), the patron of Paris * Saint Geneviève de Loqueffret (10th century), a local saint from Loqueffret, Brittany Buildings * Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, a li ...

. He still did not recant his opinions but they had gained him supporters in Great Britain and with the help of

Francis Atterbury Francis Atterbury (6 March 1663 – 22 February 1732) was an English man of letters, politician and bishop. A High Church Tory and Jacobite, he gained patronage under Queen Anne, but was mistrusted by the Hanoverian Whig ministries, and ban ...

, then in exile in

, he took refuge in England and was presented with a doctor's degree by the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. In 1732 he accepted that it was impossible to reconcile with his opponents in France and instead settled permanently in London as well as being granted a

canonry A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...

in Oxford. In 1736 he published a French translation of Paolo Sarpi's ''History of the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trento, Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italian Peninsula, Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation ...

'', and dedicated it to Queen Caroline, from whom he received a pension of £200 a year. Besides this he translated

Johann Sleidan Johann, typically a male given name, is the German language, German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin language, Latin form of the Greek language, Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew language, Hebrew name ''Johanan (name ...

's ''History of the Reformation'', and wrote several theological works. In his will, dated two years before his death, he declared himself still a member of the Roman Catholic Church, although dissenting from many of its opinions. He died in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and was buried in the

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

s of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Courayer, Pierre Francois le 1681 births 1776 deaths Writers from Rouen French librarians Historians of Christianity category:Reformation historians category:17th-century French Catholic theologians 17th-century French translators category:18th-century French Catholic theologians 18th-century French translators