Who He Is
Curé of Verrières, eighty years old at the start of the book, threatened with dismissal for having received a liberal inspector in prison. In Chapter 3 of Book I he appears as the only figure in town who does not measure things in money, and it is there that he says he is ready to lose his post.
Trajectory
In Chapter 3 of Book I, the opening portrait comes with his answer to Monsieur de Rênal and Valenod, who come to his house to express their dissatisfaction: he measures himself by the years of baptisms and marriages in the town.
I have been here for fifty-six years; I have baptized nearly all the inhabitants of the town, which was no more than a village when I arrived. Every day I perform the marriage of young people whose grandparents were married by me. Verrières is my family
In Chapter 7 of Book I he appears again, in passing, in the formation of Madame de Rênal: as her confessor, he was the only one who spoke to her of love, and he spoke of it in order to paint it as libertinage.
The good curé Chélan, her confessor, had been the only one to speak to her of love, on the occasion of Monsieur Valenod's pursuit, and had painted such a repugnant picture of it that for her the word represented the most abject libertinage.
In Chapter 18 of Book I, Father Maslon refuses to let him join the procession for the king's visit.
The hatred between the Ultraroyalist clergy and the Jansenists, which will define the whole seminary at Besançon (see the seminary at Besançon), already appears here in small form, in Father Maslon's refusal to receive the Abbé Chélan in the procession:
- I would be dishonored here and in Besançon - Father Maslon replied - if he appeared among my clergy. A Jansenist, good God!
Warned by Elisa, he orders Julien Sorel to leave Verrières within three days, either for the seminary (see the seminary at Besançon) or for the house of his friend Fouqué. At the seminary, Abbé Pirard accepts Julien because of him and credits the young man's biblical training to him.
The theology examination with Abbé Pirard:
Abbé Pirard subjected Julien to an examination in theology, and was surprised by the extent of his knowledge. His astonishment grew when he questioned him on Holy Scripture. But when he came to questions about the doctrines of the Church Fathers, he realized that Julien barely knew the names of Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, Saint Bonaventure, Saint Basil, etc., etc. Indeed, thought Abbé Pirard, here is the fatal tendency toward Protestantism that I have always reproached in Chélan. A profound and excessively profound knowledge of Holy Scripture.
In Chapter 1 of Book II, Saint-Giraud places his name beside that of de Rênal.
Bonaparte, may heaven strike him down with his royalist trappings, made possible the kingdom of the Rênals and the Chélans, which brought in the kingdom of the Valenods and the Maslons.
In Chapter 37 of Book II, already very old, he visits Julien in prison, and the scene places him beside Fouqué as a form of affection without calculation, which Julien hardly knows how to receive. He comes down from the mountain, returns the five hundred francs that Julien had sent to the poor of Verrières, and can barely speak.
The hand of time had come down upon that man, once so energetic. He looked like the shadow of himself, thought Julien.
Themes Embodied
The standard themes that run through him are Religion, Education and training, and Money and wealth.
Chélan is measured by three different yardsticks. Maslon calls him a Jansenist, Pirard reproaches him for his tendency toward Protestantism, and Saint-Giraud, looking from outside the town, places him in the same kingdom as Monsieur de Rênal. In Chapter 3 of Book I he appears apart from the yardstick of money, and it is there too that he says he is ready to lose his post.
Relationships
- Julien Sorel: whom he sends to the seminary and whom he visits in prison.
- Abbé Pirard: who accepts Julien on his recommendation.
- Monsieur de Rênal: placed beside him by Saint-Giraud.