Jean-Baptiste Cotelier or Cotelerius (born December, 1629,

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

; died 19 August 1686, Paris) was a Patristic scholar and Catholic theologian.

Life

His early education was under the personal direction of his father, at one time a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

minister, but later a convert to Catholicism. He was reportedly able to interpret the Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek before the

General Assembly of the French clergy The assembly of the French clergy (''assemblée du clergé de France'') was in its origins a representative meeting of the Catholic clergy of France, held every five years, for the purpose of apportioning the financial burdens laid upon the clergy ...

Mantes Mantes-la-Jolie (, often informally called Mantes) is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region of north-central France. It is located to the west of Paris, from the centre of the capital. Mantes-la-Jolie is a subpre ...

(1641); he made such a favourable impression on the clergy that they increased his father's pension. During the period of his theological studies at Paris (1641–47), Cotelier's intellectual qualities procured for him an introduction to the king (1644). He graduated as bachelor in theology in 1647 at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, of which he became a member in 1648, though he never received priestly ordination. In 1654, he accompanied

Georges d'Aubusson de la Feuillade Georges d'Aubusson de La Feuillade (1609 to 1697) was a French Catholic clergyman under Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV, who served as Archbishop of Embrun (1649-1668), then Bishop of Metz (1669-1697). He also held a number of diplomatic posts and a ...

Archbishop of Embrun The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Embrun was located in southeastern France, in the mountains of the Maritime Alps, on a route that led from Gap by way of Briançon to Turin. It had as suffragans the Diocese of Digne, Diocese of Antibes and Gra ...

, to his

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

, and became his counsellor. He returned, in 1659, to Paris and again devoted himself to study. With the

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

Du Cange he was commissioned in 1667 by Minister Colbert to investigate and catalogue the Greek manuscripts of the Royal Library. In 1676 he was appointed professor of the Greek language in the Collège Royal in Paris.

Works

The editions of ancient writings prepared by Cotelier were, in chronological order: #''Homiliæ quatuor in Psalmos et interpretatio prophetiæ Danielis, græce et latine'' (Paris, 1661). He attributed these unpublished

homilies A homily (from Greek ὁμιλία, ''homilía'') is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture, giving the "public explanation of a sacred doctrine" or text. The works of Origen and John Chrysostom (known as Paschal Homily) are considered ex ...

St. John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ...

; other critics, owing to the diversity of style, have held a different opinion. #''SS. Patrum qui temporibus apostolicis floruerunt, Barnabæ, Clementis, Hermæ, Ignatii, Polycarpi opera edita et non edita, vera et supposita, græce et latine, cum notis'' (Paris, 1672). This is Cotelier's principal work. From its title was derived the designation of

Apostolic Fathers The Apostolic Fathers, also known as the Ante-Nicene Fathers, were core Christian theologians among the Church Fathers who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD who are believed to have personally known some of the Twelve Apostles or to have ...

for the earliest non-inspired Christian writers. Most of the copies of the work were consumed by a fire in the Collège Montaigu in Paris. Two revised editions were published by Leclerc (Clericus), one in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

(1698), the other in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

(1724). Reprints of this last edition are found in

Migne Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a u ...

, P. G., I, II, V. #''Ecclesiæ Græcæ Monumenta, græce et latine'' (Paris, 1677, 1681, 1686). The third volume of this series was published two days before the author's death. He had collected materials for a fourth volume which was edited (1688) by the

Maurist The Congregation of St. Maur, often known as the Maurists, were a congregation of French Benedictines, established in 1621, and known for their high level of scholarship. The congregation and its members were named after Saint Maurus (died 565), a ...

Antoine Pouget Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guiana ...

Bernard de Montfaucon Dom Bernard de Montfaucon, O.S.B. (; 13 January 1655 – 21 December 1741) was a French Benedictine monk of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He was an astute scholar who founded the discipline of palaeography, as well as being an editor of works ...

, and Lopin, and is sometimes known as ''Analecta Græca''. Cotelier also left several volumes of manuscripts, mainly on Christian antiquities, that were preserved in the

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

References

*BALUZE, ''Letter to Bigot'', in COTELIER-LECLERC, ''Patres Apostolici'' (Amsterdam, 1724). I, after the preface * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cotelier, J 1629 births 1686 deaths University of Paris alumni 17th-century French Catholic theologians