Also I am playing with the "La parole, c'est la Verbe" thingy 'cause I suspect that, as usual, it has Layers.

So far I've got a Google books result about the way the choice of Verbe or Parole to mean the Word of God was a Catholic vs. Protestant thing during the reformation and counter-reformation, but idk if that would've still been relevant in Hugo's day.

("Parole" does not apparently have the meaning about a released prisoner - Valjean is "un forçat libéré", a released prisoner, not a convict on parole - so there's no pun about dude getting a repreive, alas.)