HUMBOLDT, FRANÇOIS. - Theologian and preacher of the Order of Minims, b. at Verdun in 1569, d. at Tours on 29 Oct. 1612. He entered religious life at Lyons at the age of 24, already a doctor of law, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, and theology. Ordained a priest, he was assigned to preaching. Clement VIII summoned him to join a company of 8 missionaries to combat Calvinism directly.
An effective and brilliant orator, he travelled through the principal cities of France, engaging in disputations with the most ardent Calvinists, whom he always succeeded in refuting and sometimes in converting. Within the Order he held the offices of provincial (of Tours, Lyons, and Provence), visitor, and procurator general (1602-1605). Venerated as a saint, he had the honour of being buried in the same tomb as s. Francesco di Paola.
Important is the work: Phantasma coense ministralis (Padua 1612), a refutation of Calvinist errors concerning the Eucharist.