Armand-Benjamin Caillau (22 October 1794 – 1850) was a French Catholic priest, a missionary and writer.

Life

Caillau was born in Paris. Ordained in 1818, he was successively a member of the Missions de France, rector of Sainte-Geneviève (rue d'Enfer) and chaplain of the Infirmerie Marie-Thérèse (92 avenue Denfert-Rochereau). He joined, in 1834, the Fathers of Mercy, newly re-organized by Rauzan. His love of missionary life made him decline episcopal honours and a chair at the Sorbonne, but was no obstacle to his literary pursuits. He died in Paris in 1850.

Works

Besides many contributions to the Bibliographie Catholique, Caillau wrote Instructions sur l'oraison mentale (Paris, 1833), a French translation of Tertullian's De Spectaculis (Paris, 1835), several monographs on Our Lady's Sanctuaries: Roc-Amadour (1834), Loretto (1843), N.D. de Puy (1846), Litanies du St. Nom de Jesus (Paris, 1845), Les nouveaux illuminés (Michel Vintras) (Orléans, 1849), etc. He is best known, however, by the following works: A similar project of a Bibliotheca Mariana resulted only in the publication of a few opuscula of Ephrem the Syrian, Bonaventure, Idiota (Jordan), and the Marial monographs noticed above. Caillau also re-edited Merz's Thesaurus biblicus (1822), L'Année sainte (1826), vols. III and IV of D. Ceillier's Histoire des auteurs sacrés (1838-9); and Lettres de Scheffmacher (1839).

Sources