CROISET, JEAN. - Jesuit, writer on ascetical theology, b. at Marseilles on 28 Aug. 1656; d. at Avignon on 31 Jan. 1738. Professor of theology, rector of various colleges, master of novices, and provincial, he is chiefly remembered for having been the spiritual director of St Margaret Mary Alacoque and for his pioneering and foundational role in the spread of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Indeed, in 1689 at Lyons he published a small work, *La dévotion au Sacré Coeur de N. S. Jésus-Christ* (a simple reworking of a booklet by a Visitandine nun, presented to him by the saint and known under the title of the *Recueil de Dijon*); this was reissued in 1691 in a greatly enlarged and completed form and went on to be diffused in many editions and translations (the 1694 edition was, ten years later, placed on the Index because it contained an Office of the Sacred Heart without prior approval from Rome; the prohibition was lifted only in 1887). The novelty of the subject and of the devotion aroused much approval but also strong opposition, and C. was accused at Rome, being obliged to leave Lyons for several years. Other widely circulated and translated works of his are: *Retraite spirituelle pour un jour de chaque mois* (Lyons 1694); *Retraite pour se préparer à la mort* (ibid. 1704); *Année chrétienne. Exercices de piété pour tous les jours de l'année* (12 vols., ibid. 1712-20), a commentary on the mystery or life of the saints commemorated each day, from which were later derived separate volumes on the life of Jesus, of Mary, and of the Saints (ibid. 1723-26).