Philosopher · Modern
Joseph de Maistre
1753–1821 · Counter-revolutionary traditionalism
Savoyard diplomat and layman; never censured, though his ultramontanism was more extreme than Vatican I's definition.
A Savoyard diplomat who read the French Revolution as a providential chastisement and wrote the most savage critique of Enlightenment rationalism in Catholic letters. In “Du Pape” he argued that European order depends on an infallible papacy, and in the “Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg” that sacrifice, suffering and authority lie at the root of all society.
Why he matters: The founder of nineteenth-century ultramontanism and the intellectual ancestor of Catholic counter-revolutionary thought; his influence runs through Donoso Cortés, Veuillot and the climate of Vatican I.
Where to be careful
His near-fideist distrust of reason and his theory of the executioner and sacrifice go beyond what the Church teaches; Vatican I defined papal infallibility far more narrowly than he had proposed.
Reading
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Considerations on FranceJoseph de Maistre · The Revolution read as providence; short and electric.
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The Pope (Du Pape)Joseph de Maistre · The ultramontane manifesto.
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Joseph de Maistre and the Legacy of EnlightenmentCarolina Armenteros (ed.) · A balanced scholarly introduction.
Documented positions
Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.