PARIS, FRANÇOIS de. - Jansenist deacon, b. in Paris on 30 June 1690, d. there on 1 May 1727. The eldest son of a wealthy counsellor of the Parlement of Paris, he preferred the ecclesiastical life to the magistracy, for which his family wished to prepare him, though without receiving priestly ordination.
A catechist and sacred lecturer, particularly well versed in Holy Scripture, he wrote various works, some of which were published posthumously (a moral explanation of the Pauline epistles), while others remained in manuscript. He devoted himself to severe penances, carrying his rigorism so far as to refrain from Communion for two years, until his director dissuaded him. Charitable, he practised a humble trade in order to help the poor. Buried in the cemetery of St-Médard, his parish, the Jansenist movement of the convulsionaries (v.) began at his tomb.