Dictionary.net

A French ecclesiastic, polemical, and political writer; born at St. Malo, June 19, 1782; died at Paris, Feb. 27, 1854. He was ordained priest in 1817. The same year appeared the first volume of his "Essay upon Indifference in the Matter of Religion" (4 vols., 1807-20), a work of profound learning and of strict orthodoxy. He developed his views further in "Religion Considered in its Relation to the Civil and Political Order" (1825), and "Progress of the Revolution and of the War against the Church" (1829). By degrees he became the critic of Church policy, and his journal L'Avenir (The Future) was condemned by the Pope. Lamennais bowed to Rome's decree; but after a year was published his "Words of a Believer" (1834), in which he repudiates all authority of popes and bishops. The little volume is written in archaic style, imitating the language of the Hebrew sacred books; it had an enormous circulation among the masses of the people in every country of Europe. It was followed by "The Book of the People" (1837), and "The Past and the Future of the People" (1842), in the same tone. He wrote also: "Sketch of a Philosophy" (3 vols., 1841); "Religion"; and translated the Gospels, accompanying the text with notes.