Rapin, René
Rapin, Ren
French Jesuit writer. Born in 1621 in Tours, France; died in 1687 Paris, France. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1639, taught rhetoric and wrote extensively in prose and verse, both in French and Latin. His two poems, Eclogae Sacrae and Hortorum Libri IV, place him in the front rank of Latin versifiers. His best critical essays are Observations sur les Poemes de Virgile et d’Horace, and Reflexions sur la Poetique d’Aristote; but his two posthumous works, Histoire du Jansenisme, and Memoires sur l’ Eglise, la Cour, la Societe, le Jansenisme, are his titles to celebrity.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Rapin, Ren
French Jesuit, born at Tours, 1621; died in Paris, 1687. He entered the Society in 1639, taught rhetoric, and wrote extensively both in verse and prose. His first production, “Eclogæ Sacræ” (Paris, 1659), won him the title of the Second Theocritus, and his poem on gardens, “Hortorum libri IV” (Paris, 1665), twice translated into English (London, 1673; Cambridge, 1706), placed him among the foremost Latin versifiers. Of his critical essays, the best known are: “Observations sur les poèmes d’Horace et de Virgile” (Paris, 1669); “Réflexions sur l’usage de l’éloquence de ce temps” (Paris, 1672); “Réflexions sur la poétique d’Aristote et sur les ouvrages des poétes anciens et modernes” (Paris, 1676). He is also the author of several theological and ascetic treatises like “De nova doctrina dissertatio seu Evangelium Jansenistarum” (Paris, 1656); “L’esprit du christianisme” (Paris, 1672); “La perfection du christianisme” (Paris, 1673); “La foi des derniers siècles” (Paris, 1679). These books and many other pamphlets were collected in “Oeuvres complétes” published at Amsterdam, 1709-10. Rapin’s best titles to celebrity are his two posthumous works: “Histoire du jansenisme”, edited by Domenech (Paris, 1861), and “Mémoires sur l’église, la société, la cour, la ville et le jansénisme”, edited by Aubineau (Paris, 1865). The latter book is the counterpart of the Jansenistic “Mémoires de Godefroi Hermant sur l’histoire ecclésiastique du XVIIe siècle”, edited by Gazier (Paris, 1905). Ste-Beuve in his own “Port Royal” tries on every occasion to find Rapin at fault, but recent studies on Jansenism show that he is, in the main, reliable.
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J.F. SOLLIER Transcribed by Christine J. Murray
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York