Eusèbe Renaudot (; 20 July 16461 September 1720) was a French

theologian 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 ...

and Orientalist.

Biography

Renaudot was born 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. Si ...

, and brought up and educated for a career in the church. After being educated by the Jesuits, and joining the Oratorians in 1666, he was in poor health, left his order, and never took more than

minor orders Minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders —priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders—acolyte, exorcist, lec ...

. Despite his interest in

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 th ...

and his title of ''

abbé ''Abbé'' (from Latin ''abbas'', in turn from Greek , ''abbas'', from Aramaic ''abba'', a title of honour, literally meaning "the father, my father", emphatic state of ''abh'', "father") is the French word for an abbot. It is the title for low ...

'', much of his life was spent at the French court, where he attracted the notice of Colbert and was often employed in confidential affairs. He was a prominent supporter of

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet (; 27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704) was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a ...

, in the controversies with Richard Simon,

François Fénelon François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (), more commonly known as François Fénelon (6 August 1651 – 7 January 1715), was a French Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. Today, he is remembered mostly as the author of '' The ...

and the Jesuits. In later life his attitudes became Gallican and

Jansenist Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by th ...

. He became a member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

(1689), the

Academy of Inscriptions An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

(1691), and the

Accademia della Crusca The Accademia della Crusca (; "Academy of the Bran"), generally abbreviated as La Crusca, is a Florence-based society of scholars of Italian linguistics and philology. It is one of the most important research institutions of the Italian langu ...

of Florence.

Works

The learning in Eastern languages which he acquired in his youth and maintained amid the distractions of court life did not bear fruit until he was sixty-two. Renaudot's best-known books are ''

Historia Patriarcharum Alexandrinorum The ''History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria'' is a major historical work of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. It is written in Arabic, but draws extensively on Greek and Coptic sources. The compilation was based on earlier biographical ...

'' (Paris, 1713 which is translation of original work by

Severus Ibn al-Muqaffa Severus ibn al-Muqaffaʿ ( ar, ساويرس بن المقفع) or Severus of El Ashmunein () (died 987) was a Coptic Orthodox Bishop, author and historian. In Arabic, his name is spelled Sawires ساويرس. Severus is sometimes confused with th ...

) and ''Liturgiarum orientalium collectio'' (2 vols., 1715–16). The latter was designed to supply proofs of the perpetuity of the faith of the church on the subject of the

sacraments A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the rea ...

, the topic on which most of his theological writings turned, and which was then, in consequence of the controversies attaching to

Antoine Arnauld Antoine Arnauld (6 February 16128 August 1694) was a French Catholic theologian, philosopher and mathematician. He was one of the leading intellectuals of the Jansenist group of Port-Royal and had a very thorough knowledge of patristics. C ...

's ''Perpétuité de la foy de l'Église'', a major matter of debate between French

Catholics 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 ...

and

Protestants Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

. Other works were ''Gennadii Patriarchae Constantinopolitani Homiliae de Eucharistia'' (Paris, 1709) and ''Anciennes relations des Indes et de la Chine'' (Paris, 1718, see fr).

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Renaudot, Eusebe 1646 births 1720 deaths Members of the Académie Française French orientalists 17th-century French theologians Clergy from Paris 18th-century French male writers

Biography

Works

See also

Notes

References