Jacques Paul Migne
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
who published inexpensive and widely-distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a universal library for the Catholic priesthood.
He was born at Saint-Flour, Cantal
Saint-Flour, Cantal
Saint-Flour is a commune in the Cantal department in the Auvergne region in south-central France. Its inhabitants are called Sanflorains.-Geography:...
and studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
at Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
. He was ordained in 1824 and placed in charge of the parish of Puiseaux, in the diocese of Orléans, where his uncompromisingly Catholic and royalist sympathies did not coincide with local patriotism and the new regime of the Citizen-King
Louis-Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...
. In 1833, after falling out with his bishop over a pamphlet he had published, he went to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and on 3 November started a journal L'Univers religieux, which he intended to keep free of political influence: it quickly collected 1800 subscribers. He edited it for three years. (It afterwards became his co-editor Louis Veuillot
Louis Veuillot
Louis Veuillot was a French journalist and author who helped to popularize ultramontanism ....
's ultramontane
Ultramontanism
Ultramontanism is a religious philosophy within the Roman Catholic community that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope...
organ, L'Univers.)
A complete edition of patrology
Migne had become convinced of the power of the press and the sheer value of raw information widely distributed. In 1836 he opened his great publishing house, Imprimerie Catholique, at Petit Montrouge, in the outlying 14th arrondissementXIVe arrondissement
The 14th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France....
of Paris. There he brought out in rapid succession numerous religious works meant for the use of the lesser clergy at popular prices that insured a wide circulation. The best known of these are: Scripturae sacrae cursus completus ("complete course in sacred scripture") which assembled a wide repertory of commentaries on each of the books of the Bible, and Theologiae cursus, each of them in 28 vols, 1840-5; Collection des auteurs sacrés (100 vols., 1846-8); Encyclopédie théologique (171 vols., 1844-6).
The three great series that have made his reputation were Patrologiae cursus completus, Latin series (Patrologia Latina
Patrologia Latina
The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1844 and 1855, with indices published between 1862 and 1865....
) in 221 vols. (1844-5); Greek series (Patrologia Graeca
Patrologia Graeca
The Patrologia Graeca is an edited collection of writings by the Christian Church Fathers and various secular writers, in the ancient Koine or medieval variants of the Greek language. It consists of 161 volumes produced in 1857–1866 by J. P. Migne's Imprimerie Catholique...
), first published in Latin (85 vols., 1856-7); then published with Greek text and Latin translation (165 vols., 1857-8). Though scholars have always criticised them, these hastily edited, inexpensively printed and widely distributed texts have only slowly been replaced during a century and a half with more critically edited modern editions. Though the cheap paper of the originals has made them fragile today, the scope of the Patrologia still makes it unique and valuable, wherever modern editions do not yet exist. It is a far more complete collection of Patristic and later literature than anything that has appeared subsequently or is likely to. To create so much so quickly, Migne reprinted the best or latest earlier editions available to him. In the PG the Latin translations were often made in the renaissance before any Greek text had been printed, and so do not necessarily match the Greek text very accurately. The indexes themselves are useful for locating references in the patristic writings. The collection is now available on CD-ROM at some research libraries and an electronic version is online as a subscriber service in addition to which the series has been made available through Google Books and archive.org.
Studio of paintings
His publishing house was complemented during the Second EmpireSecond French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
by painter artists' workhalls for the decoration of churches: three of their main works, in the style of Eugène Delacroix
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...
, still remain in the choir of the church of Saint John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
of Audresselles
Audresselles
Audresselles is a commune south of Cape Gris Nez in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.The commune covers about 2000 acres of cultivated lands, two beaches, and seashore cliffs...
(Pas de Calais, France).
Struggle with the publishing establishment and the Catholic hierarchy
Migne by-passed the bookselling establishment with direct subscriptions. His Imprimerie Catholique developed into the largest privately held press in France. However, for Migne, on the night of 12-13 February 1868 a devastating fire, which began in the printing plant, destroyed Migne's establishment, which was also producing religious objects. In spite of his insurance contracts, Migne was able to retrieve only a pittance.Shortly afterwards Mgr Georges Darboy
Georges Darboy
Georges Darboy was a French Catholic priest, later bishop of Nancy then archbishop of Paris. He was among a group of prominent hostages executed as the Paris Commune of 1871 was about to be overthrown....
, archbishop of Paris
Archbishop of Paris
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris is one of twenty-three archdioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century by St. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on...
, forbade the continuance of the business, and even suspended him from his priestly functions. The Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870 inflicted further losses. Then from the curia of Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
came a decree condemning the use of Mass stipends for the purchase of books, in which Migne and his publications were especially named.
Migne died without ever having regained his former prosperity, and his Imprimerie Catholique passed in 1876 into the hands of Garnier Frères.
The Patrologia Latina
Patrologia Latina
The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1844 and 1855, with indices published between 1862 and 1865....
and the Patrologia Graeca
Patrologia Graeca
The Patrologia Graeca is an edited collection of writings by the Christian Church Fathers and various secular writers, in the ancient Koine or medieval variants of the Greek language. It consists of 161 volumes produced in 1857–1866 by J. P. Migne's Imprimerie Catholique...
, (along with the Monumenta Germaniae Historica
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
The Monumenta Germaniae Historica is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published sources for the study of German history from the end of the Roman Empire to 1500.The society sponsoring the series was established by the Prussian reformer Heinrich Friedrich Karl Freiherr vom...
) are among the great 19th century contributions to the scholarship of patristics
Patristics
Patristics or Patrology is the study of Early Christian writers, known as the Church Fathers. The names derive from the Latin pater . The period is generally considered to run from the end of New Testament times or end of the Apostolic Age Patristics or Patrology is the study of Early Christian...
and the Middle Ages. Within the Roman Catholic Church, Migne's editions put many original texts for the first time into the hands of the priesthood.
External links
- Brief biography independent research (in French)
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Jacques-Paul Migne
- Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911: Jacques Paul Migne
- Migne Patrologia Graeca Index of Authors / Download links
- Faulkner University Patristics Project A growing collection of English translations of patristic texts and high-resolution scans from the comprehensive Patrologia compiled by J. P. Migne.
- Documenta Catholica Omnia PDF's of much of the Patrologia Latina
- PL at Google Book Search (internal link incorrect, scroll down two sections)
- R. Howard Bloch, God's Plagiarist: Being an Account of the Fabulous Industry and Irregular Commerce of the Abbe Migne (Google Book search)