The Life of Charles-René Billuart, O.P.
The Life of Fr. Charles-René Billuart, O.P., the Greatest Thomist of the 18th Century by his Friend, Fr. A. F. Deodato Labye, O.P.
I undertake the task of describing the life of a man who had no equal in his time, not with the verbosity adorned with the flowers of eloquence, for a man of such power, both in deed and speech, needs no fabricated praises. I do not undertake this to embellish, for he requires no false commendations; a man whose powerful deeds and words have made him celebrated throughout the entire world. I will describe what I have seen, heard, and touched with sincerity and in a simpler style.
For thirty years, I have been a companion in his journeys and labors, and he did not conceal the more intimate movements of his heart from me. On the day before his death, he appointed me as the custodian of all his writings and manuscripts. I faithfully preserve this deposit as the final proof of his friendship and in service to scholars, and I do not want anyone to remain unaware of it. Although his profound erudition is proclaimed by numerous published volumes, his humility always surpassed everything, and his right hand accomplished more than his left hand knew. Therefore, the Most Reverend Father Jean-Thomas de Boxadors, our Master General, entrusted me with the task of manifesting these things. I intend to fulfill this duty for the glory of the Author and Giver of all good things, for the everlasting memory of my close relative and dear friend, and for the example and consolation of the reader.
He hailed from the city of Revin on the banks of the Meuse, near Campania, subject to the supreme rule of the lord abbot of Prüm, now the elector of Trier, and the lord count of Brias. He was a subject of the French kingdom, under the protection and defense of the Most Christian King. Born on the eighteenth day of January in the year 1685 to the honorable and pious parents, Mr. Jean-François Billuart and Mrs. Elisabeth Jadot, sister of the Third Order of St. Dominic, both benefactors of our convent. On the same day, he was baptized with the sponsors Mr. Charles de Rouville and Mrs. Maria de Monnin, in the name of Mr. René d’Epinoy, the lord of Loni, and Mrs. Ludovica Bouttez, husband and wife.
His distinguished physical structure and handsome appearance promised great things, and the outcome did not disappoint those expectations. Barely after overcoming infancy, the devoted and loving parents, desiring to provide for the education and instruction of their beloved son, sent him to Charleville to pursue the course of humanities in the Jesuit college. As the boy grew older and wiser, the lover of solitude and despiser of childish games, singularly devoted to his studies, surpassed his fellow students by far, presenting himself as someone to be admired rather than imitated.
Hardly having reached the sixteenth year of his age, he already contemplated renouncing the world, dedicating himself to religion to serve God and pursue his studies more freely. A Jesuit professor explored his mind, and after numerous attempts and the secret of his heart finally revealed, he spared no effort to lead the student into the Society. It was not in vain, for the excellent young man agreed. However, his parents, intending to approve of their son’s vocation, were not deterred in vain. Providence, which is not mistaken in its arrangements, had chosen him for better things, and, complying with the parents’ wishes, he was diverted from his preconceived plan. Carried away by the sweet and conquering spirit of grace, he prostrated himself at the feet of the prior of the Revin convent, ardently requesting to be admitted among the sons of St. Dominic.
In the year 1701, he entered the Order of the Friars Preachers, and he was sent to the Islands to begin his novitiate. After completing a year of probation, he made his profession in our convent in Revin on the seventh day of November in the year 1702. With the same step with which he had begun, he continued. Having completed the curriculum of philosophy and theology in Revin, with a prior dispensation from the Pope due to the age requirement, he was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Namur on the first of January in the year 1708.
In the same year, he goes to Liège to defend theology under Father Poelman, a professor at the Gand convent. Upon completing his studies, he is appointed the lecturer in philosophy at our college in Douai in 1710. In 1711, at the request of his convent superiors, he is appointed the lecturer for the Philosophy course in Revin, starting the following year, with a dispensation for the second course in Douai. He then lectured on theology there until 1715 when he is appointed Master of Students at our college of St. Thomas in Douai.
During that time, he published a pamphlet of 160 pages in 12mo, titled “De Mente Ecclesiæ Catholicæ circa accidentia Eucharistiæ, adversus Dominum Antonium l’Engrand, S. Th. licentiatum et philosophiæ Cartesianæ professorem in academia Duacensi.” It was printed in Liège by U. Ancion and received universal acclaim, and the opponent either would not or could not respond.
