ARGENSON, RENÉ DE VOYER DE PAULMY, count of. - Magistrate, b. at Blois on 13 Dec. 1623, d. in his château of Argenson (Touraine) on 10 May 1700. On his father’s death (1651) he succeeded him as ambassador to Venice. Recalled to Paris in 1655, he was kept aside by Mazzarino, then by Colbert, because “too devout.” He took advantage of this to devote himself entirely
to charitable works in the Compagnia del S.SACRAMENTI (v.), which he joined in 1656.
He published: Traité de la sagesse chrétienne, ou de la riche science de l'uniformité aux volontés de Dieu (Paris 1651), attributed by many to his father, and L'art d'aimer Dieu, akin to the preceding work. In 1695 he printed his Annales de la Compagnie du St. Sacrement; for the poor of the Company’s hospital he composed a collection of Cantiques spirituels.