HUBY, VINCENT. - Popular missionary and ascetical writer, b. at Hennebont in Brittany on 15 March 1608, d. at Vannes on 22 March 1693. Having entered the Society of Jesus in Paris (1625), he was a companion of the Venerable Julien Maunoir (q.v.), whom he emulated in virtue and zeal.
After having been professor of literature and moral theology, he directed the College of Quimper (1649-52) and finally devoted himself to missions in Brittany. Convinced of the need to extend the benefits of the Spiritual Exercises (q.v.) of St Ignatius of Loyola to the laity as well, he founded and directed the first house of closed retreats, built for this purpose at Vannes. It soon attracted retreatants from all classes, among the most assiduous being the Bishop of Tréguier, Grangier de Livers. Huby’s example was followed by Maunoir, who opened another house at Quimper and then integrated the work of retreats with that of rural missions, preaching exercises to the people. Huby continued to promote the founding of similar houses, so that by his death almost every principal city in France possessed them. He left several spiritual writings and an account, *La retraite de Vannes ou la façon dont la retraite se fait dans Vannes sous la conduite des Pères de la C. d. J., et les grands biens que Dieu opère par elle* (Vannes 1678), as well as a formative work for the clergy, *Le bon prêtre* (ibid. 1683).