Hyacinthe

Hyacinthe, PÈRE, is the former monastic name of CHARLES LOYSON, born at Orleans, 10th March 1827. He studied at St Sulpice, and in 1851 becoming priest, taught philosophy and theology at Avignon and Nantes. Subsequently entering the order of the Carmelites, he became known as a powerful preacher, and gathered crowded and enthusiastic audiences of all ranks of society to the Madeleine and Notre Dame in Paris. Almost as remarkable as his eloquence was the boldness with which he denounced existing abuses in the church; and Archbishop Darboy defended him against the accusations of the Jesuits till in 1869 the General of his order imposed silence on him. Hyacinthe replied by a letter in which he called for a thorough reform of the church, and was excommunicated. Relieved from monastic vows by the pope, he became a secular priest under the name of the Abbé Loyson. He protested vigorously against the Infallibility Dogma; but although he attended the 'Old Catholic' Congress at Munich, and on visits to the United States and England fraternised with Protestants, he always declared his intention to remain in the Catholic Church, trying to obtain reforms, such as the liberty of marriage for the clergy. In 1872 he married an American lady. In 1873 he was chosen curé of a congregation of Liberal Catholics at Geneva, but soon left them. He has published sermons and lectures, and in 1879 established a 'Gallican' congregation in Paris, which in 1884 attached itself to the Old Catholic Church in Holland.