COTON, PIERRE. — Jesuit, controversialist, born at Néronde (Loire) on 7 March 1564; died at Paris on 19 March 1626. At first a preacher in southern France, where he converted many Huguenots, then in Paris (1603–17) at court, where he was also confessor to Henry IV and Louis XIII, he defended the Catholic religion against heretics and his Order against all manner of accusations, especially when the assassination of Henry IV (13 January 1610) brought to light the charge that the Jesuits condoned regicide. Many writings were published against him (cf. the anonymous Anti-C., Paris 1611), and he was obliged to withdraw from 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 may be cited: 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).