> [[at-sl-36|← Fn: Index]] | [[at-spiritual-life-toc|TOC]] | [[at-sl-38|Bibliography →]] ABOUT THE AUTHOR Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey (1854–1932) is most familiar to American readers as the author of the classic The Spiritual Life, a work which he produced toward the end of his fruitful writing and teaching career. Adolphe Tanquerey was born on May 1, 1854 at Blainville, France and was baptized the same day. His father died when Adolphe was very young, and the boy was raised by his devout mother. From the age of six he wanted to be a priest, missionary and martyr. He saw in the priesthood, with its consuming zeal and sacrifice, the work of works. He entered the seminary at age 18 and joined the Society of St. Sulpice, the Sulpicians. During these years his devotion to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord and to the Blessed Virgin Mary grew and deepened. The seminarian was sent to study in Rome and then was ordained at St. John Lateran on April 20, 1878. That same year he gained a twofold doctorate in Theology and Canon Law and was soon given a teaching assignment. Fr. Tanquerey had an extraordinary talent for teaching. He influenced his students by his great supernatural spirit, his attractive good nature and the brilliant light he threw on questions of theology. His students loved him. From 1887–1903 Fr. Tanquerey was assigned to the Sulpician seminary in Baltimore, Maryland, where he taught Dogmatic Theology and Moral Theology and for one year served as Vice Rector. Here too he was beloved by all. Students would corner him outside of class to continue the eager discussions they had begun during class time. Fr. Tanquerey produced a number of famous theology works: Synopsis Theologiae Dogmaticae (3 vols.), Synopsis Theologiae Moralis et Pastoralis, and, with the help of two other priests, Brevior Synopsis Dogmatica and Brevior Synopsis Moralis. The Spiritual Life is known in its original French as Précis de Theólogie Ascétique et Mystique. This work was a dream toward which Fr. Tanquerey had worked for many years. Within a few years of its publication it had sold a hundred thousand copies to clergy and faithful—an extremely impressive number. The book was translated into several languages. After this, Fr. Tanquerey published Les Dogmes, Générateurs de la Piété. From 1903 to 1915 Fr. Tanquerey served at the seminary of St. Sulpice, Paris. His last great ministry was that of Superior at the Sulpician seminary at Issy between 1915–1927 (with an interruption during World War I). He derived great consolation from the work of forming young Sulpicians. He especially loved to pass on to them the spirituality of Fr. Olier and “the French School,” which he considered “so apt for forming good priests and interior souls.” Fr. Tanquerey was a diligent worker who continued his intellectual labors to the end of his life. He skillfully revised and amplified each new edition of his works, and he knew how to cull out and make use of the truth contained in sociology and other secular disciplines. He utilized the positive method and the speculative method without raising between them an airtight partition. In The Spiritual Life, Fr. Tanquerey mined the works of the principal authors on the spiritual life, methodically organized their teaching, took care to be both doctrinal and practical, and tied everything in with the teaching of St. Paul and St. John, as presented in the French school. In 1927 Fr. Tanquerey was allowed to resign as Superior at Issy and retire to the Sulpician seminary at Aix in order to devote more time to publishing. He published a series of brochures for the formation of advanced souls and made himself available to help priests and seminarians with their studies and as director of souls. From that year, Fr. Tanquerey began to prepare more particularly for death (which he had repeatedly prepared for by a yearly retreat). He wrote: “To raise my courage I recall that Jesus, not having been able to suffer in His own person the infirmities of age, willed to endure them in the person of Christians, especially priests, members of His Mystical Body. Since those infirmities have touched me, and since they can only increase as time goes on, I will to accept them bravely, joyfully, whole-heartedly.” After about a week of serious illness, Fr. Tanquerey gave his soul to God on Sunday, February 21, 1932. At his request his body was buried in the cemetery of Aix, in the tomb of the diocesan priests. Many beautiful tributes from Bishops and priests were received by the Sulpicians at his passing. Cardinal Lepicier expressed the belief that Fr. Tanquerey had increased a hundredfold the talents that God had entrusted to him. The Vicar General of Aix said, “For several years we have benefitted from the exquisite nourishment of a substantial teaching which, month by month, this vir doctus, robustus, validus \[learned, strong, orthodox man\] did not stop feeding us.…” Addressing Fr. Tanquerey in spirit as “O Venerable Old Man,” the Vicar General expressed the desire of all who had known him: “May we one day find you again more alive than ever in God and in Christ, whom you have taught us to serve better.” The above is excerpted and summarized from the brief biography circulated in the Sulpician Society after Fr. Tanquerey’s death. (P. Boisard, “Tanquerey, Adolph,” in American Necrology of the Society of St. Sulpice, ed. Vincent M. Eaton, S.S., Baltimore, 1991, pp. 263–270.) --- ← [[at-sl-36]] | [[at-spiritual-life-toc|Table of Contents]] | [[at-sl-38]] → **Source:** [[maps/bibliography#^biblio-tan|Tanquerey, *The Spiritual Life*]] --- ![[maps/bibliography#^biblio-tan]] > [[at-sl-36|← Fn: Index]] | [[at-spiritual-life-toc|TOC]] | [[at-sl-38|Bibliography →]]