Jérôme de Gonnelieu


Jérôme de Gonnelieu was a French Jesuit theologian, ascetical writer, and preacher.

Life

At the age of seventeen he entered the Society of Jesus. Till the year 1674, when he pronounced his final vows, his services were in various capacities, particularly teaching. From this date his abilities directed towards preaching and evangelism.

Works

In the later part of his life he gave himself up almost exclusively to literary activity. The following is a list of his works:
To the above, almost all the biographies add another work, a French translation of the influential devotional text The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. The first edition of this translation bears the title "L'Imitation de Jesus-Christ, Traduction nouvelle: Avec une Pratique et une Piére à la fin de chaque Chapitre "; but a great majority of the bibliographies, somewhat arbitrarily, deny that Traduction, as distinct from the secours at the end of each chapter, is by de Gonnelieu. The opinion of the negative critics seems to be based mainly on the statement of Calmet that "the translation is by John-Baptiste Cusson , and the rest by P. Gonnelieu". The "Journal des Sçavans", on the other hand, in a review written within one year after the publication of the work, whilst praising the zeal and piety of the translator, says expressly that the version is by P. Gonnelieu; and adds that "Sieur Cusson has enriched this first edition by many copper-plates".