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Voltaire and the Monks
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Extract
‘You can never cross the Pont Neuf without seeing a monk, a white horse and a whore’, ran the proverb – which was hard luck on the two ladies who stood there and saw the first two but could not find the third: ‘Pour la catin, vous et moi nous n’en sommes pas en peines’. Members of the religious Orders in their costumes of black, white, brown and grey were a feature of the scene in the streets of every town, and everyone had a monk or nun among their relatives. Voltaire’s sardonic examples of the characteristic features of the civilisation of his day included them: ‘man will always be what he is now; this does not mean to say, however, that there will always be fine cities, cannons firing a shot of 24 lbs weight, comic operas and convents of nuns’. Routine gossip slipped naturally into analogies drawn from the cloister – she is as fat as a monk; they were like children at a window crying out when they first see a Capucin friar; you are like a novice who climbs the walls looking for a lover, while the nuns in the chapel pray for her. Voltaire uses monastic titles in jocular descriptions of himself and his friends. He is the ‘old hermit’, the ‘lay brother’, the ‘solitary’, ‘brother Voltaire, dead to the world and in love with his cell and his convent’, and once, when his play Octave et le jeune Pompée was a flop, he decided to be, for a while, ‘the little ex-Jesuit’, ‘le petit défroqué’. He hopes ‘brother’ Helvétius will be elected to the Academy: ‘these are the most ardent prayers of the monk Voltairius, who from his lonely cell unites himself in spirit with his brethren’. The badinage of monastic seclusion hinted at protest at his long exile from Paris; it also served to mask the social distinctions, which, in spite of familiarity and, even, friendship, were never forgotten between the court grandees and the intellectuals. It was easier for Choiseul to write to him as ‘mon cher solitaire’, just as Voltaire avoided routine sycophancy by writing, with exaggerated deference, to Richelieu as ‘mon héros’.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Studies in Church History , Volume 22: Monks, Hermits and the Ascetic Tradition , 1985 , pp. 319 - 342
- Copyright
- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1985
References
1 S-R-N. Chamfort, Maximes et anecdotes (Pref. A. Camus, 1963), 63. In what follows, quotations are from the Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, ed L. Moland (51 vols, 1883–5), abbreviated as M. Also from the Mélanges (Gallimard 1961), abbreviated as Mél; the Romans et Contes (ed H. Bénac, Gamier, n.d.), abbrev. as R; the Oeuvres historiques (Pléiade 1957), abbrev. as O.hist; the Notebooks (ed Th. Besterman, 2 vols 1968), abbrev. as Note; and the Oeuvres inédites (ed F. Caussy, 1914), abbrev. as Caussy. Letters of Voltaire are cited by reference to the number (e.g. D6697) given to them by Th. Besterman in his revised complete edition (51 vols 1968–77).
2 Moeurs, M 11 p. 21.
3 D6697, D12073, D4880.
4 D5045. Other references, D8634, D10664, D16978, D7836, D7858, D8673, D7529.
5 D1177, D11982, D12037, D12050, D12063, D12084, D12977.
6 D9600 (2 Feb. 1761).
7 D9040 (letters to him as a ‘hermit’, D8321, D8588).
8 D1729 (31 Dec. 1738).
9 D392 (7 Jan. 1731), Cf. D1942 (17 March 1739).
10 For Porée, J. de la Servière, Un Professeur d’ancien régime: le Père Charles Porée, S.J., 1676–1741 (1899). For dubious comedies, G. Capon and R. Yve-Pessis, Les Théâtres clandestins (1905) pp. 13–15, 96, 158; Jean-Hervé Donnard, Le Théâtre de Carmontetle (1967) pp. 22–5. Cf. Mercier Tableau de paris (1778) 6 pp. 128–131.
11 D1729 (31 Dec. 1738).
12 D3348 (1 April 1746).
13 D53350.
14 D9447, D9499, D9513, D9966, D19635.
15 D9513 (2 Jan. 1761).
16 Voltaire had had a tithe dispute against this curé (D7996, 12 Dec. 1758; D8011, 29 Oct. 1758), also F. Caussy, Voltaire, seigneur de village (1912) pp. 53–6.
17 The young man went to call on a widow of dubious reputation; the curé collected a posse in the local tavern to evict him in the name of morality.
