The works of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, include books on matters of religious controversy, discourses on history and politics, as well as sermons and funeral orations, for which he is perhaps best remembered today. A staunch defender of the Catholic faith, he was involved in several religious polemics. His exceptional oratory talents won him the recognition of the court, and he remained close to it for most of his career. Indeed, Bossuet's sermons and funeral orations were considered to exemplify the rhetorical sublime in the age of King Louis XIV. Bossuet's eloquence was no less apparent in other genres, including less-dramatic and more-private works, in which he also displayed what the historian Henri Brémond has called lyricism.

Bossuet was born on 27 September 1627. The son of an influential family of Dijon, the capital city of Burgundy, he attended the Jesuit Collège des...