JAMET, PIERRE-FRANÇOIS. - Priest, b. at Fresne (Orne, France) on 12 Sept. 1762, d. at Caen on 12 Jan. 1845. Ordained priest on 22 Sept. 1787, he was appointed confessor and spiritual director of the Sisters of the Good Saviour (a congregation founded by M. Leroy at Caen in 1717). Because he refused to accept the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of 1789, J. suffered persecution and the sisters were dispersed. In 1805 peace was restored; on 22 May all the sisters gathered in their convent under the spiritual guidance of J.; from that time onward they experienced extraordinary development.
The schools for the deaf-mute followed the system of Abbé de l'Epée and Sicard; J. devised a new method and obtained brilliant results. J. reacted against the inhuman method employed for the insane, replacing it with gentleness and appropriate care.
J. wrote several volumes on the education of the deaf-mute, and on 14 Nov. 1822 he was appointed rector of the University of Caen. But J.'s principal work is the Institute of the Good Saviour, of which he is rightly regarded as the second founder.