CROISET, JEAN. – Jesuit, writer on asceticism, born in Marseille on 28 August 1656; died at Avignon on 31 January 1738. Professor of theology, rector of various colleges, master of novices and, later, provincial, he is remembered above all because he was the director of s. Margherita M. Alacoque and played a very important pioneering role in the propagation of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
He published, in Lyon, in 1689, a first small work: La dévotion au Sacré Coeur de N. S. Jésus-Christ (a simple reworking of the booklet by a Visitandine, presented to him by the Saint and known under the name of
« Recueil de Dijon »); it reappeared in 1691, greatly expanded and completed, and began to circulate in numerous editions and translations (the 1694 edition was placed on the Index ten years later because it contained an Office of the Sacred Heart without the prior approval of Rome; the prohibition was lifted only in 1887). The novelty of the subject and devotion treated elicited much approval, but also strong opposition, and C., accused in Rome, had to leave Lyon for several years. Other works of his, widely circulated and translated, are: Retraite spirituelle pour un jour de chaque mois (Lyon 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 the life of the saints commemorated each day, from which separate volumes on the life of Jesus, Mary and the Saints were subsequently derived (ibid. 1723–26).