Veron (Veronius), François

VERON (VERONIUS), FRANÇOIS. - Controversialist and preacher, b. in Paris in 1575, d. at Charenton on 6 Dec. 1694.

He entered the Jesuits in 1595, was ordained a priest, and in 1620 left the Society in order to devote himself more freely to the conversion of Protestants through preaching and writings, in which he was most accomplished, obtaining excellent results also among the educated class. On 19 March 1622 he also received from the King permission to preach in the public squares, and with the consent of the clergy he disputed with anyone who presented himself. He was appointed curate at St-Brice and at Charenton, where he died.

The work Méthode de traiter des controverses de religion par la seule Escriture saincte alléguée en termes express ou exposée par les saincts Pères... (definitive ed., 3 vols., Paris 1638-39) had wide circulation. The other work was also famous: Règle générale de la foy catholique séparée de toutes autres doctrines... (ibid. 1646; reprinted several times thereafter, translated into Latin by the Jesuits of Ingolstadt and into other languages). In 1646 he also published a French version of the New Testament which raised some controversy. He also polemicized against Jansenism: In Jansenii praetensum Augustinum (Paris 1647). He also wrote on the Mass, on Purgatory, and on the Pope, but in 1641 the work De la primauté en l'Eglise ou de la hiérarchie d'icelle, which he had composed against Blondel, was placed on the Index.

Pio Paschini