18 D9631 (Voltaire’s account). A lawyer friend wrote to Voltaire to warn him that he was sailing near to the wind (D9623).
19 D10098, D10093.
20 As Thomas Pennant said (Th. Besterman, Voltaire (1969) p. 453).
21 D8057. For Adam generally see D10922 (Jan. 1763), D14984 (April 1768), and Adam to the bishop of Geneva justifying his conduct (D12387, Feb. 1765). Voltaire asked Cardinal Bernis at Rome to get permission for Adam to wear a wig when celebrating (D15764, D15794, D15925); he was glad to draw attention to the fact that he had a chaplain.
22 Besterman, Corresp. 35 p. 453, App D315.
23 D20376, D2047 – letters of Paul Claude Moulton.
24 D12920, D14316.
25 Voltaire liked to cock a snook at authority – cf. his defence of a hermit against his Superior, ‘a sort of General of hermits at Toul’ in D2580 (Jan. 1742).
26 D13327 (30 May 1766), D13336, D13337.
27 D16029 (8 Dec. 1769), D16068, D16207, D16330, D16339, D16340, D16141, D16159, D16160, D16161, D16162, D16173, D16178. Cf. the verses in M.8 p. 535. The General of the Capucins tried to defend himself by saying that he had not actually signed the document (D16357).
28 D16142 (Feb. 1770).
29 D16249 (March 1770).
30 My own explanation.
31 This is not to deny that Voltaire had serious arguments and a serious religious purpose in his gleeful comments (see R. Pomeau, La Religion de Voltaire (1969) and B. Schwarzback, Voltaire’s Old-Testament Criticism (Geneva, 1971).
32 The nuns of the Visitation at Beaune; see G. Desnoiresterres, Voltaire et la société française au 18 siècle (8 vols 1867–76) 3 pp. 191–4. Voltaire took 20 minutes off to write a prologue specially for them.
33 D5843, D5845, D5860.
34 D5874 (July 1754).
35 Note, 2 p. 351, 23 June 1754.
36 Dictionnaire philosophique, M. 19 p. 507.
37 Dict. Phil. ‘Vampires’, M. 20 p. 547. See Dom A. Calmet, Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires (new ed 2 vols 1751).
38 Dict. Phil., ‘Lèpre et vérole’, M. 19 p. 572. Voltaire had also a serious interest, as the disease raised, in an acute form, the problem of evil (R. Galliani, ‘Voltaire, Astruc et la maladie vénérienne’, Studies in Voltaire and the 18th Century CCXIX (1983) pp. 19–36.
39 Prix de la justice et de l’humanité, M. 30 p. 584.
40 See my Reflexions at the Death-Bed of Voltaire (Lecture Oxford 1975).
41 Essai sur les moeurs, M. 12 p. 330.
42 ’Biens d’église’, Dict. Phil., M. 17 p. 591.
43 Le Diner du comte de Boulainuilliers, Mél. 13045. Avis au public sur les parricides, Mél. 825.
44 Le Diner, Mél. 13045.
45 ’Alger’, Dict. Phil., M. 17 p. 117.
46 There were two such Orders. See P. Delandres, L’Ordre des Trinitaires pour le rachat des captifs (2 vols 1903) and, for Notre-Dame-de-la-Mercy, G. Lambert, L’Oeuvre de la rédemption des captifs à Toulon (Toulon 1882). There were also Franciscans working in this field (C. Serpas, ‘Les esclaves chrétiens au Maroc’, Bull, de l’hist. du Protestantisme français (1930) p. 243.) For their picturesque processions, see S. Moreau-Rendu, Les Captifs libérés: les Trinitaires et Saint-Mathurin de Paris (1974); ‘Notes et souvenirs d’Antoine Sabatier; Bull. Hist, du diocèse de Lyon (1923) pp. 161–2 and La Semaine religieuse de Rouen (1876) p. 630. For scandals in processions see L.P. de Bachaumont, Mémoires secrets pour servir à l’histoire de la République des lettres en France (36 vols 1779–89) 30 p. 24 (24 Oct 1785) – some monks and captives drunk; also, ‘Mémoires de Moreau de Jonnes’, La Révolution française XIX p. 363 – ‘Captives’ hired from the suburbs of Paris.
