BRETONVILLIERS, ALEXANDRE LE RAGOIS de. - French Sulpician, born in Paris in 1621 and died there in 1676, a disciple of the venerable Olier, whom he succeeded in the parish of S. Sulpizio (1653) and in the governance of the Congregation (1657). Heir to his brother’s fortune, he spent enormous sums to save the endangered colony of Montréal in Canada, purchasing the island of Montréal itself in the name of S. Sulpizio. He was responsible for the statutes of the Congregation, which he drew up with Tronson’s assistance. In 1671 he went on pilgrimage to Rome and Loreto.
He left in manuscript a Journal spirituel concerning his inner life, Mémoires on the life of the ven. Olier (one of the sources of Tronson’s Esprit de Mr. Olier), and a Vie de Mr. Olier, of which only extracts were published.