Joseph Marie de Maistre Series

A lawyer, diplomat, writer, and philosopher, he was a most influential spokesman for hierarchical political systems in the period immediately following the French Revolution. His writings championed the restoration of hereditary monarchy as a divinely sanctioned institution and advocated for the indirect authority of the Pope over temporal matters. Maistre argued that only governments founded upon a Christian constitution, embedded in the customs of European societies, could avert the disorder and bloodshed that followed the implementation of rationalist political programs. He extolled monarchy, exalted the privileges of the papacy, and glorified divine providence.