Contenu du sommaire : La prière dans le christianisme moderne.

Private Prayer / Public Prayer : The Act of Praying for the Nuns of Liege Researchers working on religious communities in early modern Liege have discovered a large number of documents on female praying in nunneries, all orders taken together. These sources come from the ecclesiastical magisterium and from nuns. They are examined with a view to measuring the room given to individuality within a given community, and more precisely in this paper, to highlighting how private and community prayers were articulated in Cistercian and Annonciade Céleste nunneries.

Invitation and initiation to prayer in Martin Luther's letters Luther's correspondence is a source of prime importance for examining his practice of prayer. The invitation to prayer is to be found more particularly in two sub-genres : the informative letters and the letters of comfort ("Trostbriefe"). In the former, Luther asks his correspondents to commit themselves, by intercessory prayer, to God in the battle against Satan ; Luther himself is one of the beneficiaries of this prayer. In the latter, he frequently shows the content, made up by the Bible but also by his own theology, and the attitudes of prayer meant to overcome suffering and « spiritual sadness » ; here Luther is a role model.

The Sick Man's Solace and Preparation for Death : Reformed Handbooks Studies on early modern « ars moriendi » have seldom taken into account denomination, probably because the number of Protestant works has been underestimated. The examination of a corpus of about fifty French reformed books makes it possible to draw a typology of these works as well as a classification according to their period of publication, to get an insight into their readership, and to introduce a discourse analysis. The comparison between reformed and catholic handbooks from the same period shows that there was a number of permanent features in early modern discourse on death, but more importantly, it exposes the patent specificity of reformed attitudes towards death in keeping with the Calvinistic understanding of salvation.

Pascal's Prayer to ask God about the good use of disease The prayer is examined through three main lines : first of all, Pascal is sick and cannot share in collective devotion ; thanks to the prayer, Pascal reaches the believers' community (1) ; adressing God, he addresses men (2) ; and shows the latter that the real meaning of the disease of body is the decline of the soul. The only true remedy is divine grace (3).

The Representation of Worshippers in Church in French Painting There are many pictures of praying Christians ; they usually represent medieval donors kneeling beside their patron saint, praying in groups under the Virgin's mantle, or preparing to die. Figures of more or less rapt witnesses are interspersed in large fresco decors. Theses figures are usually situated in the foreground so as to act as foils and to attest to the spiritual radiance of a particular scene. This paper aims at showing how French artists represented churches and animated them, by focusing on famous examples in the history of painting.

The « Leçons de Ténèbres » set to music, or the real effects of a theological dispute This work has its basis in, a dispute between the past Dean of Senslis Cathedral, Jean Deslyons (1615-1700) and his successor, about use rise of muscial instruments during the « offices de Ténèbres ». In spite of the opposition of the Ecclesiastical authorities, the secular succès of the « Leçons de Ténèbres » continued to increase during the years 1700-1730 but remained limited to a few convents in the capital. Howewer, including practices and attitudes coming from the Royal Academy of music and private concerts, these services played a prominent part in the movement of secularisation wich affected religious music at the dawn of the 18th century.

A Devout Man's Reactions to Preachers' Speeches : The Example of Africain Senault, Apothecary in Langres Does the religious behaviour of a devout man differ from that of ordinary believers at the dawn of the 17th century ? The unpublished "Journal" by the apothecary of Langres Africain Senault, who died in 1624, can help the researcher get an insight into the zeal with which a pious man who violently opposed Protestantism could respond to appeals by missionary clergymen. For Africain Senault, the best orator was the one who voiced his own convictions. These convictions were deeply rooted in the aftermath of the wars of religion, and were shared by a large part of the population - thus enabling the researcher to better understand the lack of support for any compromise policy.

The Jubilee's Practices of Devotion In their published pastorals and prayer books, bishops outlined the forms of devotion proper to the celebration of the Jubilee, enjoining the faithful to go beyond the practices prescribed in the papal bull. The worshippers' ability to do so was facilitated by the vast array of French and Latin prayers at their disposal (each language was employed to a specific end). Always attentive in their supervision of the faithful, bishops encouraged participation in processions, the collective practice of peregrination from station to station traditionally undertaken for the Jubilee. As a form of general devotional mobilization, this practice increased the faithful's feeling of belonging to the Church and favoured a growing recognition of the Pope's authority.

Lutheran Festivals for the Peace of Westphalia Neglected by historians, the relationships between war, peace and the development of a form of piety, first step in the expansion of pietism, is worth a new interpretation. The Thirty Years' War (1618- 1648) was a period of intensive circulation of the writings of Luther in regard to the problem of the righteous war. The new piety, of lutheran inspiration but unconfessional expression, was a source for the development of a political irenism and an origin of the intensive celebration of the treatise of Westphalia. The peace festivals which took place in 1648-1650 were confessional celebrations intended to channel personal piety and determined by the necessary redefinition of the political role of the clergy in the peace.

Collective Worshiping and Personal Piety in Breton Pilgrimages during the Counter-Reformation This paper - based on the example of Breton pilgrimages - aims at showing how the Counter- Reformation linked collective worshiping to personal piety. It seems that the Breton pilgrim had a collective approach to religion the 17th and 18th century. More than ever, it focused on the « pardon » with its intense group rituals such as processions. These were meant to manage the pilgrims as a crowd but also to involve them individually - letting them carry a banner, a candle or a personal « ex-voto ». The paradox is that the great aim of the Council of Trent - i.e. to promote individual worship - could only come true through a growing emphasis on collective worshipping.

