Peter Joseph Arnoudt (or ''Aernoudt'', ''Arnold'') (born at Moere, Belgium, 17 May 1811; died at

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, 29 July 1865) was a Belgian

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

writer on devotional subjects.

Life

He entered the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

Florissant, Missouri Florissant () is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, St. Louis County, Missouri, within Greater St. Louis. It is a middle-class, second-ring northern suburb of St. Louis. Based on the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population ...

, in 1831. After the usual course of Jesuit training, he was appointed to teach in the colleges in the Missouri province of the Society. While engaged in teaching he proved himself to be a finished

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

scholar.

Works

He composed in Latin the ''De Imitatione Sacri Cordis Jesu''. It was written to promote devotion to the

Sacred Heart of Jesus The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

, in fulfilment of a

vow A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath. A vow is used as a promise that is solemn rather than casual. Marriage vows Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a weddin ...

he had made in a time of illness. He sent the manuscript to Rome in 1846, and ten years later it was approved by Father General Roothaan. The work was published on the Benzinger press at

Einsiedeln Einsiedeln () is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and Districts of Switzerland#Schwyz, district in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland known for its monastery, the Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey, established in the 10th century. Histor ...

, 1863. It was translated into English by Joseph Fastre and published at Cincinnati in 1865. Translations were also made into French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Flemish, and Hungarian. The French translation, published at

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

, passed through eighteen editions between the years 1864 to 1887.

Sommervogel Carlos Sommervogel (8 January 1834 – 4 March 1902) was a French Jesuit scholar. He was author of the monumental ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', which served as one of the major references for the editors of the Catholic Encyclo ...

gives the titles of two English, two Flemish, and four French versions of Arnoudt's work. According to

Pierre-Jean De Smet Pierre-Jean De Smet, SJ ( ; 30 January 1801 – 23 May 1873), also known as Pieter-Jan De Smet, was a Flemish Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He is known primarily for his widespread missionary work in the mid-19t ...

, Arnoudt left at his death the following manuscripts: * a Greek epic poem of about 1,200 verses * a collection of Greek odes * a Greek grammar * ''The Glories of Jesus'', an ascetical work * ''The Delight of the Sacred Heart of Jesus'', an ascetical work * ''The Abode of the Sacred Heart'', a collection of spiritual retreats

Bibliography

*Vanderspeeten, ''Notice biographique sur le P. Pierre Arnoudt, de la c. de J.'' (Tournay, 1873); *De Smet in ''Précis historiques'' (1866). *In the London ed. of ''The Imitation of the Sacred Heart'' (1867) and the Tournay ed. (1872) are published notices of the author by Russell and Van den Hofstadt respectively. Arnoudt's relatives in Belgium have preserved forty-six of his autograph letters.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnoudt, Peter Joseph 1811 births 1865 deaths 19th-century Belgian Jesuits People from Gistel