Armand-Benjamin Caillau

Template:Short description Armand-Benjamin Caillau (22 October 1794 – 1850) was a French Catholic priest, a missionary and writer.

Life

Caillau was born in Paris. Ordained in 1818, he was successively a member of the Missions de France, rector of Sainte-Geneviève (rue d'Enfer) and chaplain of the Infirmerie Marie-Thérèse (92 avenue Denfert-Rochereau). He joined, in 1834, the Fathers of Mercy, newly re-organized by Rauzan. His love of missionary life made him decline episcopal honours and a chair at the Sorbonne, but was no obstacle to his literary pursuits. He died in Paris in 1850.

Works

Besides many contributions to the , Caillau wrote (Paris, 1833), a French translation of Tertullian's (Paris, 1835), several monographs on Our Lady's Sanctuaries: (1834), (1843), (1846), (Paris, 1845), (Michel Vintras) (Orléans, 1849), etc.

He is best known, however, by the following works:

• (Paris, 1823-5), a patristic digest modelled on Merz's , with an introduction to patrology
• (Paris 1829-1842), 133 octavo volumes, undertaken in collaboration with Marie Nicolas Sylvestre Guillon and suspended at the announcement of Jacques-Paul Migne's "Patrology". The insertion of new sermons under the name of Augustine of Hippo (P.L., XLVII) brought about a controversy between the two editors.
• (Paris 1835-1840), four octavo volumes, and also (Paris 1863) five octavo volumes, written in collaboration with Louis Juste
• (Paris, 1842), two folio volumes (also P.G., XXVII and XXVIII), an edition, partly from the manuscript notes of D. Clémencet, reviewed by Abel-François Villemain in the (1845 and 1847) (Paris, 1838), three volumes never completed.

A similar project of a resulted only in the publication of a few opuscula of Ephrem the Syrian, Bonaventure, Idiota (Jordan), and the Marial monographs noticed above. Caillau also re-edited Merz's (1822), (1826), vols. III and IV of D. Ceillier's (1838-9); and (1839).

Sources

• Delaporte, Vie du P. Rauzan (Paris, 1857); Bibliographie catholique, X;