Pilgrims' Words The pilgrimage book can be considered as an intermediate genre since it is neither a piety treaty nor a plain worshipper's testimony. Authors present their own notion of ideal pious behaviour. These works are thus key documents when it comes to assessing the evolution of prayers as they were presented to the flock between the early 17th and late 18th century, during which period formulate prayers slowly became pre-eminent.

The Worship of Relies in Limousin in the 19th Century The exhibition of the relies of Saints for public worship occurred every seven years in Limousin. The celebrations gave pious people the opportunity to go near the relics and kiss them. From the 1840s onwards, the bishops of Limoges insisted on the regional character of the worshipped Saints, and encouraged outdoor ceremonies and collective devotions, while ignoring individual devotion and the kiss to the relics, which was the highlight of the celebrations for worshippers.

The spirituality of the companies for the Propagation of faith : a militant devotion These associations of devout Catholics were not groups of prayers intended for the spiritual perfection of their members. They had been founded to work for the conversion of heretics and possibly of infidels. They however organized an original practice of religion entirely subordinated to this objective : spreading the faith. Individual prayers asked God to support the work of the company. Collective prayers made it possible, among other things, to promote the devotions most influenced by the Counter-Reformation. The most sincere faith was sometimes put in the service of persecution.

The Devotion to the Sacred Heart : Brotherhoods and Devotional Books We know that the devotion to the Sacred Heart greatly spread, not only in France but in all Catholic countries during the 18th century. The study of some devotional books published in France helps draw an accurate picture of the contents of this devotion. Both methods adopted here - case studies and serial sources - point to the same conclusion when applied to particular examples, namely the difficulty of attaining « pure dévotion », torn as it was between « le culte de l'amour divin », « le plus pur amour de Jésus-Christ », and the multiplicity of practices which could not survive without patronage.

The Piety Practices of the School of Vannes : the « Vannes' Retreat » When Father Huby published "La retraite de Vannes ou la façon dont la retraite des hommes se fait à Vannes sous la conduite des Pères Jésuites" in 1678, the institution, wich was founded in 1661, drew an audience of over 2 500 people in about twenty retreat places. Individuals from varied backgrounds, lay people and clerics living several dozens of kilometres away came and lived in seclusion for a week, collectively searching for a spiritual gain. This paper deals with the reason for the founders' choice to cater for a socially and culturally diversified public, and the nature of the practives and methods in use.

Canticles : singing is adhering Grignion de Montfort, conscious as he was of the power of the text-music combination, offers a pastoral in which vocal parts are prominent. Even though his poetic output is recorded in writing, it pertains to functioning, assimilating and memorizing processes that are characteristic of oral tradition songs. In the poems, musical and thematic choices, form and meaning help collective memory recording, which in turn makes the canticle a tool for group worship. Beyond that effect, Montfort's work reaches into the human individual, thus helping implement a more personal process.

The Worshipper in his « cabinet d'oraison » in the Early 17th Century Early seventeenth-century illustrated edification works were often inspired by Jesuits and had become the speciality of Anvers presses. The need to establish a new Christian anthropology is remarkably conveyed in several of these works. The representation of the praying worshipper may seem to conform to well-established iconographie conventions but it actually adapts to this psychological and symbolical renewal, either by updating devices such as the « signposting » of the picture (didascalia), or by resorting to astute uses of the allegorical and emblematic lexicon. The praying worshipper and the paintings on the wall of his « cabinet d'oraison », can be seen as essential motifs in this respect.

Lutheran Domestic Devotion : Instructions, Images and Practices From the last third of the 17th century onwards, the process of « domestication » of religious life developed in Lutheran Germany. Theological discourse expressed a desire for the home to become a place of devotion as important as the church. The 16th century and 17th century were characterized by a massive production of devotional books for domestic use. Finally, collections of canticles and prayers published at the time underwent a change in form and content, indeed, they did not solely meet doctrinal and liturgical objectives and criteria any longer.

The Bed, the Virgin and Death : Intimacy, and Devotional Pictures in Early Modern Times Why were there often pious images in bedrooms in early modern times, as in our time ? Using examples from the Germanic world, this paper will address this question using sources - inventories of furniture, pictures of homes, drafts for pieces of furniture, and most of all, painted and carved pieces of furniture which can still be seen today - associated with what is ambiguously called « culture matérielle. » They are relatively numerous and reliable and stress the importance of the exact location of pictures in domestic space, thus enabling the researcher to partly reassess the relationship between devotional pictures and private piety.

The importance of private worship for French Protestants in the 18th Century Private worship is a traditional feature among French Protestants. But it is difficult to assess it at the time of the « Désert », because there are little sources and they raise intricate methodological problems. It is nevertheless possible to compile a list of the most used praybooks : especially psalmbooks and 17th century books. But private worship was the focus of an important debate, because it was feared that it might replace public worship, at a time when the latter was forbidden by government.

From Forbidden Prayer to Impossible Prayer The point has long been not so much to teach how to pray as to force Catholic people to pray according to the norm, using a small number of texts which could not be modified because of their sacred nature. Any modification was seen as a sacrilege. Some examples stress the large number of this kind of proceedings and their seeming intensification during the second half of the 17th century. In the following century, a large number of men and women, torn between the obligation to address God in a strictly codified language and the discovery by Newton that He was both almighty and terribly distant, must have wondered how useful prayers were. Leibnitz had already introduced this doubt and Rousseau turned it into rejection.