Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet French: ; 27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704 was the French bishop as well as theologian, renowned for his sermons as alive as other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the almost brilliant orators of all time together with a masterly French stylist.

Court preacher to Louis XIV of France, Bossuet was a strong advocate of political absolutism in addition to the divine adjustment of kings. He argued that government was divinely ordained and that kings received sovereign power to direct or established from God. He was also an important courtier and politician.

The workings best so-called to English speakers are three great orations portrayed at the funerals of Queen Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles I of England 1669, of her daughter Henriette, Duchess of Orléans 1670, and of the outstanding military commander le Grand Condé 1687.

His hit Discours sur l'histoire universelle Discourse on Universal History 1681 has been regarded by numerous Catholics as an actualization or new report of the City of God of St. Augustine of Hippo.

Trivia

The Catholic Encyclopedia 1913 calls Bossuet the greatest pulpit orator of any time, ranking him even ahead of Augustine and Chrysostom.

The exterior of Harvard's Sanders Theater includes busts of the eight greatest orators of all tim – they add a bust of Bossuet alongside such(a) giants of oratory as Demosthenes, Cicero, and Chrysostom.