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Claude-Adrien Nonnotte, by unknown French Artist, 18th Century

Claude-Adrien Nonnotte (born in Besançon, 29 July 1711; died there, 3 September 1793) was a French Jesuit controversialist, best known for his writings against Voltaire.

At nineteen he entered the Society of Jesus and preached at Amiens, Versailles, and Turin. When Voltaire began to issue his Essai sur les moeurs (1754), which the Catholic Church considered an attack on Christianity, Nonnotte published, anonymously, the Examen critique ou Réfutation du livre des moeurs; and when Voltaire finished his publication (1758), Nonnotte revised his book, which he published at Avignon (2 vols., 1762). He dealt with what he saw as historical and doctrinal errors contained in Voltaire's work.[1][2][3][4] Nonnotte's work reached the sixth edition in 1774. Voltaire retorted in his Eclaircissements historiques, and the back and forth attacks continued for twenty years.

Nonnotte's publication continued to circulate, and was translated into Italian, German, Polish, and Portuguese. After the suppression of the Jesuits by king Louis XV, Nonnotte withdrew to Besançon. In 1779 he added a third volume to the Erreurs de Voltaire, namely, L'esprit de Voltaire dans ses écrits, for which he could not obtain the approval of the Paris censor. Against the Dictionnaire philosophique, in which Voltaire had recapitulated all his attacks on Christianity, Nonnotte published the Dictionnaire philosophique de la religion (Avignon, 1772), in which he replied to all the objections then brought against religion. The work was translated into Italian and German.

Towards the end of his life Nonnotte published Les philosophes des trois premiers siècles (Paris, 1789), in which he contrasted the ancient and the modern philosophers. The work was translated into German. He also wrote Lettre à un ami sur les honnêtetés littéraires (Paris, 1766), and Réponse aux Éclaircissements historiques et aux additions de Voltaire (Paris, 1774). These publications obtained for their author a eulogistic Brief from Pope Clement XIII (1768), and the congratulations of St. Alphonsus Liguori. The latter declared that he had always at hand his "golden works" in which the chief truths of the Faith were defended with learning and propriety against the objections of Voltaire and his friends. Nonnotte was also the author of L'emploi de l'argent (Avignon, 1787), translated from Maffei; Le gouvernement des paroisses (posthumous, Paris, 1802). All were published under the title Oeuvres de Nonnotte (Besançon, 1819).

Works

References

  1. ^ The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series: Volume 7: 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814: Volume 7: 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814. Princeton University Press. p. 27.edited by J. Jefferson Looney
  2. ^ Les chrétiens n'avaient regardé jusqu'à présent le fameux Mahomet que comme un heureux brigand, un imposteur habile, un législateur presque toujours extravagant. Quelques Savants de ce siècle, sur la foi des rapsodies arabesques, ont entrepris de le venger de l'injustice que lui font nos écrivains. Ils nous le donnent comme un génie sublime, et comme un homme des plus admirables, par la grandeur de ses entreprises, de ses vue, de ses succès, Claude-Adrien Nonnotte
  3. ^ Les erreurs de Voltaire, Jacquenod père et Rusand, 1770, Vol I, p.70.
  4. ^ M. de Voltaire nous assure qu'il [Mahomet] avait une éloquence vive et forte, des yeux perçants, une physionomie heureuse, l'intrépidité d'Alexandre, la libéralité et la sobriété dont Alexandre aurait eu besoin pour être un grand homme en tout ... Il nous représente Mahomet comme un homme qui a eu la gloire de tirer presque toute l'Asie des ténèbres de l'idolâtrie. Il extrait quelques paroles de divers endroits de l'Alcoran, dont il admire le Sublime. Il trouve que sa loi est extrêmement sage, que ses lois civiles sont bonnes et que son dogme est admirable en ce qu'il se conforme avec le nôtre. Enfin pour prémunir les lecteurs contre tout ce que les Chrétiens ont dit méchamment de Mahomet, il avertit que ce ne sont guère que des sottises débitées par des moines ignorants et insensés., Nonnotte, p. 71.
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