Forez
Forez is a former province of France, corresponding approximately to the central part of the modern Loire ''département'' and a part of the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme ''départements''.
The final "z" in Forez () is not pronounced in the Loire ...
confessor
Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways.
Confessor of the Faith
Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.
Bourges
Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry.
History
The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...
, entered the Society of Jesus at the age of twenty-five, and was sent to
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
to study philosophy. Here he became acquainted with
Charles Borromeo
Charles Borromeo ( it, Carlo Borromeo; la, Carolus Borromeus; 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was the Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584 and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was a leading figure of the Counter-Reformation combat ...
. On his return to his native country he preached with success at
Roanne
Roanne (; frp, Rouana; oc, Roana) is a commune in the Loire department, central France.
It is located northwest of Lyon on the river Loire. It has an important Museum, the ''Musée des Beaux-arts et d'Archéologie Joseph-Déchelette'' (Fren ...
,
Avignon
Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...
,
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 ...
,
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
, and
Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
. An acquaintance with Henry IV of France soon ripened into friendship. The
Archbishopric of Arles
The former French Catholic Archbishopric of Arles had its episcopal see in the city of Arles, in southern France.Kelly, George Edward. "Pierre Coton." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 11 Jan. 2018 Father Coton had for two years previous to the death of Henry been confessor to his son, the young Dauphin.
The king having recalled the exiled Jesuits to France, their enemies could not pardon the influence Father Coton had in bringing this about, and an attempt was made to assassinate him. Some writers have pretended that Coton was not above suspicion on the doctrine of regicide, and when Henry IV was assassinated, they accused Coton of defending Ravaillac, the king's murderer. If his enemies at court had any knowledge that he held such views they failed to make it public. In defense of the Jesuits, Coton issued ''Lettre déclaratoire de la doctrine de Pères Jésuites'', which made him the target of much hostility and suspicion.de Smet, Ingrid A. R. and de Smet, Ingrid. ''Menippean Satire and the Republic of Letters, 1581-1655'', Librairie Droz, 1996, p. 184 /ref>
In 1608, Father Coton called Father
Pierre Biard
Pierre Biard (1567 – November 17, 1622) was a Jesuit missionary who was given orders by Father Pierre Coton, Jesuit provincial in Paris, to take charge of a mission at Port-Royal in Acadia, along with Father Énemond Massé.
Biography
Pierre ...
away from his professorship at
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
ordering him to take charge of the mission in the new
French colony
The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that existe ...
at
Acadia
Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and early ...
.
In September, 1610, the biting satire ''Anti-Coton, in which it is proved that the Jesuits are guilty of parricide against Henri IV'' was followed by many pamphlets for and against the Jesuits. The Anti-Coton pamphlet attacked the Jesuits, and especially Father Coton, the confessor of Henry IV, of whose murder the Jesuits had been accused by their enemies. Daurignac says (Hist. Soc. Jesus, vol. i., p. 295) that this pamphlet was attributed to
Pierre Du Moulin
Pierre Du Moulin ( Latinized as Petrus Molinaeus; 16 October 1568 – 10 March 1658) was a Huguenot minister in France who also resided in England for some years.
Life
Born in Buhy in 1568, he was the son of Joachim Du Moulin, a Protestant minis ...
, a Protestant minister of Charenton. This and other similar attacks on the Jesuits had been circulated in Canada, and had prejudiced against them even many Catholics.
Coton continued in his capacity as confessor to the new king,
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
, until 1617, when he left the court at the age of fifty-four and withdrew to the novitiate at Lyon. He then traversed the provinces of the South as a missionary, and went to Milan, Loreto, and Rome to fulfil the vows the reigning king had made to the Blessed Virgin, St. Charles, and St. Peter. He returned to France as provincial of the Society and preached at Paris in the church of S. Gervaise; the king and the whole court flocked to hear him.
At this period a book published by Santarelli, an Italian Jesuit, who attributed to the pope the power of deposing kings who were guilty of certain crimes, and under such circumstances of absolving their subjects from their allegiance, was the object of severe attacks from the many enemies of the Society of Jesus in France. The doctrines which Santarelli expounded had been accepted in the Middle Ages, and were still professed by the
Ultramontane
Ultramontanism is a clerical political conception within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope. It contrasts with Gallicanism, the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by th ...
theologians, although they had become impossible in practice. This book was in Paris, under the rule of Richelieu, construed into a provocation to regicide and rebellion. These views were attributed to every Jesuit. The Parliament demanded that all Jesuits residing in France should be called upon to sign a protestation disavowing all the doctrines contained in Santarelli's treatise. Coton was ill at the time. On his death-bed he was visited by an envoy of Parliament, who informed him of the condemnation pronounced against Santarelli and the severe measures that threatened his brethren. The dying Jesuit murmured: "Is it possible that I who have served so faithfully the Kings of France should be looked upon at last as guilty of treason and a disturber of the peace?"
Works
His "Institution catholique" and "Genève plagiaire" are controversial works, as also his "Sacrifice de la Messe". For his other works see De Backer, 1st ed;, II, p. 149.
References
Sources
* Roverius, De Vita P. Petri Cotoni (Lyons, 1660)
*D'Orléans, La Vie du P. Pierre Coton (Paris, 1688)
*Prat, Recherches hist. et crit. sur la c. de Jésus en France, du temps du P. Coton (Lyons, 1876)
*
Sommervogel
Carlos Sommervogel (8 January 1834 – 4 March 1902) was a French Jesuit scholar. He was author of the monumental ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', which served as one of the major references for the editors of the Catholic Encyclop ...