the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
Click here to learn more!
Bible Encyclopedias
Louis Claude de Saint-Martin
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or SAINT - MARTIN, LOUIS Claude De (1743-1803), French philosopher, known as "le philosophe inconnu," the name under which his works were published, was born at Amboise of a poor but noble family, on the ,8th of January 1743. By his father's desire he tried first law and then the army as a profession. While in garrison at Bordeaux he came under the influence of Martinez de Pasquales, usually called a Portuguese Jew (although later research has made it probable that he was a Spanish Catholic),. who taught a species of mysticism drawn from cabbalistic sources, and endeavoured to found thereon a secret cult with magical or theurgical rites. In 1771 Saint-Martin left the army to become a preacher of mysticism. His conversational powers made him welcome in Parisian salons, but his zeal led, him to England, where he made the acquaintance of William Law, the English mystic, to Italy and to Switzerland, as well as to the chief towns of France. At Strassburg in 1788 he met Charlotte de Boecklin, who initiated him into the writings of Jacob Boehme, and inspired in his breast a semi-romantic attachment. His later years were devoted almost entirely to the composition of his chief works and to the translation of those of Boehme. Although he was not subjected to any persecution in consequence of his opinions, his property was confiscated after the Revolution because of his social position. He was brought up a strict Catholic, and always remained attached to the church, although his first work, Of Errors and Truth, was placed upon the Index. He died at Aunay, near Paris, on the 23rd of October 1803.
His chief works are - Lettre a un ami sur la Revolution Francaise; Eclair sur l'association humaine; De l'esprit des choses; Ministere de l'homme-esprit. Other treatises appeared in his Ouvres posthumes (1807). Saint-Martin regarded the French Revolution as a sermon in action, if not indeed a miniature of the last judgment. His ideal society was "a natural and spiritual theocracy," in which God would raise up men of mark and endowment, who would regard themselves strictly as "divine commissioners" to guide the people. All ecclesiastical organization was to disappear, giving place to a purely spiritual Christianity, based on the assertion of a faculty superior to the reason - moral sense, from which we derive knowledge of God. God exists as an eternal personality, and the creation is an overflowing of the divine love, which was unable to contain itself. The human soul, the human intellect or spirit, the spirit of the universe, and the elements or matter are the four stages of this divine emanation, man being the immediate reflection of God, and nature in turn a reflection of man. Man, however, has fallen from his high estate, and matter is one of the consequences of his fall. But divine love, united to humanity in Christ, will work the final regeneration.
See J. B. Gence, Notice biographique (1824); L. I. Moreau, Le Philosophe inconnu (1850); E. M. Caro, Essai sur la vie et la doctrine de Saint-Martin (1852); Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, x. 190; A. J. Matter, Saint-Martin, le philosophe inconnu (1862); A. Franck, La Philosophie mystique en France a la fin du dix-huitieme .siecle (1866); A. E. Waite, The Life of Louis Claude de Saint-Martin (1901). There are English translations of The Ministry of Man the Spirit (1864) and of Select Correspondence (1863) by E. B. Penny.
An island in the West Indies, about 5 m. S. of the British island of Anguilla in 18° N. and 63° W. It is 38 sq. m. in area and nearly triangular in form, composed of conical hills, culminating in Paradise Peak (1920 ft.). It is the only island in the Antilles owned by two European powers; 17 sq. m. in the N., belonging to France, foem a dependency of Guadeloupe, while the rest of the island, belonging to Holland, is a dependency of Curacao. Sugar, formerly its staple, has been succeeded by salt. The chief town of the French area is Marigot, a free port ,on the W. coast; of the Dutch, Philipsburg, on the S. St Martin was first occupied by French freebooters in 1638, but ten years later the division between France and Holland was peaceably made. The inhabitants, mostly English-speaking negroes, number about 3000 in the French part, and in the Dutch the population in 1908 was 3817.
ST Mary (Santa Maria), an island in the Atlantic Ocean, belonging to Portugal and forming part of the Azores. Pop. (1900), 6383; area,, 40 sq. m. St Mary is the southernmost and easternmost of the Azores, lying south of the larger island .of St Michael's, through the medium of which its trade is conducted, as it has no good harbours of its own. It produces wheat in abundance, of which a considerable quantity is exported. Various volcanic rocks are the predominant formations, but beds of limestone also occur, giving rise to numerous stalactite grottoes all over the island. The chief town is Villa do Porto (2506).