In 1717, he earns the degree of Bachelor, and in 1718, he receives the letters of patent for the office of second regent in our college in Douai, starting the following year. In the years 1718 and 1719, the people of Liège listen with astonishment and admiration to his sermons during Advent and Lent. His fame, widely spread, leads the noble and pious Count de Tylli, the commander-in-chief of the United Provinces cavalry and governor of the city of Utrecht, to request him to deliver a sermon there on the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament and defend the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist against the Calvinists with strong arguments. Both Catholics and heretics attended. Those captivated by the orator’s eloquence were inflamed with a new ardor of love for the most august Sacrament, while others, grinding their teeth in envy, were torn apart by malice. Yielding to the force of his arguments, some declared him the champion of an evil cause. Yet, it was not enough. He was summoned to the Civic Hall by the magistrate and prominent supporters of the heretical sect, and the aforementioned subject was proposed and accepted for debate. The primary minister of our enemies subtly presented a truncated text of Augustine and contended for a figurative interpretation. However, our Doctor immediately detected the deceit and exposed the Calvinist by referring to the source and showing that the attribution made by Augustine regarding the sacrifice was being claimed by the Calvinist for the Sacrament. The ministers, silenced and ashamed, withdrew; and the leaders, filled with honor and gratitude, dismissed our orator. Hence, applause from our supporters and torment in the hearts of our enemies. In the same year, he travels to Paris and is honored by the learned.
In the year 1720, he publishes a pamphlet written in French, consisting of 97 pages in 12mo, titled “Le Thomisme vengé de sa prétendue condamnation par la Constitution UNIGENITUS, adressé en forme de Lettre à un Abbé par un Religieux de l’Ordre de S. Dominique.” Printed in Brussels by Jean Léonard. This work was not contested by anyone but was praised by all and quickly distributed, and not without reason; until now, no one had presented Thomistic, Jansenist, and Jesuit systems in clearer light.
In 1721, he is elected prior of his convent, and he continues in this office until 1725 when he obtains a license and is appointed as the primary regent at our college in Douai. It can hardly be expressed how great his prudence and skill were in acting and governing. An excellent father, a generous benefactor, the model of his flock, patient with all, beloved within and without, fervent in the worship of God, he adorned the church with significant ornaments: organs, iron grating, church pavement, altars, confessional seats, preacher’s pulpit, bells, marble pavement for the choir, numerous paintings, tall candelabra, tabernacle, cross, etc., all made of silver. But these are minor accomplishments. Despite the anxieties inseparable from the office of prior and his continuous illnesses, he did not cease from studies day and night.
In 1723, he wrote a work in French, consisting of 42 pages in 4to, titled “Lettre du R. P. Charles René Billuart, etc., à Messieurs les Docteurs de la Faculté de Théologie de l’Université de Douai, avec des Réflexions sur les Notes calomnieuses qu’ils ont attachées à leur censure du 22 d’août 1722 contre les RR. Pères Massouillé et Contenson de l’Ordre des FF. Prêcheurs.” The doctors mentioned did not respond to this letter, and it’s no wonder they couldn’t, as they had erred shamefully, and their censure was rightly condemned in Rome by Apostolic decree on July 18, 1729. In response to the procurator of the Faculty seeking correction and promising amendment, the answer was: “Remove the parallel contained in the admonition to the reader and in the preface, and the writings against Fathers Massouille and Contenson and against St. Thomas. After these corrections, send the censure to Rome for approval or disapproval.” This information is confirmed by a letter in my possession from Reverend Father Goolzat, who received it from the mouth of the secretary of the Index. This letter is referred to at the end of the Apologia Thomismi triumphantis.
In the year 1724, on the 19th of November, a brief titled “Demissas preces BENEDICTI Papæ XIII ad universos Fratres Ordinis Prædicatorum Professores, adversus calumnias doctrinæ SS. Augustini et Thomæ intentatas” was published, which served as a seedbed for controversies and disputes between the Jesuits and Thomists. An anonymous writer penned in French “Reflexiones supra prædictum breve,” insinuating that it was not directed towards the Jesuits but only towards the Quesnelists as detractors of our school. It was suggested that it only declared Thomists’ ability to teach their opinions freely as before, without obtaining any special privilege for our Doctrine from it.
In response to these reflections, Father BILLUART produced a pamphlet in French, consisting of 21 pages in 4to, titled “Examen critique des Réflexions sur le Bref de notre S. Père le Pape BENOIT XIII, du 6 novembre 1724, adressé aux Dominicains.” In this work, he proves that the Pope accuses not only the Quesnelists but also the Molinists of the crime of calumny, considering them among the detractors of Thomistic doctrine. Furthermore, it is argued that this doctrine is commended and preferred by the Supreme Pontiff, while the opinions of the Molinists are only tolerated negatively. He concludes that it is no longer permissible for Jansenists and Quesnelists, on one hand, to mock the sufficient grace of Thomists, calling their system an indigestible mishmash (galimatias); and on the other hand, Molinists cannot, without rebellion against the Supreme Pontiff, go beyond their assertions about our doctrine of Grace, stating that it is intrinsically efficacious or has a physical predetermination. He argues that such claims harm freedom, are injurious to the justice and sanctity of God, contradict Scripture and the Council of Trent, and are similar to Calvin’s motion “as egg to egg,” a statement that was almost verbatim asserted by Father Fontaine, a Jesuit professor in Douai, defending the thesis in 1725, after the said brief.
