Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon 855091 225074026 2008-07-11T19:27:33Z Bearcat 24902 {{Cleanup|date=March 2007}} {{POV|date=December 2007}} {|align="right" |{{Infobox Person | name = Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon | image = Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon - Project Gutenberg eText 13778.jpg | caption = Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon | birth_date = [[18 April]] [[1648]] | birth_place = [[Montargis]], in the [[Orléanais]] | death_date = [[9 June]] [[1717]] | death_place = [[Blois]] }} |- |} '''Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon''' (commonly known as '''Madame Guyon''') ([[April 18]], [[1648]] - [[June 9]], [[1717]]) was a [[France|French]] [[mysticism|mystic]] and one of the key advocates of [[Quietism (Christian philosophy)|Quietism]]. Quietism was considered [[heresy|heretical]] by the [[Roman Catholic Church]], and she was imprisoned from 1695 to 1703 after publishing a book on the topic, ''A Short and Easy Method of Prayer''. ==Early life and marriage== Guyon was the daughter of ''Claude Bouvier'', a procurator of the tribunal of [[Montargis]]. She was of a sensitive and delicate constitution, she was sickly in her childhood and her education was neglected. She spent her childhood between the convent, and the home of her well to do parents, moving nine times in ten years. Guyon's parents were very religious people, and they gave her an especially pious training. Other important impressions from her youth that remained with her came from reading the works of [[St. Francis de Sales]], and from certain nuns, her teachers. At one time she wanted to be a nun, but soon changed her mind. When she was 16 years old, after turning down many other proposals, she married a wealthy gentelman of [[Montargis]], Jacques Guyon, age thirty eight. During her twelve years of marriage, Guyon suffered terribly at the hands of her mother-in-law and maidservant. Adding to her misery were the deaths of her half sister, followed by her mother, her beloved son, and of her daughter and father who died within days of each other. Guyon continued belief in God's perfect plan and that she would be blessed in suffering. To this end she was, when she bore another son and daughter shortly before her husband's death. After twelve years of an unhappy marriage, Madame Guyon had become a widow at the age of 28. During her marriage, Guyon became introduced to mysticism by [[Père Lacombe]], a [[Barnabite]], and was instructed by him. ==Life after marriage== After her husband's death, Madame Guyon felt herself drawn to [[Geneva]]. She left her children and repaired to [[Annecy]], to [[Thonon]], where she was to find [[Father Lacombe]]{this is the wrong link} (July, [[1681]]) and again place herself under his direction. She began to disseminate her mystical ideas, but, in consequence of the effects they produced, the [[Bishop of Geneva]], [[D'Aranthon d'Alex]], who had at first viewed her coming with satisfaction, asked her to leave his diocese, and at the same time expelled Father Lacombe, who moved to the [[Bishop of Vercelli]]. Madame Guyon followed her director to [[Turin]], then returned to France and stayed at [[Grenoble]], where she published the "Moyen court" (January, [[1685]]) and spread her doctrine. But here, too, the [[Bishop of Grenoble]], [[Cardinal Le Camus]], was perturbed by the opposition which she aroused. At his request she left the city; she rejoined Father Lacombe at [[Vercelli]] and a year later they went back to [[Paris]] (July, [[1686]]). Right away Madame Guyon set about to gain adherents for her mystical theories. But the moment was ill-chosen. [[Louis XIV]], who had recently been exerting himself to have the [[Quietism]] of [[Molinos]] condemned at [[Rome]], was by no means pleased to see gaining ground, even in his own capital, a form of mysticism, which, to him, resembled that of Molinos in many of its aspects. By his order Father Lacombe was shut up in the [[Bastille]], and afterwards in the castles of [[Oloron]] and of [[Lourdes]]. The arrest of Madame Guyon, delayed by illness, followed on [[29 January]] [[1688]]; brought about, she claimed, by Father de La Motte, her brother, and a [[Barnabite]]. She was not released