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Andre Jeanbon Saint-Andre

Andre Jeanbon Saint-Andre

Jean Bon Saint-André (February 25, 1749 - December 10, 1813), French revolutionary, was born at Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne), the son of a fuller. Although his father was a Protestant, St André was brought up by the Jesuits at Marseille and took orders. He turned Protestant, however, and became pastor at Castres and afterwards at Montauban. The proclamation of liberty of worship made him a supporter of the Revolution, and he was sent as deputy to the Convention by the département of Lot. He sat on the Mountain, voted for the death of Louis XVI and opposed the punishment of the authors of the September massacres. In July 1793 he was president of the Convention, entered the Committee of Public Safety the same month and was sent on mission to the Armies of the East. On September 20, 1793 he obtained a vote of one hundred million francs for constructing vessels, and from September 1793 to January 1794 reorganized the military harbours of Brest and Cherbourg. In May 1794 he took part with Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse in a fight with the English. Finally, after a mission in the south, which lasted from July 1794 to March 1795 and in which he showed great moderation, he was arrested on May 28, 1795, but was released by the amnesty of the year IV. He was then appointed consul at Algiers and Smyrna (1798), was kept prisoner by the Turks for three years, and subsequently became prefect of the départment of Mont-Tonnerre (1801) and commissary-general of the three departments on the left bank of the Rhine. He died at Mainz on the 10 December 1813.

References

- Please update as needed. The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, in turn, gives as a reference:
- Levy-Schneider, Le Conventionnel Jean bon St André (Paris, 1901). Saint-André, Jean Bon Saint-André, Jean Bon Saint-André, Jean Bon

1749

Events

- While in debtor's prison, John Cleland writes Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure). Released from prison, the book was published in London. Immediately, the Church of England asked the British Secretary of State to "stop the progress of this vile Book, which is an open insult upon Religion and good manners." As a result, Cleland was arrested and charged with "corrupting the King's subjects."
- April 27 - The first official performance of George Frideric Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks finished early due to the outbreak of fire.
- May 19 - King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.
- July 9 - Naval settlement of Halifax, Nova Scotia founded as British answer to Louisbourg.
- September 15 - According to mathematical calculations, Pluto moved outside Neptune's orbit to remain the outermost planet until 1979.

Births

- January 13 - Friedrich Müller, painter, narrator, lyricist and dramatist (d. 1825)
- January 17 - Vittorio Alfieri, Italian dramatist (d. 1803)
- January 24 - Charles James Fox, English politician (d. 1806)
- January 29 - King Christian VII of Denmark (d. 1808)
- March 9 - Honore Mirabeau, French politician (d. 1791)
- March 10 - Lorenzo da Ponte, Italian librettist (d. 1838)
- March 23 - Pierre Simon de Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1827)
- May 17 - Edward Jenner, English physician (d. 1823)
- April 11 - Adelaide Labille-Guiard, French portrait painter (d. 1803)
- June 15 - Georg Joseph Vogler, German composer (d. 1814)
- August 28 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer (d. 1832)
- 30 September - Comte Siméon Joseph Jérôme, French jurist and politician
- November 23 - Edward Rutledge, American statesman (d. 1800)
- December 17 - Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (d. 1801)
- Abraham Gottlob Werner, German geologist (d. 1817)

Deaths

- February 8 - Jan van Huysum, Dutch painter (b. 1682)
- May 24 - Graf Valentin Potocki, Polish nobleman
- June 19 - Ambrose Philips, English poet (b. 1675)
- July 3 - William Jones, Welsh mathematician (b. 1675)
- July 12 - Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois, Governor of New France
- August 13 - Johann Elias Schlegel, German critic and poet (b. 1719)
- September 10 - Emilie du Chatelet, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1706)
- September 14 - Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, English soldier and politician (b. 1675)
- October 4 - Franz Freiherr von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (b. 1711)
- December 5 - Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye, French-Canadian explorer and trader (b. 1685)
- December 19 - Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (b. 1672) Category:1749 ko:1749년 simple:1749

December 10

December 10 is the 344th day (345th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 21 days remaining in the year.

Events

- 1041 - Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V.
- 1508 - The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice.
- 1520 - Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.
- 1684 - Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley.
- 1817 - Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.
- 1836 - Emory College (now Emory University) is chartered in Oxford, Georgia.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea - Major General William T. Sherman's Union Army troops reach Savannah, Georgia.
- 1868 - The first traffic lights are installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.
- 1869 - Wyoming grants women the right to vote.
- 1898 - Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the conflict.
- 1901 - The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.
- 1904 - The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity is founded in Charleston, South Carolina.
- 1906 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize of any kind.
- 1936 - Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs his Instrument of Abdication.
- 1941 - World War II: Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse - The Royal Navy ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers.
- 1941 - World War II: Battle of the Philippines - Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on the Philippine mainland.
- 1948 - The UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- 1949 - Chinese Civil War: The People's Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan.
- 1953 - Dr. Albert Schweitzer is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work.
- 1963 - The United States Air Force's X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane program is cancelled by Robert McNamara.
- 1965 - The Grateful Dead play their first concert, at the Fillmore in San Francisco.
- 1970 - Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, "father of the Green Revolution", is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1975 - Activist Andrei Sakharov is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, accepted by his wife, Yelena Bonner.
- 1978 - Arab-Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1981 - The United Nations General Assembly approves Pakistan proposal for establishing nuclear free-zone in South Asia.
- 1983 - Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, accepted by his wife, Danuta.
- 1984 - Apartheid: Cleric and activist Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1986 - The Holocaust: Elie Wiesel is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1996 - Rwandan Genocide: Military Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations Maurice Baril recommends that the UN multi-national forces in Zaire stand down.
- 2002 - The High Court of Australia hands down its judgement in the internet defamation case of Gutnick v Dow Jones.
- 2004 - A tombstone commemorating the 35th anniversary of the death of Brazilian guerilla Carlos Marighella is inaugurated in Salvador, Bahia.
- 2004 - Anil Kumble becomes India's highest wicket-taker, surpassing Kapil Dev's total of 435.
- 2005 - Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 crashes in Nigeria.

