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- Title
Courtiers with a conscience: the Lazarists of Versailles and Saint-Cyr, 1674–1704.
- Authors
Smith, Sean Alexander
- Abstract
Received images of Louis XIV’s courts depict places of lavish splendour. Amid their worldly extravagance, especially at Versailles, the role of religion might have struggled to find any definite role, yet it was not forgotten. However, besides historical interest in certain key figures among the court clergy, especially the Jesuit confessors, the court’s religious terrain remains largely untilled ground. Furthermore, what does exist tends to mirror characterizations of the court’s secular dwellers: the court’s clerics and almoners thus appear materialistic and greedy men. This article goes beyond these often over-broad presentations by examining the group of Lazarist missionaries who came to Versailles in 1674. Followers of the famous servant of the poor, Vincent de Paul, these missionaries seemed unlikely bedfellows of Louis’ crown. But, in the unusual surroundings of Versailles and its neighbouring residence at Saint-Cyr, they carved out an intriguing reputation for humility and charity.
- Subjects
VERSAILLES (France); FRANCE; VINCENTIANS; CHATEAU de Versailles (Versailles, France); REIGN of Louis XIV, France, 1643-1715; FRENCH church history; HISTORY; SEVENTEENTH century; COURTS &; courtiers
- Publication
French History, 2013, Vol 27, Issue 3, p351
- ISSN
0269-1191
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/fh/crt053