Prevost, Claude

Prevost, Claude a French monk, was born at Auxerre Jan. 22,1693. He taught philosophy and theology in the abbey of Sainte-Genevieve, and the care of the library was afterwards entrusted to him. In this employment, which he retained to the end of his life he made use of the knowledge which he had acquired in the Greek, Italian, and English languages, and collected abundant materials, which he did not, however, publish. They were prepared for the instruction of Louis, duke of Orleans, son of the regent, who lived at the abbey of Sainte-Genevieve. The principal MSS. which this monk has left concerning the history of the regular canons, of which he had made a special study, are, Library of Regular Canons: — Lives of Holy Canons, both Secular and Regular: — and History of all the Houses of Regular Canons. His last work was A History of the Abbey of Sainte-Genevieve. It is from this last work that the Benedictines have extracted nearly all that they have said of this house in vol. 7 of the new Gallia Christiana. Prevost furnished the material to the abbot Lebeuf, his countryman, for the catalogue of the writers of Auxerre inserted in Tile History of A uxerree. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, s.v.