Commentary on Lamennais' letters (1881)
by Charles Périn (Translated into English for the first time.)
The tragic and turbulent life of a once-faithful Catholic priest, Father Hugues-Félicité Robert de Lamennais, whose unwise reading during his formative years, especially of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, seduced his ardent mind and prejudiced him against religion, resulted in him posthumously incurring the infamous epithet of the "Father of Modernism."
Considering that the current crisis of Faith is that of Modernism-on-steroids having infected all institutions of the Church in the 20th century, with ongoing devastating effects, it is of particular interest and usefulness to us now to analyse Lamennais' ideas and influence in the light of Catholicism. And that is how this book by Charles Périn aids us.
Périn, born in 1815, who studied Law at the Catholic University of Leuven, considered Lamennais (born in 1782 in France), to be the first Modernist. In the "Context of the letters" section, which prefaces this brief work, we read:
"Lamennais became the influential leader of a group of young Ultramontanes, willing to restore the greatness of Catholicism in French society, while France was still suffering from the consequences of the French Revolution. This movement thought that embracing the principles of Liberalism would lead to the flourishing of Catholicism. In 1830, Lamennais, together with Montalembert and Lacordaire, founded the journal L' Avenir which loudly advocated Liberal ideas. Facing criticism, they tried to plead their cause at Rome before Pope Gregory XVI. Far from defending them, Pope Gregory XVI issued a firm condemnation of their ideas in the Encyclical Mirari vos, on August 15, 1832."
After much more strife and refusal to accept Church/papal teachings, eventually "Lamennais entirely rejected the Catholic faith, and became a Republican and Social activist, until his death in 1854. He asked to be buried without any religious ceremony." I guess his modern-day counterparts would go even one step further and opt for cremation as part of their last act of defiance against the Church.
Périn chose eight letters by Lamennais, dated between March 21, 1833 (seven months after Mirari vos) and October 6, 1834 (four months after Singulari nos - being the second papal condemnation of his false philosophies) because he considered them "representative of the principles of social Modernism, and of the feelings and intentions of Lamennais."
Within these pages we see Périn deftly expose the errors in these letters, and thus in the mind of the author of these letters, and the underlying causes of these deviations, such as when he says, "Lamennais' bitter and unjust words on the subject of the direction the University of Leuven was to take reveal to us the muted anger heaped up in the heart of the writer of L' Avenir against the authority that launched the condemnations of the encyclical Mirari vos and against those who had done their duty by adhering to it. Misled by Modernism, Lamennais no longer understood the essential function of tradition in the Catholic order."
Similarly disturbing, the author states, "Lamennais wanted to regenerate the world without the Church and in spite of it, whereas Mr. de Coux... was always aware that the laity...however real the services they may render, will never be among the Church's rulers; they can only be governed." Such that he could rightly declare, "No matter how much Lamennais protests that nothing 'will shake the great foundations of Christian beliefs in him,' what will become of Christian beliefs? What will become of Christian beliefs when the authority that holds them in trust has undergone the changes foreseen and desired by the priest who has forgotten everything he himself had said so well about hierarchy and obedience in the Church?"
Modernism in the Church: Commentary of Lammenais' letters (1881), A Catechism of Modernism and Liberalism is a Sin are all available in the True Restoration store.
