Jean Baptiste Massillon

Jean-Baptiste Massillon, Cong. Orat. (24 June 1663, Hyères – 28 September 1742, Beauregard-l'Évêque), was a French Catholic bishop and famous preacher, who served as Bishop of Clermont from 1717 until his death.

Massillon was born at Hyères in Provence where his father was a royal notary. At the age of eighteen he joined the French Oratory and taught for a time in the colleges of his congregation at Pézenas, and Montbrison and at the Seminary of Vienne. On the death of Henri de Villars, Archbishop of Vienne, in 1693, he was commissioned to deliver a funeral oration, and this was the beginning of his fame. In obedience to Cardinal de Noailles, Archbishop of Paris, he left the Trappist Abbey of Sept-Fons, to which he had retired, and settled in Paris, where he was placed at the head of the famous Oratorian Seminary of Saint Magloire.

Massillon soon gained a wide reputation as a preacher and was selected to be the Advent preacher at the court of Versailles in 1699. He was made Bishop of Clermont in 1717, and two years later was elected a member of the Académie française. The last years of his life were spent in the faithful discharge of his episcopal duties; his death took place at Clermont on September 18, 1742. Massillon enjoyed in the 18th century a reputation equal to that of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet and of Louis Bourdaloue, and was much praised for his eloquence by Voltaire, D'Alembert and kindred spirits among the Encyclopaedists.

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