47 Médecins, Dict. Phil. M 20 pp. 57–8. See E. Lequay, Études historiques de l’Ordre de la Charité de Saint-Jean-de-Dieu et ses établissements en France (1854) p. 34 (They had 36 houses, with 355 religious and 3,181 hospital beds). For their model hospital in Paris, page 54.
48 Moeurs M. 12 p. 324. Voltaire seems to have been unaware of the fact that there were many different Orders of nuns caring for the sick in a multiplicity of foundations (see a listing of some in C. Bloch, L’Assistance et l’État en France à la veille de la Révolution (1908) p. 699. In some institutions, there were numerous sisters – at least 140 in one (See A. Chevalier, L’Hôtel-Dieu de Paris et les Soeurs Augustines, 1650–1810 (1901) p. 449.
49 He adds: ‘Superstitious practices do not dishonour virtue in their houses’, Moeurs, M. 20 p. 324.
50 M. 12 p. 339. Voltaire is less severe on an Order if it has few members and is not rich. In 1768 the Minims had 975 friars in France and their income was about 4001 a head. (P.J. Whitmore, The Order of Minims in Seventeenth-Century France (The Hague 1967) p. 454.
51 Dict. Phil., M. 17 pp. 527, 379.
52 Annals de l’Empire, M. 12 p. 424, Moeurs, M. 13 p. 123.
53 Voltaire thought Alexander III the finest character of the grim Middle Ages because he ‘revived the rights of peoples and repressed the crimes of kings’ (M. 13 P. 177).
54 Dict. Phil., M. 19 p. 618.
55 M. 19 p. 533.
56 Caussy p. 210.
57 Moeurs, M. 13 p. 123.
58 D10927 (20 Jan. 1763).
59 Relation de la mort du Chevalier de la Barre, Mél., 764.
60 Moeurs, M. 12 p. 334–5.
61 M. 11 p. 241.
62 L’A.B.C., M. 27 p. 360.
63 Dialogue entre Marc-Aurèle et un Récollet, M. 23 p. 479.
64 La Bible enfin expliquée, M. 30 p. 98.
65 Moeurs, M. 11 p. 282.
66 Ibid 433.
67 ‘La prudence achève souvent les édifices fondés par le fanatisme’, Hist. Parlement de Paris, M. 15 p. 519. Cf. ‘Loyola’, Dict. Phil., M. 19 pp. 416–7.
68 M. 22 p. 65; Lettres philosophiques, Mél., 42; Annales, M. 13 p. 393.
69 Traité sur la tolérance, Mél., 626–7; Moeurs, M. 12 pp. 292–3; Note, 2 pp. 84, 246. One example of the sort of suspect source used in G. Gargett, Voltaire and Protestantism (1980) p. 36.
70 Moeurs, M. 12 p. 283; Pensées sur le gouvernement, M. 33 p. 534.
71 Dict. Phil., M. 17 p. 591.
72 ’Inquisition’, Dict. Phil, M. 19 pp. 485–7.
73 Moeurs, M. 12 pp. 348–50.
74 Tolérance, M. 25 p. 24.
75 Discours au confédérés (1768), M. 16 p. 136; Essai sur les … Eglises de Pologne (1767), M. 26 p. 463.
76 Candide cap. 6; Hist, des voyages de Scarmentado, R p. 91. Monks lead in the condemnation of the Templars, of Galileo and of Fénelon.
77 ‘Voyage de Saint-Pierre, Dict. Phil., M. 20 p. 592; Moeurs, M. 11 pp. 243, 153; Prix de la Justice, M. 30 p. 567; Caussy p. 247; ‘François Xavier’ Dict. Phil., M. 19 pp. 200–4.
78 ’Figure’, Dict. Phil., M. 19 p. 141 (The Cordeliers).
79 Note, 1 p. 282.
80 De la Chine, M. 18 p. 157; La Gazette littéraire, M. 15 p. 216; Fragment, M. 29 p. 1; Dict. Phil., M. 19 p. 221, M. 18 p. 548.
81 See Brumfitt, J.H., Voltaire Historian (1970) p. 28 Google Scholar.
82 Moeurs, M. 12 pp. 510, 538, 547; Comm. Esprit des Lois, M. 30 p. 447. Marginal notes M. 29 pp. 413–4. Innuendoes, M. 29 pp. 470, 432. ‘Vomit’ in D9910 (July 1761).
