Vincent Houdry (23 January 1631,

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

– 21 March 1729,

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 ...

) was a French Jesuit preacher and writer on ascetics.

Biography

According to the catalogues of the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

, Houdry entered the Society of Jesus at

on 10 October 1647, and after the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

followed the regular course of studies (three years

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and four years

theology 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 ...

). For a considerable while he was engaged in teaching: classics, six years; rhetoric, one year; philosophy, four years. After this he became a celebrated

pulpit orator Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...

, preaching for the next twenty-five years in the more important cities of France. During the remainder of his life he was principally occupied in writing sermons. He died on 21 March 1729 in Paris. His obituary in the archives of the Society praises his talent as an orator and his never-tiring industry as a speaker and a writer. Among his virtues, his faithful observance of the rules, even to the ninety-ninth year of his life, is especially mentioned.

Writings

Houdry left two important homiletic works. His collected sermons, under the title ''Sermons sour tous les sujets de la morale chrétienne'', appeared in Paris, 1696-1702. It comprises five parts in twenty-two volumes, and has run through several editions; it was also printed in part in a German translation at Augsburg in 1739. With his wonted scrupulous care, he supplemented it by an index volume, together with a treatise on the imitation of famous preachers. (A collection from the large work can be found in Migne, "Collection des orateurs sacrés", XXXVI, XXXVII.) Houdry's second great literary work, ''La bibliothèque des predicateurs'' 'library of preachers', consists of an ambitiously planned collection of materials for preachers, which he called a "library", and which was published, 1712-1725, in twenty-three volumes at Lyons. Two translations of this work in Latin and one in Italian have been completed; and as recently as 1862 a "Biblical

Patristic Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...

Concordance for Preachers and

Catechist Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

s" was compiled from it. In the introductions to both works, Houdry sets forth his views on the functions of a preacher and criticizes the style of preaching in vogue in his time. In 1702 the famous preacher published a small ascetic treatise in two volumes, on the exercises of St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, addressed to priests and accordingly written in Latin.

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Houdry, Vincent 1631 births 1729 deaths 17th-century French Jesuits 18th-century French Jesuits