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Introduction Jean-Jacques Olier (1608-1657) was a French priest and founder of the Sulpicians (Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice).  Though encouraged at a young age, by St. Francis to Sales, to become a priest, he lived for fashionable society; when he studied at the Sorbonne, he hoped for academic glory, striving to learn Hebrew in order to defend his thesis in that language, just for the thrill of it.  When his eyesight began to fail, he undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy House of Loreto, where he was cured and converted.  Taught by St. Vincent de Paul and Charles de Condren, superior general of Pierre de Bérulle's Oratory of Jesus, he undertook both spiritual reform and works of charity.  Eventually headquartered at the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, he founded a seminary and an order of priests, the Sulpicians, who continued Olier's dual aim, especially in following St. Vincent de Paul's lead in caring for the poor.  (A pupil of the se...

 Introduction Though St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) is often considered the founder of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she was not the first to praise the Heart (though she fought to gain the Heart a feast).  Hints of this devotion can be found in earlier writers, such as St. Gertrude (1256-1302), but the best formulator of the devotion was St. John Eudes (1601-1680).  (St. John also wrote the texts of the Offices of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts, which were celebrated in a few areas; it was St. Margaret Mary's demand that the Feast of the Sacred Heart be a universal feast, set on the first Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi, as was eventually done.)  Hints of devotion to the Sacred Heart were already arising in France, such as in the writings of Jean de Bernières-Louvigny , but it was St. John who theologically fleshed out the devotion and its rationale.  Among earlier writers he points to is Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629), wit...

  On the Passion of Christ Selected Texts and Excerpts from Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle Buy the Kindle Edition Here    Just in time for Holy Week, I have released a selection of writings from Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629) on the Passion of Christ.  This collection includes selections from his Works of Piety ( one of the included texts can be found here ), as well as two excepts from his Discourses on the State and on the Grandeurs of Jesus . To celebrate the release, I have also temporarily lowered the eBook price for my other translations from Bérulle: Life of Jesus and Elevation to Jesus Christ Regarding Saint Mary Magdalene .  Both these longer texts are currently only $1.99 for the Kindle version, instead of the usual $2.99 price; "On the Passion of Christ" is $0.99, just like my other short eBook-only releases.  As with my other eBooks, it can be read for free by subscribers to Kindle Unlimited.

  I have written much about and translated much from Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629).  The text below is one of his Works of Piety ; it is fitting for Lazarus Saturday and the preamble to Holy Week.  It is part of a series of texts by Bérulle on the Passion, which I hope to publish as an ebook in the next few days. EDIT: This ebook, "On the Passion of Christ," has been released , and is available here . OP LXII The Death and Resurrection of Lazarus Are the Occasion of the Death of Jesus Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle If life must die, it ought to be as an effect of life.  Jesus, then, leaves the desert of Ephraim, comes to Judea, seeks out the dead Lazarus, in order that life might battle death on a closed field, as it were, and wages, in Bethany and at the gates of Jerusalem, a particular combat, which vividly represents that grand combat that would took place a few days later, on the mount of Calvary, between life and universal death; in which the death, not of...

Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629) wrote many little passages for various occasions: sermons, retreats, reflections, circular letters, etc.  After his death, these varied works were collated into a collection known as the Diverse Little Works of Piety , or Works of Piety for short (in French, Œuvres de pieté , hence the abbreviation OP).  One of my long-term goals is a publication of all of these; for now, I am translating them piecemeal as the need or inspiration arises. Below is an index of all of my OP translations and where to find them; I will add to them as more are translated, and I may also fill in all the titles in the future.    The Works of Piety of Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle  OP I: God is the Principle and the End of the Creature OP II: Eternal Life Is to Know God and Jesus Christ, His Son Whom He Has Sent OP III: God and Jesus Christ Are Distinct Objects of the Devotion of Christians OP IV: United to God and to Jesus Christ  OP V: Our Dut...

