ARNoux, Jean. - Jesuit, born in Riom in 1575, died in Toulouse on 14 May 1636. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1592 and became a skilled controversialist against the Calvinists, who were then rampant throughout southern France; his missions in various regions were crowned with effective success. Chosen as confessor to Louis XIII (1617), he strove with all his might to bring about a reconciliation between the king and the queen mother, Maria de’ Medici; and after stormy vicissitudes, his perseverance was rewarded with the conclusion of the Peace of Angoulême (20 April 1619). On one occasion, while preaching before the court, he dared to warn Louis XIII against the violent counsels and table habits of those around him, which led to his disgrace; the Duke of Luynes, who wielded great influence over the king, secured his removal (1621). Retiring to Toulouse, he continued his struggle against heresies, invited by French bishops to preach in their dioceses. When death overtook him, he had been for a year provincial of Toulouse, after having served as superior of various houses of the Order. Some polemical writings against the Calvinists remain, along with a funeral oration for Henry IV, delivered in Tournon in 1610 in the style of the time.
ARNOUX, JEAN
Bibl.: Sommervogel, I, cols. 566–71; J. M. Prat, Recherches sur la Compagnie de Jésus en France au temps du p. Coton, IV, Paris 1886; E. de Guilhermy, Ménologie de la Comp. de Jésus, Assistance de France, II, ibid. 1882, pp. 622–25; E. Griselle, La P. A., confesseur de Louis XIII, in Revue du monde ancien et moderne, 1910, pp. 721–23; H. Fouqueray, Hist. de la Comp. de Jésus en France, III, Paris 1922, pp. 420–25; 435–37; 469–74. Celestino Testore