PERRAUD (Adolphe Louis Albert) - Lot 152

PERRAUD (Adolphe Louis Albert) Lyon, February 7, 1828 - Autun, February 10, 1906. Oratorian, future cardinal, religious historian and bishop of Autun. Important L.A.S. "Adolphe Perraud", Paris, June 22, 1860; 4 pages in-8 on embossed paper from the Oratory of the Immaculate Conception. A very fine philosophical and religious letter addressed to a close intellectual correspondent, in which Perraud develops lengthy considerations on Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, spiritualist philosophy and the doctrinal debates of his time, before evoking the Italian political situation and European national tensions. Perraud begins by thanking his correspondent for sending a work dedicated to M. Saisset, which he deems: "very interesting and very well written". He then paints a nuanced portrait of the philosopher Émile Saisset, a former teacher at the École normale, whom he admires: "the finesse of his mind, the sharpness of his criticism", while sometimes reproaching him for "the indecision and inconsistency of his philosophical credo". The letter becomes particularly important when Perraud addresses the question of Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas, revealing the intellectual debates in French Catholicism under the Second Empire. In particular, he writes: "I would have to ask you where M. Saisset found in S. Augustin and in S. Thomas the eternity of creation". He then develops a remarkable doctrinal reflection: "I hold S. Thomas as one of the firmest and most complete philosophical geniuses". Perraud then contrasts modern spiritualist philosophy with the ancient Christian tradition: " S. Augustine had incorporated spiritualist philosophy into Christianity, which in my opinion was the philosophy of St. Paul and the Gospel". A passage of great interest for the history of the reception of Saint Augustine and Thomism in the 19th century. The last part of the letter takes on a contemporary political dimension. Perraud refers with concern to events in Italy and the question of national unity: "Voilà donc cette terrible guerre fratricide commenceée!" A direct allusion to the context of the Italian unification wars and the European upheavals of 1859-1860. He criticizes federative and nationalist logics, which in his view are likely to lead to the moral and political ruin of peoples: "We have the grave error of confusing the principle of nationalities with evangelical justice". A fine example of French liberal Catholic thought under the Second Empire, combining philosophy, Augustinian theology and contemporary geopolitical concerns. Full signature: "Adolphe Perraud. Very good overall condition despite some marginal foxing; fine Oratoire embossed paper.