MAURY (Jean Sifrein, 1746-1817), ecclésiastique et homme politique, prêtre, cardinale, archevêque, puis évêque et académicien.

Lot 9
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400 - 500 EUR
MAURY (Jean Sifrein, 1746-1817), ecclésiastique et homme politique, prêtre, cardinale, archevêque, puis évêque et académicien.
Two autograph sermons. Sermon of 1781, title and 30 pages and sermon of 1783, title and 36 pages in-4, bound with cloth cords. Manuscripts written for the most part in double columns, with important annotations, some in Latin, index and erasures. Sermons entitled "Last copy put in the net (for preparation of a publication) on the passion of our lord Jesus Christ, preached at Versailles in the presence of King Louis XVI on Good Friday 1781 and 1783". Following a warning on the title page of the first sermon "the two sermons on the mystery were at first only a discourse; but then the subject was so enlarged by the fruitfulness of the plan, that its extent obliged me to preach it in two sessions... This warning must be printed in italics". Thus begins the first sermon on the passion "Sire, where must I stand today to be heard? Is it in heaven, is it on earth that I am going to speak? Everything becomes new to me, everything is changed around me. It seems to me that I am entering the house of the Lord for the first time; and I no longer recognize myself in the midst of the spectacle that presents itself to my sight, this church is no longer a temple, it is the holy mountain of Calvary". These two rare manuscripts are less sermons than lectures of a certain eloquent boldness. King Louis XVI said after his sermons, if Abbot Maury had told us a little about religion, he would have told us about everything.
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