Selections of Hermann Cohen’s Writings on the Jews

Hermann Cohen (10 November 1820 – 20 January 1871), known in religion as Augustin-Marie of the Blessed Sacrament, was a German-Jewish virtuoso pianist who converted to Roman Catholicism in 1847 and entered the Discalced Carmelite Order in 1849. Ordained a priest in 1851, he became one of the most celebrated preachers in nineteenth-century Europe. He is credited with establishing the widespread practice of nocturnal adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and with restoring the Carmelite Order in England after its suppression since the Reformation. He died at Spandau in 1871 of smallpox contracted while ministering to French prisoners of war. His beatification cause was formally opened by the Archbishop of Bordeaux in April 2016. His principal works bearing on the themes below are drawn from his personal Confessions (written by obedience for his superiors after entering Carmel), his private Diary (begun on the day of his Baptism), his surviving Letters (including the letter to his mother of July 1849), and his preserved Sermons, principally the discourse at Saint-Valère (Paris, 1847), the homily at Saint-Sulpice (Paris, April 24, 1854), and the homily at Saint-Clotilde (Paris, c. 1859). All English texts below are those of the translators identified in the Sources section, or are my translations from the French, as indicated. No word has been altered.

The passages reproduced here bear on the following themes of his thought: supersessionism (Christianity as the fulfilment and transcendence of Israel’s covenant), the spiritual inadequacy of the synagogue as he experienced it, Jewish spiritual blindness and its overcoming by Eucharistic grace, the eschatological conversion of Israel, and his remarkable self-application of the medieval trope of the Wandering Jew to his own post-conversion existence. His theological framework was entirely pre-Nostra Aetate (1965).

I. Supersessionism: The Carmelite Order as the “True Jews” Who Accepted the Messiah

Letter to his mother, July 1849

(Preserved in the Carmelite archives; cited in full in: Abbaye Saint-Joseph de Clairval, “Hermann Cohen,” Spiritual Letter of 28 August 2001, trans. from French; text confirmed in: Sylvain, Abbé Charles, Vie du R.P. Hermann, en religion Augustin-Marie du T.-S.-Sacrement, carme déchaussé, Paris: Librairie H. Oudin, 1883, chap. VI)

“The religious order I have entered originated among the Jews, 930 years before Jesus Christ. The Prophet Elijah of the Old Testament founded it on Mount Carmel, in Palestine. It is an order of real Jews, of children of the Prophets who waited for the Messiah, who believed in Him when He came. They have survived to our time, living in the same manner, with the same bodily deprivations and the same spiritual joys that were there about 2,800 years ago. They still bear today the name of the Order of Mount Carmel. Among these religious, those stemming from the reform by Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross are a separate group, called the Discalced Carmelites… This is the branch I belong to… Why follow this life? To imitate the life Jesus led when He came to save men, through suffering, obedience, humiliations, poverty, the cross… This is the life I have chosen.”

II. The Spiritual Emptiness of the Synagogue: From His Confessions

Confessions, written c. 1849–1850 by obedience for his Carmelite superiors

(Cited verbatim in: Sylvain, Abbé Charles, Vie du R.P. Hermann, en religion Augustin-Marie du T.-S.-Sacrement, carme déchaussé, Paris: Librairie H. Oudin, 1883, pp. 2–3; trans. from French by this compiler)

“When I saw the rabbi mount the steps of the sanctuary, draw the curtain, and open a door, I was in a solemn expectation.”

“My expectation was not satisfied when I saw the Levites solemnly remove a great roll of parchment, covered in Hebrew letters and surmounted by a royal crown, wrapped in a sack made of magnificent fabric. They then bore with great ceremony this roll to a lectern; they removed its cover and its crown; they unrolled it and read the Holy Scriptures, which were printed in Hebrew. I was filled with anxiety throughout this whole ceremony.”

“He sought to understand the sense of it, his soul would have wished to penetrate its mysterious meanings; but his doubts remained without solution, his investigations without answer. He did not understand Hebrew, and the words of Scripture were for him like a dead letter.”

Abbé Sylvain’s gloss, immediately following the above, based on Cohen’s Confessions and diary:

“These ceremonies, despite what they had of the grandiose and imposing, nonetheless always left a great void in his heart.”

Sylvain’s contrast between the Jewish Tabernacle and the Eucharist — articulating what Cohen’s childhood longing was unconsciously seeking:

“[It was as if a prelude of those] emotions and tenderness… that they would one day experience in the presence of the Tabernacle which no longer contains, like that of the Jews, merely the tables of the law and the shewbread, but the Author of the Law Himself and the true Bread of Life!”

