JUDDE, CLAUDE

A representative of the mystical tradition of Jesuit spirituality; b. Rouen, Dec. 19, 1661; d. Paris, March 11, 1735. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1677 at Paris, made his studies there, taught at the Collège de Clermont, and was ordained. He spent his third year of probation at Rouen in 1691. So successful was Judde in his preaching assignments, first in the provinces, then in Paris, that Louis bourdaloue wanted the young priest to be his successor and literary executor. His superiors, however, intended Judde to occupy himself with the spiritual formation of young Jesuits. He was instructor of priests in the third year of probation at Rouen (1709–13), and then rector of the Paris novitiate (1713–21), in which office he fulfilled the functions of instructor of the third year of probation and novice master. From 1721 to 1722 he was rector of the Collège Saint-Thomas at Rennes. He died at the professed house at Paris. Judde wrote nothing for publication, but notes made of his retreats and conferences were edited and published posthumously, at first piecemeal but finally in a collection by Abbé Lenoir-Duparc, Oeuvres spirituelles du P. Judde (last reissued by Lecoffre, 5 v. Paris 1898–1910). The volumes contain a 30-day retreat, retreats for religious, treatises on confession, prayer, and the Mass, and spiritual exhortations. Judde's importance lies in his continuity with the mystical tradition in Jesuit spirituality, whose chief exponent was Louis lallemant. In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius he found his most characteristic notion, divine liberality calling forth and rewarding human generosity.

Bibliography: Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus 4:863–866; 9:520–521. j. de guibert, La Spiritualité de la Compagnie de Jésus, ed. e. lamalle (Rome 1953). r. daeschler, "Un Temoin de la tradition Mystique," Revue d'ascétique et de mystique 3 (1922) 224–249; "Le P. Judde et la tradition mystique " v. 11 (1930) 17–36.

[f. j. bergen]