(Congrégation de l'Oratoire)
Oratorians (Congrégation de l'Oratoire). This religious order, springing from the Counter-Reformation, was founded in 1570 in Italy by St Philip Neri to reinvigorate Catholic doctrine and to enhance the intellectual and moral qualities of the priesthood. Brought to France in 1611 by Bérulle, the Order counted, by 1629, over 70 colleges, from Dieppe to Toulon, Nantes to Nancy. (Juilly, whose educational and pedagogical innovations would constantly inspire all sister establishments, was founded in 1638.) But such good fortune irritated powerful opponents (including the Jesuits), who charged the Oratorians with disregarding their own regulations. Indeed, despite its clear commitment to education, the order had not been founded for that purpose but for the training of priests (in fact, the supreme goal of Condren, the second general of the order, would have been to obtain responsibility for the seminaries). Though rivalry in the field of education was to compromise the equanimity of the Oratorians, at least until the closing of the Jesuit colleges in 1762, a more serious cause of disturbance was Jansenism: a small minority (starting with Quesnel, Soanen, and Duguet) made the whole order suspect and long caused it much anxiety. By the time of its suppression (1792), the Oratorians had given to French religious and intellectual life Mascaron, Malebranche, Massillon, Thomassin, and Lamy.
[John Renwick]
