Carolina Armenteros, professor of humanities and social sciences and director of the Center for European Studies at Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, will present on "Joseph de Maistre’s On the Pope (1819): An Ultramontane Classic" in an event co-sponsored by the History of Philosophy Forum, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and Department of Theology.
Light refreshments will be provided.
Abstract: Inspired by its author’s experiences as ambassador of Sardinia in Saint Petersburg, On the Pope was paradoxically and enthusiastically received by those opposed to Maistre’s politics, in particular the utopian socialists and Auguste Comte (1798-1857), the founder of sociology. Its legacy to the Catholic world was, however, also substantial: from Félicité de Lamennais (1782-1854) and the Mennaisians to Juan Donoso Cortés (1809-1853), Louis Veuillot (1813-1883) and the circle around The Universe [L’Univers], the book continued to stimulate often radical and revolutionary proposals that certified it as the founding text of political ultramontanism. This talk examines the book’s main ideas in historical and biographical context as well as its controversial influence on Catholics and their critics, reflecting on what was perhaps its deepest impact: its background role in the declaration of papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council (1870).
Originally published at historyofphilosophy.nd.edu.