DAILLÉ, Jean (Dallaeus). - Calvinist pastor, born at Châtellerault on 6 January 1594 and died in Paris on 15 April 1670. At barely eighteen years of age he was entrusted with the education of the young grandsons of the noted Calvinist F. Duplessis-Mornay, and together with them he traveled through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland. In Venice he met Fra Paolo Sarpi and soon became his close friend.
In 1626 he was appointed pastor at Charenton, and among his coreligionists he distinguished himself for rare oratorical gifts and profound erudition. He is also to be remembered for his study of the Fathers, though not always carried out with accuracy and depth. In his polemics against the Catholic Church he was tenacious, while nonetheless displaying in his numerous writings a broad-minded and conciliatory spirit.
Principal works: Traité de l'emploi des Sts Pères pour juger des différends qui sont aujourd'hui en la religion (Geneva 1632); Apologie des Eglises réformées (Charenton 1633); De la créance des Pères sur le fait des images (Geneva 1641); De sacramentali s. auriculari Latinorum Confessione (ibid. 1661); De Confirmatione et Extrema Unctione (ibid. 1669). All of D.’s works were placed on the Index (decree of 22 March 1672).