BAGOT, JEAN. - French Jesuit, b. at Rennes on 11 July 1591, d. at Paris on 23 Aug. 1664. Received into the Society of Jesus in 1611, he taught philosophy (1620-26) and theology (1626-39) and spent some time in Rome as general reviser of books (1639-43). Having returned to France, from 1655 until his death he was superior of the professed house of Paris.
B. fought Jansenism directly from the chair and in his writings: Apologeticus fidei (2 vols., Paris 1644-1645); an extract: Dissertationes de veritate unius religionis christianae... in subsidium missionum apostolicarum (ibid. 1661); De poenitentia dissertationes theologicae (ibid. 1646); Libertatis et gratiae christianae defensio adversus Calvinum et Pelagium in Cornelio Iauzenio Batavo redivivae (ibid. 1653). He also engaged in a long controversy with the parish priests of Paris with the work: Défense du droit épiscopal et de la liberté des fidèles touchant les Messes et les Confessions d'obligation (ibid. 1655), a work he himself turned into Latin: Ius episcopale (ibid. 1659).
His most remarkable activity, however, unfolded in another field, that of spiritual direction. As director at La Flèche, and then at Paris, of Marian Congregations, with their little groups of fervor (the Aa [v.], that is, Assemblée des associés), he guided many chosen souls toward the perfect life or toward foreign missions. Such was St. Isaac Jogues at La Flèche. The Aa of Paris, or "Société des bons amis," which brought together men such as Henri-Marie Boudon, François de Montmorency-Laval, François Pallu, Vincent de Meur, cooperated with the "Compagnie du S. Sacrement" (v.) in many good works. When Fr. Alexandre de Rhodes returned from Tonkin in search of missionaries and especially of Bishops, Fr. B.'s group supplied him with the first three apostolic vicars for the Far East and gave the impulse for the founding of the Seminary of the Society of Foreign Missions, of which Vincent de Meur was the first superior.
Bibliography6 works
Edmond Lamalle