ADAM, JEAN. - French Jesuit theologian, born at Limoges on 28 Sept. 1608, entered religious life in 1622, died at Bordeaux on 12 May 1684. His activity as preacher and controversialist was carried on chiefly in Paris (1649–58), at Sedan (1659–71), where he worked with Marshal Fabert for the conversion of the Calvinists, and finally at Bordeaux. He fought vigorously against the Calvinists, especially against the ministers of Charenton, and against the Jansenists.
Among his polemical works, now very rare, the following may be mentioned: Calvin deffact par soy-mesme et par les armes de s. Augustin (Paris 1650), in which a precursor of Bossuet’s Histoire des variations has been discerned; Le tombeau du Jansénisme (Paris 1654); Réponse à la lettre de Monsieur Daillé, ministre de Charenton (Poitiers 1660); Projet présenté à MM. de la religion prétendue réformée de la ville et souveraineté de Sedan (Poitiers 1663, Paris 1673); Le triomphe de la très sainte Eucharistie (Sedan 1671; 2nd ed., Bordeaux 1672). His other works likewise have a polemical purpose: Les psaumes de David en lutin et en français (Paris 1651), for example, is directed against the Heures de Port-Royal.