COTON, PIERRE. - Jesuit, controversialist, b. at Néronde (Loire) on 7 March 1564; d. at Paris on 19 March 1626. First a preacher in southern France, where he converted many Huguenots, then at the court in Paris (1603–17), where he was also confessor to Enrico IV and Luigi XIII, he defended the Catholic religion against heretics and his Order against accusations of every kind, especially when the assassination of Enrico IV (13 Jan. 1610) brought to light the charge that the Jesuits defended regicide. Many writings were published against him (cf. the anonymous Anti-C., Paris 1611), and he was obliged to withdraw from the court (1617). He then returned to preaching and writing, and was elected provincial of Aquitaine (1622) and of Paris (1624).
Among his many works, the following should be mentioned: Lettre déclaratoire de la doctrine des pères jésuites (Paris 1610), which gave rise to the Anti-C.; Institution catholique (2 vols., ibid. 1610); Orations dévotes (ibid. 1611); Méditations (ibid. 1614).