until seven months later, after she had placed in the hands of the theologians, who had examined her book, a retraction of the propositions which it contained. Some days later she met, at [[Beyne]], in the [[Duchess de Béthune-Charrost]]'s country house, [[François Fénelon]], who was to be the most famous of her disciples. She won him by her piety and her understanding of the paths of spirituality. Between them there was established a union of piety and of friendship into which no element ever insinuated itself that could possibly be taken to resemble carnal love, even unconscious. Through Fénelon the influence of Madame Guyon penetrated, or was increased in, religious circles powerful at court--among the Beauvilliers, the Chevreuses, the Montemarts--who were under his spiritual direction. [[Madame de Maintenon]], and through her, the young ladies of [[Saint-Cyr]], were soon gained over to the new mysticism. This was the height of Madame Guyon's fortune, most of all when Fénelon was appointed on [[18 August]], [[1688]] as the tutor to the Duke of Burgundy, the king's grandson. Before long, however, the [[Bishop of Chartres]], in whose diocese Saint-Cyr happened to be, took alarm at the spiritual ideas which were spreading there. Warned by him, Madame de Maintenon sought the advice of persons whose piety and prudence recommended them to her, and these advisers were unanimous in their reprobation of Madame Guyon's ideas. Madame Guyon then asked for an examination of her conduct and her writings by civil and ecclesiastical judges. The king consented that her writings should be submitted to the judgment of [[Bossuet]], the [[Bishop of Châlons]] (afterwards [[Archbishop of Paris]], the [[Cardinal de Noailles]]), and of [[Tronson]], superior of the [[Society of Saint-Sulpice]]. After a certain number of secret conferences held at [[Issy]], where Tronson was detained by a sickness, the commissioners presented in thirty-four articles the principles of Catholic teaching as to spirituality and the interior life (four of these articles were suggested by Fénelon, who in February had been nominated to the [[Archbishopric of Cambrai]]). But on [[10 October]] [[1694]] the Archbishop of Paris, who had been excluded from the conferences at Issy, anticipated their results by condemning the published works of Madame Guyon. She, fearing another arrest, took refuge for some months at [[Meaux]], with the permission of Bossuet, then bishop of that see. After placing in his hands her signed submission to the thirty-four articles of Issy, she returned secretly to [[Paris]]. At Paris, the police, however, arrested her on [[24 December]], [[1695]] and imprisoned her, first at [[Vincennes]], then in a [[convent]] at [[Vaugirard]], and then in the [[Bastille]], where on [[23 August]], [[1699]], she again signed a retraction of her theories and an undertaking to refrain from further spreading them. From that time she took no part, personally, in public discussions, but the controversy about her ideas only grew all the more heated between Bossuet and [[Fénelon]]. Madame Guyon remained imprisoned in the Bastille until [[21 March]], [[1703]], when she went, after more than seven years of captivity, to live with her son in a village in the [[Diocese of Blois]]. There she passed some fifteen years in silence and isolation, spending her time writing poetry. She was still venerated by the Beauvilliers, the Chevreuses, and Fénelon, who never failed to communicate with her whenever safe and discreet intermediaries were to be found. ==Mysticism== Guyon believed that we should pray all the time, whatever one was doing to be also spending time with God. "Prayer is the key of perfection and of sovereign happiness; it is the efficacious means of getting rid of all vices and of acquiring all virtues; for the way to become perfect is to live in the presence of God. He tells us this Himself: "walk before me, and be thou perfect" {{bibleverse||Genesis|17:1|KJV}}. Prayer alone can bring you into His presence, and keep you there continually."