DESURMONT, ACHILLE

Redemptorist ascetical writer; b. Tourcoing, France, Dec. 23, 1828; d. Thury-en-Valois, July 23, 1898. Professed as a Redemptorist in 1851 and ordained in 1853, he became successively prefect of seminarians, professor of theology, provincial of the French province of his congregation from 1865 to 1887, and again in 1898. In spite of his administrative and pastoral activities, he made a considerable contribution to spiritual literature. The contents of his Rapports de Notre Règle avec la fin de Notre Institut (1854) are evident from the title. His principles of pastoral practice are found in his posthumous work, La Charité sacerdotale (Paris 1899). He founded the periodical La Sainte Famille and contributed to it more than 300 articles. Retreats, essays, meditations, prayers, hymns, apologetic dialogues, histories of devotions, and biographies of saints were published in his Oeuvres Complètes (12 v. Paris 1906–13). He was steeped in the ascetical spirit of St. alphonsus liguori, and his works represent an expression and adaptation of that spirit to contemporary needs.

Bibliography: a. georges, Le T. R. P. Achille Desurmont, (Paris 1924). j. boubÉe, "Les Oeuvres du T. R. P. Desurmont," Études 120 (1909) 563–574. g. liÉvin, Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique. Doctrine et histoire, ed. m. viller et al. (Paris 1932–) 3:648–651. p. p. pourrat, Christian Spirituality, tr. w. mitchell and s. jacques (Westminster, Md. 1953–55) 4:389–391.

[j. m. colleran]