Louis Bourdaloue

Louis Bourdaloue (Bourges, 1632 – Paris, 1704) was a French Jesuit and one of the most celebrated preachers at the court of Louis XIV. He lived in seventeenth-century France and preached in French. His name is mainly linked to sacred eloquence and to the idea that everyday moral life was the proper subject of the sermon.

Born into a family of lawyers, his father being a well-known orator, he entered the Society of Jesus while still young. He taught rhetoric, philosophy and theology in several of the order's colleges and was ordained a priest around 1665. His reputation grew first in the provinces. In 1669 his superiors sent him to Paris, where he held the pulpit of the church of St. Louis for a year. He was then called back many times to preach before Louis XIV, more often than was usual for one preacher.

His sermons stood out for their clear analysis of moral problems in daily life and for his ability to adapt to very different audiences. His experience as a confessor gave him an close understanding of the ethical struggles of his listeners. After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes he was sent to Languedoc to confirm the new converts in the Catholic faith, and his Lenten sermons at Montpellier in 1686 drew praise from both Catholics and Protestants. Towards the end of his life he devoted his ministry to hospitals, prisons and charitable works.

His friendship with Bossuet, with whom he shared the court pulpit, shows how different their styles were. Both preached to the court, but in very different manners. Voltaire is reported to have judged his sermons superior to Bossuet's in simplicity and coherence. Many of his texts were used as school reading, and his sermons were published in several editions after his death. His legacy is that of a model of clear and persuasive preaching in French sacred oratory.