GARNIER, JEAN. - Jesuit, patrologist, b. in Paris on 11 Nov. 1612, d. in Bologna on 26 Nov. 1681. After a period of teaching literature and philosophy at Clermont-Ferrand (Auvergne) from 1643 to 1653, he went on to teach theology at the Collège Clermont in Paris for 25 years (1653–79). Sent to Rome as procurator of his province, he was taken by death during the journey.
His name is linked to patristic studies, in which he displayed wide erudition and critical acumen, though some of his judgments have been corrected by later criticism. Among his works are: Juliani Eclanensis episcopi libellus fidei missus ad Sedem Apostolicam in causa Pelagianorum (Paris 1648), published from a manuscript discovered at Verona by Fr. J. Simond; Marii Mercatoris opera quaecumque exstant (ibid. 1673; cf. PL 48), with useful dissertations on Pelagianism and Nestorianism; Liberati Archidiaconi Ecclesiae Carthaginiensis breviarium (ibid. 1675); Liber diurnus Romanorum Pontificum (ibid. 1680; cf. PL 105), with dissertations on the question of Honorius. He also completed the edition of Theodore begun by Fr. G. Simond, adding several extensive dissertations, some of them venturesome (cf. PG 84, 89–864).