Augustin Barruel
| Augustin Barruel | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
October 2, 1741 Villeneuve-de-Berg, Ardèche, France |
| Died | October 5, 1820 (aged 79) Paris, France |
| Occupation | priest, historian, theologian |
| Subject | Counterrevolution, anti-masonry |
| Notable works | Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism |
Abbé Augustin Barruel (October 2, 1741 – October 5, 1820) was a French publicist and Jesuit priest. He is now mostly known for setting forth the conspiracy theory involving the Bavarian Illuminati and the Jacobins in his book Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism (original title Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire du Jacobinisme) published in 1797. In short, Barruel wrote that the French Revolution was planned and executed by the secret societies.
Augustin Barruel was born at Villeneuve de Berg (Ardèche). He entered the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits in 1756, and taught grammar at Toulouse in 1762. The storm against the Jesuits in France drove him from his country and he was occupied in college work in Moravia and Bohemia until the suppression of the order in 1773. He then returned to France and his first literary work appeared in 1774: Ode sur le glorieux avenement de Louis Auguste au trone. (Ode to the glorious advent to the throne of Louis Auguste).That same year he became a collaborator of the Année littéraire, edited by Fréron. His first important work was Les Helveiennes, ou Lettres Provinciales philosophiques, (The Helveiennes or philosophical Provincial Letters) published in 1781.
In the meantime, national affairs in France were growing more and more turbulent, but Barruel continued his literary activity, which from now on occupied itself specially with public questions. In 1789 appeared Lettres sur le Divorce, a refutation of a book by Hennet. From 1788 to 1792 he edited the famous Journal Ecclesiastique founded by Joseph Dinouart in 1760. In this periodical was published Barruel's La Conduite du. S. Siège envers la France, a vigorous defense of Pope Pius VI. He likewise wrote a number of pamphlets against the civil oath demanded from ecclesiastics and against the new civil constitution during 1790 and 1791. He afterward gathered into one Collection Ecclésiastique all of the works relative to the clergy and civil constitution.
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