Jean Grou

Jean Nicolas Grou (23 November 1731 – 13 December 1803) was a French Roman Catholic mystic and spiritual writer.

Philip Yancey says that Jean Nicolas Grou was "a mystic from the eighteenth century, [who] prescribed that healthy prayer should be humble, reverent, loving, confident, and persevering — in other words, the exact opposite of impatient."

Jean Nicholas Grou was born at Calais, in the diocese of Boulogne. He was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, which at that time was under the direction of the Jesuits. At the age of fifteen, he was admitted to the Jesuit noviciate. He made his first vows at the age of seventeen, and was afterwards employed in teaching, according to the custom of the Society. In this employment his taste for literature was developed. He was particularly fond of Plato and Cicero, in whose writings he found, along with a great wealth of style, finer thoughts and a purer code of morals than in the majority of ancient authors. The first fruit of his labours in Greek philosophy was a French translation of Plato's Republic. He went on to translate Plato's Laws and then his other dialogues.

The decree suppressing the Jesuits in France obliged Grou to seek refuge in Lorraine. He lived for several years at Pont-à-Mousson, where he made his final vows in 1765 or 1766. After the death of Stanislas, the Jesuits were also banished from Lorraine. Grou moved to Holland, where he continued his labours on Greek philosophy. He later returned to Paris, where he took the name of Leclaire. At Paris he led a very retired life, dividing his time between his studies and his religious duties. At first the Archbishop of Paris, Christophe de Beaumont, employed him to write upon subjects relating to religion; the Archbishop also granted him for some time a pension, which eventually ceased. A holy nun of the Visitation, whose acquaintance he made through one of his brother priests, and who was believed to be favoured with special graces, induced him to enter upon the way of perfection and a life of prayer. He gave to literary work all the time which was left to him after fulfilling his spiritual exercises and the cares of his ministry. The result of this laborious life was the composition of several books upon matters of piety. His first work of this kind was La Morale tirée des Confessions de Saint Augustin (1786), in which his design was to contrast the morals of Christianity with the systems of unbelievers, drawing his principles from the writings of Saint Augustine. This work was succeeded by Les Caractéres de la Vraie Devotion (Marks of True Devotion, 1788), in which Grou defined what true devotion is, and also its motives, its object, and its means. This volume was quickly followed by the Maximes Spirituelles, avec des Explications (Spiritual Maxims Explained, 1789).

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