ISBN : 9782296050341
VOLTAIRE AND MASSILLON: AFFINITIES OF THE HEART
Patrick Lee
The Petit Carêmeis a series of ten short sermons preached by the oratorian Jean- Baptiste Massillon during the Lent of 1718 in the Chapel at the Tuileries for the nstruction and edification of Louis XV, then eight years old. Massillon had recently been named Bishop of Clermont, and he withdrew from the court to take up his episcopal duties the next year. In his note to these verses Beuchot stated that the Petit Carêmewas "la lecture favorite de Voltaire, qui avait, dit-on, sur sa table de nuit Athalie et le Petit Carême" (X, 26, n. 2). This brief note with the enigmatic "dit- on" could understandably pique the curiosity of any student of Voltaire. Given Voltaire's disdain for sennonneurs in general (XIX, 320 ; XX, 111) what was the origin of Beuchot's assertion and what was the relationship between the last of the great classic orators in France and the philosopher of Ferney ?