It should be noted that Father BILLUART had entrusted one of his friends (whose name I refrain from mentioning) with his manuscript to faithfully submit it to the press. Unbeknownst to the author, this friend included additional materials related to the controversies over Auxiliis and the Chinese Rites. The passages found in the printed copies from the bottom of page 3 to line 28 of page 5 and from line 11 of page 12 to line 13 of page 14 are not present in the original manuscript in my possession. Therefore, Father BILLUART rightfully rejected and deemed the distorted work spurious, instructing that the copies be suppressed. However, this happened later, as many copies were already disseminated.
Hence, the Anonymous assailant against the author of the aforementioned Critical Examination indulges in invectives and sends a letter filled with atrocious insults. In response to these letters, Father BILLUART produced a work in French, in quarto, comprising 114 pages, titled “Le Thomisme triomphant par le Bref DEMISSAS PRECES de BENOIT XIII, ou Justification de l’Examen critique des Réflexions sur le Bref, contre une lettre anonyme adressée à l’auteur de l’Examen, par un théologien de l’Ordre de Saint-Dominique.” Although the author considers the additions to the Critical Examination as spurious, he contends to prove their authenticity, dividing his work into two parts. He strengthens and demonstrates various arguments supporting the two points asserted in the Critical Examination and undertakes the defense of Father Serry’s history against the calumnies unjustly imposed by the Anonymous.
This work gives rise to a new adversary. Another friend supplies an adulterated text of the first letter from Lord Fenelon to Quesnel. Our author, venerating the trustworthiness of his friend in age and erudition, cites the text on page 81. In the year 1726, D. Stievenard, a canon of Cambrai, rises up and publishes a work in which he portrays Father BILLUART as deceitful and a calumniator, pressing for redress for the injury inflicted on the memory of the late Archbishop Fenelon through our superiors. Now, our author needs both defensive and offensive weapons to dissolve and dissipate the confederates attacking him from both sides, which he accomplishes by responding to Mr. Stievenard with a pamphlet in quarto, containing 8 pages, titled “Réponse de l’auteur du Thomisme Triomphant à M. Stievenard, chanoine de Cambrai, au sujet de son Apologie pour feu Mgr de Fénelon.”
However, the controversies are not yet settled. In the same year, Mr. Stievenard prepares a second Apology for Lord Fenelon, in which he rebukes Father BILLUART for borrowing his arguments from Jansenists hostile to Lord Fenelon, and he pursues Father BILLUART with a biting style. In response to this Apology, Father BILLUART counters with another pamphlet in quarto, comprising 21 pages, titled “Avis d’un ecclésiastique de Paris à M. Stievenard, chanoine de Cambrai, sur la seconde Apologie pour feu M. de Fénelon, archevêque de Cambrai,” adding a supplement. In this advisory, he reaffirms the points previously mentioned and provides additional demonstrations.
Unsatisfied with these responses, Mr. Stievenard composes a third Apology, to which Father BILLUART opposes another pamphlet in quarto, containing 21 pages, titled “Justification de l’avis d’un ecclésiastique de Paris, etc.” In this work, overlooking repetitions and trivialities, he sharply rebuts the apologist, exposes his contradictions and calumnies in clear light, and focuses on the main point of contention.
In the year 1728, on October 15th, when he commenced the third year in the office of Primary Regent at our college in Douai, he was appointed as the Provincial Prior of our Province of Saint Rose in Belgium. Blessed is the province under such a leader! He shines with examples, instructs with words, enkindles with charity, soothes with courtesy, promotes studies, wisely arranges ordinances for regular observance and temporal administration, makes the yoke of Christ sweet, and lightens His burden, yet without softening it. He wins the hearts of not only all his subordinates but especially those of bishops and magnates. The following year, he is honored with a doctoral degree.
