Oraisons funèbres by Jacques Bénigne Bossuet is a collection of funeral orations written in the late 17th century. The work turns public eulogies for princes and great ladies into powerful sermons that fuse history, Scripture, and moral instruction, meditating on divine providence and the vanity of earthly power through the lives and deaths of figures such as Henrietta Maria of France and Henriette-Anne, Duchess of Orléans.
The opening of this collection presents a preface by René Doumic explaining how Bossuet remade the courtly funeral speech into truthful, edifying eloquence—anchored in personal witness, precise historical detail, fearless judgment, and theological depth centered on grace and Providence. It then launches into the oration for Henrietta Maria, invoking “Now, O kings, understand” to frame her life as an example to rulers: from royal splendor to exile, she is praised for charity, prudence, constancy in the Catholic faith, and for consoling English Catholics; Bossuet broadens this into a critique of religious schism feeding civil rebellion, sketches the rise of a single commanding figure as an instrument of Providence, and recounts the queen’s perilous voyages, negotiations, flight to France, spiritual purification through suffering, and the later restoration of her son, after which she lives humbly and charitably. The text then turns to the next oration, for Henriette-Anne, striking the theme “Vanity of vanities” as it contrasts her recent acclaim with her sudden death, and outlines a double lesson: the nothingness of worldly greatness and the true weight of fearing God. It begins to trace her illustrious lineage, grace, and admired presence at the French court, leading to her marriage into the House of France. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
