Sulpice, to hear
the reverend professor make frequent comments, based on the
Vulgate, but absolutely disproved by Renan's own knowledge of
Hebrew. On Renan's questioning any interpretation of the lecturer,
the latter was wont to rejoin: "Monsieur, do you presume to deny
the authority of the Vulgate--the translation by St. Jerome,
sanctioned by the Holy Ghost and the Church? You will at once go
into the chapel and say `Hail Mary' for an hour before the image
of the Blessed Virgin."
"But," said Renan to Jules Simon, "this has now become very
serious; it happens nearly every day, and, _mon Dieu_! Monsieur, I
can not spend _all_ my time in saying, Hail Mary, before the statue
of the Virgin." The result was a warm personal attachment between
Simon and Renan; both were Bretons, educated in the midst of the most
orthodox influences, and both had unwillingly broken away from them.
Renan was now emancipated, and pursued his studies with such effect
that he was made professor at the College de France.
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