PBA Galleries

[4] pp. (sm. 4to)  20.x16 cm. (8¼x6¼"), unbound.

The official Vatican printing of the papal bull of 12 March 1699, a famous act of censorship condemning Archbishop Fenelon's book "Explication des maximes des Saints" and placing in on the Index. The work, published in 1697, propounded a controversial philosophy of self-abrogation which proved troublesome to the Royal Court. Louis XIV, siding with Bossuet, Fenelon's arch-rival in this affair, "brought all the batteries of French influence to bear on the Pope." The book was finally banned in 1699 and Fenelon, banished from Court, went into exile in his diocese in Cambrai. The episode has been described as "the greatest calamity of his life" - Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition.