PELLISSON-FONTANIER, PAUL. - Historian and apologist, b. at Castres of a Protestant family on 30 Oct. 1624, d. at Paris on 7 Feb. 1693. He graduated in law at Toulouse.
Councillor to the King (1652) and member of the French Academy (1653), implicated in the disgrace of the minister N. Fouquet, he spent five years in prison (1661-66), subsequently regaining the favour of Louis XIV in 1667. Converted in 1670 and having entered Holy Orders, as administrator of the fund for Catholic propaganda he worked zealously for the conversion of his former coreligionists.
Principal works: Histoire de l'Académie Française (Paris 1653; 2 vols., ibid. 1858, edited by C. Livet); Histoire de Louis XIV (3 vols., ibid. 1749, edited by Lemascrier); Réflexions sur les différends en matière de religion (4 vols., ibid. 1686); Traité de l'Eucharistie (ibid. 1694): a highly esteemed work; Oeuvres diverses (3 vols., ibid. 1739); Oeuvres choisies (2 vols., ibid. 1805).