Rémy Ceillier

Rémy (or Rémi) Ceillier (1688 – November 17, 1761)^[1] was a Benedictine monk of the Lorraine Congregation of St. Vanne. An eminent French theologian, he was an ecclesiastical historian.

Rémy Ceillier
Born	14 May 1688  Bar-le-Duc, Duchy of Bar
Died	17 November 1761  (aged 73) Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, Kingdom of France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Historian, monk

Biography

Rémy Ceillier was born in Bar-le-Duc. He received his early education at the Jesuit College at Bar-le-Duc. After completing the course of humanities and rhetoric, he entered, in 1705, the monastery of Moyenmoutier in the Vosges, belonging to the Benedictine congregation of St-Vannes and St-Hydulphe.^[2]

Later he was appointed professor in the same monastery, a position which he held for six years. In 1716 he was made dean of Moyenmoutier, in 1718 prior of the monastery of Saint Jacques de Neufchâteau,^[3] in 1724 assistant to Charles de Vassimont at the priory of Flavigny-sur-Moselle, and on the latter's death in 1733 prior of that monastery. Under his wise administration this monastery flourished.

Works

While a professor at Moyenmoutier, he wrote an "Apologie de la morale des Pères, contre les injustes accusations du sieur Jean Barbeyrac, professeur en droit et en histoire à Lausanne" (Paris, 1718). This was a dissertation of forty pages establishing the authority of the Fathers of the Church; afterwards the author follows step by step the arguments of Barbeyrac, and defends individually those Fathers whom he had attacked — Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Augustine, and others.^[2]

This was followed by the Histoire générale des auteurs sacrés et ecclésiastiques (23 vols., Paris, 1729–1763), a history and analysis of the writings of ecclesiastical writers of the first thirteen centuries.^[2][4] A later and improved edition in 14 volumes was produced in Paris in 1858. Ceillier's other work, Apologie de la morale des Pères de l'Église (Paris, 1718), also won fame.

The most valuable portion of Ceillier's Histoire généale des auteurs sacrés et ecclésiastiques is that dealing with the Church fathers of the first six centuries. Here the author was able to draw upon the writings of Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont and use the scholarly Benedictine editions of the Church fathers.^[1] Charges of Jansenism made against Ceillier in his lifetime and afterwards find no substantiation in his writings, and the treatment accorded to the author and his works by Pope Benedict XIV shows that the pope had no doubts as to his orthodoxy.

References

1. The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. (James Strong and John McClintock, eds.) Harper and Brothers; NY; 1880
2. Healy, Patrick. "Rémi Ceillier." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
3. "Remi Ceillier", The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3 ed., ( F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds.) OUP, 2005 ISBN 9780192802903
4. The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity, (Bruce W. Longenecker, David E. Wilhite, ed.) Cambridge University Press, 2023 ISBN 9781108671293

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ceillier, Remy". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Rémi Ceillier". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.