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I. CO of NEUILLY
Parish priest of Neuilly-sur-Marne near Paris, from 1911, d. at Neuilly on 2 March 1201. In 1198 he founded the abbey of St-Antoine-des-Champs. He was an apostle of warm and persuasive eloquence. He had many disciples who followed him even into England, where he went to speak in person with Richard the Lionheart to preach the Fourth Crusade in that country as well.BIBL.: D. Beauvier, La France monastique, I, 2nd ed., Paris 1905, pp. 85-87; G. Allemang, V. in L'IHK, IV, col. 230.
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I. CO (FOLCHETTO) of TOULOUSE
Also known as F. of Marseille, where he was born to a merchant of Genoese origin around 1155. D. at Toulouse on 25 Dec. 1231. He was one of the most renowned troubadours of his time: his personality struck even Dante, who placed him, alone among the troubadours, in Paradise (Par., IX, 37-42, 67-142). His compositions, written between 1179 and 1195 and mostly of an amorous character, exalt the Crusades in the East and Spain and are full of moral reflections. He was a friend of Alfonso II of Aragon and Richard the Lionheart and was in contact with various courts of southern France, such as Nîmes, Montpellier, and Marseille.In 1195, after inducing his wife and two sons to enter religious life, F. became a Cistercian at Toronet (Provence); around 1201 he became abbot there. Elected bishop of Toulouse in 1205, he became acquainted with St Dominic, of whom he was the most effective supporter. In 1206 he donated to him the church of Santa Maria di Prouille, which became the first religious house of the new Order; in 1214, the parish of Farjeau. The following year, after having canonically established the Order in his diocese,
