BOILEAU, JACQUES. - Theologian, canonist, historian, and polemicist, brother of the satirical poet Nicolas, b. in Paris on 16 March 1635. He was vicar general of the diocese of Sens from 1671 to 1694. He d. in Paris, dean of the theological faculty, on 1 Aug. 1716. Adhering to the regalist and Gallican tendency of the time, he upheld the almost exclusive rights of the prince in matrimonial matters and of the universities in matters of book censorship. Also noteworthy were his sympathies for Richerist presbyterianism: according to his teaching, bishops formerly possessed over presbyters only a right of honor and precedence. He nevertheless rendered notable service in the field of the sacraments, especially with regard to the Eucharist and Penance.
Among his numerous works may be recalled: De antiquo jure presbyterorum in regimine ecclesiastico (Lyon 1676 [under the pseudonym C. Fontèjus]; placed on the Index on 17 Jan. 1690); De antiquis et maioribus episcoporum causis (Liège [= Lyon] 1678; placed on the Index 1 Feb. 1679); De sanguine Christi post resurrectionem (Paris 1681); Historia confessionis auricularis (ibid. 1683); De adoratione Eucharistiae II. 2, quibus accessit disquisitio theologica de praecepto divino communionis sub utraque specie (ibid. 1685); Historia flagellantium (ibid. 1700; placed on the Index on 9 July 1703).