Joseph-Epiphane Darras (6 September 1825,

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

– 8 November 1878,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

) was a Church historian. He completed his classical training and his theological studies in the Petit Seminaire and the Grand Seminaire of Troyes, in the former of which he became a teacher after his ordination to the priesthood, but had to resign apropos of a panegyric on the Bishop of Troyes, Étienne Antoine Boulogne (1809–1825), disgraced by

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

, for his firm attitude on the occasion of the assembly of the French bishops in 1811. He then became tutor of Prince Eugene de Bauffremont, devoted himself to historical studies, and after the education of his pupil continued to live with the

Bauffremont The House of Bauffremont is the name of a French noble family of Princes which derived its name from a village in the Vosges, outside of Neufchâteau, now spelt Beaufremont. The family traces itself to Liébaud, sire de Bauffremont, in 1090. ...

family. He was a zealous antagonist of

Gallicanism Gallicanism is the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by the monarch's or the state's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the Pope. Gallicanism is a rejection of ultramontanism; it has som ...

and devoted to the honour and the rights of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

. He was at Rome during the Vatican Council as secretary to the meetings of the French bishops. His first literary work was a translation of Francesco Sforza Pallavicino's ''Storia del Concilio Tridentino'' for the

Migne Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a ...

collection. To the same period belongs the ''Légende de Notre-Dame'' (Paris, 1848), written under the influence of Montalembert. His early theological studies did not include a good foundation in ecclesiastical history; this defect he sought to make good by private studies. His ''Histoire générale de l'Eglise'' in four volumes, following the reigns of the popes, appeared in Paris in 1854 (14th ed., 1890). In the following years Darras published a ''Histoire de St. Dénis l'Aréopagite, premier évêque de Paris'' (Paris, 1863); a ''Histoire de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ'' (Paris, 1864), two volumes, and a ''Notice biographique de Mgr. Jager'' (Paris, 1868). He collaborated with Collin in the twenty-five volume ''Grande Vie des Saints'' (Paris, 1873–75). In the meantime he had prepared the material for his chief work: ''Histoire de l'Eglise depuis la création'', the first twenty-five volumes of which appeared before his death (Paris, 1875–77). They took the narrative up to the twelfth century. After his death, J. Bareille continued the work to the pontificate of

Clement VII Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...

(volumes XXVI-XXXII, Paris, 1879–84). It was completed by J. Fevre to the pontificate of

Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-ol ...

, inclusive (volumes XXXIII-XLIV, Paris, 1884–1907, with two volumes of Index). For a sharp criticism of it by the

Bollandist The Bollandist Society ( la, Societas Bollandistarum french: Société des Bollandistes) are an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century ...

Charles de Smedt, S.J., see the latter's "Principes de la critique historique" (Liège, 1885), 137 sqq., 285.

References

1825 births 1878 deaths French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French historians 19th-century French male writers {{France-historian-stub