BOUTAULT, MICHEL. – French Jesuit, born in Paris on 1 November 1608, entered the Order in 1625, died at Pontoise on 12 May 1689, after a life devoted to teaching and preaching.
He published two collections of meditations, affective in tone and Salesian in inspiration, on the texts of the books of wisdom: Les conseils de la Sagesse (Paris 1677), Suite des conseils de la Sagesse (there 1683). More famous is the booklet Méthode pour converser avec Dieu (there 1684), esteemed and translated by s. Alfonso de' Liguori. It was placed on the Index in 1723, apparently because of certain Jansenist interpolations, but the 1910 edition was expressly authorized.
BIBL.: M. Olphe-Gaillard, s. V. in DSp, I, col. 1917. Edmondo Lamalle