Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/733

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LOYSON.

LOYSON, Chables, formerly known in religion as Fatheb Hta- ciNTHE, born at Orleans in 1827, finished his studies at the Academy of Pau, and at an early age com- posed some remarkable poetry. In 1835 he entered Saint-Sulpice, was ordained priest after four years of theologicid study, taught philo- sophy at the ffreat Seminary at Avignon, and theology at that of Nantes, and officiated in his eccle- siastical capacity at Saint-Sulpice. He afterwards spent two years in the convent of the Carmelites at Lyons, entered that Order, and at- tnicted much attention by his preaching at the Lycee of that city. He delivered the course of sermons in Advent at Bordeaux, a course for Lent at P^rigueux in 1864, and repaired to Paris, where his Advent sermons at the Madeleine and at Notre Dame attracted much atten- tion (1865-69). Gradually, however, a suspicion grew up that the elo- quent pulpit orator was not al- together orthodox in his views, and in 1869 M. Louis Veuillot denounced him to the court of Bome, but he succeeded this time in clearing him- self from the charge of heresy. In June of the same year, however. Father Hyacinthe delivered before the International League of Peace an address, in which he spoke of the Jewish religion, the Catholic religion, and the Protestant religion as being the three great religions of civilized peoples." This ex- pression elicited severe censures from the Catholic press. The doubt now generally entertained as to the reverend father's orthodoxy was changed into certainty by his fa- mous letter, addressed on Sept. 20 of the same year, to the General of the Barefooted Carmelites at Bome, in which he protested against the "sacrilegious perversion of the Gospel," and went on to say ; — *' It is my profound conviction that if France in particular and the Latin races in general are given up to social, monkl,and religious anarchy.

the principal cause is not Catholicisin itself, but the manner in which Catholicism has for a long time been understood and practised/' This manifesto against the alleged abuses in the Church created intense excitement, not only in France, but throughout the civilized world, and the young monk was hailed as a powerful ally by all the opponents of the papacy. Soon after this Father Hyacinthe left France for America, landing in New York, Oct. 18, 1869. He was warmly wel- comed by the leading members of the various Protestant sects in the United States, but, though he fra- ternized with them te a certain extent, he constantly declared that he had no intention of quitting the fold of the Catholic Church. The Pope, after frequent solicitations on thf> subject, at last consented, in Feb., 1870, to relieve Father Hya- cinthe from his monastic vows, and he accordingly became a secular priest under the title of the Abb^ Loyson. As was naturally to be expected, M. Loyson energeticaUj protested against the dogma of the Pope's inf aUibility \ and soon after the seizure of Bome by King Victor Emmanuel's troops, he i>aid a viait to the Eternal City, where he de- livered a series of discourses. In Sept., 1871, he attended the Con- gress of the self-styled " Old Catho- lics " at Munich. On Sept. 2, 1872, he was married in London, at the Marylebone Begistry Office, to Emily Jane, dau^ter of Mr. Amory Butterfield, and widow of Mr. Ed- win Buthven Meriman, of the Uni- ted States, Dr. Stanley, the Dean of Westmhister, and Lady Augusta Stanley his wife were present at the marriage. The Abb^ Loyscm was elected cur^ of Geneva, but he resigned this post in 1874, on the ground " that the spirit which pre- vailed in the Liberal Catholic move- ment in Geneva, was neither Liberal in politics nor Catholic in religion." A translation by Mrs. Loyson of some of her husband's