83 Desfontaines, M. 8 p. 422, M. 22 pp. 386–7, M. 30 p. 570; Patouillet, M. 20 p. 323, M. 17 p. 408, M. 26 p. 19, M. 19 pp. 546–7.
84 M. 19 pp. 100–1; M. 20 p. 323; M. 17 pp. 407–8; M. 19 pp. 239, 467.
85 Les Honnêtes littéraires, M. 26 pp. 1501–1. This a general Jesuit policy, Note 2 p. 399 and M. 28 p. 136.
86 Caussy, p. 219.
87 ’Japon’, Dict. Phil., M. 19 p. 496; ‘De la Chine’, Dict. Phil., M. 18 p. 150; Lettres chinoises, M. 29 p. 479; D20459.
88 Comm. Esprit des Lois, M. 30 p. 419. But a more favourable picture of this ‘Sparta’ in Moeurs. M. 12 pp. 424–5.
89 M. 19 p. 495; M. 18 p. 150.
90 L’lngenu, R. pp. 260, 282. cf. Moeurs, M. 13 p. 26 and La Pucelle, M. 9 pp. 193–6.
91 ’Confession’, Dict.Phil., M. 18 p. 225; Journal de politique, M. 30 p. 399.
92 As a Chinese statesman says, Relation du banissement des Jésuites, M. 27 p. 4. True, other monks would do the same (Ibid p. 52) and the Order should not be blamed for the crimes of individuals (M. 13 p. 343).
93 Moeurs, M. 12 pp. 557–9. For Portugal, Siècle Louis XIV, M. 15 p. 396; Hist. Parlement, M. 15 pp. 556, 560–1. See also M. 19 p. 362.
94 ’Jésuites, ou orgueil’, Dict. Phil., M. 19 p. 500; Les Honnêtetés, M. 27 p. 125; Annales, M. 13 p. 387.
95 Moeurs, M. 12 p. 536; L’Homme aux Quarante Écus, R. p. 331.
96 Dict. Phil., M. 17 p. 200; L’Henriade, M. 8 p. 134; Hist. Parlement, M. 16 p. 92; also, M. 27 p. 288.
97 Moeurs, M. 12 p. 560.
98 In 1760, in France there were 152 Jesuit collèges, 85 of the Lazarists, 71 of the Oratorians and 52 of the Doctrinaires (J. de Viguerie, Une Oeuvre d’éducation sous l’ancien régime: les Pères de la Doctrine Chrétienne en France et en Italie (1976) p. 75). The Maurists also had 30 (Schmitz, Histoire de l’Ordre de Saint-Benoît (7 vols 1956) 4 pp. 115–9). For the Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes see G. Rigault’s huge history (7 vols 1938).
99 See note 48 above. Cf. at least education is often given free of charge (M. 26 p. 568).
100 ’Éducation’, Dict. Phil., M. 18 pp. 470–3.
101 The Commission was set up in 1766, the lead being taken by Loméniè de Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse, an ally of the philosophes. (P. Chevalier, Loménie de Brienne et l’Ordre monastique, 1766–1789 (2 vols 1959–61) I pp. 268, 273–4.
102 L’Homme aux Quarante écus, R p. 317.
103 D 5 (23 July 1711).
104 Conversation de Lucien, Érasme et Rabelais, Mél. 721.
105 Avis, Mél. 825; ‘Fêtes, Dict. Phil. M. 19 p. 116. Monks do not desert like soldiers, because animated by three motives unknown to the troops, ‘enthusiasm, hope, and love of good cooking’ (D 18720, date 1773–4). Quarante écus, R p. 317.
106 M. 27 p. 4.
107 Ibid.
108 ’Arrêtes notables’, Dict. Phil., M. 17 p. 390. This case of Bernard Castille which Voltaire refers to was a standard example for the lawyers (P-J Guyot, Répertoire universel … de jurisprudence (66 vols 1777-83 + 14 vols in 1786) 49 pp. 79–86. See also Moeurs, M. 12 p. 345; Mél. 825, Dict. Phil., M. 20 p. 590.