Births

- 1394 - King James I of Scotland (d. 1437)
- 1452 - Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1531)
- 1588 - Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (d. 1637)
- 1750 - Tipu Sultan, ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore (d. 1799)
- 1787 - Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American educator (d. 1851)
- 1805 - Josef Skoda, Bohemian physician (d. 1881)
- 1815 - Ada Lovelace, British computer programmer (d. 1852)
- 1822 - César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (d. 1890)
- 1824 - George MacDonald, British writer and preacher (d. 1905)
- 1830 - Emily Dickinson, American poet (d. 1886)
- 1851 - Melvil Dewey, American librarian (d. 1931)
- 1870 - Pierre Louÿs, French author
- 1870 - Adolf Loos, Austrian architect (d. 1933)
- 1872 - Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956)
- 1882 - Otto Neurath, Austrian philosopher (d. 1945)
- 1884 - Zinaida Serebryakova, Russian-born painter (d. 1967)
- 1886 - Marco Minghetti, Italian statesman (b. 1813)
- 1891 - Nelly Sachs, German-born writer and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- 1903 - Una Merkel, American actress (d. 1986)
- 1907 - Rumer Godden (Margaret Rumer Godden), British writer (d. 1998)
- 1907 - Lucien Laurent, French international footballer (d. 2005)
- 1908 - Olivier Messiaen, French composer and ornithologist (d. 1992)
- 1909 - Hermes Pan, American choreographer and dancer (d. 1990)
- 1911 - Chet Huntley, American journalist (d. 1974)
- 1912 - Philip A. Hart, U.S. Senator (d. 1976)
- 1913 - Morton Gould, American composer (d. 1996)
- 1914 - Dorothy Lamour, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1917 - Sultan Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
- 1920 - Reginald Rose, American writer (d. 2002)
- 1928 - Dan Blocker, American actor (d. 1972)
- 1934 - Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
- 1947 - Douglas Kenney, American humorist (d. 1980)
- 1947 - Rasul Guliyev, Azerbaijani politician and chairman of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party.
- 1948 - Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)
- 1951 - Ellen Nikolaysen, Norwegian singer
- 1952 - Clive Anderson, British television host
- 1952 - Susan Dey, American actress
- 1957 - Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor
- 1960 - Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor and director
- 1972 - Brian Molko, Belgian-born singer and songwriter (Placebo)
- 1974 - Meg White, American drummer (The White Stripes)
- 1980 - Alexa Rae, American actress
- 1980 - Sarah Chang, American violinist
- 1980 - Ledley King, English international footballer
- 1981 - Taufik Batisah, Singaporean singer
- 1985 - Raven-Symoné, American actress and singer

Deaths

- 1041 - Michael IV, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1010)
- 1198 - Averroes, Arab physician and philosopher (b. 1126)
- 1508 - René II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1451)
- 1603 - William Gilbert, English scientist (plague) (b. 1544)
- 1618 - Giulio Caccini, Italian composer
- 1626 - Edmund Gunter, English mathematician (b. 1581)
- 1665 - Tarquinio Merula, Italian composer
- 1736 - António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese ruler of Malta (b. 1663)
- 1831 - Thomas Seebeck, Baltic German physicist (b. 1770)
- 1865 - King Léopold I of Belgium (b. 1790)
- 1896 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize (b. 1833)
- 1911 - Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, British botanist (b. 1817)
- 1917 - Sir Mackenzie Bowell, fifth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823)
- 1928 - Charles Rennie Mackintosh, British architect, designer, and illustrator (b. 1868)
- 1936 - Bobby Abel, English test cricketer (b. 1857)
- 1936 - Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
- 1941 - Colin Kelly, American pilot
- 1946 - Walter Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1887)
- 1946 - Damon Runyon, American writer (b. 1884)
- 1951 - Algernon Blackwood, British writer (b. 1869)
- 1953 - Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-born scholar and translator (b. 1872)
- 1967 - Otis Redding, American soul singer (b. 1941)
- 1968 - Thomas Merton, American monk and author (b. 1915)
- 1968 - Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (b. 1886)
- 1969 - Carlos Marighella, Brazilian politician
- 1978 - Ed Wood, Jr., American filmmaker (b. 1924)
- 1979 - Ann Dvorak, American film actress (b. 1912)
- 1982 - Freeman F. Gosden, American actor (b. 1899)
- 1987 - Jascha Heifetz, Russian-born violinist (b. 1901)
- 1990 - Armand Hammer, American industrialist and art collector (b. 1898)
- 1991 - Greta Kempton, American artist (b. 1901)
- 1996 - Faron Young, American singer (b. 1932)
- 1999 - Franjo Tuđman, President of Croatia (b. 1922)
- 1999 - Rick Danko, Canadian bassist and singer (The Band) (b. 1942)
- 2000 - Marie Windsor, American film actress (b. 1919)
- 2001 - Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1911)
- 2005 - Eugene J. McCarthy, United States Senator (b. 1916)
- 2005 - Richard Pryor, American comedian and actor (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances

- Roman festivals - the tribunes of the plebeians took office on this day
- R.C. Saints - In Barcelona and elsewhere: Saint Eulalia of Mérida
- Also see December 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Sweden - Nobel Prize Ceremony, an official flag day
- Thailand - Constitution Day
- USA - Admission day of the Mississippi (20th state, 1817)
- United Nations - Human Rights Day

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/10 BBC: On This Day] ---- December 9 - December 11 - November 10 - January 10 -- listing of all days ko:12월 10일 ms:10 Disember ja:12月10日 simple:December 10 th:10 ธันวาคม

Montauban

:For the village in the Somme département, see Montauban-de-Picardie. Montauban (Montalban in Occitan) is a town and commune of southwestern France, préfecture (capital) of the Tarn-et-Garonne département, 31 miles north of Toulouse. The town, built mainly of a reddish brick, stands on the right bank of the Tarn River at its confluence with the Tescou.

History

With the exception of Mont-de-Marsan, Montauban is the oldest of the bastides of southern France. Its foundation dates from 1144 when Alphonse Jourdain, count of Toulouse, granted it a liberal charter. The inhabitants were drawn chiefly from Montauriol, a village which had grown up around the neighbouring monastery of St Théodard. In the 13th century the town suffered much from the ravages of the Albigensians and from the Inquisition, but by 1317 it had recovered sufficiently to be chosen by John XXII as the head of a diocese of which the basilica of St Théodard became the cathedral. In 1360, at the Treaty of Brétigny, it was ceded to the English; they were expelled by the inhabitants in 1414. In 1560 the bishops and magistrates embraced Protestantism, expelled the monks, and demolished the cathedral. About ten years later it became one of the Huguenot strongholds, and formed a small independent republic. It was the headquarters of the Huguenot rebellion of 1621, and was vainly besieged by Louis XIII for eighty-six days; nor did it submit until after the fall of La Rochelle in 1629, when its fortifications were destroyed by Cardinal Richelieu. In the same year over six thousands inhabitants died of the plague. The Protestants again suffered persecution after the repeal of the Edict of Nantes.

Sights

Its fortifications have been replaced by boulevards beyond which extend numerous suburbs, while on the left bank of the Tarn is the suburb of Villebourbon, which is connected with the town by a remarkable bridge of the early 14th century. This bridge is known as Pont Vieux (i.e. "Old Bridge"). King Philip the Fair of France officially launched the building of the bridge in 1303 while on a tour to Toulouse. The project took 30 years to complete, and the bridge was inaugurated in 1335. The main architects were Étienne de Ferrières and Mathieu de Verdun. It is a pink brick structure over 205 meters (224 yards) in length, but while its fortified towers have disappeared, it is otherwise in good preservation. The bridge was designed to resist the violent floods of the Tarn River, and indeed it withstood successfully the two terrible millenial floods of 1441 and 1930. The bridge is a straight level bridge, which is quite unusual for Medieval Europe, where lack of technological skills meant that most bridges were humpback bridges. The Musée Ingres, on the site of a castle of the Counts of Toulouse and once the residence of the bishops of Montauban, stands at the east end of the bridge. It belongs chiefly to the 17th century, but some portions are much older, notably an underground chamber known as the Hall of the Black Prince (Salle du Prince Noir). It comprises most of the work (including his "Jesus among the Doctors") of Jean Ingres, the celebrated painter, whose birth in Montauban is commemorated by an elaborate monument. It is the largest museum of Ingres paintings in the world. The museum also contains some sculptures by famous sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, another native of Montauban, as well as collections of antiquities (Greek vases) and 18th and 19th ceramics . The Place Nationale is a square of the 17th century, entered at each corner by gateways giving access to a large open space surrounded by pink brick houses carried on double rows of arcades. The préfecture is located in the palace built by the intendant of Montauban (the equivalent of a préfet before the French Revolution), and is an elegant 18th century large mansion, built of pink bricks and white stones, with a steep roof of blue gray slates, in a style marrying northern and southern French styles of architecture. The chief churches of Montauban are the cathedral, remarkable only for the possession of the "Vow of Louis XIII", one of the masterpieces of Ingres, and the church of St Jacques (14th and 15th centuries), dedicated to Saint James of Compostela, the façade of which is surmounted by a handsome octagonal tower, the base of which is in Romanesque style, while the upper levels, built later, are in Gothic style.

Economy

The commercial importance of Montauban is due rather to its trade in agricultural produce, horses, game and poultry, than to its industries, which include nursery-gardening, cloth-weaving, cloth-dressing, flour-milling, wood-sawing, and the manufacture of furniture, silk-gauze and straw hats.

Demographics

Population: :1906: town, 16,813; commune, 28,688 :1999: 51,800

Transportation

The town is a railways junction, and communicates with the Garonne by the Canal of Montech.

Miscellaneous

Montauban is the seat of a bishop and a court of assize. It has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce and a board of trade arbitration, lycées and a training college, schools of commerce and viticulture, a branch of the Bank of France, and a faculty of Protestant theology.

Births

Montauban was the birthplace of:
- Jean-Jacques Lefranc, marquis de Pompignan (1709-1784), poet
- Jacques Antoine Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert (1743-1790), general and military writer
- Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793), playwright and journalist whose feminist writings reached a large audience
- Jean Bon Saint-André (1749-1813), French revolutionary
- Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, (1790-1867), painter
- Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929), sculptor and teacher

Reference

- Category:Communes of Tarn-et-Garonne ja:モントーバン

Jesuits

The Society of Jesus (Societas Iesu/Jesu (S.J.) in Latin) is a Christian religious order of the Roman Catholic Church in direct service to the Pope. Its members, known as Jesuits since the Protestant Reformation, have been called "Footsoldiers of the Pope" in part because the Society's founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque nobleman and soldier before his conversion. Today, Jesuits number over 20,000 and comprise the largest religious order in the Catholic Church. Jesuit priests and brothers are engaged in ministries in 112 nations on six continents. Their work is focused on education and intellectual contributions, primarily at colleges and universities, as well as missionary work and ministry in human rights and social justice. The Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patronage of Madonna Della Strada, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and is led by a Superior General, presently Peter Hans Kolvenbach. The General Curia of the Society is headquartered in Rome. Its historic complex of buildings includes the Church of the Gesu, the Jesuit Mother Church.

Foundation

Mother Church On August 15, 1534, Ignatius (born Iñigo López de Loyola) and six other students (Francis Xavier, a fellow Basque, Alfonso Salmeron, James Lainez, and Nicholas Bobadilla, Spaniards, Peter Faber from France and Simon Rodrigues, a Portuguese) met in Montmartre outside Paris, probably near the modern Chapel of St Denys, Rue Antoinette, and binding themselves by a vow of poverty and chastity, founded the Society of Jesus – to "enter upon hospital and missionary work in Jerusalem, or to go without questioning wherever the pope might direct". In 1537 they travelled to Italy to seek papal approval for their order. Pope Paul III gave them a commendation, and permitted them to be ordained priests. They were ordained at Venice by the bishop of Arbe (June 24). They devoted themselves to preaching and charitable work in Italy, as the renewed war between the emperor, Venice, the pope and the Ottoman Empire rendered any journey to Jerusalem inadvisable. With Faber and Lainez, Ignatius made his way to Rome in October 1538, to have the pope approve the constitution of the new order. A congregation of cardinals reported favorably upon the constitution presented, and Paul III confirmed the order through the bull Regimini militantis (September 27, 1540), but limited the number of its members to sixty. This limitation was removed through the bull Injunctum nobis (March 14, 1543). Ignatius was chosen as the first superior-general. He sent his companions as missionaries around Europe to create schools, colleges, and seminaries. Ignatius wrote the Jesuit Constitutions, adopted in 1554, which created a monarchical organization and stressed absolute self-abnegation and obedience to Pope and superiors (perinde ac cadaver, "[well-disciplined] like a corpse" as Ignatius put it). His main principle became the unofficial Jesuit motto: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam ("for the greater glory of God"). This phrase is designed to reflect the idea that any work that is not evil can be meritorious for the spiritual life if it is performed with this intention, even things considered normally indifferent. The Society of Jesus is classified among institutes as a mendicant order of clerks regular, that is, a body of priests organized for apostolic work, following a religious rule, and relying on alms, or donations, for support.

The name "Jesuit"

The term "Jesuit" (of fifteenth-century origin, meaning one who used too frequently or appropriated the name of Jesus), was first applied to the Society in reproach (1544-52), and was never employed by its founder, though members and friends of the Society in time accepted the name in its positive meaning.

Early works

52 The Jesuits were founded just before the Counter-Reformation, a movement whose purpose was to reform the Roman Catholic Church from within and to counter the Protestant Reformers, whose teachings were spreading throughout Catholic Europe. As part of their service to the Roman Church, the Jesuits encouraged people to continue their obedience both to scripture and also Roman Catholic doctrine. Ignatius himself used hyperbole when he wrote the following sentence: :"I will believe that the white that I see is black if the hierarchical Church so defines it." But his hyperbole relativizes propositional claims defined by the hierarchical Church. For him, the important things in life are not propositional definitions, but the spiritual movements within oneself. Ignatius and the early Jesuits did recognize, though, that the hierarchical Church was in dire need of reform, and some of their greatest struggles were against the corruption, venality, and spiritual lassitude within the Roman Catholic Church. As a result, in spite of their loyalty, Ignatius and his successors often tangled with the pope and the Roman Catholic Curia. Over the 450 years since its founding, the Society has both been called the papal "elite troops" and been forced into suppression. St. Ignatius and the Jesuits who followed him believed that the reform of the Church had to begin with the conversion of an individual’s heart. One of the main tools the Jesuits have used to bring about this conversion has been the Ignatian retreat, called the Spiritual Exercises. During a four-week period of silence, individuals undergo a series of directed meditations on the life of Christ. During this period, they meet regularly with a spiritual director, who helps them understand whatever call or message God has offered in their meditations. The retreat follows a Purgative-Illuminative-Unitive pattern in the tradition of the mysticism of John Cassian and the Desert Fathers. Ignatius' innovation was to make this style of contemplative mysticism available to all people in active life, and to use it as a means of rebuilding the spiritual life of the Church. The Jesuits’ contributions to the late Renaissance were significant in their roles both as a missionary order and as the first religious order to operate colleges and universities as a principal and distinct ministry. By the time of Ignatius' death in 1556, the Jesuits were already operating a network of 74 colleges on three continents. A precursor to liberal education, the Jesuit plan of studies incorporated the Classical teachings of Renaissance humanism into the Scholastic structure of Catholic thought. In addition to teaching faith, the Ratio Studiorum emphasized the study of Latin, Greek, classical literature, poetry, and philosophy as well as non-European languages, sciences and the arts. Furthermore, Jesuit schools encouraged the study of vernacular literature and rhetoric, and thereby became important centers for the training of lawyers and public officials. The Jesuit schools played an important part in winning back to Catholicism a number of European countries which had for a time been predominantly Protestant, notably Poland. Today, Jesuit colleges and universities are located in over one hundred nations around the world. Following the Roman Catholic tradition that God can be encountered through created things and especially art, they encouraged the use of ceremony and decoration in Catholic ritual and devotion. Perhaps as a result of this appreciation for art, coupled with their spiritual practice of "finding God in all things", many early Jesuits distinguished themselves in the visual and performing arts as well as in music. The Jesuits were able to obtain significant influence in the Early Modern Period because Jesuit priests often acted as confessors to the Kings of the time. They were an important force in the Counter-Reformation and in the Catholic missions, in part because their relatively loose structure (without the requirements of living in community, saying the divine office together, etc.) allowed them to be flexible to meet the needs of the people at the time.

Expansion

divine office Early missions in Japan resulted in the government granting the Jesuits the feudal fiefdom of Nagasaki in 1580. This was removed in 1587, however, due to fears over their growing influence. Francis Xavier arrived in Goa, in Western India in 1541 to consider evangelical service in the Indies. He passed away after a decade of evangelism in Southern India. Under Portuguese royal patronage, the order thrived in Goa and until 1759 successfully expanded its activities to education and healthcare. On 17 December 1760, Marquis of Pombal, Secretary of State in Portugal expelled the Jesuits from India. Two Jesuit missionaries, Gruber and D'Orville, reached Lhasa in Tibet in 1661. Jesuit missions in Latin America were very controversial in Europe, especially in Spain and Portugal, where they were seen as interfering with the proper colonial enterprises of the royal governments. The Jesuits were often the only force standing between the Indians and slavery. Together throughout South America but especially in present-day Brazil and Paraguay they formed Christian-Indian city-states, called reductions (Spanish Reducciones). These were societies set up according to an idealized theocratic model. It is partly because the Jesuits protected the Indians whom certain Spanish and Portuguese colonizers wanted to enslave that the Society of Jesus was suppressed. Jesuit priests such as Manoel da Nóbrega and José de Anchieta founded several towns in Brazil in the 16th century, including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and were very influential in the pacification, religious conversion and education of Indian nations Jesuit mission in China brought about the Chinese Rites controversy in the early 18th century. Jesuit scholars working in these foreign missions to the "heathens" were very important in understanding their unknown languages and strived for producing Latinicized grammars and dictionaries, the first organized efforts at linguistics. This was done, for instance, for Japanese (see Nippo jisho also known as Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam, a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary written 1603) and Tupi-Guarani (a language group of South American aborigines).

Suppression and Restoration

Tupi-Guarani See article Suppression of the Jesuits The Suppression of the Jesuits in Portugal, France, the Two Sicilies, Parma and the Spanish Empire by 1767 was troubling to the Society's defender, Pope Clement XIII. Following a decree signed by Pope Clement XIV in July 1773, the Jesuits were suppressed in all countries (other than Russia, where the Russian Orthodox government refused to recognize papal authority). Because millions of Catholics (including many Jesuits) lived in the Polish western provinces of the Russian Empire, the Society was able to maintain its legal existence and carry on its work all through the period of suppression. The period following the Restoration of the Jesuits in 1814 was marked by tremendous growth, as evidenced by the large number of Jesuit colleges and universities established in the 19th century. In the United States, 22 of the Society's 28 universities were founded or taken over by the Jesuits during this time. Some claim that the experience of suppression served to heighten orthodoxy among the Jesuits upon restoration. While this claim is debatable, Jesuits were generally supportive of Papal authority within the Church, and some members were associated with the Ultramontanist movement and the declaration of Papal Infallibility in 1870. The 20th century witnessed both aspects of growth and decline. Following a trend within the Catholic priesthood at large, Jesuit numbers peaked in the 1950s and have declined steadily since. Meanwhile the number of Jesuit institutions has grown considerably, due in large part to a later 20th century focus on establishing of Jesuit secondary schools in inner-city areas. Among the notable Jesuits of the 20th century, John Courtney Murray, SJ, was called one of the "architects of the Second Vatican Council" and drafted what eventually became the council's endorsement of religious freedom,[http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651207_dignitatis-humanae_en.html Dignitatis Humanae Personae].

Jesuits today

Second Vatican Council in Chicago, Illinois.]] Second Vatican Council The Jesuits today represent the largest religious order in the Catholic Church, with over 20,000 members serving in 112 nations on six continents. The current Superior General of the Jesuits is Peter Hans Kolvenbach. The Society is characterized by its ministries in the fields of missionary work, human rights, social justice and, most notably, higher education. It operates colleges and universities in various countries around the world and is particularly active in the Philippines and India. In the United States alone, it maintains over 50 colleges, universities and high schools. A typical conception of the mission of a Jesuit school will often contain such concepts as proposing Christ as the model of human life, the pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning and life-long spiritual and intellectual growth.[http://www.staloysius.nsw.edu.au/about/mission.asp] In Latin America, Jesuits have had significant influence in the development of liberation theology, a movement which has been highly controversial in the Catholic theological community, condemned by Pope John Paul II on several fundamental aspects. Under Superior General Pedro Arrupe, social justice and the preferential option for the poor emerged as dominant themes of the work of the Jesuits. Nearly a decade after the assassination of Bishop Oscar Romero, on November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests; Ignacio Ellacuria, Segundo Montes, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, Juan Ramon Moreno, and Amado Lopez; their housekeeper, Elba Ramos, and her daughter, Celia Marisela Ramos, were murdered by the Salvadoran military on the campus of the University of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador. Due to their unwavering defense of the poor, they had been labeled as subversives by the Salvadorian government. The assassinations galvanized the Society's peace and justice movements, including annual protests at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation at Fort Benning, Georgia, where the assassins were trained under US government sponsorship. In 2002, Boston College president William P. Leahy, SJ, initiated the Church in the 21st Century program as a means of moving the Church "from crisis to renewal." The initiative has provided the Society with a platform for examining issues brought about by the worldwide Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, including the priesthood, celibacy, sexuality, women's roles, and the role of the laity. In April 2005, Thomas J. Reese, SJ, editor of the American Jesuit weekly magazine America, resigned at the request of the Society. The move was widely published in the media as the result of pressure from the Vatican, following years of criticism by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on articles touching subjects such as HIV/AIDS, religious pluralism, homosexuality and the right of life for the unborn. Reese is currently on a year-long sabbatical at Santa Clara University.

Controversies

The Jesuits have frequently been described by Catholic and Protestant enemies as engaged in various conspiracies. They have also been accused of using casuistry to obtain justifications for the unjustifiable. In several languages, "Jesuit" or "Jesuitical" therefore acquired a secondary meaning of "devious." The Jesuits have also been targeted by many anti-Catholics like Jack Chick, Avro Manhattan, and Alberto Rivera. Among other things they point to the text of an extreme oath allegedly taken by advanced members of the order, which essentially justifies any action including infiltration of other faiths as legitimate in the name of the "greater good". The Jesuits have been accused of murdering Popes and presidents, causing wars, and toppling governments. There is also a claim common among many anti-Catholics that the Jesuit Superior General rules the Vatican behind the scenes. Proving these claims would be difficult, given the secrecy with which both the Vatican and the Jesuits conduct their affairs. In any event, the supposed "power behind the throne" is now thought to be wielded by another order, Opus Dei, with the Jesuits having lost much of their influence.

Famous Jesuits

Opus Dei] Opus Dei] Opus Dei] Opus Dei Opus Dei] Among many distinguished early Jesuits was St. Francis Xavier, a missionary to Asia who converted more people to Catholicism than anyone in Catholic history before him. Other famous Jesuits include:
- José de Acosta, Spanish Historian,Natural and Moral History of the Indies
- Francois d'Aguillon, Belgian Mathematician and Physicist
- Giulio Alenio, Italian Missionary to China, "Confucius of the West"
- Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, French Missionary to China
- José de Anchieta, founder of Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Juan Andres, Prolific 18th Century Spanish Writer
- Pedro Arrupe, Former Superior General of the Society
- Xabier Arzalluz, Spanish Basque leader, later left the Society
- Jakob Balde, German latinist, court chaplain to Maximillian I
- Abbé Augustin Barruél, French writer
- St. Robert Bellarmine, a Doctor of the Catholic Church
- St. John Berchmans, Jesuit Seminarian from Holland
- Daniel Berrigan, American Political Activist
- St. Andrew Bobola , Polish Missionary, killed by the Cossacks
- Ruđer Josip Bošković (aka Roger Boscovich), Croatian atomic physicist, forerunner of Faraday
- Giovanni Botero, Italian thinker, discharged from the Society in 1579
- Louis Bourdaloue, French Preacher and Orator
- St. Edmund Campion, English martyr
- St. Petrus Canisius, Doctor of the Church
- John Carroll, first bishop of the United States
- Giuseppe Castiglione, artist to Chinese Emperor
- Michel de Certeau, French Cultural Theorist
- St. Peter Claver, Saint to the Slave Ships in South America
- Frederick Copleston, English writer of a definative History of Western Philosophy (vol 1-12)
- Jacques Courtois, French Painter in 17th Century
- John Dear, American Jesuit Peace Activist and Spiritual Author
- Horacio De La Costa Philippine historian and the first Filipino Jesuit provincial superior in the Philippines
- Jeremiah Delgado
- Alfred Delp, German Jesuit hanged for his opposition to Hitler
- Alexandre de Rhodes, missionary to Vietnam
- Robert Drinan, only Catholic priest ever to serve in the US Congress
- Avery Dulles, American theologian and cardinal
- Jacques Dupuis, Belgian theologian and expert on Inter-Religious Diologue
- Ignacio Ellacuría, Rector of University of Central America, El Salvador - shot dead in 1989
- Peter Faber, Highly Esteemed companion of Ignatius, Apostle of Germany
- Father Leonard Feeney, Controversial Ultra-Conservative American Jesuit
- Luis Frois, Portugese Missionary to Japan, wrote History of Japan
- St. Henry Garnett, First English Provincial, executed after being falsely implicated in the 'Gunpowder Plot'
- Heiner Geißler,
- St. Aloysius Gonzaga
- Gerard Manley Hopkins, renowned English poet
- St. Alberto Hurtado, Chilean social reformer
- Eusebio Francisco Kino
- Athanasius Kircher
- Bernard Lonergan, Canadian philosopher and theologian
- Amando López
- Joaquín López y López
- Louis Maimbourg
- Ignacio Martín-Baró
- Segundo Montes
- Juan Ramón Moreno
- Jacques Marquette
- Anthony de Mello, controversial Indian Spiritual Writer
- John Courtney Murray, drafter of the Second Vatican Council
- Roberto de Nobili, missionary to India
- Manoel da Nóbrega, Portuguese Jesuit, founder of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
- Gian Paolo Oliva, General of the Order, 1664–1681
- Walter J. Ong, American cultural historian and spiritual writer
- Karl Rahner, one of the most significant 20th century theologians
- Matteo Ricci, famed missionary to China
- St. José María Rubio, Spanish Jesuit, canonised by the late Pope John Paul II in 2003
- Thomas Ewing Sherman, son of a US Civil War Union Army Major General William T. Sherman
- Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian mathematician and Astronomer
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French paleontologist and spiritual writer
- Frans Jozef van Beeck, theologian
- José María Vélaz, founder of Fe y Alegria.
- Ferdinand Verbiest, Belgian missionary to China
- Johann Adam Schall von Bell, missionary to China
- Oswald von Nell-Breuning
- Edmund A. Walsh, founder of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University
- Alessandro Valignano, Italian Jesuit, missionary to Japan and East Asia
- John II Casimir Vasa, king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder, an expert in the Old Javanese language and literature
- Antonio Vieira, (1608-1697), missionary and diplomat.
- Romeo Intengan, Philippine Jesuit and surgeon by training, jailed during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos for his views against the dictatorship
- James Reuter, considered as the father of Catholic mass communications in the Philippines
- Jaime Bulatao, professor of psychology at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, considered as the father of "Filipino psychology" See also: the Canadian Martyrs and Jesuit China missions
Note: Father Gabriel Richard briefly was in the US Congress in the 1820s, but as a territorial representative. Under guidelines released by Pope John Paul II, Catholic clergy are expected not to serve in positions of civil authority.

Jesuit institutions

Jesuits have founded and/or managed a number of institutions, notably universities, which have produced many well-known alumni. The most prominent of these universities are in the United States where they are organized as the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. In Latin America they are organized in the Asociación de Universidades Confiadas a la Compañía de Jesús en América Latina (Association of Universities Entrusted to the Jesuits in Latin America). In the Philippines, the Jesuit universities are grouped under the Jesuit University System in the Philippines. The system groups Ateneo de Manila University, Ateneo de Naga University, Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, Ateneo de Zamboanga University and Ateneo de Davao University. An affiliated grouping, Mindanao Consortium of Ateneo Universities, groups all of the Jesuit universities located in Mindanao island with the purpose of promoting Muslim-Christian unity and dialogue as well as to exchange knowledge and expertise in various academic fields.

Jesuit buildings

Mindanao Many buildings and ruins give witness to the order's construction activity world-wide. Among these are:
- Ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral in Macau
- Ruins of San Ignacio Church in the Philippines
- Basilica of Bom Jesus near Panaji, Goa in India
- Church of the Gesu in Rome, Italy
- Ateneo de Manila University Church of the Gesu in the Philippines
- La Santisima Trinidad de Parana in Paraguay

External links

Ratio Studiorum of the Society of Jesus in Rome]]

Jesuit Documents

- [http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/ulib/digi/ratio/ratiohome.html The Jesuit Ratio Studiorum of 1599]
- [http://duels.doshisha.ac.jp:88/denshika/jesuit/139/imgidx139.html The Jesuit Mission Press in Japan, 1591-1610]
- [http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/05/letter-G8.pdf Letter of the Jesuit Social Justice Secretariat to the leaders of the G8, July 2005]

Sites

- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14081a.htm J.H. Pollen, "The Jesuits (Society of Jesus)"] in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1912)
- [http://www.ateneo.net/ Jesuit University system in the Philippines]
- [http://www.jesuits.ca/ Jesuits in Canada]
- [http://www.jesuits.ph/ Jesuits in the Philippines]
- [http://www.jesuit.org/ United States Jesuit Conference]
- [http://www.jesuitvolunteers.org/ Jesuit Volunteers of America]
- [http://www.jesref.org/ Jesuit Refugee Service]
- [http://www.ajcunet.edu/ Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities]
- [http://www.jesuit.org.uk/ Jesuits in the United Kingdom]
- [http://www.jesuit.ie/main/ Jesuits in Ireland]
- [http://www.provindo.org/ Jesuits in Indonesia]
- [http://www.jesuit.org.au/ Jesuits in Australia]
- [http://www.sj.org.za Jesuits in South Africa]
- [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mission_(movie) The Mission(Movie)]: The Mission is a 1986 film which tells the story of a Spanish Jesuit priest who goes into the South American jungle to convert the Native Americans, who must defend his charges against the cruelty of Portuguese colonials.
- [http://www.sacredspace.ie Sacred Space]: famous Jesuit prayer site, in 18 different languages, maintained by Jesuits of the Irish Province

Media

- [http://www.jesuits-chi.org/videos/A_Millenium_Perspective.wmv Documentary by the Society of Jesus Province of Chicago (Windows Media Player)]
- [http://www.jesuitswisprov.org/jesuits_video.htm Contemporary Jesuits speak about their vocations, the vows, and the mission of the Society of Jesus (Real Player)] zh-min-nan:Iâ-so·-hōe ko:예수회 ja:イエズス会

Castres

Castres (Castras in Occitan) is a town and commune of Languedoc in south-western France. It is the capital of an arrondissement in the départment of Tarn, itself in the région of Midi-Pyrénées. With a population of 61,760 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 1999, Castres is the third-largest industrial centre of Midi-Pyrénées (a predominantly rural région) after Toulouse and Tarbes, and the largest industrial centre in the part of Languedoc between Toulouse and Montpellier. Castres is best known as the home of famous socialist leader Jean Jaurès, as well as for its major Goya Museum of Spanish paintings.

Demographics

Population in 1831 was 12,032 inhabitants, and Castres was the largest town of Tarn. As it was one of the few industrial towns in the region of Albigeois (the old name of Tarn), it grew rapidly and population of the commune proper was 19,483 in 1901, and 34,126 in 1954 (44,161 inhabitants in the metropolitan area). However, with the decline of its industries, population growth diminished. Albi passed Castres as the most populous metropolitan area of Tarn. The population of Castres is now stagnating: after small growth in the 1970s and 1980s, it registered zero growth in the 1990s. At the 1999 census, population in the commune proper was 43,496 inhabitants, whereas the population of the metropolitan area of Castres was 61,760.

Geography

Castres is located at an altitude of 172 meters (564 ft) above sea level. It is located 45 km (29 miles) south-southeast of Albi, the préfecture (capital) of Tarn, and 79 km (49 miles) east of Toulouse, the capital of Midi-Pyrénées. Castres is intersected from north to south by the Agout River.

Administration

Castres is the capital of an arrondissement in the Tarn départment, itself in the Midi-Pyrénées région. Between 1790 and 1797 Castres was the préfecture of Tarn. Since 2001, the mayor of Castres is Pascal Bugis (right, member of UMP), who defeated the then socialist mayor in the 2001 election, after a campaign focused on the bad records of the socialist mayor on fighting crime, and the high level of insecurity in town. Castres has teamed up with the nearby town of Mazamet (22 km/13 miles southeast of Castres) and the independent suburbs and villages in between to create the Greater Castres-Mazamet Council (Communauté d'agglomération de Castres-Mazamet), which was born in January 2000 (succeeding a previous district which had been created in 1993 with less powers than the current council). The Greater Castres-Mazamet Council groups 16 independent communes (including Castres and Mazamet), with a total population of 79,988 inhabitants (as of 1999 census), 54% of these living in the commune of Castres proper, 13% in the commune of Mazamet, and the rest in the communes in between. The Greater Castres-Mazamet Council was created in order to better coordinate transport, infrastructure, housing, and economic policies between the communes of the area. Current president of the Greater Castres-Mazamet Council is Jacques Limouzy (Gaullist, member of UMP), former mayor of Castres before 1995, who became president in 2001.

History

The name of the town comes from Latin castrum, and means "fortified place". Castres grew up round the Benedictine abbey of Saint Benoît, which is believed to have been founded in AD 647, possibly on the site of an old Roman fort (castrum). Castres became an important stop on the international pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain because its abbey-church, built in the 9th century, was keeping the relics of Saint Vincent, the renowned martyr of Spain. It was a place of some importance as early as the 12th century, and ranked as the second town of the Albigeois behind Albi. Despite the decline of its abbey, which in 1074 came under the authority of Saint Victor abbey in Marseille, Castres was granted a liberal charter in the 12th century by the famous Trencavel family, viscounts of Albi. Resulting from the charter, Castres was ruled by a college of consuls. During the Albigensian Crusade it surrendered of its own accord to Simon de Montfort, and thus entered into the kingdom of France in 1229. In 1317, Pope John XXII established the bishopric of Castres. In 1356, the town of Castres was raised to a countship by King John II of France. However, the town greatly suffered from the Black Plague in 1347-1348, then from the Black Prince of England and the Free Companies (bands of lawless mercenaries) who laid waste the country during the Hundred Years' War. Consequently, by the late 14th century Castres entered a period of sharp decline. In 1375, there were only 4,000 inhabitants left in town, only half the figure from a century before. Following the confiscation of the possessions of Jacques d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours, to which the countship of Castres had passed, it was bestowed in 1476 by King Louis XI on Boffille de Juge (Boffillo del Giudice), an Italian nobleman and adventurer serving as a diplomat for Louis XI, but the appointment led to so much disagreement (family feud between Boffille de Juge, his only daughter, and his brother-in-law) that the countship was united to the crown by King Francis I in 1519. Around 1560, the majority of the population of Castres converted to Protestantism. In the wars of the latter part of the 16th century the inhabitants sided with the Protestant party, fortified the town, and established an independent republic. Castres was one of the largest Protestant strongholds in southern France, along with Montauban and La Rochelle. Henry of Navarre, leader of the Protestant party, who later became King Henry IV of France, stayed in Castres in 1585. The Protestants of Castres were brought to terms, however, by King Louis XIII in 1629, and Richelieu came himself to Castres to have its fortifications dismantled. Nonetheless, after these religious wars, the town, now in peace, enjoyed a period of rapid expansion. Business and traditional commercial activities revived, in particular fur and leather-dressing, tanning, and above all wool trade. Culture flourished anew, with the founding of the Academy of Castres in 1648. Castres was turned by the Catholic church into an active center of Counter-Reformation, with the establishments of several convents in town, and the building of a renowned bishop's palace by Mgr. Tubœuf, still the most famous monument in town today. A new cathedral was also built, after the destructions of the religious wars. Perhaps even more important, Castres was made the seat of the Chambre de l'Édit of the Parliament of Toulouse, a court of justice detached from the Parliament of Toulouse and in charge of dealing with the cases involving the Protestants of Languedoc, a measure of protection granted to them by the Edict of Nantes. This court attracted lots of business to Castres. In 1665, there were 7,000 inhabitants in Castres, 4,000 of whom Catholic, and 3,000 Protestant. In 1670 however, the Chambre de l'Édit was transferred to Castelnaudary, much to the discontent of even the catholic citizens of Castres, who lost a major source of business and revenue with the departure of the lawyers and the plaintiffs. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes soon followed, and Castres suffered a lot when a great number of Protestants chose to go into exile. Then came the plague of 1720-1721 and the fire of 1724. Last but not least, Castres lost its liberal charter in 1758. In the 1760s, a few years after the famous Calas Affair in Toulouse, Castres made the headlines nationwide: Pierre-Paul Sirven and his wife, both Protestants, were wrongly accused of having murdered their daughter in order to prevent her from converting to Catholicism. Tried and sentenced to death in absentia on March 29, 1764, they were defended by Voltaire, and eventually exonerated in 1771. The outbreak of the French Revolution was generally welcomed in Castres, particularly among the local Protestant merchants and entrepreneurs, but the majority of the population remained moderate during the whole period. In 1793 for instance, Protestant pastor Alba La Source, Castres' representative at the Convention in Paris, opposed the deportation of "non-juror" Catholic priests to French Guiana, where death in the horrid jungle was certain (see Civil Constitution of the Clergy). "Non-juror" priests were by far the majority in the region of Castres. Accused of being a moderate, Alba La Source was guillotined in October 1793. Suspected of being lukewarm toward the revolution, Castres was duly chastised. The bishopric which had been established by Pope John XXII in 1317 was abolished, Castres later becoming part of the bishopric of Albi. Capital of the département of Tarn in 1790, the town was downgraded to capital of an arrondissement in 1797, Albi being made the capital of the département. Despite these setbacks, in the 19th century the economy of Castres developed greatly, and the town grew outside of its old medieval center. As early as 1815, the first mechanized wool mill was set up in town. Originally specialized in luxury cloth, the Castres textile industry then turned toward more ordinary types of cloth, whose markets were considerably larger. Around 1860, there were 50 wool mills in town, employing 3,000 people. In the end of the 19th century, mechanical engineering industries appeared beside the textile industry, which led to Castres becoming a major arsenal for the French army during the First World War. Castres was linked to the French railway network in 1865. At the end of the 19th century, Castres was the largest town in the département of Tarn, with 5,000 more inhabitants than Albi. However, in the 20th century the town entered a new period of decline. Although Castres emerged from the two world wars unscathed, no military operations or combats taking place in southwest France, the local economy has been hard hit by change. Like so many towns and cities of Europe which had benefited most from the Industrial Revolution, Castres is experiencing a difficult restructuring of its industrial base. Textile has particularly suffered. Castres is also crippled by its geographical location, isolated in a dead end at the foot of the Massif Central mountains, away from the main exchange and transport routes. In 2004 Castres is still not connected to the motorway (freeway) network of France, the only town of that size in France not yet connected. Recent creation of the Greater Castres-Mazamet Council in 2000 is expected to deal with the transport problem, and to work on attracting new industries. The good fortune of Castres is to be located only 79 kilometers (49 miles) away from very dynamic Toulouse. The long promised motorway link with Toulouse is due to be completed soon, and Castres is hoping to benefit from its proximity with the big Occitan city.

Economy

The principal industries are mechanical and electrical engineering, machine tools, wooden furniture, granite, textile, fur and leather-dressing, tanning, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and selective breeding of cows. Traditional and polluting industries such as textile, tanning, fur and leather-dressing, or chemicals, are in sharp decline. Fortunately for Castres, a multinational pharmaceutical group (Pierre Fabre Group) has emerged in Castres in the 1960s, and it has kept its headquarters and R&D division in the metropolitan area, helping to counter-balance the general decline in industry. Some now accuse its founder and president, Pierre Fabre, to be the real "master" of Castres, making and unmaking Castres' mayors at will. Despite this isolated success, local industry is still undergoing painful restructuring at the moment.

Famous people

Castres is the hometown of famous socialist politician and newspaper publisher Jean Jaurès (1859-1914), who was murdered in Paris the day before the start of the First World War. World famous mathematician Pierre de Fermat died in Castres in 1665, while attending a session of the Chambre de l'Édit there. French writer Roger Peyrefitte was born into a wealthy family of Castres in 1907. He is best known for his book Les amitiés particulières (1944) (translated into English as Secret Friendships), in which he deals with his homosexual awakening as a young man.

Monuments and museums

Castres is intersected from north to south by the Agout River. The river is fringed by old houses the upper stories of which project over its waters. The church of Saint Benoît, once the cathedral of Castres, and the most important of the churches of Castres today, dates only from the 17th and 18th centuries. The city hall occupies the former bishop's palace, designed in the 17th century by famous architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart (the architect of Versailles), and with gardens designed by Le Nôtre (the famous designer of the gardens in Versailles). The Romanesque tower beside it (tour Saint Benoît) is the only survival of the old Benedictine abbey. The town possesses some old mansions from the 16th and 17th century, of which the Hôtel de Nayrac, of the Renaissance, is of most interest. Castres possesses the renowned Goya Museum, created in 1840, which contains the largest collection of Spanish paintings in France: 28,000 visitors every year. A Jaurès Museum was also opened in 1954 in the house where Jean Jaurès was born in 1859: 10,000 visitors every year.

Sports

Rugby (Rugby Union) is the main sport in Castres. The local team is Castres Olympique, which was three times champion of France (in 1949, 1950, and 1993). Castres Olympique is the property of local tycoon Pierre Fabre, founder and president of Pierre Fabre Group.

External links

- [http://www.ville-castres.fr/ official website of the city hall of Castres] - In French only
- [http://www.castres-mazamet.com/ official website of the Greater Castres-Mazamet Council] - In French only
- [http://www.castres-mazamet.cci.fr/ Chamber of Commerce of Castres-Mazamet] In French only
- [http://www.amis-musees-castres.asso.fr/GoyaMuseum_eng/GoyaMuseum_eng.html Goya Museum] - In English
- [http://www.castres-olympique.fr/ website of Castres Olympique rugby club] - In French only
- [http://france-for-visitors.com/languedoc/castres.html Castres for visitors] - In English Category:Communes of Tarn