Chapter Six. Seyssel, The Church, And The Ideal Prelate

This chapter discusses how Claude de Seyssel dedicated himself to his religious charge toward the end of his life. Seyssel took up the issue of church reform, a reform that he began with his own condition. The Monarchie de France proposed two main reasons for church reform, one political and the other religious. Seyssel repeated often in De triplici statu viatoris that the active life was not a hindrance to reaching God; instead, the ideal prelate should go back and forth from contemplation to activity. Seyssel’s approach to clerical reform was in keeping with his views on government and the military. Seyssel was interested in making the Catholic Church function effectively in its domain, in a way similar to all of the other institutions which regulated society, thereby providing order and harmony in the world.Keywords: church reform; Claude de Seyssel; De triplici statu viatoris; Monarchie de France; prelate