The French preacher Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire (1802-1861) was a Roman Catholic priest known for his liberal social ideas. He reestablished in France a group of priests known as the Dominican order to carry on his intellectual work.

Jean Baptiste Lacordaire, born a Catholic in the eastern French town of Récey-sur-Ourse on May 12, 1802, lost his religious faith during his student years in Dijon. As a bright and articulate young lawyer, he continued searching for something that would give meaning to his life, and when he came to see that an intelligent belief in God was necessary for him, he left his law practice and entered a seminary.

By the time Lacordaire was ordained a priest in 1827, he had begun to apply his religious ideas to politics. He became convinced that the Church ought to disengage itself from the government so that it could be a stronger...