Jacques Crétineau-Joly

Jacques Crétineau-Joly (23 September 1803 – 1 January 1875) was a French Catholic journalist and historian, known both for his political activism and for his extensive histories of the Jesuits.

Biography Crétineau-Joly was born at Fontenay-le-Comte, Vendée, and attended school in Luçon. While in Rome, Crétinau-Joly met Ercole Consalvi, and after Consalvi's death in 1824, published a Memoirs of Cardinal Consalvi. Later historians have questioned the accuracy of Crétineau-Joly's histories of the Jesuits, characterizing them as "patently apologetic".

In May of 1846, Pope Pius IX met personally with Crétineau-Joly in the Quirinal Palace, and asked him to write a history of secret societies. For this purpose, he gave Crétineau-Joly a number of documents on the Alta Vendita, including seized correspondence. Crétineau-Joly used this material to compose L'Église romaine en face de la Révolution.

Crétineau-Joly died in Vincennes near Paris.

Main works Histoire religieuse, politique et littéraire de la Compagnie de Jésus, (6 vol.), Paris-Lyon, 1845. Clément XIV et les Jésuites, Paris-Bruxelles, 1847. Lettre au Père A. Theiner, Bruxelles-Paris, 1853. L'Église romaine en face de la Révolution, 2 vol., 1859 Google books.