Jacques Paul Migne

He was ordained in 1824 and placed in charge of the parish of Puiseaux, in the diocese of Orléans,[2] where his uncompromisingly Catholic and royalist sympathies did not coincide with local patriotism and the new regime of the Citizen-King.

In 1833, after falling out with his bishop over a pamphlet he had published, he went to Paris, and on 3 November started a journal, L'Univers religieux,[2] which he intended to keep free of political influence.

Migne was, until June 1856, owner of the daily Vérité (formerly the Journal des faits), which, being limited to reproducing other newspapers, described itself as the impartial echo of all opinions.

He published numerous religious works in rapid succession meant for lesser clergy at prices that ensured wide circulation, and bypassed the bookselling establishment with direct subscriptions.

"Five hundred thousand plates, stacked in piles, melted in an instant; they are now enormous blocks on the most bizarre forms," reported Le Monde illustré.

Then from the curia of Pope Pius IX came a decree condemning the use of Mass stipends to purchase books, which specifically called out Migne and his publications.

The cheap paper of the originals has made them fragile today, but the scope of the Patrologia still makes it unique and valuable when modern editions do not yet exist.