Éditions du Cerf was founded in 1929 at the request ofPius XI[1] by the Dominican Marie-Vincent Bernadot (1883–1941), whose thinking was close to that of the pontiff.[2] The name “Cerf” refers to the opening ofPsalm 42:
Comme un cerf altéré cherche l'eau vive, ainsi mon âme te cherche toi, mon Dieu.
In1919 Father Bernadot had already founded the journalLa Vie spirituelle [fr] to return Christian spirituality to its sources: Scripture, theChurch Fathers, and the great mystics. In1928—supported by PopePius XI, who instructed theMaster of the Order to transfer him to Paris—Bernadot foundedLa Vie intellectuelle with Father Étienne Lajeunie and other intellectuals such asJacques Maritain. The aim was to provide an alternative to the influence ofCharles Maurras and his movementAction Française, condemned by Rome in 1926,[3] and of which he was “convinced of the intrinsically perverse character.”[4]
A year after the launch of the journal—which marked a departure within the Order from the highly scholastic Thomism of theologianRéginald Garrigou-Lagrange[2]—and with capital provided by friends,[5] Bernadot founded the joint-stock companyLes Éditions du Cerf on October 11, 1929 (1929-10-11).[6] It shared the ambition to "counter the influence of Action française".[7]
The company set up with a small group of Dominicans in a house inJuvisy-sur-Orge.[8]
Marie-Vincent Bernadot, c. 1916.
From1934 the publisher brought outSept [fr], a weekly whose editorial line was close to that ofLa Vie intellectuelle but aimed at a broader audience.Sept was published in Paris but written in Juvisy.[5] To remedy this, Father Bernadot acquired a building atNo. 29 Boulevard de la Tour-Maubourg in the7th arrondissement of Paris, which soon housed a Dominican convent as well as the publishing house.[5] He installed the paper’s headquarters there and moved the team at the turn of 1936–1937.[5]
Éditions du Cerf was then above all a “house of journals,” which sometimes published books but for a long time was known mainly for the “Unam Sanctam” series, developed from 1937 by the Dominican theologianYves Congar. The catalogue consisted largely of periodicals; in twenty years Bernadot developed no fewer than eight: to the existing titles were added the supplement toLa Vie spirituelle, theDocuments de La Vie intellectuelle, andChrétienté, among others.[5]
Positions taken in Cerf publications—often seen as nonconformist by Catholic opinion largely marked on the right—attracted increasing criticism.Sept was forced by theHoly Office to cease publication in August 1937.[5] In 1939, when the newly electedPius XII suspended the sanctions againstL’Action française, Bernadot felt disavowed and resigned as publisher and prior in July 1939.[5]
After the declaration of war he resumed the post of his successor,Pierre Boisselot [fr], who was mobilized and then deported to Germany. In poor health and demoralized, Bernadot died at fifty-eight on 25 June 1941.[5] For the rest of the war, teams were dispersed and publications suspended, with the exception ofLa Vie spirituelle.[5]
Current headquarters on Rue des Tanneries in Paris.
In 2011 the headquarters moved to the Couvent Saint-Jacques at24 Rue des Tanneries.[6]
In 2013 Jean-François Colosimo, after resigning as head of theCentre national du livre, was appointed chair of the management board of Éditions du Cerf, with a mandate to return to break-even after three years of significant losses and to consolidate the editorial line.[9][10] Part of the former team left the house. The number of employees was reduced from 49 to 15. More importantly, the editorial line shifted toward authors and titles with greater media resonance: notablyAdieu Mademoiselle byEugénie Bastié (2016),Le Porc émissaire: terreur ou contre-révolution byLaetitia Strauch-Bonart [fr] (2018),Vous avez dit conservateur ? by Kévin Boucaud-Victoire (2016),La Guerre des gauches byMathieu Bock-Côté (2017), andL’Empire du politiquement correct (2019). AlsoL’Erreur de calcul (2014) andLe Nouveau Pouvoir (2017) byRégis Debray,Notre liberté contre leur libéralisme byClémentine Autain (2018), andLe Désordre idéologique by Gaël Brustier (2017).[1]
In 2016 twenty-seven Dominicans aroundHenri Burin des Roziers launched a petition against the intrusion of a "perverse right". They said they were saddened to see Colosimo attend the 50th anniversary ofValeurs actuelles, which would break with a progressive tradition “that has been the honor of the Dominican Order in France.”[11]
According to Joseph Confavreux (Mediapart), this petition did not prevent Cerf’s editorial line from taking a “reactionary” turn, notably with the 2019 publication ofL’Émancipation promise by political scientistPierre-André Taguieff.[12]
Éditions du Cerf publishes theBible de Jérusalem, a Catholic translation of the Bible into contemporaryformal French. The first edition appeared in 1956, the second in 1977, and the third in 1998.
Rites et symboles, created in 1973 by the Centre national de pastorale liturgique
La Nuit surveillée, a publishing house created in Paris in 1982 by Jacques Rolland; became a series atÉditions Verdier [fr] in 1983, then at Cerf from 1985
Orthodoxie, created in 2010 under the direction of Hyacinthe Destivelle, O.P., and ArchpriestJivko Panev [fr], in connection with the websiteOrthodoxie.com [fr]
^abCholvy, Gérard; Hilaire, Yves-Marie (1989). "1880/1930". In Gérard Cholvy; Yves-Marie Hilaire (eds.).Histoire religieuse de la France contemporaine [Religious History of Contemporary France]. Bibliothèque historique Privat (in French). Vol. 2. p. 319.ISBN27089-53303.
^Laudouze, André (1989). "9: L'Action Catholique contre l'Action Française".Dominicains français et Action française, 1899–1940 [French Dominicans and Action Française, 1899–1940] (in French). Paris: Éditions Ouvrières. pp. 131–148.ISBN978-2-7082-2610-4.
^Laudouze, André (1989). "9: L'Action Catholique contre l'Action Française".Dominicains français et Action française, 1899–1940 [French Dominicans and Action française, 1899–1940] (in French). Paris: Éditions Ouvrières. p. 132.ISBN978-2-7082-2610-4.
^abcdefghiFouilloux, Étienne (2018-06-15)."BERNADOT Marie-Vincent" [BERNADOT Marie-Vincent].Dictionnaire biographique des frères prêcheurs. Dominicains des provinces françaises (19th–20th c.) (in French).ISSN2431-8736. Retrieved2021-11-04.
^ab"Éditions du Cerf (Les)" [Éditions du Cerf (The)].Dictionnaire biographique des frères prêcheurs. Dominicains des provinces françaises (19th–20th c.) (in French). 2015-04-10.ISSN2431-8736. Retrieved2021-11-04.
Fouilloux, Étienne; Cavalin, Tangi; Viet-Depaule, Nathalie (2018).Les éditions dominicaines du Cerf [The Dominican publishing house of Cerf, 1918–1965] (in French). Presses universitaires de Rennes.ISBN978-2-7535-5899-1.
Laudouze, André (1989).Dominicains français et Action française, 1899–1940 [French Dominicans and Action Française, 1899–1940: Maurras in the convent] (in French). Paris: Éditions Ouvrières.ISBN978-2-7082-2610-4.