Meanwhile, the hostile man did not sleep. Under the triumphant auspices of Pope Benedict XIII, he had enviously devised new snares for our schools, spreading nine anonymous letters filled with reproaches and insults against the defender of triumphant Thomism. Father BILLUART, who had temporarily set aside his own duties, once again confronts the Anonymous adversary. While holding the reins of governance with one hand, he opposes the Anonymous with the other, presenting a work in quarto comprising 196 pages, titled “Apologie du Thomisme Triomphant, contre les neuf Lettres anonymes qui ont paru depuis peu. On justifie aussi par occasion l’Histoire des congrégations de Auxiliis du P. Serry contre les chicanes de ses adversaires. A Liége, chez J.-P. Gramme, 1731.” It is not surprising that this work remained unshaken as it was supported by demonstrated truth.
In the year 1732, he delivers sermons throughout Lent before an innumerable assembly of people in Liège. In 1733, in the month of November, he is elected as the Prior of his convent in Revin and continues in this office until 1741. In 1743, he publishes a pamphlet in quarto containing 63 pages, titled “Réponse à l’auteur d’un libelle imprimé cette année 1734 à Roterdam, intitulé : la Créance des églises réformées touchant la sainte Vierge, où l’on fait voir les impostures grossières et les calomnies atroces, les paralogismes et les inepties dont cet ouvrage est rempli. Avec permission des supérieurs.” The heretic remains silent in response to this work.
In 1736, the most serene Prince Louis, Duke of Orleans, a man whom neither the past nor the future will surpass, held the dominion of the city of Revin. Upon hearing of Father BILLUART, the pious prince desired to see his face. Father BILLUART, upon hearing this, traveled to Paris, accompanied by me, who had supervised the theses dedicated to this prince the previous month. As soon as he arrived, he was warmly received by the wise and affable prince under the auspices of Count d’Argenson. They conversed familiarly and learnedly. The honors and benevolent signs and benefits with which he was showered when he departed were witnessed by me, who saw and heard it.
In the years 1737 and 1738, assisted by the aforementioned prince, he initiated and completed a splendid and extensive building for the infirm, a library, and hospitals. He expanded, adorned, and enriched his own convent. During this time, a pseudo-history of Baianism was published by Father Duchesne, a Jesuit. Father BILLUART contested this with a work in duodecimo containing 242 pages, titled “Apologie du R. P. Pierre Soto, Dominicain, et des anciennes censures de Louvain et de Douai, contre l’Histoire du Baïanisme, composée par le P. Duchesne, Jésuite, et condamné à Rome, le 17 de mars 1734, par Louis de Lomanise. A Avignon, chez Marc Chave, en 1738.”
In the year 1741, he is again elevated to the position of provincial. He consistently maintains the same mode of governance, encouraging, reproving, beseeching, and doing so with all patience and doctrine. However, the duties of the provincialate do not fully occupy the capacity of such a genius; therefore, he resumes the ancient purpose. In the provincial assembly held in 1733 in Douai, under Father BILLUART himself, who was the Vicar General, at the insistence of the Very Reverend Moderators of our college, Saint Thomas of Douai, the Provincial Father-elect was entrusted with the task of providing means for arranging an erudite theologian of our Order, and publishing, for the common use of our province, a theological course according to the mind, and as far as possible, according to the letter of our Doctor Angelicus, Saint Thomas Aquinas, incorporating, as needed, questions pertaining to ecclesiastical history. This plan was agreeable to the Most Reverend Father Master General, and the execution of this work was entrusted to Father Master BILLUART. This was rightfully so, as he was a man of consummate erudition and profound piety, who was accustomed to precede his speeches with prayer, and often, while others engaged in conversation, he prostrated himself before the altar contemplating the divine. However, distracted by various duties, he delayed somewhat in lending a hand to this significant endeavor.
From the year 1746 until the year 1751, he dedicated his efforts to the monumental and marvelous work under my care, consisting of nineteen volumes in octavo, titled “Summa S. Thoma hodiernis Academiarum moribus accommodata, sive cursus Theologiæ juxta mentem, et in quantum licuit, juxta ordinem et litteram Divi Thomæ in sua Summa, insertis pro re nata Digressionibus in Historiam ecclesiasticam. Ad usum Scholarum Thomisticarum.” Published in Liège, at the printing press of Everard Kints, S.S.E., with the privilege of the Holy Roman Empire. The first three volumes, addressing the Cardinal Virtues, God, and the Angels, printed in the years 1746 and 1747, were dedicated to the serene Louis, Duke of Orléans, the first prince of the royal blood. I presented these volumes to the aforementioned prince, who, before they went to press, had desired to read the manuscript. I cannot express with how much kindness and affability he received me, how he praised the work, and how many signs of goodwill he showed towards the author.
