Jacques Bridaine

Jacques Bridaine (21 March 1701 – 22 December 1767) was a French Roman Catholic preacher.

Biography Jacques Bridaine was born on 21 March 1701 in Chusclan. Having completed his studies at the Jesuit college of Avignon,

In the course of his life, Bridaine preached two hundred and fifty-six missions, Montpellier Lyon Chaillot (in 1744) Chalon-sur-Saône (in 1745) Saint-Sulpice (in 1753)

Bridaine, who tended to extemporize rather than write his sermons in advance, quickly became famous for his theatrical preaching and sonorous, penetrating voice. His self-described "methods" for capturing the attention of an audience included processions, choruses, and banners,

Cardinal Maury included a sermon in his which he attributed to Bridaine at the 1753 mission in St. Sulpice. This sermon won Bridaine great praise, and Longfellow references it in the poem "The Old Clock on the Stairs." Later, however, Maury would admit that he had written it himself, inspired by a secondhand description of Bridaine's preaching.

Bridaine's Cantiques Spirituels passed through forty-seven editions, in use in most French churches. He has also left five volumes of sermons (ed. Avignon, 1823; Paris, 1861).

Bridaine died in Roquemaure on 22 December 1767, after a failed operation to treat kidney stones.