Lot n° 265
Estimation :
400 - 500
EUR
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Result
: 1 280EUR
Félix DUPANLOUP (1802-1878) prelate, theologian... - Lot 265 - Ader
Félix DUPANLOUP (1802-1878) prelate, theologian and preacher, bishop of Orléans, leader of liberal Catholicism (of the French Academy). L.A.S., Versailles February 13, 1872; 4 pages small in-4 on the letterhead of the Bishopric of Orleans.
Long letter explaining his resignation from the Academy after Littré's election. [In 1863, Dupanloup had opposed the candidacy of Émile Littré, reproaching him his atheism, and preventing his election. In 1871, again a candidate, Littré was elected, to the great anger of Dupanloup, who announced his resignation to the Academy; at the urging of Guizot, he reversed his decision].
He returned to "the discussion raised within the Academy by my resignation", and "this sad affair, which is still in my eyes, I ask you to forgive me for persisting in this sentiment, a very regrettable error of the French Academy. It has been said on this subject that in the last century the Academy had admitted into its bosom notorious atheists, and that the bishops of the time had no difficulty in sitting with them. Had the argument been founded in fact, it was not, in my eyes, peremptory. But one fell there [...] in a very serious error". Voltaire, "a great demolisher", thought it clever, "in the interest of his war against Christianity, to hide in the Academy behind auxiliaries even more advanced than himself, [...] made every effort to bring in the coryphae of atheism at that time, Diderot, Helvetius and the baron D'Holbach. But he did not succeed," despite his pressure on D'Alembert. "He counted, to come to an end, on a worthy protection, Madame de Pompadour, this shameful power that he did not cease courting. [....] She could do nothing. The Philosophers of that time were however of good composition with the atheists. [...] notwithstanding these more than easy compromises, which were then in more than one mind, the French Academy, in the 18th century, did not allow itself to be undermined by atheism; the atheists, those who claimed to be atheists, the Professors of atheism, were never able to make a breach. [...] Neither Cabanis nor Broussais were received at the French Academy. This is one more reason for me to believe that I had to do what I did"...
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