Lamennais et Bossuet

Lamennais was hard on Bossuet: in his eyes, the seventeenth-century preacher had committed the fundamental mistake of subordinating the pope to the council. But his fire was aimed mainly at his contemporary Gallicans — those who wished to resurrect Louis XIV for the nineteenth century. For Lamennais, Bossuet remained a model for preachers on account of his prophetic fervor, his simplicity, and the solid structure of his discourse, standing out above all as a magnificent poet.