BRUEYS, DAVID-AUGUSTIN. - Theologian and playwright, b. at Aix-en-Provence in 1640 to a Protestant family and d. at Montpellier on 25 Nov. 1723. After studying law, he devoted himself to theology, subsequently becoming a member of the Conciatore of Montpellier. Converted by Bossuet in 1682, after the death of his wife in 1685 he was initiated by him into the sacred Orders. As a controversialist he undertook the defense of the most assailed points of Catholic doctrine: the Mass, the Eucharist, the Church, external worship.
But, a happier imitator of Molière than of Bossuet, he won admiration and survived, more as a playwright than as a polemicist, as a collaborator of Palaprat, as is proved by the repeated reprints, even recent ones, of his best works: the Avocat Patelin (Paris 1902); Le grandeur (ibid. 1889). His works before the conversion: Réponse de M. Condom, intitulée Exposition de la doctrine catholique (Geneva 1681); Suite du préservatif [of Jurieu] contre le changement de religion (Amsterdam 1682). After the conversion: Traité de la s. Messe (s. l. 1683); Examen des raisons qui ont donné lieu à la séparation des protestants (Paris 1683); Traité de l'Eucharistie (ibid. 1686); Réponse aux plaintes des protestants contre les moyens qu'on emploie pour les réunir à l'Eglise catholique (ibid. 1686); Traité de l'Eglise (ibid. 1687); Histoire du fanatisme de notre temps (ibid. 1692); Traité de l'obéissance des chrétiens aux puissances temporelles (Montpellier 1709); Suite de l'histoire du fanatisme de notre temps, II vol. (ibid. 1713); Traité du légitime usage de la raison principalement sur les objets de la foi (Paris 1727); Oeuvres de théâtre de M. de Brueys (Paris 1822).