Editing Homiletics (section)

== Early Modernity ==
In the eighteenth century, the Austrian Jesuit [[Ignaz Wurz]] was often considered the standard author; he taught at the University of Vienna and his ''Anleitung zur geistlichen Beredsamkeit'' (''Ministers' manual for eloquence'') was published in several editions beginning in 1770.<ref>Müller, Mario. "Wurz, Ignaz". Deutsches Literatur-Lexikon Online. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2017. <nowiki>https://www-degruyter-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/database/DLLO/entry/dllo.dll.1678/html</nowiki>. Accessed 2024-05-17.</ref>

=== Notable French preachers ===
[[Image:Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet 3.jpg|thumb|Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet]]
The French preachers of the classical seventeenth-century period were, according to [[Voltaire]], probably the greatest in pulpit oratory of all time. The best known were [[Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet|Bossuet]], [[Louis Bourdaloue|Bourdaloue]], and [[Jean Baptiste Massillon|Massillon]]; Fénelon burnt his sermons. The first was considered to be the most majestic; the second, the most logical and intellectually compelling; the third, the greatest searcher of hearts, the most like Chrysostom, and, taken all in all, the greatest of the three. We are told that Voltaire kept a copy of his ''Grand Carême'' on his table, side by side with the "Athalie" of [[Jean Racine|Racine]]. In this age Chrysostom was the great model for imitation; but it was Chrysostom the orator, not Chrysostom the homilist. Their style, with its grand [[exordium (rhetoric)|exordium]] and its sublime peroration, became the fashion in the following age. The "Dialogues" of Fénelon, however, remained as a check. Of these "Dialogues" Bishop Dupanloup said: "If the precepts of Fénelon had been well understood, they would have long since fixed the character of sacred eloquence among us." Other principles were laid down by [[Blaise Gisbert]] in his ''L'Eloquence chrétienne dans l'idée et dans la pratique'', by Amadeus Bajocensis in ''Paulus Ecclesiastes, seu Eloquentia Christiana'', and by Guido ab Angelis in ''De Verbi Dei Prædicatione'', all of which sounded a return to the simplicity of style of the [[Church Fathers]].<ref name=CE/>

=== Conférences in Notre-Dame ===
The next important era is the so-called ''conférences'' in [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre-Dame in Paris]], following the [[July Revolution|Revolution of 1830]]. The most prominent name identified with this new style of preaching was that of the Dominican [[Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire|Lacordaire]], who, for a time, with [[Charles Forbes René de Montalembert|Montalembert]], was associate editor with [[Hughes Felicité Robert de Lamennais|de Lamennais]] of "L'Avenir". This new style of preaching discarded the form, the division, and analysis of the scholastic method. The power of Lacordaire as an orator was beyond question; but the ''conférences'', as they have come down to us, while possessing much merit, are an additional proof that oratory is too elusive to be committed to the pages of a book. The Jesuit [[Gustave Delacroix de Ravignan]] shared with Lacordaire the pulpit of Notre-Dame. Less eloquent men followed, and the semi-religious, semi-philosophic style was beginning to grow tiresome, when [[Jacques-Marie-Louis Monsabré]], a disciple of Lacordaire, set it aside, and confined himself to an explanation of the Creed; whereupon it was sententiously remarked that the bell had been ringing long enough, it was time for Mass to begin (cf. Boyle, "Irish Eccl. Rec.", May, 1909).<ref name=CE/>