Tronson, Louis
TRONSON, LOUIS
Third superior of the Society of St. Sulpice, important for his work in the formulation of the Sulpician Constitution and the development of the Sulpician method of mental prayer; b. Paris, Jan. 17, 1622; d. Paris, Feb. 26, 1700. As the son of Louis Tronson, secretary to the privy council of Louis XIII, he attended the College of Navarre and was awarded a licentiate in Canon Law, a rarity in those days. He was ordained in 1647 and was appointed chaplain to the king. In 1656, after resigning his chaplaincy, he entered the Sulpicians. In the society, he was director of the solitude (1656) and director of the seminary (1657) until he was elected superior of the society on July 1, 1676. In 1680 he edited the Réglements de la Compagnie, based on the rules outlined by its founder M. Olier. He fought Jansenism strenuously, defending the papal decisions. Tronson became involved in the quietist controversy when he was asked to participate in the Issy conferences of 1694 and in the evaluation of Fénelon's Maxims of the Saints. He was a staunch defender of the cause of orthodoxy against Gallicanism. He edited both the letters and the writings on the priesthood of M. Olier. Tronson's principal work is the Examens particuliers sur divers sujets propres aux ecclésiastiques.
Bibliography: Oeuvres complètes, 2 v. (Paris 1857). j. monval, Les Sulpiciens (Paris 1934).
[j. a. laubacher]