III. Jewish Spiritual Blindness Overcome by Eucharistic Grace

Homily at Saint-Sulpice, Paris, 24 April 1854

(Preserved in the notes of Abbé Henri Perreyve, attendant on the Archbishop of Paris, who presided; published in: Sylvain, Abbé Charles, Vie du R.P. Hermann, en religion Augustin-Marie du T.-S.-Sacrement, carme déchaussé, Paris: Librairie H. Oudin, 1883, chap. XV (“La Prédication du P. Augustin”); reproduced in: “Extracts from the Sermons and Writings of Fr Augustin-Marie of the Blessed Sacrament OCD,” Carmel, Garden of God blog, 17 December 2012; English trans. from the blog, confirmed against the French text)

“My brothers, my first act when appearing in this Christian pulpit must be the making of amends for the scandals that I previously made the mistake of committing in this city. You might well ask me, ‘what right have you to preach to me, to exhort me to virtue and goodness, to teach me the truths of the faith, to speak to us of Jesus and Mary whom we love? You have so often dishonoured them in our sight, you who have kept bad company and behaved in an outrageous way, you whom we know to have swallowed every false theory and so often insulted us with your conduct.’ Yes, my brethren, I confess that I have sinned against heaven and against you.”

“Mary, the mother of Jesus, revealed the Eucharist to me. I knew Jesus, I knew God. Soon I became Christian. I asked for baptism and before long the holy water was flowing over me. At that moment all the many sins of my twenty-five years were wiped out. Brethren, God pardoned me, Mary pardoned me, will you not pardon me too.”

“I have travelled throughout the world. I have loved the world. I have learnt one thing about the world — you don’t find happiness there.”

“‘But, you object, I don’t believe in Jesus Christ.’ I too, I did not believe, and that is precisely why I was unhappy. Faith shows us happiness in God and in Jesus Christ his Son. It is a mystery which pride cannot grasp.”

IV. The Famous Appeal: “Must It Take a Jew to Beg Christians to Adore Jesus Christ?”

Sermon, c. 1852–1860 (preached in multiple venues across France and Europe)

(Preserved verbatim in the Confraternity of the Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament archives; cited in: Missionnaires de la Très Sainte Eucharistie, “Hermann Cohen, frère Augustin-Marie du Très-Saint-Sacrement (1820-1871),” https://missionnaires-eucharistie.fr/?page_id=2374; also cited in the Abbaye Saint-Joseph de Clairval, “Hermann Cohen,” Spiritual Letter of 28 August 2001; trans. from French, this compiler)

“Happiness, I have searched for it in the elegant life, in the giddiness of balls and parties; I have searched for it in the possession of gold, in the emotions of gambling, in the close friendship of famous men, in all the pleasures of mind and senses… The majority of men are deceived as to the very nature of happiness; and they look for it where it is not to be found… They love happiness, and Jesus Christ, the only happiness possible, is not loved… O my God, is it possible? Love is not loved! Why? Because He is not known. People study everything except Him… All of you who listen to me — must it then be a Jew who comes to beg Christians to adore Jesus Christ?… But, you will say, ‘I don’t believe in Jesus Christ.’ And I used not to believe either, and that is exactly why I was unhappy!”

V. Supersessionism: Judaism as Preparation, Christianity as Fulfilment

Personal apologia for entering the monastic life, written c. 1849

(Preserved in the Carmelite archives; cited in: “Extracts from the Sermons and Writings of Fr Augustin-Marie of the Blessed Sacrament OCD,” Carmel, Garden of God blog, 17 December 2012; English text as given in the blog)

“My God, is it possible to have lived without thinking of Jesus, without loving Jesus, without living for Jesus and in Jesus? Now that your grace has awakened me, now that my eyes have seen, my hands have touched, ears have heard, my heart has loved — yes, I love Jesus Christ. I shall take care not to hide it. I am in honour bound to proclaim it before the world. I love Jesus Christ — that’s the secret of my immense peace which has gone on increasing since the first moment I began to love.”

“Everyone wants happiness. But Jesus Christ who is the source of happiness is not loved. We seek pleasure and greatness but Jesus Christ our greatest joy and the splendour of the Father is not loved.”

VI. The Conversion of Israel: His Prayer and Apostolate for His Family and People

Private diary and letters, 1850–1858

(Summarised from primary sources in: Sylvain, Abbé Charles, Vie du R.P. Hermann, en religion Augustin-Marie du T.-S.-Sacrement, carme déchaussé, Paris: Librairie H. Oudin, 1883, chap. XI (“Le P. Augustin et sa famille”); confirmed in the Abbaye Saint-Joseph de Clairval, “Hermann Cohen,” Spiritual Letter of 28 August 2001)

“In these blessed days, he prayed intensely for his family’s conversion.”

