Icard, Charles

Icard, Charles a French Protestant divine, was born at St. Hippolyte, Languedoc, in February, 1636. He attended school at Anduze, Orange, and Nimes, and concluded his theological studies at Geneva from 165558, and in 1659 went to Paris. After ordination by the provincial synod of Ay he was appointed pastor of La Norville, where he remained until 1668, when he accepted a pastorship at Nimes. Under the influence of the persecutions which heralded the approaching revocation of the edict of Nantes, the Protestants, at the suggestion of Claude Brousson, formed a central committee for the protection of their general interests, and Icard was chosen to represent it at the Synod of Lower Languedoc, assembled at Uzes in 1632. In the mean time, the population of a part of Vivarais and Lower Languedoc having risen in arms to resist the persecution, the insurrection was extinguished in blood, and the members of the central committee, accused of being the instigators, were proceeded against with the utmost severity. Icard succeeded in reaching Geneva, and thence went to Neufchatel for greater security. While on his way, at Yverdun, he learned that he had been condemned, June 26, 1682, as contumacious, to die on the rack. He remained as pastor at Neufchatel until 1688, when he went to Bremen, and supplied a French congregation there. He died June 9,1715. Icard wrote two Sermons, Avis salutaire aux Eglises reformees de France (Amst. 1685, 12mo), exhorting the Protestants not to give way under persecution. He also edited an edition of the Institutions de Calvin (first two books, Bremen, 1696,1697, to the whole, Bremen, 1713, fol.); and an edition of the Entretiens d'un Pere et de son Fils sur le Changement de Religion, par Josue de La Place. See Hossat, Detail abrgi de la Vie de Charles Icard (in Hist. crit. de la Republique des Lettres (1717), 14, 283301; Haag, La France Protestante; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, 25, 768.