Guillaume-René Meignan

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Guillaume-René Meignan (12 April 1817 at

Life

Having ascertained his vocation to the priesthood, on the completion of his academic studies at the Angers lycée and at

Diocese of Le Mans

, where, while teaching in one of the middle grades, he continued his own ecclesiastical studies.

The Abbé Bercy, an Orientalist of some distinction, whose notice he attracted at Le Mans and later at Tessé, advised him to make scriptural exegesis his special study. Jean-Baptiste Bouvier ordained him priest (14 June 1840) and sent him to Paris for a further course in philosophy under Victor Cousin. Meignan made the acquaintance of Ozanam, Montalembert, and others like them, who urged him to prepare for the controversial needs of the day by continuing his studies in Germany.

Following this advice, he became the pupil at Munich of such teachers as Joseph Görres, Ignaz von Döllinger, and Karl Joseph Hieronymus Windischmann; and when his earlier attraction for Scriptural studies was thoroughly reawakened under the stimulus of the then fresh Tübingen discussions, he repaired to Berlin where he attended the lectures of August Neander, Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg, and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling.

In, or soon after May, 1843, Meignan returned to Paris to be numbered among the clergy of the archdiocese, but was soon (1845) obliged to visit Rome for the good of his health, which had become impaired. He seemed to recover immediately, and was able to follow his studies so successfully that he won a

.

Pope Leo XIII raised him to the cardinalate on 16 December 1892.^[1]

Works

He was one of the chief antagonists of Ernest Renan. He aimed to enlighten the lay mind on current topics of controversy and to supply his readers with the Christian point of view. His apologetic works include:

• Les prophéties messianiques. Le Pentateuque (Paris, 1856)^[2]
• M. Renan réfuté par les rationalistes allemands (Paris, 1860)
• Les Evangiles et la critique au XIXe siècle (Paris, 1860)
• De l'irréligion systématique, ses influences actuelles (Paris, 1886)
• Salomon, son règne, ses écrits (Paris, 1890)
• Les prophètes d'Israël et le Messie, depuis Daniel jusqu'à Jean-Baptiste (Paris, 1892)

He wrote many other works on similar topics.

extends beyond verbal exegesis, and includes a critical examination of historical events and conditions. Like other great Catholic controversialists of his time, he was criticized by some writers.

References

• Boissonot, Le cardinal Meignan (Paris, 1899)

External links

Media related to Guillaume Meignan at Wikimedia Commons  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Guillaume-René Meignan". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.