Veuillot was born of humble parents in
Boynes (
Loiret). When he was five years of age, his parents relocated to Paris. With little education, he gained employment in a lawyer's office, and was sent in 1830 to serve with a newspaper of
Rouen, and afterwards to
Périgueux. Initially, Veuillot supported the
July Monarchy of
Louis Phillippe criticizing both Republicans and supporters of the deposed
Bourbon Dynasty. He returned to Paris in 1837, and a year later visited Rome during
Holy Week. There he embraced
ultramontane sentiments, and became an ardent champion of
Catholicism. The results of his conversion were published in
Pélerinages en Suisse (1839),
Rome et Lorette (1841) and other publications. Veuillot's embrace of Ultramontanism led to his violent rejection of Bourgeois society and norms. He had little regard for theological nuance and held fast to the overall philosophies of
Joseph de Maistre and
Louis de Bonald, the original Catholic
counter-revolutionary thinkers. Veuillot viewed all issues through the prism of their relationship to the Church and thought any disruption of the faith was a catastrophe. For this reason, he expressed surprise when he learned that his friend Joseph-Théophile Foisset was working on a new edition of
Blaise Pascal since he was a
Jansenist. In 1840, Veuillot joined the staff of the newspaper
Univers Religieux, a journal created in 1833 by
Abbé Migne, and soon helped make it the leading organ of ultramontane propaganda as ''
L'Univers''. His methods of journalism, which made great use of
irony and ad hominem criticism, had already provoked more than one duel, and he was imprisoned for a brief time for his polemics against the
University of Paris. In 1848, he became editor of the newspaper, which was suppressed in 1860, but revived in 1867, when Veuillot resumed his ultramontane propaganda, causing a second suppression of his journal in 1874. Veuillot then occupied himself by writing polemical pamphlets against
liberal Catholics, the
Second French Empire and the Italian government. His services to the
papal see were recognized by
Pope Pius IX, on whom he wrote (1878) a monograph.
Matthew Arnold said of him: M. Louis Veuillot is a polemic worthy of the golden age of polemics. He is singly devoted to ultramontanism; he lives on a small fixed salary from the proprietors of the
Univers; he is a man of the purest and simplest domestic life; he is poor, and has a large family, but he has refused all offers of place and salary from the government, and maintains his entire independence. And
Orestes Brownson wrote: [Veuillot] manifests the temper and breeding of a fanatic, and seems to act on the principle that whoever differs on any important point in history, politics, or philosophy, from himself, must needs be a bad Catholic, or no Catholic at all. We question not his sincerity, we question not his personal piety; but we do question his qualification to be a Catholic leader. His mind is too narrow and one-sided for that, and his leadership, with the best intentions on his part, is fitted only to bring about the very results he most deprecates. Notwithstanding his hostility to those who regret the loss of parliamentary freedom, and his devotion to Imperialism, he has not been able to save his journal from an
avertissement; and it would seem that, after having aided in erecting an Absolute government for his country, and in breaking down all the safeguards established by constitutionalism to freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and public discussion, the police have had the cruelty to take him at his word, and give him a taste of the despotism he has been willing to fasten upon others. Some of his papers were collected in
Mélanges Religieux, Historiques et Littéraires (12 vols., 1857–1875), and his ''
(7 vols., 1883–85) has great political interest. His younger brother, Eugène Veuillot, published (1901–1904) a comprehensive and valuable life, Louis Veuillot''. After the
First Vatican Council, Veuillot's influence began to wane. In 1879, Pope Pius IX released a letter praising him, but also regretting his "bitter zeal" in advocating his views. Among the lower clergy Veuillot retained influence. Politically he returned to advocating the restorations of the Bourbon Monarchy under
Henri, Count of Chambord. ==Anti-Semitism==