Du Guet, Jacques Joseph

DU GUET, dü gê (DUGUET), JACQUES JOSEPH: French Oratorian and Jansenist; b. at MontbTieon (234 m. s.s.e. of Paris) Dec. 9, 1849; d. at Paris Oct. 25, 1733. In 1667 he entered the Congregation of the Oratory, where he received his education, and also lectured in the church of St. Roch at Paris on the history and discipline of the Church in various periods, his addresses being printed under the title Conférences ecclésiastiques (2 vols., Cologne, 1742). When the Oratorians were required to sign a condemnation of Jansenism and Cartesianism in 1686, Du Guet fled to Brussels, and lived for a time with A. Arnauld in the Spanish Netherlands, remaining in constant communication with Paechaeius Queanel and editing his Reflexions morales sur Is Nouveau Testament (8 vols., Paris, 1893-1700). - His strict adherence to Augustinianism was shown by his Refutation du syst,~mme de Nicole touchant la grdce universelle (1718 ) and by his repeated protests against the bull Unigenitus, although, on the other hand, he opposed all Jansenistic excesses, especially the cortvulsionnairea. After working for many years in various places of concealment, he returned to Paris, where he spent the remainder of his life. Among his numerous works special mention may be made of the following: Traits de la pri&e publique et des dispositions pour o ffrir les saints myst&es (1707); ftles pour l'intellir gence des Saintes -Ocritures (1716); lettre sur divers sujets de morale et de piet6 (3 vols., 1718; later extended to ten vols.); Explication du mysttre de la passion (2 vols., 1722; extended to 14 vols. in the edition of 1733); Explication de la Genkse (5 vols., 1732); and many interpretations of various books of the Old Testament. His Institution d'un prince (London, 1739) was translated into English in 1740, and an English version of his Traits des priacipea de la foi chrdtienrte (3 vols., Paris, 1736) appeared in 2 vols. at Edinburgh 'in 1755. Du Guet ranked as one of the best Janaenist authors, and was regarded as uniting the logic of Nicole with the grace of Fdnelon.

(C. Pfender.)

Bibliography: The edition of Du Gust's Institution dun prince by Goujet, 1739, ut sup., contains a biography.