Paul Thureau-Dangin

Paul Thureau-Dangin

Paul Thureau-Dangin (14 December 1837 – 24 February 1913), member of the Académie française (1893, later Perpetual Secretary), was a historian of the reign of Louis-Philippe and also of the revival of Catholic thought (in the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England) in nineteenth century Britain.

Biography

The son of a businessman who gave up his practice to devote himself to charitable works, Paul Thureau-Dangin grew up in a Catholic, well-off and cultured environment. After studying at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he continued his legal studies at the Sorbonne. He obtained a doctorate in law in 18623. He then prepared for the entrance exam to the Council of State, from which he graduated first. He held the position of auditor from 1863 to 1868 but rather than aiming for a position as Master of Requests, he finally turned to journalism.

With a few fellow students (François Beslay, Étienne Récamier, the Count of Chabrol, Heinrich, Emmanuel Cosquin, Albert Desjardins), he founded the liberal Catholic newspaper Le Français, which appeared for the first time on August 1, 1868, and of which he was from then on one of the main editors.

Beyond his role as a publicist, Paul Thureau-Dangin is best known for his historical works. His major work was La Renaissance catholique en Angleterre au xixe siècle. This study, which focuses on the renewal of Catholic ideas in Great Britain, is described as masterly. It was compared by his contemporaries to Sainte-Beuve's Port-Royal. Paul Thureau-Dangin also wrote a History of the July Monarchy (1884), for which he was twice awarded the Grand prix Gobert of the Académie Française in 1885 and 1886.

By his convictions and his commitment, Thureau-Dangin was a liberal Catholic of the second generation. This generation was situated between the end of the Second Empire and the beginning of the Third Republic. As such, he defended the idea of a Catholicism compatible with the French republican regime of the time.

He was made a knight of the Legion of Honor by decree on November 5, 1877.

Elected to chair 37 of the Académie française in 1893, he became its Perpetual Secretary until his death (1908–1913). Pierre de La Gorce succeeded him in 1914.

He died in Paris on 24 February 1913. Paul Thureau-Dangin was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery (11th division), alongside his wife and his father-in-law, the painter Louis-Pierre Henriquel-Dupont.

Works

• Paris capitale pendant la Révolution française (1872)
• Royalistes et républicains (1874)
• Le parti libéral sous la Restauration (1876)
• L’Église et l’État sous la Monarchie de Juillet (1879)
• Histoire de la Monarchie de Juillet (1884; 7 volumes)
• Saint Bernardin de Sienne (1896)
• La Renaissance catholique en Angleterre au xixe siècle (1899; 3 volumes)

Translated into English

Revised and edited English translation of La renaissance catholique en Angleterre au XIXe siècle in two volumes.

Further reading

• Lanzac de Laborie, Léon de (1913). "Paul Thureau-Dangin (1837-1913)," Revue des Deux Mondes, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, pp. 325–57.
• Wherlé, Joannès (1926). "M. Thureau-Dangin, Historien Religieux," Le Correspondant, Vol. CCCV, No. 2, pp. 283–89.

External links

• Works by Paul Thureau-Dangin at Project Gutenberg