Editing René Laennec (section)

== Religious views ==
[[File:Rene-Theophile-Hyacinthe Laennec2.jpg|thumb|{{center|René T.H. Laennec}}]]
Laennec "was intensely religious and was a devout Catholic all his life".<ref name=CathEnc-08737b-Laennec/> He was noted as a very kind man and his charity to the poor became proverbial. [[Austin Flint]], the 1884 president of the [[American Medical Association]], said that "Laennec's life affords a striking instance among others disproving the vulgar error that the pursuit of science is unfavourable to religious faith."<ref name=CathEnc-08737b-Laennec/>

In [[Sir John Forbes|J. Forbes]]' annotated translation of Laennec's treatise, Forbes reported:
{{Blockquote|Laennec was a man of the greatest probity, habitually observant of his religious and social duties. He was a sincere Christian, and a good Catholic, adhering to his religion and his church through good report and bad report." His death (says M.&nbsp;Bayle) was that of a Christian. Supported by the hope of a better life, prepared by the constant practice of virtue, he saw his end approach with much composure and resignation. His religious principles, imbibed with his earliest knowledge, were strengthened by the conviction of his maturer reason. He took no pains to conceal them when they were disadvantageous to his worldly interests; and he made no boast of them, when their avowal might have been a title to favour and advancement." | [[Sir John Forbes|J. Forbes]] (1838 [1835])<ref name=Laennec-Forbes-1835>{{cite book |last=Laennec |first=R.T.H. |editor=Forbes, J. |editor-link=Sir John Forbes |chapter=Life of the author |page={{mvar|xxvii}} |title=A Treatise on the Diseases of the Chest and on Mediate Auscultation |orig-date=1835 |year=1838 |place=New York / Philadelphia |publisher=Samuel Wood & Sons / Desilver, Thomas & Co. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1pBAQAAIAAJ&pg=PR1 |via=Google Books}}</ref>}}