RENTY, GASTON-JEAN-BAPTISTE, Baron de. - Lay apostle and ascetic, born at the castle of Bény (near Bayeux) in 1611, died in Paris on 24 April 1649. In his youth he wished to become a Carthusian; but, in obedience to his parents, he embraced a military career and distinguished himself in the wars of Lorraine.
From 1658 he withdrew from court life; he then composed Le cosmographe ou introduction facile à la cosmographie (Paris 1639) and a Traité de la fortification (ibid. 1639). Most devout and penitential, he soon devoted himself entirely to religious activities, as an active member (from 1658) and superior (on several occasions) of the Compagnia del S.SACRAMENTI (v.). He organized assistance for poor English Catholics who had taken refuge in France. Following the example of H. M. BUDDHA (v.), he established confraternities of craftsmen, especially shoemakers (1645) and tailors (1647), who lived together like the first Christians and held all their earnings in common, distributing to the poor whatever exceeded what was necessary for their subsistence. Several of these confraternities of tailors and shoemakers endured until the Revolution.
A disciple, in ascetic theology, of Bérulle and Condren, he was one of the founders of devotion to the Child Jesus. At his own expense he had many missions conducted in the provinces. His biography, written by Saint-Jure, is a treatise on the spirit of spiritual childhood.