<ref>Short and Easy Method of Prayer</ref> As she wrote in one of her poems: "There was a period when I chose, A time and place for prayer ... But now I seek that constant prayer, In inward stillness known ..." ==Death and influence== In [[1704]], her works were published in [[The Netherlands]], becoming very popular. Many English and Germans visited her at [[Blois]], among them [[Johann Wettstein]], and [[Lord Forbes]]. She died at the age of 68, in Blois, believing that she had died submissive to the [[Catholic Church]], from which she had never had any intention of separating herself. Her published works, the ''Moyen Court'' and the ''Règles des associées à l'Enfance de Jésu'', were both placed on the [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]] in 1688. Fénelon's ''Maximes des saints'' was also branded with the condemnation of both the [[Pope]] and the bishops of France. Her disciples at the Court of [[Louis XIV]] were persons of piety and of exemplary life. Madame Guyon's most devout disciples after her death were to be found among the Protestants and especially the Quakers. Evangelicals such as Spurgeon were also influenced. Her works were translated into English and German, and her ideas, forgotten in France, have been read in [[Germany]], [[Switzerland]], [[England]], and [[Americas|America]]. ==Supplement to the life of Madame Guyon== An 18th century manuscript, hand-written in French, entitled "Supplement to the life of Madame Guyon" exists in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. This anonymously written manuscript, translated recently by Nancy C. James and placed in an appendix in "The Pure Love of Madame Guyon" - the supplement sets forth many fresh details about the Great Conflict which surrounded Madame Guyon. The author of the manuscript provides new insight into Guyon's theology and life. ==Bibliography== ===Works=== {{wikisource author}} *Vie de Madame Guyon, Ecrite Par Elle-Même (''Life of Madame Guyon, Written by Herself''), 3 vols, Paris, 1791 *Le Moyen Court Et Autres Écrits Spirituels (''Short and Easy Method of Prayer'') 1685 *Opuscules spirituels (''Spiritual Opuscules''), 2 vols, Paris, 1790 *Commentaire au Cantique des cantiques de Salomon (''Song of Songs of Solomon'') 1688 *Les Torrents Spirituels (''Spiritual Torrents'') 1682 *Commentaire sur Livre de Job (1714) *Règles des assocées à l'Enfance de Jésu ===Biographical=== *Nancy C. James, The Pure Love of Madame Guyon: The Great Conflict in King Louis XIV's Court - University Press of America (June 28, 2007) ISBN 0761837574 *Nancy C. James, The Spiritual Teachings of Madame Guyon - Including Translations into English from Her Writings - Edward Mellen Press (October 2007) ISBN 0773452893 *Coslet, Dorothy ''Madame Jeanne Guyon: Child of Another World'', Christian Literature Crusade, 1984, ISBN 0875081444 *Henri Delacroix, ''Études sur le mysticisme'' [Studies on Mysticism] (Paris, 1908). *Thomas Cogswell Upham, ''Life, religious opinions and experience of Madame Guyon'' (New York, 1854) *Louis Guerrier, ''Madame Guyon, sa vie, sa doctrine, et son influence'', (Paris dissertation, 1881), reviewed by [[Brunetière]], ''Nouvelles Études critiques'' [New Critical Studies], vol. ii. ==See also== *[[List of Christian mystics]] *[[Christian mysticism]] *[[Quietism (Christian philosophy)|Quietism]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ''This article incorporates text from the [[:s:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)|Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)]], a publication now in the public domain.'' ==External links== * {{Gutenberg author}} *[http://www.ccel.org/g/guyon/?show=worksBy Works by Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon] at [[CCEL]] *[http://home.infionline.net/~ddisse/guyon.html Short Biography] ''by Dorothy Disse'' *[http://www.dtl.org/ethics/article/mysticism.htm Guyon's Continuing Influence] {{DEFAULTSORT:Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte}} [[Category:1648 births]] [[Category:1717 deaths]] [[Category:People from Centre]] [[Category:Christian mystics]] [[Category:French religious writers]] [[Category:French spiritual writers]] [[Category:French autobiographers]] [[cs:Madame Jeanne Guyon]] [[de:Jeanne Marie Guyon du Chesnoy]] [[eo:Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon]] [[fr:Madame Guyon]] [[it:Jeanne Guyon]] [[ja:ギュイヨン夫人]] [[pl:Madame Guyon]] [[fi:Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon]] [[sv:Madame Guyon]] [[zh:盖恩夫人]]