Coeffeteau, Nicolas

Coeffeteau, Nicolas a celebrated French theologian and preacher, was born at St. Calais, a little village near Le Mains, in 1574. At the age of fourteen he entered the Dominican order, in the city of Mans. Later, being sent to Paris, he completed his studies with honor at the convent of St. Jacques, and entered upon a course of philosophy with brilliant success. Henry IV chose him, in 1602, as his ordinary preacher; his brotherhood, after having appointed him definitor of the congregation of France, elected him by acclamation prior of the convent of St. Jacques, and although he was unable to fulfil the required conditions, he was allowed, through the interposition of Henry IV, to assume the position. In 1606 he was appointed vicargeneral of the congregation of France. His writings against Peter Du Moulin, James I, king of England, and Duplessis Mornay, added to his celebrity. In 1617 he was made bishop of Dardania, inpartibus infidelium, and as suffragan of the bishop of Mentz, he went to govern this diocese, where Calvinism was rapidly gaining ground. In return for this service he was appointed, in 1621, bishop of Marseilles, but his failing health did not permit him to assume this position. Abbe deMarolles, in his Memoires, gives an account of the death of Coeffeteau, which occurred at Paris, April 21, 1623. From a large number of works we mention the following: L'Hydre Abattue par l'Herculen Chretien (Paris, 1603): — Examen du Livre de la Confession de Foi Public sous le Nom du Roy de la Grande-Bretagne (ibid. 1604): — La Defense de la Sainte-Eucharistie (ibid. 1606): — Le Montagne Sainte de la Tribulation (ibid. eod.): — Premier Essai des Questions Theologiques, etc. (ibid. 1607), which the Sorbonne prohibited him from completing: — Le Sacrifice de 'Eglise Catholique (ibid. 1608 ): — Tableau des Passions Humainaes (ibid. 1615, 1621, 1623; translated into English, under the title Picture of Human Passions, Lond. 1621): — Tableau de la Penitence de la l'Madeleine (Paris, 1620): — Tableau de l'Innocence (ibid. 1621): — La Marguerite Chretienne (ibid. 1627): — a collection of theological works, entitled (Euvres du R.P. Cofeteau, Contenant un Nouveau Traite des Noms de l'Eucharistie, etc. (ibid. 1622): — See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.; Biog. Universelle, s.v.; Jocher, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexikon, s.v.