FONTANE, NICOLAS. — Biblical scholar and Jansenist historian, born in Paris in 1625, died in Melun on 38 January 1709. Around the age of 25, he withdrew to the "solitaries" of Port-Royal. He was a follower of A. ARNALDISTI (v.), P. Nicole, and L. J. Le Maistre de Sacy.
He wrote: *Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de Port-Royal* (Utrecht 1736), in which he idealized the figures of the leading "solitaries." Accused of Jansenism, he was imprisoned in the Bastille from 13 May 1666 to the end of October 1668. He collaborated with Sacy on the *Bible de Royaumont*. He published, anonymously, several works of a biblical nature, noting that all the notes were drawn from St. Augustine and other Fathers: *Psamiter de David* (Paris 1674); *Explicatio de st Augustine et sur le Nouveau Testament* (ibid. 1675). He translated many works of the Fathers. Accused, among other things, of having portrayed St. John Chrysostom as a semi-Pelagian or a Jansenist, he was condemned by the Pope on 7 May 1687. He submitted on 4 September 1693.
F. L. Heurtebize, s. V. in DB, II, col. 2306; L. Sorrento, s. V. ENOCH. Ital., XV (1923), p. 631. Pietro De Ambroggi.