  Life of Jesus Pierre de Bérulle Purchase the Paperback on Amazon Purchase the eBook on Amazon As a companion to my recent publication of Bérulle's Elevation to Jesus Christ Regarding Saint Mary Magdalene , I am proud to announce the release of a new Bérullean translation, the Life of Jesus . The Life of Jesus is an unfinished work, intended to be the "Second Part" of Bérulle's chief-work, the Discourses on the State and on the Grandeurs of Jesus .  Due to Bérulle's death, the Life only covers the Annunciation and the Incarnation; it stops just before Bérulle would have treated the Visitation.  Thus, despite the title of the book, the work is heavily Marian: a more accurate title for the work as we have it might be Life of Jesus Living in Mary . Along with the Life itself, this book includes an introduction on the work, Bérulle's life, and his other writings.  In addition, it includes two appendices: one is the infamous Vows , because of which Bérulle was...

  For an introduction to Olier and this work, see the introduction to Part One . Feelings Regarding the Grandeurs of Saint Joseph §II: How Much Jesus Christ Honored the Great Saint Joseph The Son of God having rendered Himself visible in taking a human flesh, He visibly conversed and dealt with God His Father, that is, under the person of Saint Joseph, through whom His Father rendered Himself visible to Him.  The most holy Virgin and Saint Joseph, both together, represented one and the same single person, that of God the Father.  They were two sensible representations of God, two images under which He adored the fullness of His Father, be it in His eternal fruitfulness, be it in His temporal Providence, be it in His love for this Son Himself and His Church.  There, he was like the holy oratory of Jesus Christ and the sensible object of all His devotion.  Doubtless, the temple was, for Him, a place of religion, since He saw in that building a dead and material fi...

         After a thirty-three year trip, with a detour to Hell, the truly prodigal Son now returns to the Father.  (For “prodigal” does not mean “wicked’ or “wandering,” but “lavish in spending,” and Jesus was truly lavish in grace.)  He Who departed from the heavenly courts in order to become man has now ascended back to His home. This is a simple way to describe today, but too simple, and so simple as to be wrong.  “Does He abandon the cherubic throne if He receives worldly birth?” 1   No, He does not: in His fleshy birth, He is still with His Father, and even “when Your body was in the tomb and Your soul in Hades, when You were in paradise with the thief, You were also seated upon the throne with the Father and the Holy Spirit.” 2   (How does that ever-presence in heaven mesh with His declaration of abandonment by the Father on the Cross?  A harder question, one that we won’t tackle now.) Not only did He not fully depart—for ...

  Introduction Jean-Jacques Olier (1608-1657) was a French priest and founder of the Sulpicians (Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice).  Though encouraged at a young age, by St. Francis to Sales, to become a priest, he lived for fashionable society; when he studied at the Sorbonne, he hoped for academic glory, striving to learn Hebrew in order to defend his thesis in that language, just for the thrill of it.  When his eyesight began to fail, he undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy House of Loreto, where he was cured and converted.  Taught by St. Vincent de Paul and Charles de Condren, superior general of Pierre de Bérulle's Oratory of Jesus, he undertook both spiritual reform and works of charity.  Eventually headquartered at the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, he founded a seminary and an order of priests, the Sulpicians, who continued Olier's dual aim, especially in following St. Vincent de Paul's lead in caring for the poor.  (A pupil of the seminary,...

 As a spur to check out my recent publication of a translated book by Bérulle (the Elevation Regarding Mary Magdalene ), I decided to post a few more translated snippets of Bérulle. Bérulle's Works of Piety (in its full title, Diverse Little Works of Piety ) is an enormous hodgepodge of various writings, some sermons, some letters, some spiritual exercises, some little scribbles on assorted topics.  Two of them are included as appendices in my recent book, and I've translated a few others in the past ( #6 , #21 , and #38 ).  Portions of two more are published here, as both relate to today's reading, the Samaritan woman at the well, St. Photini (Jn 4).   The first excerpt comes from Works of Piety XII, which appears to originally be a letter to a Carmelite monastery in Salims.  The first section deals with the Samaritan woman; the later sections tackle a different topic, that of the dwellings of Jesus, since the Carmelites asked Bérulle for advice about de...