Pierre-Justin Delort (1758-1835), often anglicized to Peter, was a French priest and academic who was exiled following the French Revolution and moved to Ireland. He was born in Bordeaux in December 1748. A priest in the

Archdiocese of Bordeaux The Archdiocese of Bordeaux (–Bazas) (Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Lati ...

in France, he held a Doctor of Laws from the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (, ) is a public research university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Talence. There are al ...

. Delort was a professor of philosophy at the Collège de Guyenne, before the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

. Following the revolution, he emigrated to London.

Maynooth College

In 1795 he was appointed the first professor of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics at the newly established Royal College, of St. Patrick, Maynooth, Ireland. Delort was one of the first four professors present in Maynooth in 1795, the others being former professor of philosophy in Paris, Maurice Aherne (Dogmatic Theology),

James Bernard Clinch James Bernard Clinch (1771-1834) was a professor, lawyer and pamphleteer. On the recommendation of politician and writer Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Politician, statesman, jour ...

(Humanity), and John Chetwode Eustace (Rhetoric). Delort's first class contained only three students. Delort was one of the four exiles from France; the others being

Francois Anglade Francois (Francis) Anglade (1758–1834), was a French priest and academic, who was exiled following the French revolution and moved to Ireland. Life Pre-revolution Anglade from Millau (in Occitan, Milhau), studied at the College of Rodez before ...

(Sorbonne, Paris),

André Darré André (Andrew) Darré (1750–1833) was a French priest and academic. He was one of the four exiles from France, the others being professors Francois Anglade, Louis-Gilles Delahogue, and Pierre-Justin Delort, sometimes called the French "found ...

(Toulouse), and Louis-Gilles Delahogue (Sorbonne, Paris), sometimes called the French ''founding fathers'' of Maynooth. In 1801 following the concordat between the papacy and the French government, he returned to France initially for six months on a leave of absence, but he never returned to Maynooth; his fellow Frenchman Darré became chair of natural philosophy and mathematics.

Return to France and Eucharistic miracle of Bordeaux

Delort became canon and secretary to the Archdiocese of Bordeaux; he also served as Chair of Theology at the local Seminary. While saying

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

in the Church of St. Eulalia in Bordeaux on 3 February (

Septuagesima Septuagesima () is the ninth Sunday before Easter, the third before Ash Wednesday. The term is sometimes applied to the seventy days starting on Septuagesima Sunday and ending on the Saturday after Easter. Alternatively, the term is sometimes ap ...

Sunday) 1822, Abbot Delort, substituting for Venerable Pierre Bienvenu Noaille who usually said Mass for the nuns, consecrated the host. When he looked at the host, Jesus appeared in the host. This became known as a

Eucharistic miracle Eucharistic miracle is any miracle involving the Eucharist, regarding which the most prominent Christian denominations, especially the Catholic Church, teach that Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, ...

Legacy

The Delort Prize is awarded for outstanding performance in Pure Mathematics in the First Year Examinations at

Maynooth University Maynooth University (MU) (), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Maynooth University was formerly known as National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ). It was Ireland ...

and is named in his honour.Mathematics and Statistics
Undergraduate Annual Prizes, Maynooth University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delort, Pierre 1748 births 1825 deaths French mathematicians Academics of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Catholic clergy scientists 17th-century French Roman Catholic priests 18th-century French Roman Catholic priests French expatriates in Ireland