Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/791

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BOULOGNE


715


BOUQUILLON


granted him the title of archbishop bestowing on him the pallium. Up to the last he exercised the ministry of the word of God with remarkable zeal and talent. His wTitings, literan,', historical, and apolo- getic, disclo.se unusual soundness and strength of mind. (Em-res de Mgr. Boulogne (Paris, 1826); Rohrb.\cher, His- totre de fegiiee (Paris, 1825), XXVIII, 130-132.

Ch.ujles B. Schr.^ntz. Boulogne, Diocese of. See Ahr.\.s, The Diocese

OF.

Bouquet, M.\rtix, a learned Benedictine of the Congregation of St.-Maur, b. at Amiens, France, 6 August, 168.5; d. at the monasterj- of Blancs-Man- teaux, in Paris, 6 April, 1754. When a boy he re- solved to enter the .secular priesthood. Subsequently, however, not wishing to expose his soul to the dan- gers of the world, he determined to become a Bene- dictine. The Congregation of St.-Maur was then in its most flourishing condition. Bouquet joined this congregation and took vows at the monastery of St.-Faron, at Meau.x, 16 August, 1706.

Shortly after his elevation to the priesthood his superiors appointed him librarian at the monastery of St.-Germain-des-Pr& which at that time possessed a library of 60,000 books and 8,000 manuscripts. Being well versed in the Greek language. Bouquet wa-s of great assistance to his confrere, Bernard de Montfaucon, in his edition of the works of St. Chrysos- tom. He himself was preparing a new edition of the Jewish historian, Flavins Josephus, and had already progressed far in his work when he heard that the Dutch writer, Sigebert Haverkamp, was engaged on a new edition of the same author. He at once sent aU the material he had collected to Ha\erkamp. who embodied it in his edition. Bouquet's greatest work, however, is his collection of the historians of Gaul and France, entitled: "Rerum Gallicarum et Fran- cicarum Script ores".

Attempts to collect the sources of French history had been made at various times. Thus Pierre Pithou (d. 1596) had collected some material, and Andre Duchesne (d. 1640) had begun a work entitled "HLstoriie Francorum Scriptores" to be published in twenty-four volumes, but died before finishing the fifth volume. Colbert, the great French minister of finance, desired to have Duchesne's work continued at the expense of the State, but he died in 1683 with- out finding a suitable historian to complete what Duchesne had begun. In 1717, D'Aguesseau, who was then chancellor, entrusted to the Benedictine, Edniond Martdne, the drawing up of a new plan for the work. The de.sign was accepted and the Orato- rian LeLong who had just finished his " Bibliotheque jhistorique de la France" was entrusted with the itask. He had scarcely begun when death put an end to his labours in 1721.

The Congregation of St.-Maur now undertook the publication of the work and Dionysius de Sainte- Marthe, who was then superior-general of the con- gregation, placed Bouquet in charge of the under- taking. Becau.se Duchesne's five volumes had |become rare, Bouquet began an entirely new work md had the first two volumes ready for print in 1729, l)ut their publication was delayed. Some monks of the Congregation of St.-Maur refu.sed to submit to the Bull "Unigenitus" which was directed against yuesnel. Bouquet submitted after some hesitation. When, however, Cardinal De Bissy required the nniiks of St.-Germain-des-Pri?s to sign a formula of I'iubmission drawn up by himself, Boucjuet and seven 1 jthers refu.sed their signature becaiLse De Bis.sy, leing merely Abbot in rommendam of St.-Germain-des- Pr(5s. had no spiritual jurisdiction over the monks. Bomiuet was banished to the monastery of St.-Jean, it Laon, but in 1735, D'Agues.seau and a few other nfluential persons succeeded in having him recalled X) Argenteuil, and afterwards to Blancs-Manteaux,


where he could more easily supervise the publication of his work. He brought out eight volumes between 173S and 1752. The greater part of the material for the ninth volume was ready when Bouquet died (1754), after receiving the last rites of the Church.

The eight volumes published comprise the sources of the history of France from the earliest days of its existence to the year 987. The work was continued by other members of the Congregation of St.-Maur in the following order: vols. IX-X were published by the two brothers, John and Charles Haudiquier; vol. XI, by Housseau, Precieux, and Poirier; vols. XII-XIII,"by Clement and Brial; vols. XIV-XVHI, by Brial. The remaining five volumes were pul)- lished by the Aeaddmie des Inscriptions which com- pleted the work in 1876. A new edition in twenty- five volumes, undertaken by Leopold Dehsle, a member of the Acad^mie des Inscriptions, has reached the twenty-fourtli volume.

Tassin, Histoire titteraire de la cotigr. de St. Maur (Brussel.^. 1770), s. v.; the same work in German, Gelehrtengeschichte der Congregation von St. Maurus (Frankfort and Leipzig, 1774); De Lam.\, Bibliotheque des ecrivaina de la congr. de St. Maur (Munich and Paris, 1882), s. v.; Francois, Bibliotheque

fenerate des ecrivains de Vordre de St. Benoit (Bouillon. 1777). . 143; Mei-sel, Bihliotheca Historica (Leipzig, 1793), VI, Part II, 270 sqq.; Ziegelbauer, Historia Rei Lilerarim O. S. B. (.Augsburg and Wurzbure, 1754), IV, 348; Weiss, Weltge- schichte (4th ed. Graz and Leipzig, 1898,), XI, 396 sqq.

Michael Ott.

Bouquillon, Thomas, b. at Warneton, Belgium, 16 May. 1840; d. at Brussels, 5 November, 1902; a Belgian theologian, and at the time of his death professor of moral theology in the Cathohc Uni- versity of America. The second son among five children in a family of small landholders long es- tablished at Warneton near Ypres, he received his early education in local schools and in the College of St. Louis at Menin. His course in philosophy was made at Roulers; in theology, at the seminarj' of Bruges. Having entered the Gregorian Uni\ersity in Rome, in 1863, he was ordained priest in I860 and made doctor of theology in 1867. After ten years in the Bruges seminary (1867-77) anil eiglit years in the Catholic University of Lille, France, as professor of moral theology. Dr. Bouquillon re- tired to the Benedictine monastery at Slaredsous and devoted his energies to the preparation of the second edition of his treatise on fundamental moral theology, a work which fixes him permanently among the great men in the history of that science. He accepted the chair of moral theology in the Catholic LTniversity at Washington in 1889, where he re- mained until his death in 1902. He was one of the most eminent theologians of his time, a man of prodigious erudition in theology, history of theology, church historj', canon law, and bibliography. Though never in robust health, he was a tireless student, marked by quiet, simple habits, deep faith, broad sjTupathies, and great concentration. When he entered the field of moral theology he found the science enjoying no prestige, dwindled to mere compilations of conclusions to the neglect of prin- ciples. It was out of touch, consequently, with the closely related dogmatic and advancing social sciences, and the methods employed in teaching it were far from perfect. In his whole career as pro- fessor and author he aimed to rescue moral theology from that condition and to restore to it its proper scientific method and dogmatic dignity. He em- phasized strongly the historical and sociological aspects of principles and problems in the science, neglecting no results of modern research which cont ributed to clearness and solidity in his exposition of them. To him is due much credit for the improved methods seen in the recent history of moral theology. Possibly few theologians of his day were more widely consulted in Europe and America than Dr. Bou- quillon. He enjoyed and retained the intimate