109 Jacques le Fataliste (Droz 1976) pp. 238–9.
110 Note, 2 p. 261.
111 ‘Voeux’, Dict. Phil., M. 20 p. 588; Mél, 824.
112 Quarante écus, R p. 317. Voltaire tends to regard the monastic life as a thwarted gloomy affair. Some more perceptive critics (of the nuns, at least) saw their society as petty, silly and gossipy (F.C. Green, La Peinture des moeurs de la bonne société dans le roman français de 1715 à 1761 (1924) p. 103.
113 Lettres d’Amabed, R. p. 450.
114 ’Cromwell’, Dict. Phil., M. 18 p. 294. Cf. Moeurs, M. 16 p. 451.
115 Mél. 824.
116 ’Onan’, Dict. Phil., M. 20 p. 135.
117 Lettres d’Amabed, R. p. 449.
118 Note. 1 pp. 86, 157, 164, 181, 238; 2 p. 313.
119 La Pucelle, M. 9 p. 812 (the Cordelier Grisbourdon), Candide, R. p. 202 (Paquette seduced by Cordelier); Les Colimacons du … père l’Escarbotier M. 23 p. 508 (Cordelies); La Fête de Bélébat, M. 1 p. 287 (Carmes); Seconde Anecdote sur Bélisaire, Mél. 926–7 (Cordelier); Dict. Phil., M. 20 p. 399 (a Mendicant) for others, Quarante écus R. p. 340 (Capucin); Dict. Phil., M. 18 pp. 389–90 (Cistercian).
120 D 20010 (March 1776); ‘Amour socratique’, Dict. Phil., M. 17 p. 183; Cf. M. 19 p. 500; M. 17 p. 182 and D 20906.
121 Montesquieu, Essai sur les causes qui peuvent affecter les esprits et les caractères, Oeuvres (Pléiade 1966) p. 49.
122 Ibid p. 151. For the evil effects of solitude as debated between Diderot and Rousseau, see Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques, 2e Disc, Oeuvres (Pléiade 1964) i p. 789.
123 [G.] May, [Diderot et ‘La Religieuse’ (1954)] p. 191.
124 Ibid p. 126. See also V. Mylner, ‘What Suzanne knew’, Studies on Voltaire and the 18th Century CCVIII (1982) pp. 167–173.
125 E. Estève, Études de littérature préromantique (1923) pp. 91–7.
126 D 16115, D 14044, D 16237. For the real life instances behind La Harpe’s play, see C. Todd, Voltaire’s Disciple: Jean-François de la Harpe (1972) p. 129.
127 May p. 167. Diderot is too fond of portraying characters in the round to resort to anticlerical caricature – e.g. P. Hudson is witty, agreeable and a good administrator as well as a cynic and a womanizer (Jacques le Fataliste pp. 241–8).
128 See [R.S.] Ridgway, [Voltaire ahd Sensibility (1973)].
129 Cf. Fontanes in 1783, cit Ridgway p. 252.
130 [J.] McManners, [Death and the Enlightenment (1981)] pp. 421–2.
131 Charlotte Charrier, Héloise dans l’histoire et dans la légende (1933) pp. 407–14, 446, 468, 473. See also for general background, R. Shackleton, ‘The Cloister Theme in French Preromanticism’, The French Mind: Studies in Honour of Gustave Rudler (1952) pp. 173–7.
132 Cf. D 8484 and D 12583 (Marin to Voltaire).
133 Quarante écus, R. pp. 316–7. In Le Siècle de Louis XIV, Voltaire had said that the wealth of the French Church was not excessive to maintain the numbers of monks and clergy, only it was ill-distributed (O. hist. p. 1031).
134 Curé de campagne’, Dict. Phil., M. 17 p. 303.
135 ’Biens d’église’, Dict. Phil., M. 17 p. 591. In M. 19 p. 109 he says that if the commendatory abbot resides locally, this is good for the countryside, if not, not.
136 Voltaire was driven to inferences from the architect who told him that the plans for the rebuilding of Cîteaux would cost 1,700,000 fr to complete (M. 27 p. 145; D10285).
137 ’Abbaye’, Dict. Phil., M. 18 p. 49; Diatribe, M. 29 pp. 361 etc.
