Abstract

Hooke, Luke Joseph (1714-96), catholic theologian, one of three children of Nathaniel Hooke (d. 1763), historian of Rome and Mary Gore, English protestant, was born in Dublin. He was brought to Paris in the 1720s probably by his father who acted as secretary to his uncle, Nathaniel Hooke (1660-1738), Jacobite and French diplomatic agent. When his father quit Paris for England, his son remained with his granduncle and his wife, Lady Eleanor McCarthy Reagh (1683-1731) in the rue St Jacques du Haut-Pas. He took his masters in arts in 1734. It is likely that he got to know Denis Diderot at this time. The following year he entered the Seminary of St Nicolas du Chardonnet, as a student for the Dublin archdiocese.