MALAVAL, FRANÇOIS. - Quietist, b. at Marseille on 16 Dec. 1627, d. there on 15 May 1719.
He owes his fame to the Pratique facile pour élever l'âme à la contemplation (part 1, Paris 1664; parts 1 and 2, there 1670), in which he shows himself a convinced supporter of the prayer of quiet, insofar as the soul called to contemplation can no longer meditate, or meditates only with great disquiet. A man of sincere piety, M. was connected with the Roman ecclesiastical world (among other things, he corresponded with Molinos) and was very well known in the spiritual world of his time. Segneri wrote the Sette principi against him. Despite his friendships, the Pratique was condemned by the Holy Office on 1 Apr. 1688. His reputation for holy living and the intervention of Cardinal Bona had succeeded, despite his blindness, in having him made a cleric (1674).