Oliver Maillard was a Breton Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 preacher.

He was celebrated as forceful and popular, for his Lenten sermons in both churches and public places. His manner and style were rather blunt and plebeian. Fearless, he attacked the abuses of his time, and the cruelties of Louis XI. He also espoused the cause of Jeanne de Valois

Joan of France, Duchess of Berry

Joan of France was briefly Queen consort of France as wife of King Louis XII of France, in between the death of her brother, Charles VIII, and the annulment of her marriage....

, the repudiated wife of the Duke of Orléans.

He confirmed Charles VIII of France

Charles VIII of France

Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...

 in his plan of restoring Roussillon

Roussillon

Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...

 and Cerdagne to Aragon

Aragon

Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...

. Pope Innocent VIII

Pope Innocent VIII

Pope Innocent VIII , born Giovanni Battista Cybo , was Pope from 1484 until his death.-Early years:Giovanni Battista Cybo was born at Genoa of Greek extraction...

 asked Maillard in 1488 to use his best endeavours with the French king for abolishing the Pragmatic Sanction

Pragmatic sanction

A pragmatic sanction is a sovereign's solemn decree on a matter of primary importance and has the force of fundamental law. In the late history of the Holy Roman Empire it referred more specifically to an edict issued by the Emperor....

.

Life

He took the Franciscan habit with the Observants, apparently in the province of Aquitaine. He was there the vicar Provincial of the Observants, when on 2 June, 1487, he was elected Vicar General of the Ultramontane Observants (i.e. those north of the Alps) at the general chapter of the Observants at Toulouse. After his first term of office (1487-90), he was twice re-elected (1493-6 and 1499-1502).

Retiring from office at the General Chapter of 15 May, 1502, he went to Toulouse, where he died at the monastery of St. Mary of the Angela. As miracles soon were reported at his grave, the General Chapter of Barcelona in 1508 ordered that his remains should be translated to a chapel built specially for them, where for some time he enjoyed a certain amount of public veneration.

Works

Of his works, nearly all of which are sermons, the most important are:

• "Sermones de adventu, quadragesimales et dominicales" (3 vols., Paris, 1497-8, 1506, 1522, etc.: Lyons, 1498, etc.);
• "Sermones de adventu, quadragesimales, dominicales" and "De peccati stipendio et gratiae praemio" (Paris, 1498-, 1515, etc.; Lyons, 1503), delivered at Paris in 1498;
• "Quadragesimale", delivered at Bruges in 1501 (Paris, s.d.); printed with the author's notes and the edition of his "Sermon fait l'an 1500 ... en la ville de Bruges" (2nd ed., Antwerp, s. d.);
• "Chanson piteuse ... chantée à Toulouse 1502" (2nd ed., Paris, 1826); "Histoire de la passion ... de nostre doulx sauveur" (Paris, 1493);
• "La conformité et correspondance tres dévote des ... mystères de la messe à la passion.", (Paris, 1552), reprinted as a literary monument (Paris, 1828);
• "L'instruction et consolacion de la vie contemplative", (Paris, s.d.), containing various treatises;
• "La confession de Frère Oliver Maillard" (Paris, s.d. ; Paris, 1500), frequently edited.

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia article