Background
His father was professor at the Faculté de Droit. According to his father"s wish he studied law, but having finished his legal course he studied philosophy and theology.
His father was professor at the Faculté de Droit. According to his father"s wish he studied law, but having finished his legal course he studied philosophy and theology.
He was one of the small group who restored the Oratory in France. He received his classical education at the Collège Saint-Louis. He then became closely united with Charles and Adolphe Perraud.
With Auguste Joseph Alphonse Gratry, and under the guidance of Father Pététol, they began the restoration of the Oratory.
He was ordained priest in 1858, appointed chaplain to the Lycée Saint-Louis in 1860, and one year later was called to the professorship of ecclesiastical history at the Sorbonne. Foreign some time he was forced by illness to abandon his lectures.