ST Marylebone (commonly called Marylebone), a northwestern metropolitan borough of London, England, bounded N. by Hampstead, E. by St Pancras and Holborn, S. by the City .of Westminster, and W. by Paddington. Pop. (1901), 133,301. It is mainly a rich residential quarter; the most fashionable part is found in the south, in the vicinity of Cavendish and Portman Squares, but there are numerous fine houses surrounding Regent's Park and in the north-western district of St John's Wood. Oxford Street, with its handsome shops, bounds the borough on the south, crossing Regent Street at Oxford Circus; Edgware Road on the west; Marylebone Road crosses from east to west, .and from this Upper Baker Street gives access to Park, Wellington, and Finchley Roads; and Baker Street leads southward. Poor and squalid streets are found, in close proximity to the wealthiest localities, between Marylebone Road and St John's Wood Road, and about High Street in the south, the .site of the original village. The formation of the Great Central Railway, the Marylebone terminus of which, in Marylebone Road, was opened in 1899, caused an extensive demolition of .streets and houses in the west central district. St Marylebone was in the manor of Tyburn, which takes name from the Tyburn, a stream which flowed south to the Thames through the centre of the present borough. The church was called St Mary at the Bourne. The name Tyburn (q.v.) was notorious chiefly as applied to the gallows which stood near the existing junction of Edgware Road and Oxford Street (Marble Arch). The manor at the Domesday Survey was in the possession of the nunnery at Barking, but the borough includes several estates, such as the manor of Lyllestone in the west, the name of which is preserved in Lisson Grove. From 1738 to 1776 Marylebone Gardens (which had existed under other names from the close of the 17th century) became one of the most favoured evening resorts in London. They extended east of High Street as far as Harley Street, but by 1778 the ground was being built over. Another historic site is Horace Street near Edgware Road, formerly Cato Street, from which the conspiracy which bore that name was directed against the ministry in 1820.
The borough includes almost the whole of Regent's Park, with a portion of Primrose Hill north of it. These have altogether an area of 472 acres. The park, originally Marylebone Park, was enclosed by James I., and received its modern name from the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV. It contains the Zoological Gardens, one of the most noteworthy institutions of its kind, attracting numerous visitors to its splendid collections of living animals. Here are also the gardens of the Royal Botanic Society, incorporated in 1839. They are enclosed and beautifully laid out, and contain hot-houses and a museum. Exhibitions are held each year. The Toxophilite Society, founded in 1781, has also occupied grounds here since 1883. The picturesque lake is supplied by the ancient Tyburn. The Regent's Canal skirts the north side of the park. Another famous enclosure is Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood Road. The founder, Thomas Lord (1814), at first established a cricket ground in the present Dorset Square, but it was soon moved here. Lord's, as it is called, is the headquarters of the M.C.C. (Marylebone Cricket Club), the governing body of the game; here are played the home matches of this club and of the Middlesex County Cricket Club, the Oxford and Cambridge, Eton and Harrow, and other well-known fixtures. The Wallace Art Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, was bequeathed by Sir Richard Wallace to the nation on the death of his wife in 1897. The waxwork exhibition named after Madame Tussaud, who founded it in Paris in 1780, occupies large buildings in Marylebone Road. The Parkes Museum of the Sanitary Institute is in Margaret Street. The Queen's Hall, Langham Place, is used for concerts, including a notable annual series of orchestral promenade concerts. StMarylebone contains a great number of hospitals, among which are the Middlesex, Mortimer Street; Throat Hospital and Dental Hospital and School, Great Portland Street; Lying-in and Ophthalmic Hospitals, Marylebone Road; Samaritan Hospital for women, Seymour Street; Consumption Hospital, Margaret Street; and the Home for incurable children, St John's Wood Road. There are also several industrial homes. Harley Street, between Marylebone Road and Cavendish Square, is noted as the residence of medical practitioners. Educational institutions include the Trinity and the Victoria Colleges of Music, in Manchester Square and Berners Street respectively; the Bedford College for women, and the Regent's Park Baptist College. The parliamentary borough of Marylebone has east and west divisions, each returning one member. The borough council consists of a mayor, 10 aldermen and 60 councillors. Area, 1472.8 acres.
These files are public domain.
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Louis Claude de Saint-Martin'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/l/louis-claude-de-saint-martin.html. 1910.
