The

Abbé ''Abbé'' (from Latin ''abbas'', in turn from Greek , ''abbas'', from Aramaic ''abba'', a title of honour, literally meaning "the father, my father", emphatic state of ''abh'', "father") is the French word for an abbot. It is the title for lowe ...

Jean-Paul Bignon, Cong.Orat. (19 September 1662, Paris – 14 March 1743, Île Belle) was a French ecclesiastic, statesman, writer and preacher and librarian to

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versa ...

. His protégé, Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, named the ''genus''

Bignonia ''Bignonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae. Its genus and family were named after Jean-Paul Bignon by his protégé Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in 1694, and the genus was established as part of modern botanical nomenc ...

(Virginia jasmine) after him in 1694.

Biography

Born in Paris, Bignon was the grandson of the lawyer and statesman,

Jérôme Bignon Jérôme Bignon (1589–1656) was a French lawyer born in Paris. Life His family originated from the western part of France, and came to Paris at the beginning of the sixteenth century. He was uncommonly precocious, and under his father's tui ...

, and, though older, the nephew of the

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Jérôme Phélypeaux Jérôme Phélypeaux (March 1674 – 8 February 1747), ''comte de'' (count of) Pontchartrain, was a French statesman, son of Louis Phélypeaux. He served as a councillor to the parlement of Paris from 1692, and served with his father as Secr ...

. He did his elementary studies at the school of the famed Abbey of Port Royal in Paris, then studied at the

Collège d'Harcourt In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

, following which he entered the Oratory of Paris, and did theological studies at the Seminary of Saint

Magloire Magloire, better known as Saint Magloire of Dol, is a Breton saint. Little reliable information is known of Magloire as the earliest written sources appeared three centuries after his death. These sources claim that he was a monk from Wales who ...

attached to it. In 1691 he completed his studies and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood. In 1693 he was made

commendatory abbot A commendatory abbot ( la, abbas commendatarius) is an ecclesiastic, or sometimes a layman, who holds an abbey ''in commendam'', drawing its revenues but not exercising any authority over its inner monastic discipline. If a commendatory abbot is an ...

of Saint-Quentin-en-l'Isle and preacher to King Louis; he was also appointed to succeed to Seat 20 in the French Academy.Académie francaise "Jean-Paul Bignon"
/ref> He was charged by the minister Colbert to head the Bignon Commission, which investigated the feasibility and then began the compilation of a guide to French artistic and industrial processes, published in the following century as the ''

Descriptions of the Arts and Trades Description is the pattern of narrative development that aims to make vivid a place, object, character, or group. Description is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narr ...

''. He organized the bureaux de la librairie and the committee of expert censors in 1699. Bignon worked with his uncle to prepare a new set of rules for the Academy, allowing for honorary membership, which were signed by the king in January 1699. The new rules, however, were rejected by its members. The rejection shocked him to such a degree that he refused to attend its meetings thereafter. Bignon was a patron of

Antoine Galland Antoine Galland (; 4 April 1646 – 17 February 1715) was a French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of '' One Thousand and One Nights'', which he called ''Les mille et une nuits''. His version of the t ...

, the first European translator of ''

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

''. He was also the author of ''Les aventures d'Abdalla, fils d'Hanif (The adventures of Abdalla, son of Hanif)'', published in 1712–1714, a novel framed as the title character's search for the fountain of youth and composed of "stories of adventure and love" in which "great stress is laid upon the 'horrid,' the grotesque, the fantastic." His fame as a preacher is exemplified by two completely different

panegyric A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of grc, ...

s he gave on the same day, for the

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

of St.

Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...

. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1734.

Publications

Bignon also contributed to the ''Médailles du règne de Louis le Grand'', ''Sacre de Louis XV''. From 1706 to 1714, he presided over the committee of men of letters who edited the ''

Journal des sçavans The ''Journal des sçavans'' (later renamed ''Journal des savans'' and then ''Journal des savants,'' lit. ''Journal of the Learned''), established by Denis de Sallo, is the earliest academic journal published in Europe. It is thought to be the ear ...

'', which position he took again in 1724, with the Abbé

Pierre Desfontaines The Abbé Pierre François Guyot-Desfontaines (1685 in Rouen – 16 December 1745 in Paris) was a French journalist, translator and popular historian. Known today for his quarrels with Voltaire, Desfontaines can be regarded as the founder of ...

References

External links

*
WorldCat

Biography – Bibliothèque nationale de France
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bignon, Jean Paul 1662 births 1743 deaths Clergy from Paris Writers from Paris 17th-century French writers 17th-century French male writers 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers French librarians 17th-century French Roman Catholic priests 18th-century French Roman Catholic priests French Oratory Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Members of the French Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society