Heresy and Orthodoxy in Sixteenth-Century Paris: Francois Le Picart and the Beginnings of the Catholic Reformation.

Tyler, J. Jeffery

By Larissa Juliet Taylor. Studies in Late Medieval and Reformation Thought, 77. Leiden: Brill, 1999. xviii + 332 pp. $125.00 cloth.

Among the influential and intriguing preachers of the sixteenth century in pulpit and print, Francois Le Picart (1504-56) is especially deserving of Larissa Taylor's substantial study. Le Picart was a preacher of singular popularity and impact, a theologian and spirited defender of French Catholicism whose influence was felt in the city of Paris, the kingdom of France, and beyond. Friend and foe claimed that Le Picart's efforts ensured the enduring Catholic identity of Paris; even John Calvin admitted that supporters of Le Picart found his words angelic. Through his sermons as well as the responses of Le Picart's supporters and detractors, Taylor seeks "to delve more deeply into the religious and mental climate of France and its capital" (xi); she explores the currents of religious conflict and the expressions of a strident Catholic Orthodoxy from initial confrontations in the 1530s to the eve of the French wars of religion in the 1560s.

The 270 surviving sermons of Le Picart are the backbone of this book, an invaluable homiletic collection and a rare find among the surviving documents of this first generation of the French Reformation. After a careful introduction to the provenance, editing, and content of the sermons, the book falls roughly into two sections with three chapters devoted to Le Picart as strident defender of Orthodoxy and three chapters presenting Le Picart as an accomplished proponent of Catholic reform. The book is framed by an ongoing discussion of Denis Crouzet's highly influential thesis that a violent, apocalyptic mentality gripped France in the mid-sixteenth century. Taylor disputes Crouzet's characterization of the period and especially his portrayal of Le Picart as a preacher at the center of an eschatological tempest. Taylor pursues the early life of Le Picart to 1533 in tandem with educational, political, and religious developments in Paris, including the connection between Le Picart and his second cousin, the influential humanist Guillaume Bude. The years 1533-34 were decisive for Paris and Le Picart. As a student at the University of Paris he was drawn into religious controversies that engulfed Francis I, the conservative Faculty of Theology, and reform-minded advocates at the court of Marguerite of Navarre and in the diocese of Meux. The university faculty authorized Le Picart as one of six bachelors to preach against the Lutherans. Religious turmoil and alleged criticism of the king led to a period of exile and prison for Le Picart, shaping subsequent sermons in which he criticized royal policy, castigated heretical preaching, and pondered the virtues of suffering persecution.

After the Affair of the Placards (October, 1534), Catholic Orthodoxy gained the upper hand in Paris, and Le Picart's career took a new turn. He was licensed in theology in 1535 and preached his first Lenten series. Moreover, as a member of the Faculty of Theology Le Picart contributed to the drafting of the "Articles of Faith" (1542), which responded directly to challenges posed by `heretical' preachers. In a period of censorship and surveillance in Paris, Le Picart played a central role, examining religious literature, preaching and lecturing against religious adversaries, and presiding over the execution of heretics.

Although Le Picart was a fierce advocate for orthodoxy, his popularity was due in large part to his accessible, applicable, reform-minded preaching. Le Picart's sermons not only censured heretical doctrine, clerical avarice, and lay apathy, but also emphasized the merits of frequent communion, veneration of the saints, and contrite confession of sins. Known for his own compassion for the poor and his refusal to accept clerical advancement, Le Picart's sermons likewise envisioned a new clergy exemplified by simple teaching, generous charity, and resistance to ecclesiastical promotion. The content of Le Picart's sermons mirrored exactly the convictions of early Jesuits in Paris, who heard him preach and formed lasting, sometimes intimate relationships with him. In both a more simplified style accessible to the laity and in frequent "reassurances of God's love" (212), his preaching marks a significant shift from late medieval sermonizing. On the basis of Le Picart's homiletic corpus and a survey of contemporary preachers, Taylor rejects Crouzet's view that explosive religious tension and eschatological anguish typify the period before 1560.

Heresy and Orthodoxy is a marvelous study of Le Picart and the significant collection of his surviving writings and sermons. Two appendices, which record Le Picart's Epistre and five complete sermons, compensate to some degree for the major weakness of the book: the reader is rarely provided with the original French text of many fascinating passages translated into English; one can neither confirm the accuracy of translations nor make one's own discoveries in the footnotes below. Furthermore, in her chapter on the Jesuits, Taylor presents Le Picart as both a major influence on the Jesuits and as a paralleling voice for reform. Based on the evidence presented, it is difficult to prove exactly the degree of Le Picart's impact here, although a personal relationship to the Society of Jesus is clear. It is useful to point out the remarkably similar agenda found among clerical preachers, such as Le Picart, and the incipient brothers of Ignatius.

Otherwise there is much to commend here. Taylor successfully weaves together the narrative of an individual preacher together with larger religious controversies in Paris and France. Both expert and novice in French Reformation studies will find the book enlightening and accessible. Moreover, this is not a one-dimensional approach to Le Picart's sermons. Taylor is attentive to theological controversy and pastoral consolation as well as to matters of interest to the social historian, such as the preacher's treatment of domestic life, prostitutes, and the poor. Her periodic dialogue with Crouzet sensitizes her to the `tone' of the sermons as evidence for themes of divine consolation over apocalyptic uncertainty. In this way Taylor builds on her award winning first book, Soldiers of Christ: Preaching in Late Medieval and Reformation France (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), providing critical models for approaching individual sermons and sermon collections.

J. Jeffery Tyler
Hope College