Other branch
Abbé Faujas
Catholic priest
The antagonist of La Conquête de Plassans — a priest of genuine piety and iron will sent by the Empire's political managers to secure Plassans for the government. His method is impeccable: he presents himself as poor and humble, lodges with the Mouret family at a modest rate, never appears to scheme, and works through the social fabric of the town's religious women rather than through any direct political action. He identifies Marthe Rougon's religious temperament immediately and uses it as his primary instrument, drawing her into his network of charitable works, shaping her devotion to his ends. He brings his sister Olympe and eventually her whole family to lodge in the Mouret house, displacing its original occupants room by room. He is not a hypocrite in the simple sense: his faith may well be genuine, and his political mission he regards as serving the Church's interests. This is what makes him so dangerous — he does not see himself as an agent of destruction. He delivers the vote. He dies in the fire François Mouret sets.
Antagoniste de La Conquête de Plassans. Prêtre envoyé par les managers politiques impériaux pour livrer Plassans au gouvernement. Sa méthode : se présenter comme humble et pauvre, s'installer chez les Mouret, travailler à travers le réseau des femmes dévotes plutôt que par action politique directe. Il reconnaît la dévotion de Marthe Rougon et s'en sert comme instrument principal. Mission accomplie — il est mort dans l'incendie que provoque François Mouret.
Tall, square-shouldered, with a hard jaw and impenetrable dark eyes — a man of iron will dressed in priestly black, who has the disconcerting quality of never seeming to want anything for himself.
Tall, square-shouldered, with a hard jaw and impenetrable dark eyes — a man of iron will dressed in priestly black, who has the disconcerting quality of never seeming to want anything for himself.