SAINCTES, CLAUDE de. - Theologian and bishop, b. in 1525 in Perche, d. at the castle of Crèvecoeur, near Lisieux, in 1591.
He studied philosophy and theology at the Collège de Navarre in Paris; having taken his degree in theology in 1555, he accompanied the cardinal of Poissy (v.) and to the Council of Trent (v.). Appointed bishop of Evreux (30 March 1575), he promoted the convocation of the Council of Rouen (1581) for the implementation of the Council of Trent. Involved in the politics of the League, in 1591 he was sentenced to death on the charge of having approved the assassination of Henry III; at the request of the cardinal of Bourbon, the penalty was commuted to imprisonment in the castle, where he died. His numerous works show him to have been an ardent polemicist against the Huguenots; noteworthy are: Examen de la doctrine de Calvin et de Bèze touchant la Cène du Seigneur, d'après les écrits des docteurs de cette doctrine (Paris 1566); De rebus Eucharistiae controversis repetitiones seu libri 10 (ibid. 1575).