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{{Short description|French Benedictine theologian and ecclesiastical historian}}
{{One source|date=January 2024}}
'''Matthieu Petit-Didier''' (18 December 1659, [[Saint-Nicolas-de-Port]], [[Lorraine (province)|Lorraine]], – 17 June 1728, [[Senones]]) was a French [[Benedictine]] theologian and ecclesiastical historian.

==Life==

After studying at the Jesuit college at Nancy he joined the Benedictine Congregation of St-Vannes, in 1675, at the [[monastery of St-Mihiel]]. In 1682 he was appointed professor of philosophy and theology.

In 1699 he was canonically elected [[Abbot of Bouzonville]], but could not take possession because the [[Duke of Lorraine]] had given the abbey ''[[in commendam]]'' to his own brother. He was elected [[Abbot of Senones]] in 1715, but got possession only after a lengthy dispute with another claimant. He became president of his congregation in 1723.

==Works==

Two years later [[Pope Benedict XIII]] appointed him [[Bishop of Macra]] ''[[in partibus infidelium]]''. In reward for his timely "Traité théologique sur l'autorité et l'infaillibilité des papes" (Luxemburg, 1724). The work was forbidden in France and Lorraine by the Parliaments of Paris and Metz; it was translated into Italian (Rome, 1746); and into Latin by [[Gallus Cartier]], O.S.B. (Augsburg, 1727, it is printed also in [[Migne]], "Cursus theol.", IV, 1141–1416). The work was especially pleasing to the pope, because Petit-Didier, after the [[Declaration of the French Clergy]] in 1682, had formerly been an appellant from the Constitution ''[[Unigenitus]]''.

The remaining works of Petit-Didier are. "Remarques sur la Bibliothèque ecclésiastique de M. [[Louis Ellies du Pin|Dupin]]" (Paris, 1691–93), in which he points out many errors; "Dissertation historique et théologique dana laquelle on examine quel a été le sentiment du Concile de Constance et des principaux Théologiens qui y ont assisté, sur l'autorité du pape et sur son infaillibilité" (Luxemburg, 1724), in which the author defends the opinion that the decree of the [[Council of Constance]] concerning the superiority of a [[General council (Christianity)|general council]] over the pope was intended only for the time of a [[Schism (religion)|schism]]; "Dissertationes historicæ, criticæ, chronologicæ in Sacram Scripturam Veteris Testamenti" (Toul, 1699); "Justification de la morale et de la discipline de Rome et de toute l'Italie" (1727), a reply to an anonymous treatise entitled: "La morale des Jésuites et la constitution Unigenitus comparée à la morale des payens".

==Jean-Joseph Petit-Didier==

His brother '''Jean-Joseph Petit-Didier''', a [[Jesuit]] theologian and canonist, was born at Saint-Nicolas-du-Port in Lorraine, on 23 October 1664; and died at [[Pont-à-Mousson]], on 10 August 1756. Entering the Society of Jesus, 16 May 1683, he was professed 2 February 1698, and taught belles-lettres, philosophy, and canon law at Strasburg from 1694 to 1701, and theology at Pont-à-Mousson from 1704 to 1708.

About 1730 he became the spiritual director of Duchess [[Elizabeth-Charlotte of Lorraine]]. A few years later he returned to the Jesuit house at Saint-Nicolas where he spent the remainder of his life.

His chief works are: "De Justitia, jure et legibus" (Pont-à-Mousson 1704); "Remarques sur la théologie du R. P. Gaspard Juenin" (1708), a refutation of the Jansenistic errors of Juenin; "Les Saints enlevez et restituez aux Jesuites" (Luxemburg, 1738), concerning Saints Francis Xavier and John Francis Regis; "Traité de la clôture des maisons religieuses de l'un et de l'autre sexe" (Nancy, 1742); "Recueil de Lettres critiques sur les Vies des Saints du Sieur Baillet" (Cologne, 1720); "Les prets par obligation stipulative d'interest usités en Lorraine et Barrois" (Nancy, 1745), a canonical treatise; "Sancti Patris Ignatii de Loyola exercitia spiritualia tertio probationis anno per mensem a Patribus Societatis Jesu obeunda" (Prague, 1755; Paris, 1889).

==References==
*[[Magnoald Ziegelbauer|Ziegelbauer]], ''Historia rei literariœ O. S. B.'' (Augsburg, 1754), III, 455-7, II, 154-5
*Calmet, ''Bibl. Lorraine'' (Nancy, 1751), 724-35
*[[Hugo von Hurter]], ''Nomenclator literarius'' (Innsbruck, 1910), 1108–10
*[[Sommervogel]], ''Bibl. de la Compagnie de Jésus, IV'' (Brussels, 1895), 624-7

==External links==
{{Catholic|wstitle=Matthieu Petit-Didier}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Petit-Didier, Matthieu}}
[[Category:1659 births]]
[[Category:1728 deaths]]
[[Category:French Benedictines]]
[[Category:17th-century French Catholic theologians]]
[[Category:18th-century French historians]]
[[Category:Benedictine theologians]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:17th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century French historians]]