Sainte-beuve, Jacques De

Sainte-Beuve, Jacques De, a French theologian, was born at Paris, April 26, 1613. He received his degree in 1638 at the Sorbonne, and became royal professor of theology in that institution, where his learning gained for him so wide a reputation that he was considered one of the most ready casuists of his time. His refusal to subscribe to the censure passed upon two propositions of Arnauld caused him to lose his professorship in 1656. He was also deprived of his authority as preacher; but as he afterwards showed more submission to the dictates of the Church by signing the new formula prescribed Feb. 15, 1665, by Alexander VII, he was chosen theologian of the French clergy. This position brought him a pension, and also obliged him to write a Theologie Morale for the assembly at Mantes. Sainte-Beuve lived in Paris in retirement, but was sought for consultation by all the dignitaries of his time. It was said that he not only ruled all of one city, but a whole kingdom. He died Dec. 15, 1677. His writings are, De Confirmatione (1686): — De Extrema Unctione (1686): — Decisions de Cas de Conscience (1686). These words were edited after his death by his brother Jerome.