Noel Aubert de Versé was a French advocate of religious toleration

Religious toleration

Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...

, whose own religious position oscillated between Unitarian Protestantism and an Oratorian

Oratory of Jesus

The Society of the Oratory of Jesus , also known as French Oratory, is a catholic Congregation founded in 1611 in Paris by Pierre de Bérulle...

-influenced Catholicism.

Life

Raised a Catholic, Aubert de Versé took a medical degree in Paris but converted to Protestantism

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 in 1662, and studied at the Protestant Academy of Sedan

Academy of Sedan

The Academy of Sedan was a Huguenot academy in Sedan, founded in 1579 and suppressed in 1681. It was one of the main centres for the production of Reformed pastors in France for a hundred years.-History:...

 to become a minister in Holland. Ejected from the ministry in 1668/9 as a suspected Socinian

Socinianism

Socinianism is a system of Christian doctrine named for Fausto Sozzini , which was developed among the Polish Brethren in the Minor Reformed Church of Poland during the 15th and 16th centuries and embraced also by the Unitarian Church of Transylvania during the same period...

, he reverted to Catholicism in 1670 and practiced medicine. After the Edict of Fontainebleau

Edict of Fontainebleau

The Edict of Fontainebleau was an edict issued by Louis XIV of France, also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes of 1598, had granted the Huguenots the right to practice their religion without persecution from the state...

, he turned away from Catholicism, but was accused of anti-Trinitarianism and attacked by supporters of Pierre Jurieu

Pierre Jurieu

Pierre Jurieu was a French Protestant leader.-Life:He was born at Mer, in Orléanais, where his father was a Protestant pastor. He studied at the Academy of Saumur and the Academy of Sedan under his grandfather, Pierre Du Moulin, and under Leblanc de Beaulieu...

. In 1682 he undertook an abortive mission to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in order to establish political links with the Moroccan ambassador, After moving to Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and Danzig, and another visit to England in 1689, he was allowed to return to Paris on condition that he return to Catholicism and write against Socinianism. He translated Richard Simon

Richard Simon

Richard Simon was a French Oratorian, influential advanced biblical critic, orientalist, and controversialist.-Early years:...

's critical history of the Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 into Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

, and wrote controversial works against both Spinoza and Jurieu.

Works

• Le protestant pacifique; ou, Traité de la paix de l'eglise : dans lequel on fait voir par les principes des Réformez, que la foy de l'Église Catholique ne choque point les fondements de salut: et qu'ils doivent tolerer dans leur Communion tous les Chrêtiens du monde, les Sociniens & les Quakres même, dont on explique la religion contre Monsieur Jurieu, 1684
• L'impie convaincu, ou Dissertation contre Spinosa. Dans laquelle l'on réfute les fondemens de son atheisme. L'on trouvera dans cét ouvrage non seulement la réfutation des maximes impies de Spinosa, mais aussi celle des principales hypotheses du Cartesianisme, que l'on fait voir être l'origine du Spinosisme, 1685
• Le tombeau du socinianisme : auquel on a ajouté Le nouveau visionnaire de Rotterdam &c, 1687
• Traité de la liberté de la conscience, ou de l'autorité des souverains dur la religion des peuples opposé aux maximes impies de Hobbes et de Spinosa adoptée par le sier Jurieu, 1687

Further reading

• Paul J Morman, Noël Aubert de Versé : a study in the concept of toleration, 1987

External links