In 1748, three volumes on the First Part of the Second Part of Saint Thomas were published under the auspices of the illustrious and reverend Lord William Delvaux, Bishop of Ypres, who repeatedly demonstrated his affection for the work and the author through both words and deeds. In 1749, he was elected prior of his convent but declined. In the same year and the following, he published six volumes on the Third Part of Saint Thomas, with the first three dedicated to the Most Illustrious and Reverend Maximilian Vandernoot, Bishop of Ghent, and the other three to the Most Reverend Lord Vigor de Briois, the most ancient and celebrated abbot of the Abbey of Saint Vedast of Arras. It is known that these works pleased these prelates greatly, especially the abbot and his associates who belong to the ancient confederation of schools between the Vedastines and Dominicans.
In 1751, finally, the last two volumes on the Theological Virtues were published, dedicated to the Most Illustrious and Reverend Lord Dominic de Gentis, Bishop of Antwerp. This bishop praised both these volumes and the entire work with extraordinary commendations and recommended them to his clerics.
No one can help but marvel at the profound erudition, elegance, brevity of style, purity and solidity of doctrine in both moral and speculative matters that this work exhibits. It is praised and accepted by all as a faithful commentary on Saint Thomas. To speak the truth, in our age, no one has rendered greater services to the Thomistic school.
In 1752, he was unanimously proclaimed provincial for the third time. Certainly, the burden was heavy for an aged man, weakened by infirmities and constant labor. However, he courageously sustained it until the end, fulfilling it commendably.
Meanwhile, he reviewed his magnum opus, and finding it filled with errors due to the negligence of the printers, he prepared a more accurate and augmented edition. Unfortunately, he was prevented by death, leaving the task for his convent to carry out.
In 1754, he published a Compendium of his major work, distributed in six volumes and titled “Reverendiss. P. Magistro Generali Antonino Bremond, suo amico intimo.” This friend had often summoned him to Rome, and even mentioned him to the Cassanatian Doctor, but the love of the brethren and his convent always prevailed. In this work, he gives a warning to the author of Theologia Christianae, who had imprudently accused him of laxity on the questions of the Superfluous Goods of the Clergy and Simony. With equal vigor, he directs repeated defenses of his thesis on the Relation of Works to God to the Doctor of Louvain, especially in the final section of the first volume of the Compendium, and others addressed to Louis Franc, issued a year later under that name.
Finally, in the last two years of his life, when he could barely breathe due to continuous pain and the weakness of his chest, for solace and to avoid boredom, he wrote treatises on the Work of the Six Days, Religious Life, and the Mysteries of Christ, as a supplement to his major work. It is regrettable that, preoccupied by death, he left the treatise on the Last Things incomplete and only outlined the first dissertation.
In the month preceding his death, unable to read the Sacred Scriptures, he arranged to celebrate Mass daily and frequently receive the Most Holy Eucharist. Sensing the imminent dissolution of his body, he nevertheless maintained sound judgment until the very end, requesting the Last Sacraments and the Indulgence of the Rosary.
On the twentieth of January in the year 1757, having spent the night with him, conversing about God, in the middle of the octave of Matins, beginning the seventy-third year of his age, he peacefully exchanged a life full of merits for that of days, and was buried the next day under a white marble in the middle of the sanctuary. Upon it, I, in mourning, added the following epitaph, as an eternal token of gratitude and a memorial of the old man’s friendship.
Behold that he did not labor for himself alone but for all who seek the truth, and that what is said of him is no less true than of the son of Onias, the priest who attained glory in his conduct among the Gentiles, enlarging the entrance of his house and courtyard. This man, greater than all praise and worthy of immortality, bore the yoke of the Lord from his youth, and he united all the qualities of a man, a religious, a prelate, and a scholar. Solid judgment and counsel accompanied him from a young age; prayer and study in solitude; wisdom and zeal in leadership; profound knowledge and deep humility in the academic chair, he blended in a marvelous harmony. Gracious and beneficent, he obliged everyone publicly and each one privately; a lover of harmony, an ardent promoter of the salvation of souls, and an eloquent preacher of the divine word; a good shepherd, an exemplar of virtues, and a teacher of teachers; beloved by his country and foreigners, generous to his convent, highly commended in matters of religion, and renowned in schools.
Therefore, a man, a religious, a prelate, and a scholar worthy of emulation by posterity. As you read these words and marvel, mourn the honor snatched away from the world, praise the prodigy of virtue, and pray for eternal rest for him who never rested so that the Church, religion, and country might find peace.
Spare, reader, the limitations of style and the brevity of expression; such a great man deserved a more elegant and elaborate pen, but I aimed for truth more than elegance.
Rest in Peace, O Pure Defender of the Angelic Doctor, O Faithful Son of St. Thomas!
The End.
Translated via ChatGPT and edited by Astro
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