SAINT-JURE, JEAN BAPTISTE

Jesuit spiritual director and writer; b. Metz, France, Feb. 19, 1588; d. Paris, April 30, 1657. Saint-Jure entered the Society of Jesus on Sept. 4, 1604, and taught grammar and philosophy for a time. In 1645 and 1646 he was spiritual director at the College of Clermont. He served as rector of Amiens, Alençon, and Orleans and later was in charge of the professed house at Paris. He spent some time in England during the reign of Charles I. Many mystics came to him throughout his life for spiritual direction—among them the Baron of Renty and Mother Jeanne of the Angels. He also acted as spiritual director for the cloistered Dominican nuns of Paris, an exceptional position for a Jesuit. The superior of the convent, Mother Elizabeth of the Child Jesus, wrote in glowing terms of his inspirational guidance in bringing her Dominicans safely through the storm of Jansenism.

Saint–Jure had immediate success as a writer and exercised a profound influence upon the Christian piety of 17th-century France. His book on the life of the Baron of Renty went through seven editions by 1654, three years after its initial publication. His other published works include a treatise on the knowledge and love of Jesus (1634); meditations on the important truths of the faith, and on the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways to perfection (1637); a treatise on the means for the main actions of the Christian life (1644); considerations on the crucified Savior (1643); a treatise in two volumes on the spiritual life (1646); meditations on the principal mysteries of Christ's life, also in two volumes (1653); a consideration of Christ's instructions to men (1649); a treatise on faith, hope, and charity (1646); and a treatise on the vows of religious life and the qualities necessary for living the community life of a religious (1658).

Bibliography: h. brÉmond, Histoire littéraire du sentiment réligieux en France depuis la fin des fuerres de religion jusqu'à nos jours (Paris 1911–36) 3:258–279. m. m. de mauroy, La Vie de la vénérable mère Élizabeth de l'Enfant Jésus (Paris 1680). c. sommervogel et al., Bibliothéque de la Compagnie de Jésus (Brussels–Paris 1890–1932) 7:416–429.

[p. k. clark]