Abbé Maury

Jean-Sifrein Maury (26 June 1746 – 10 May 1817) was a French cardinal, archbishop, and bishop of Montefiascone.

The son of a very poor cobbler, he was born on at Valréas in the Comtat-Venaissin, the enclave within France that belonged to the pope. His acuteness was observed by the priests of the seminary at Avignon, where he was educated and took orders. He tried his fortune by writing éloges of famous persons, then a favorite practice; in 1771, his Éloge on Fénelon was pronounced by the French Academy as second only to that by La Harpe.

The real foundation of his fortunes was the success of a panegyric on Saint Louis delivered before the Académie française in 1772, which caused him to be recommended for an abbacy in commendam. In 1777 he published under the title of Discours choisis his panegyrics on Saint Louis, Saint Augustine and Fénelon, his remarks on Bossuet and his Essai sur l'éloquence de la chaire, a volume which contains much good criticism, and remained a French classic through the nineteenth century, as long as elegant rhetoric was valued in the pulpit. The book was often reprinted as Principes de l'éloquence. He became a favorite preacher in Paris, and was Lent preacher at court in 1781, when King Louis XVI said of his sermon: "If the abbé had said only a few words on religion, he would have discussed every possible subject."

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