Louis Claude de Saint-Martin
Louis Claude de Saint-Martin | |
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Philosopher |
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Louis Claude de Saint-Martin (18 January 1743 – 14 October[1] 1803) was a French philosopher, known as le philosophe inconnu ("the unknown philosopher"), the name under which his works were published; he was an influential of the mystic and human mind evolution and became the inspiration for the founding of the Martinist Order.
Léonce de Saint-Martin, composer and organist, was a distant relative of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin.
Life
He was born at Amboise, into a family from the lesser nobility of central France.
As his father wished, he tried first law and then the army as a profession. While in the garrison at
In 1771, Saint-Martin left the army to become a preacher of mysticism. Same year he was living with Jean-Baptiste Willermoz at Lyon, while writing his first book. His conversational powers made him welcome in Parisian salons; but his zeal led him to England, where he made the acquaintance of William Law, the English mystic, and to Italy and Switzerland, as well as to the chief towns of France. In February 1784, Saint-Martin joined Society of Harmony in Paris. In 1787, he met William Law on a trip to London. From 1788 until 1791 he resided at Strasbourg, where he met Baron Karl Göran Silfverhjelm, the nephew of Emanuel Swedenborg. At Strasbourg, in 1788, he met Charlotte de Boecklin, who introduced him to the writings of Jakob Böhme. In July 1790, he resigned from Rectified Scottish Rite and asked Jean-Baptiste Willermoz for his name to be removed from all Masonic registers. In 1792, Saint-Martin began corresponding with the Swiss theosopher Niklaus Anton Kirchberger von Liebisdorf.
A nobleman, he was interned and his property was confiscated during the French Revolution. He was later freed by local officials, who wanted him to become a school teacher. He was brought up a strict Catholic, and always remained attached to the Church, although his first work, Of Errors and Truth, was placed upon the Index. He died at Aulnay (now Châtenay-Malabry), from October 13 to October 14, 1803.[2]
Works
He was the first to translate the writings of
His chief works are Lettre à un ami, ou Considérations philosophiques et religieuses sur la révolution française (Letter to a Friend, or Philosophical and Religious Considerations on the French Revolution), Éclair sur l'Association humaine, L'Esprit des choses ou Coup d'œil philosophique sur la nature des êtres et sur l'objet de leur existence and Le Ministère de l'Homme-Esprit. Other treatises appeared in his Œuvres posthumes (1807). Saint-Martin regarded the French Revolution as a sermon in action, if not indeed a miniature of the
Influence
Admirers of his works formed groups of Friends of St. Martin, which later became known as Martinists.[3]
References
- ^ Note biográfique Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ http://www.iapsop.com/ssoc/1901__waite___life_of_louis_claude_de_saint-martin.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ CORE SPIRIT, Translation of the work of Jakob Böhme et Le Philosophe Inconnu, by Louis-claude de Saint-Martin, 1775 Lyon, France
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Saint-Martin, Louis Claude de". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
