RANCE, ARMAND JEAN LE BOUTIIELIER DE, the well-known founder of the reformed order of La Trappe (see TRAPPISTS), was b. Jan. 9,1620, at Paris, where he was educated. Having taken his degree in the Sorbonne with great applause, and embraced the ecclesi astical profession, lie soon became distinguished as a preacher, and through the favor of cardinal Richelieu obtained more than one valuable benefice. He succeeded, while yet a young man, to a large fortune, and for a time, notwithstanding his clerical charm ter, was carried away by the gayety and dis:ipation of Parisihn life. After a time, however, having forfeited the favor of cardinal Mazarin, and deeply moved by the death of a the duchess de Montazon. to whom he was much attached, he withdrew from Paris, and after a time resolved to sell all his property, to distribute the proceeds among the poor. and to devote himself exclusively to the practice of piety and penitential works. Filially, he resigned all his preferments (of which, by the
abusive practice of the period, he held several simultaneously), with the exception of the abbacy of La Trappe, to which convent he retired in 1662, with the intention of restoring the strict discipline of the order. The history of the reforms which he effected will be found under the head TRAPPIST. He lived in this seclusion for 33 years, during which be published a large number of works, chiefly ascetical. The only remarkable event of his literary life was his controversy with Mabillon. in reply to his Etudes JIonastiques, on the subject of the studies proper for the monastic life. Rance's work is in 4to, 1692. In his youth, he had edited Anacreon., in one volume, octavo (Paris. 1639), with a dedication to cardinal Richelieu. He died Oct. 27, 1700.