GODEAU
()22
GODEAU
College, Cambridge, and in 1640 he was made a
Billiagsley scholar. He proceeded B.A. in 1641, but
the influence of John Sergeant, with whom he became
acquainted during his college course, had induced him
to enter the Catholic Church, and in 1642 the two
set out for the English College at Lisbon. In due
course Godden was ordained, and so distinguished
himself by his scholarship and controversial ability
that in 1050 we find him lecturing on philosophy in
the college. He rapidly ascended the ladder of aca-
demic distinction, and after being successively pro-
fessor of theology, prefect of studies, and vice-presi-
dent, succeeded Dr. Clayton as president of the col-
lege in 1655. Five years later he was thouglit worthy
of the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and had estab-
lished so general a reputation for eloquence and piety
that tlie Princess Catherine of Braganza, about to be-
come the bride of Charles II, brought Godden to
England with her, as her private chaplain. He was
well received in his native country and enjoyed every
evidence of royal favour.
The disturbances caused by Oates' plot, however, affected Godden very seriously. The perjured Miles Prance, upon being examined on the murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, swore that Godden and his servant Lawrence Hill had been concerned in the crime, and that Godfrey's corpse had been concealed for a time in Godden's apartments. Public indigna- tion was running too high against everything Catholic to hope for a sober and impartial investigation, and Godden managed to escape to the Continent, and took refuge in Paris. His lodgings in Somerset House were searched and Hill, despite the testimony of witnesses who swore that he was elsewhere at the time of the murder, was convicted and executed at Tyburn, 21 Feb., 1679. Later evidence, tending to show that Godden was in no way connected with Godfrey's death, altered popular feeling, and in the reign of James 11, he returned to his former post as almoner to the queen dowager. From this time until his death he took a prominent part in the religious controversies in England, and in 1686, with Dr. Giffard, defended the doctrine of the Real Presence, before the king, against Dr. William Jane and Dr. Simon Patrick. He was buried under the royal chapel in Somerset House.
Godden's printed works are for the most part con- troversial and religious. They include "Catholicks no Idolaters; or a full Refutation of Dr. Stilling- fleet's Unjust Charge of Idolatry against the Church of Rome" (London, 1671); "A Just Discharge to Dr. Stillingfleet's Unjust Charge of Idolatry against the Church of Rome. With a Discovery of the Vanity of his late Defence . . . By way of Dialogue between Euno- mius, a Conformist and Catharinus, a non-Conformist" (Paris, 1677); "A Sermon of St. Peter, preached be- fore the Queen Dowager ... on 29 June, 1686" (London, 1686); "A Sermon on the Nativity of Our Lord, preached before the Queen Dowager ... at Somerset House" (London, 1686). He also left a manuscript treatise on the Oath of Supremacy.
GiLLOw, Bibl. Diet. Eng. Cath., II, 503: III, 307; Panzani, Memoirs, p. 338; Wood. Alhenoe Oxon., IV, 93, 674; Luttrell, Hist. Relation of State Affairs, 1, 391 ; Cath. Mag., V, 621 ; VI, 59; The Tablet, 16 Feb., 1889, p. 257.
Stanley J. Quinn.
Godeau, Antoine, bishop, poet, and exegete: b. at Dreux in the Diocese of Chartres, 1605; d. at Vence, 21 April, 1672. His facility in verse-writing early won the interest of a relative in Paris, M. Conrart, at whose house the elect of the literary world gathered to hear and discuss the productions of the young poet. The outcome of these meetings was the foundation of the French Academy, of which Godeau was one of the first members and the third to whose lot it fell to de- liver the weekly address to that body. He was in- duced to settle in Paris, where he soon became a favourite at the Hotel Rambouillet, rivalling in the
fecundity and ingenuity of his verse the most famous
writers of his period. At that time to say of any work
c'esl de Cndeau was to stamp it with the seal of ap-
proval. Perhaps best known among the works of his
early days is his "Discours sur les ceuvres de Mal-
herbe" (1629), which shows some critical power and
is valuable for the history of the French prose of the
seventeenth century. After some time Godeau for-
sook the company of gallants and the pursuit of
literature for its own sake to devote himself to the
service of God, and in 1636 was named Bishop of
Grasse by Richelieu, to whom he had dedicated his
first religious composition, a poetical paraphrase of
the Psalm "Benedicite omnia opera Domini". He
proved a model prelate, irreproachable in life, zealous
for the interests of his flock, and unwearied in uphold-
ing ecclesiastical discipline among his clergy, whom he
assembled in synods and admonished in sermons and
pastoral letters. By a Bull of Innocent X he was em-
powered to unite the Dioceses of Grasse and Vence
under his administration, but seeing the dissatisfac-
tion of the clergy of the latter diocese, he relinquished
the former and established himself at Vence.
But Godeau by no means gave up his public and lit- erary interests. In 1645 and 1655 he took a prominent part in the General Assemljly of the French Clergy, and under the regency of Anne of Austria was deputy from the Estates of Provence. He turned his talent for ver- sification to religious uses, his best known productions being a metrical version of the Psalms, poems on St. Paul, the Assumption, St. Eustace, Mary Magdalen, and one of 15,000 lines on the annals of the Church. The monotony and mechanical arrangement of the poems are relieved at intervals by passages remarkable for thought or expression, among others those lines embodied by Corneille in his "Polyeucte": —
Leur gloire tombe par terre,
Et comme elle a I'eclat du verre,
Elle en a la fragilite. The Jesuit Father Vavasseur published, in 1647, a satire on Godeau, "Antonius Godellus, episcopus Grassensis, an elogii Aureliani scriptor idoneus idem- que utrum poeta ", the verdict of which was echoed by Boileau in a letter to MaucroLx.
The fame of Godeau's poetical works, however, has been quite overshadowed by that of his historical and exegetical works. His " Eloges des Eveques qui dans tons les siecles de I'Eglise ont flcuri en doctrine et en piete" (Paris, 1665) was repulilished in 1802 by M. Sauffret. His " Histoirp de I'eglise depuis la naissance de J^sus Christ, jusqu' a la fin du IX^ siecle" (Paris, 1633) was translated into Italian by Speroni and into German by Hyper and Groote (Augsburg, 1768-96), and is still cited. Of this work Alzog says that "al- though written in an attractive and popular style", it is "lacking in solid worth and original research (Man- ual of Universal History, I, Dublin, 1900, 33). It is related that during the pulilication of this work the author chanced one day in a library to engage in con- versation with the Oratorian, Pere Le Cointe, who, ignorant of Godeau's identity, indicated some grave defects in the volumes which had already appeared, criticisms of which the author availed himself in cor- recting the work for a new edition. The same Pere Le Cointe, later a stanch friend of Godeau's, while con- ceding to the complete work many excellencies, calls attention to its frequent inaccuracies and lack of critical balance. Minor WTitings of Godeau's include "Vie de M. de Cordes, conseiller au Chatelet" (1645) and "Eloges historiques des empereurs" (1667).
Among Godeau's works of a religious character are: "Prieres, meditations" (Paris, 1643); "Avis a M. de Paris pour le culte du Saint-Sacrement dans les paroisses et de la faron de le porter aux malades" (1644); "Instructions et ordonnances synodales" (1644); "Vie (!<• Saint Paul Apotre" (1647); "La vie de saint Augustin " (1652) ; " La pan<5gyrique de saint
