Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/715

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BANCS


639


RANDALL


then currently taught, and pleaded for a reform of the science along Unes of broader human interest. In his positive teaching, that is to say, in the logic which he wished to substitute for the Aristotelean, he was not verj' successful. In a general way, he may be said to have advocated a closer union between rhetoric and logic, between the art of exposition and the art of argumentation. Among his following, the " Ramists", as they were called, were the Englishman, WUliam Temple, and the Germans, Sturm, Freige, and Fabricius. In the ofRcial academic world he met with opposition not only at the University of Paris but also at Wittenberg, Helmstadt, and elsewhere. His opponents were called Anti-Ramists. For a time, his campaign against Aristotle had the effect of ralljdng to his views the Anti-Aristoteleansof every countrj' in Europe. His influence, however, did not last long, although some WTiters find evidences of it as late as 1662 in the famous "Port Royal Logic".

Wabdingtox. De Petri Uami vita (Paria, 184S and 18.55); Stockl, Geschichle der Phil, des MiUetalters, III (Mainz, 1866), 296 sqq.

William Turner.

Ranee, Jean-Arma^td le Bouthillier de, abbot and reformer of Notre Dame de la Trappe, second son of Denis BouthiUier, Lord of Ranee, Councillor of State, etc., b. at Paris, 9 Jan., 1626; d. at La Trappe, 27 Oct., 1700. Originally in- tended for the Knights of Mal- ta, the illness of his elder brother caused his fa- ther to dedicate him to ecclesi- astical service, in order to pre- serve in the fam- ily the former's numerous bene- fices. On the death of his brother, 16.37, he became Canon of Notre Dame de Paris, Abbot of La Trappe, and of several other places, which gave him a revenue of about 1.5,000 liiTes. He early gave evidence of great precociousness in study, publishing, at the age of twelve years, an edition of Anacreon, with Greek notes, dedicated to his godfather. Cardinal Richelieu. In 1651, he was ordained priest by his uncle, the Archbishop of Tours. This dignity did not effect a change in his manner of life, which was worldly in the extreme. In 1652 his father died, leaving him a further increase in estate. At the age of twenty-six he was thus left absolutely his own master, handsome of person, polished and with practically unlimited wealth. Feasting, and the pleasures of the chase, to which he was passionately attached, divided his time with preaching and other sacerdotal ministrations. His uncle, who desired him as coadjutor, made him archdeacon, caused him to be elected deputy of the second order to the General Assembly of the French Clergy in 1655, and had him appointed first chaplain to Gaston, Duke of Orleans, in 16.56.

For several years his conscience reproached him for his scandalous conduct, but he paid little heed to its voice. The death of the Duche.ss of Montbazon, in 1657, gave him the first serious thought leading to


Armand de RanxiS >m a dran-ing by Jacquand


his conversion. He retired to his Chdteau de Verets, where he gave himself to reflection on the vanities of life; put himself under capable directors, and began to live more in conformity with his obligations. In 1660 he assisted at the death of the Duke of Orleans, which made so great an impression on him that he said: "Either the Gospel deceives us, or this is the house of a reprobate." After having taken counsel, he disposed of all his possessions, except the Abbey of La Trappe, which he visited for the first time in 1662. He decided to become a religious, and obtained permission from the king, in 1663, to be- come its regular abbot and reformer. After having passed through his novitiate and made profession, he took formal possession of his monastery as its regular abbot, and began the work of its reform, which, after he had overcome immense difficulties, was solidly established in his own abbey, from whence it was adopted into numerous other monasteries. His time and energy were so taken up with this work that, during the first years of his retirement he obliged himself to an entire separation from the world. He devoted his spare time to manual labour, and to the compilation of spiritual books. These latter were by no means inconsiderable. Amongst the most im- portant are: "Vies de plusieurs solitaires de La Trappe"; "Le traits de la saintete et des devoirs de la vie monastique"; "La regie de s. Benoit, traduite et expliquee selon son veritable esprit " ; etc. His penitential mode of life made him many enemies, and caused him to be accused of Jansenism, but he refrained from defending himself, until finally, at the request of his most intimate friends, he wrote to the Marechal de Bellefonds, stating that he had signed the "Formula" (against Jansenism) without re- striction or reservation of any kind; adding that he had always submitted himself absolutely to those whom God had placed over him, i. e. the pope and his bishop. If this is considered insufficient to vindicate his orthodoxy, the letters and pamphlets with which he attacked the Jansenists, as published by Bossuet, are certainly enough to justify him from this charge. In 1695, feeling his health to be declining, he ob- tained permission from the king to resign his po- sition, and for several years continued to give an example of humiUty and resignation. His remains are interred at the Monaster^' of La Grande Trappe.

Le Nain, Vie du R. P. Armand Jean Le Bouthillier de Ranee (Paris. 1715); Mabsoluer, Vie du T. R. . . . de Ranee (Fans, 170.3); Maupeou. Fie du T. R. . . . de Banci (Paris, 1702): d'In- GUIMBERT, Genuinua Character R. in X. Patris . . . Rancai (Rome, 1718) : Chateaubriand, Vie de VAbbe de Rand (Paria. 1844) ; Du- bois, IHstoire de I'Abbi de Rand et de sa reforme (Paris. 1866); d'Exauvillez, Histoire de V Abbe de Ranee (Paris. 1S42) ; Schmid, Armand de Rand, Abt. u. Reformalor ton La Trappe (Ratisbonne, 1897) ; Sehrant. L'Abbe de Ranee el Bossuet (Pari.s. 1903) ; Didio. La Querelle de Mabillon et de VAbbe de Rand (.Amiens, 1892); BuETTGENBACH. Armand Jean de Rand Reformalor der Cister- cienaer von La Trappe (Aix-la-Chapelle, 1897) ; Fellow, Visit to the Monastery of La Trappe (London, 1818); Go.nod, Lettres de Ranee (Paris, 1846).

Edmond M. Obrecht.

Randall, James Ryder, journalist and poet, b. 1 Jan., 1839, at Baltimore, Maryland; d. 15 Jan., 1908, at Augusta, Georgia. As author of "Maryland, my Maryland", the famous war song of the Confederacy, he has been frequently styled the "Poet Laureate of the Lost Cause". He received his education at Georgetown University, but did not graduate. He travelled in South America and the West Indies and upon returning to the United States, accepted the chair of English Literature at Poydras College, Pointe-Coupée, La., then a flourishing Creole institution. Hearing of the attack upon the Federal troops in Baltimore on 21 April, 1861, in which a classmate had been wounded, his Southern sympathies were so aroused that during the night by the light of a candle he composed what is generally acknowledged to be America's most martial poem, which first appeared in the New Orleans "Sunday