Honoratus a Sancta Maria (1651–1729) was a French Discalced Carmelite, known as a prolific controversialist. His secular name was Blaise Vauxelles (or Vauxelle, Vauzelle), and he was known also by the French version of his name in religion, Honoré de Sainte-Marie.

Life

He was born at Limoges

Limoges

Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....

, 4 July 1651. Blaise Vauxelles took his vows as Honaratus at Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

, 8 March 1671. On completing his course of studies he decided on the missionary life, and was accordingly sent to Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 to prepare for the East. But the superiors detained him there as a sub-prior, and at the expiration of his term of office he returned to France without having been to the missions. He successively filled the posts of professor of philosophy and theology, prior, provincial, and visitor general. He died at Lille

Lille

Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...

, 1729.

Works

He dealt with the burning religious questions of his time: Quietism, Jansenism

Jansenism

Jansenism was a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Otto Jansen, who died in 1638...

, Gallicanism

Gallicanism

Gallicanism is the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by the monarchs' authority or the State's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the Pope's...

; but also with Cartesianism

Cartesianism

Cartesian means of or relating to the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes—from his name—Rene Des-Cartes. It may refer to:*Cartesian anxiety*Cartesian circle*Cartesian dualism...

 in philosophy, and rationalism

Rationalism

In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...

 in the relationship of scripture and history. during his life he was accused of not always applying the rules of criticism he himself had established.

His works may be divided into various classes.

• Philosophical: "Disputationes philosophicæ" (Clermont, 1686) against Descartes and Gassendi
  Gassendi
  * Pierre Gassendi was a French philosopher, scientist and mathematician* Gassendi is a large crater on the Moon named after him...
  
  .
• Theological:

"Propositiones theologicæ" (Perpignan, 1689), an exposition of the Apostles' Creed

Apostles' Creed

The Apostles' Creed , sometimes titled Symbol of the Apostles, is an early statement of Christian belief, a creed or "symbol"...

 from the dogmatic, scholastic, and historical point of view;

"Dissertations On Grace and Predestination", unpublished;

"A Treatise on Indulgences and the Jubilee" (Bordeaux, 1701), reprinted at Clermont and in Belgium in preparation for the Jubilee of 1725;

"Dissertation apologétique" (Bordeaux, 1701), in defence of the "Examen de la théologie mystique" of Jean Chéron, Calced Carmelite (1596–1673), which had been attacked by a Franciscan;

"On Contemplation" (Paris, 1708) from the dogmatic and practical point of view, a defence of the Carmelite tradition of mysticism

Mysticism

Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

, giving a complete chain of utterances of the Fathers and ecclesiastical writers, in two volumes. This work was translated into Italian and Spanish; a continuation of it appeared in 1713 under the title "The Motives and Practice of Divine Love";

in "A Problem addressed to the Learned" (Paris, 1708) Honoratus examines the claims of Denis the Areopagite to the authorship of the works commonly attributed to him, pronouncing himself in the negative sense.

• Polemical: His contributions to the Jansenistic controversy show him an uncompromising adversary of the sect;

four volumes in defence of the Constitution Unigenitus

Unigenitus

Unigenitus , an apostolic constitution in the form of a papal bull promulgated by Pope Clement XI in 1713, opened the final phase of the Jansenist controversy in France...

(anonymous); the first two appeared in 1710, the others in 1722;

Notes on the writings of Jansenius, Saint-Cyran, Arnauld, Quesnel, Petitpied and others (Ypres, 1724);

"Reply to the 'Examen théologique' by a Jansenist" (anonymous, 1723);

"Defence of the Encyclical of Benedict XIII of 1 Oct. 1724, on the teaching of Saints Augustine and Thomas (Brussels, 1725);

two letters, one to show that a certain miracle said to have happened at the Corpus Christi procession in Paris (31 May 1725) had not been wrought in favour of those who refused to sign the Bull "Unigenitus"; the other addressed to a certain abbé on the necessity of subscribing to the said Bull;

a collection of dissertations on the same Constitution (Brussels, 1727).

• Historical and critical. –

" Theologiæ positiones" (Toulouse, 1706), containing a solution of chronological and other difficulties to be met with in Holy Scripture, a prelude to the author's major work on criticism (below);

"Historical and critical dissertations on the orders of knighthood" (Paris, 1718, also in Italian, Brescia, 1761);

the "Life of St. John of the Cross" (Tournai, 1727), written on the occasion of the canonization of the saint;

a critical edition of a manuscript of Flodoardus, with notes and dissertations, which, however, the author did not live to carry through the press;

"Réflexions sur les règles et l'usage de la critique", three volumes (Paris, 1712, 1717, and Lyons, 1720). This work has been several times reprinted, appeared also in Latin, Italian, and Spanish, and is the one by which Honoratus is best known;

"Denuntiatio historiæ ecclesiasticæ" (anonymous, 1726). While the "Réflexions" were chiefly directed against Tillemont, this work takes Fleury to task for his Gallicanism. – "A treatise on the so-called Mass of Flacius Illyricus", of which Honoratus had already spoken in the "Réflexions", unpublished.

External links

• 1812 Chalmers Biography