Louis Veuillot by Pierre Pierrard (review)

BOOK REVIEWS89 adopted, their relation to doctrine, factors that favored their adoption and spread, as well as those which hindered their control and containment. The interaction of Ritualists with other portions of the Church of England, especially its right wing, is explored. The core ofthe analysis focuses on the types ofpeople who converted to the movement and, to a lesser degree, who opposed it. Each of the groups attracted to the movement—clergy, urban poor, women, and young men—"can be seen as culturally subordinate or in decline" (p. xxiii). This general observation is translated into specific factors which fostered the adherence of members of each of these categories. The principal themes of the opposition are taken up, with a separate chapter devoted to the Public Worship Regulation Act (1874) and its failure to achieve its intended result. Some of this failure must be attributed to developments internal to Ritualism. As it attained middle-class respectability , as its first generation ofconverts gave way to those born and raised in the movement's practices, and as these practices influenced other portions of the Anglican Church, Ritualism progressively lost its countercultural character . By the 1890's a "movement that had once protested bourgeois values was itself becoming middle-class, even suburban" (p. 263). There is a lot to like in this book. Reed's style is a refreshing change from the convoluted writing stereotypically associated with social scientists. He is able to do justice to some of the eccentric characters attached to the movement and some of its more amusing events without losing the balance provided by his analytical focus. A helpful glossary of ecclesiastical terms is provided. Flaws are exceptional (Trappists do not take a vow of silence, as on p. 73). In light of the wealth of available material on the Tractarians this study redresses the relative neglect of their ritualist contemporaries and successors. It combines historical erudition, an illuminating orienting perspective, and an engaging style of presentation ,with much to interest the specialist while remaining accessible to the general reader. CJ.T.Talar St. Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore Louis Veuillot. By Pierre Pierrard. [Politiques & Chrétiens, 12.] (Paris: Beauchesne Editeur. 1998. Pp. ix, 273. 180 FF paperback.) M. Pierrard opens his book with a disclaimer that he has never liked people filled with certitude, especially in religious matters. Nevertheless, he accepted without hesitation the invitation to write a book on the "Catholic absolutist" editor-in-chief of L'Univers, Louis Veuillot. Pierrard believes Veuillot was probably the greatest Catholic journalist of all time and one of the very best in the nineteenth, journalism's golden, century. He asserts that contemporary historians ' tendency to ignore Veuillot derives from the evolution of religious sensibility against intransigence and leads to a wide gap in the understanding of the period. 90BOOK REVIEWS Veuillot is described as "an autodidact of genius," an excellent writer whose best work was as a journalist.Although his private life was distinguished by gentleness , modesty, and politeness toward his family and friends, his journalistic career was marked by strident polemics, irony, and cunning wit. A convert to Catholicism,Veuillot used his pen as a sword against"libres penseurs" and to defend "the true faith." Convinced throughout his life that he expressed the opinion of the great majority of Catholics,Veuillot's career was marked with disagreements with many bishops as well as other lay leaders. Mgr. Sibour, Archbishop of Paris, and Mgr. Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans, felt that Veuillot was overstepping his role as a lay journalist and introducing demagogy and laicism into the Church. But other bishops, like Mgr. Parisis of Arras, defended Veuillot, claiming that in a time when priests were not heard in the world at large,lay preaching through the vehicle of the press was necessary. Ultimately, the ultramontane Veuillot was defended by Pius LX,"his pope," whom he championed at every turn. Pierrard does an excellent job of outlining the major issues Veuillot dealt with during his journalistic career, especially the quarrels between intransigent and liberal Catholics within the "Catholic party" over political and religious questions from 1840 through the late 1870's. However, Pierrard fails to acknowledge any work published outside of...