Bethune, Hyppolyte De

Bethune, Hyppolyte de a French prelate, younger son of Philippe, was born in 1647. He was raised to the bishopric of Verdun at the age of thirty-four years. He there established a seminary, to which he called superior professors, composed a catechism, a ritual, a Methode pour Administrer le Sacrement de Penitence (1691), a Nouveau Breviaire (1693), and a Missal (1699). He built a hospital in his diocese, to which he bequeathed all his goods. He was the patron of several men of literary fame, and in particular of Martin Rethelois, who dedicated to him the second volume of the translation of the Chroniques de Saint Benoit,'par Depres, Benedictin Espagnol. Hyppolyte de Bethune lodged an appeal against the bull Unigenitus, and made himself highly esteemed by his conduct and his administration. He died Aug. 24, 1720. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Genrale, s.v.