Gonnelieu, Jerome De

Gonnelieu, Jerome De a French Jesuit. was born at Soissons, Septmber 8, 1640. At the age of sixteen he joined his order, and died at Paris in 1717. He wrote, De l'Essence de la Vie Spirituelle (Paris, 1701): — De la Presence de Dieu qui Renferme tons les Principes de la Vie Interieure (ibid. 1703): — Methode pour Bien Prier (1710): — Pratique de la Vie Jnterieure (eod.): — Le Sermon de Notre Seigneur a ses Apostres Apres la Cene (1712). For a long time there was attributed to him a translation of the Imitation of Christ, which was published at Nancy in 1712, for which edition he only wrote the prayers and the application at the end of each chapter. The work of translation was, in fact, made by a printer and member of the Paris parliament, Jean Cursor, who published it for the first time in 1673 under his own name. But the ambiguous title of the edition published in 1712,

Imitation de Jesus-Christ, avec des Pratiques et des Prieres, par le P. de Gonnelieu (Nancy), led to the error of palming the authorship of the translation upon Gonnelieu; and in spite of the testimony of Calmet, Barbier, and Brunet against this authorship, the error has been perpetuated, and Gonnelieu's name continued to figure in the new editions published in 1818,1822, and 1856. See Jocher, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexikon, s.v.; Lichtenberger, Encyclop. des Sciences Religieuses, s.v. (B.P.)