Biography of Joseph de Maistre

Passion for diplomacy

1 April 1753
26 February 1821
Joseph de Maistre was born on day 1 April 1753 in Chambery (France). His hometown is part of the Savoy's Kingdom and the father himself is a member of the Savoyard Senate. Joseph is surrounded by a very large family consisting of four brothers and five sisters. As a child is entrusted to a tutor, but the most important intellectual influence is that of the mother and maternal grandfather, which offers a massive library. He attended the Jesuits until their expulsion in 1763. Then decides to follow in his father's footsteps in the judiciary and law degree in Turin. After a brief apprenticeship in Chambery as advocate of the poor, he started his career as magistrate.
While engaging in the role of a jurist, reveals a deep interest in philosophy and theology: he knows very well the Holy Scriptures and devoted himself to learning many languages. Apart from French and Latin languages, fluent in Italian, Portuguese, English, Spanish and even some German. Join the ranks of Freemasonry in 1774. Since the first part of the loggia dei Trois Mortiers and then to the Scottish Rite the martinist Parfaite Sincerité. In the philosophy of Louis Clade de Saint Martin and his idea of the fallen angels, Joseph de Maistre sees hope for a renewal of the world.
Theorizes a sort of Alliance between the Protestant Church and the Catholic Church as a middle course between atheism and religion in order to encourage the building of a new society. In 1786 he married the noblewoman Françoise-Marguerite de Morand with whom he had three sons, Adèle, Rodolphe and Constance. At the time of the outbreak of the French Revolution, chairs in the Savoyard Senate seat for about a year. Initially welcomes the risings, convinced that they can be a drag to the overwhelming power of the Ancient Regime. Later, however, the publication of "the rights of man and of the citizen," change your mind by denying the validity of all revolutionary principles. In 1792, after the French occupation of the territories of Savoy is forced to flee to Switzerland and, in Lausanne, comes into contact with many French refugees.
During this period he devoted himself to writing and processing of his political thought giving birth to an essay that earned him great respect and renown counter-revolutionaries environments: "considerations on France". His Swiss retreat is not revealed but very quiet, and Joseph de Maistre is forced to flee again. He settled first in Venice, where he went through a period of serious economic difficulties, and then in Sardinia. Here holds the position of Regent of great registry of the Kingdom granted to him by the King. In 1802 King Vittorio Emanuele I entrusted him with the role of Ambassador to the Court of Petrograd. Joseph, with no instructions and a prominent economic privilege, struggling to be heard, while trying to defend the interests of ladyfingers. Its location becomes important during the Napoleonic wars. He manages to convince Emperor Alexander I to not implement a series of reforms of enlightenment and mold, on the contrary, the action of the newly reconstituted Jesuits. Unfortunately, it will be just his open support for the Jesuits to make him fall in disgrace.
He is also an intense activity of Catholic apostolate in Russia; activity that appears to claim many victims, especially among the gentlewomen of which often attends the salons. He publishes "Lettre à une dame Protestant sur la question de savoir si le changement de religion n'est point contraire à l'Honneur". Eventually the Tsar asks even expulsion from the Court of St. Petersburg. The Russian era remains, however, one of the most profitable from the intellectual point of view. Writes, in fact, "essay on the principle of generator constitutions", "examination of the philosophy of Bacon", "letters to a Russian gentleman on the Spanish Inquisition" and text that consecrates "evenings of St. Petersburg", published posthumously in 1821. This work is considered one of the finest of its production: it is a kind of Socratic dialogue between a conte, de Maistre and two other characters.
In the text he claims that the world is God; and, worried that science can overturn this axiom, it tends to devalue completely. Suggests, therefore, that the greatest danger to society is splitting and the opposition between science and reason and tradition and common sense on the other. He returned to Turin in 1818 after the Congress of Vienna, and was again appointed regent of great registry of the Kingdom. Meanwhile public another of his writings: "the Pope". Joseph de Maistre shuts the 26 February 1821 surrounded by loved ones and friends. He is buried in the Church of the holy martyrs of Turin.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.