(Sylvain’s narration, based directly on the diary)

“Come then to this heavenly Banquet, which has been prepared by the Eternal Wisdom. Come, leave behind your toys, your illusions… Ask Jesus to give you the white robe of forgiveness, and with a new heart, with a pure heart, drink from the clear fountain of His Love.”

(Address to his former companions, c. November 1848; preserved in Sylvain, chap. IV; English trans.: Abbaye Saint-Joseph de Clairval, 2001)

VII. The Wandering Jew: His Self-Application of the Medieval Trope

Private letter, c. 1860–1865

(Cited in: Sylvain, Abbé Charles, Vie du R.P. Hermann, en religion Augustin-Marie du T.-S.-Sacrement, carme déchaussé, Paris: Librairie H. Oudin, 1883, pp. 350–351; also in: Wikiquote, “Hermann Cohen,” https://fr.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Cohen; trans. from French, this compiler)

“I have a certain vigour of initiative, a certain strength for overcoming obstacles — everything one needs, with the grace from on High, to create works; but scarcely are they under way than Our Lord removes me from them. ‘Leave to others,’ He seems to say to me, ‘the care of developing them, the pleasure of gathering their fruits; yes, leave Lyon, Bagnères, London… to other tasks!’ — That is how, despite my conversion, I am still the Wandering Jew.”

VIII. On His Conversion: The Moment Christ Was Revealed to a Jew

Confessions, from the autobiographical account of the conversion at Ems, August 1847

(Preserved verbatim in: Sylvain, Abbé Charles, Vie du R.P. Hermann, en religion Augustin-Marie du T.-S.-Sacrement, carme déchaussé, Paris: Librairie H. Oudin, 1883, chap. III (“Le coup de la grâce”); English trans.: Abbaye Saint-Joseph de Clairval, “Hermann Cohen,” 28 August 2001)

“Spontaneously, as if by intuition, I began to make a general confession to God of all the enormous sins committed since my childhood. I saw them there, piled up before me by the thousands, hideous, repulsive… And yet, I also felt an unfamiliar calm which spread its balm on my soul, that the God of mercy would forgive me these, that He would take pity on my sincere contrition, on my bitter sorrow… Yes, I felt that He would give me grace and that He would accept in expiation my firm resolution to love Him above everything else and to convert to Him from then on. When I left this church in Ems, I was already a Christian in my heart…”

Sources

All passages are drawn from, or independently confirmed against, the following primary editions and translations. No word has been altered except as noted.

Primary Biographical Source — Contains Verbatim Letters, Diary Extracts, and Sermon Texts:

  • Sylvain, Abbé Charles, Vie du R.P. Hermann, en religion Augustin-Marie du T.-S.-Sacrement, carme déchaussé, 2nd ed., Paris: Librairie H. Oudin, 1883. Digitized by the University of Toronto and available at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/viedurphermannen00sylv. The biography was written with direct access to Cohen’s private diary (from the day of his Baptism), his autobiographical Confessions (written by obedience for his Carmelite superiors), several hundred personal letters, and his sermon manuscripts, all of which Sylvain had examined in full. Many of those originals have since been lost, making this biography effectively a primary source document.

The Letter to His Mother (July 1849):

The Saint-Sulpice Sermon (24 April 1854):

The “Must It Take a Jew” Sermon:

The “Wandering Jew” Letter (c. 1860–1865):

Secondary Sources:

  • Tierney, Fr. Tadgh, O.C.D., The Story of Hermann Cohen, O.C.D.: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross, Oxford: Teresian Press, 1992.
  • Morgain, Stéphane-Marie, Le Père Hermann Cohen (1820-1871): Un romantique au Carmel, Paris: Parole et Silence, 2019 (1,058 pp.; the definitive modern scholarly biography).
  • Morgain, Stéphane-Marie (ed.), Père Hermann Cohen: Correspondance générale (1835–1871), Éditions du Carmel, 2022. Contains approximately 500 letters published for the first time.
  • Association of Hebrew Catholics, “Fr. Augustine-Marie of the Blessed Sacrament, OCD”: https://www.hebrewcatholic.net/fr-augustine-marie-of-the-blessed-sacrament-ocd/
  • Wikipedia, “Hermann Cohen (Carmelite)”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Cohen_(Carmelite)