138 Dict. Phil., M. 18 p. 303.
139 Aventure avec un Carme, R. pp. 301–2. (A minor example of tight-fistedness – the Jesuits undercutting the apothecaries of Paris (D15212; M. 25 pp. 261–2).
140 Henriade chant IX, M. 8 p. 250; Essai sur les guerres civiles, M. 8 p. 281.
141 M. 28 pp. 333, 339, 353–60, 368–79. The case eventually is lost (D20704).
142 La Voix du curé (1772), M. 18 pp. 567–76.
143 Ibid p. 573. Generally see Demante, Étude sur les gens de condition mainmortable en France au 18 siècle (1894); G-L. Chassin, L’Église et les derniers serfs (1886) and L. Barbedette, ‘La terre de Luxeuil à la veille de la Révolution; Ann. hist. de la Révolution française (1927) pp. 157–9.
144 Dialogue entre un philosophe et un Contrôleur Général, M. 33 p. 502.
145 La Voix sage du peuple, M. 33 p. 496.
146 McManners, cap. 4.
147 D12144 (Oct. 1764). Other writers put the populationist case more severely than Voltaire, e.g. Montesquieu, Lettres Persanes, Oeuvres (2 vols 1964) I p. 305 – ‘gulfs in which future races are swallowed up’.
148 Moeurs, M. 12 p. 337. Cf. ‘Austérités’, Dict. Phil, M. 17 pp. 491–4; Alzire, Disc. prélim, M. 2 p. 379; Sottisier, M. 32 p. 578; Discours en vers sur l’homme, Mèl. 211.
149 Lettre d’un Turc sur les Fakirs, R. p. 477.
150 Payne, H.C., The Philosophes and the People (1976) pp. 116–123 Google Scholar.
151 Conversation de Lucien, Érasme et Rabelais, Mèl. 70.
152 Disc. en vers, Mél. 436; Cf. Dict. Phil., M. 20 p. 590.
153 Lettre d’un ecclésiastique, M. 29 p. 287.
154 Les Embellisements de la ville …, M. 30 p. 478. For Capucins as fire brigade see Collas, Saint-Louis d’Antin et sa territoire (1932) pp. 64–5; Barbier, Chronique … 1718–63 (8 vols 1857–8) 3 p. 103; Baston, Mémoires, edd J. Loth and Ch. Verger (3 vols 1897–9) 1 pp. 104–9, 141; Mme de Genlis, Mémoires (1825) 1 p. 38; Restif de la Bretonne, ‘Récit d’un incendie; Les Nuits de Paris (ed Bachelin, n.d.) 1 p. 67. For the town of Troyes, A. Babeau, La Ville sous l’ancien régime (2 vols 1884) 2 pp. 141–4. In Autun, it was the Cordeliers, T.J. Schmitt, L’Assistance dans l’archidiaconé d’Autun au xvii et xviii siècles (1952) pp. 74, xliii.
155 Quarante écus, R. p. 284; L’A.B.C., M. 27 p. 385; ‘Population; Dict. Phil., M. 20 p. 252.
156 ’Fêtes’, Dict. Phil., M. 20 p. 116.
157 Dialogues entre un philosophe …, M. 23, 504.
158 ’Quête’; Dict. Phil, M. 20 pp. 314–18.
159 ’Scandal’, Dict. Phil., M. 20 p. 400. Cf. Avis … Calas, Mél. 824; ‘Mendicant’. Dict. Phil., M. 19 p. 324; Diatribe, M. 29 p. 370.
160 Moeurs, M. 12 p. 310 (concerning the Reformation in England); Éloge hist. de la Raison, R. p. 490.
161 Dict. Phil., M. 18 p. 194. Papal charges for dispensation show how little vows really matter (ibid p. 445).
162 ’Droit Canonique’, Dict. Phil, M. 18 p. 445.
163 La Russie sous Pierre le Grand, O. hist. pp. 429, 576. An attempt to reform in Spain fails (Note, 2 p. 379). The laws of China (Moeurs, M. 12 p. 431).
164 La Voix sage du peuple, M. 33 p. 496.
165 D1078, D14161. He was sad also to lose the Jesuit men of letters (D13337) and he regretted that they had not been kept on to fight the Jansenists (D8965, D11987, D14330).