BOSSIIET, bo'swte, JACQUES BEN1GNE (1627 1704). A distinguisbed French pulpit orator. Be was born September 27, 1627, in Dijon: re •eived his earlier education in the Jesuit College there: and then went to Paris to the College of Navarre, where he studied the Sacred Scrip tures. the works of classical antiquity, and the Cartesian philosophy. In 1652 he was made a priest, and a doctor of theology, and canon in Metz. Here he ,was called by the bishop to reply to the catechism of the Protestant minis ter, Paul Ferri, and this he did (1655) in a way that commanded the admiration even of Protestants. Ile soon attained great distinction as a pulpit orator, and in 1661 he was made preacher to the Court. His discourse on the occasion of Marshal Turenne's conversion to the Catholie Church obtained for him the bishopric! of Condon (1669). Louis XIV. having in 1670 intrusted to him the education of the Dauphin. lie resigned his bishopric in 1671, because he believed that he would be unfaithful to his duty if he retained it during a continued absence from his diocese. He was now made a member of the Acadeiny. The care with which he at tended to the education of the Dauphin was re warded, in 1650. by his nomination as first almoner of the Dauphin. and in 16s1 by his ap pointment to the bishopric of Meaux. He was the author of the four articles which secured the freedom of the Gallica!) Church, and the priv1 leoes claimed by the King against the preroga tives of the Pope; and his eloquence in the fa tuous assembly of the French clergy in the year 1652 secured the adoption of these articles. In 1697 be became a member of the Council of State, and in the following year first almoner to the Duehess of Burgundy. Ile spent the last year of his life in his diocese, but died in Paris, April 12. 1704. Ile was alike strict in morals and in religious doctrine; his strictness in the latter he showed particularly in his contro versy with FtInelon, whom he accused of heresy for his 'defense of the Quietists. Bossuet is considered the greatest ecclesiastical orator known in history. His orations at the funerals of the Duchess of Orleans and the great Conde are particularly famous as masterpieces of this kind of eloquence. All his writings attracted much attention. For the defense of those dog mas of the Catholic Church which are rejected by the Protestants he wrote his Exposition de la doctrine de Feglise eatholique stir les matieres de controrerse (Paris. 1671).
His greatest controversial work is his cele brated Histoire des variations des eglises pro icstantes. 2 vols. (168S), in which he founds his arguments chiefly upon the doctrinal diversities of the churches of the Reformation. To the de fense of the four articles of the Gallican Church he devoted his Defensio Deelarationis Celeber rin•, quam de Potestate Eeelesn• Sanxit Cleras Gallieus a. [1682]. 2 vols. (1730). With a view to the instruction of the Dauphin, he wrote his Discours stir rhistoire unirerselle jusqu' rempire de Charlemagne (1681) , a work par ticularly deserving of notice, as the first at tempt at a philosophical treatment of history. The continuation of it to the year 1661 (1805) is entirely derived from materials which he left behind him, but to which the last touch of his own hand was wanting. Another fruit of his political and historical studies was the Politique tiree de I'Eeriture Sainte (1709). There arc modern English translations of the following: Select Sermons and Funeral Orations (London, 3d ed., 1801) ; A Conference on the Authority of the Church [1679] (1S41) ; A Surrey of history (1819): Elerations to God (1850) ; An Exposition of the Catholic Faith (new edition, 1841) The History of the Varia tions of the Protestant Churches (2d ed., Dub lin, 1836, 2 vols.) ; A. Rebellion, Bossuet, his toiricn du protestantisme, Etude stir I' "His toire des •ariations" (Paris, 1892) ; Senn On On the Mount (New York, 1900) ; Meditations (London, 1901). His works appeared in Paris, 1862-66, 31 vols., appendix (L'urres irledits (1881-83. 2 vols.). For his life, consult: A. 116aume, 3 vols. (Paris, 7869-70) : G. Lawson (Paris, 1891) ; Francois Ledieu (Bossuet's sec retary)„lUinoircs ct journal su• la rig rt les our-rages dr Bossurt, 4 vols. (Paris. 1855-57) : and Mrs. II. L. •Sidney Lear (London, 1s80). is nephew. BOSSUE•, died bishop of Troyes, July 12, 1743. His very extensive cor respondence, chiefly devoted to the elucidation and investigation of the views of is included in the above-mentioned edition of the works of his uncle.