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RENAUDOT

the Oratorians in 1666, but owing partly to ill-health, forthwith left them and never received more than minor orders. His extraordinary native talent and love of study enabled him to become an able liturgi- cal writer, one of the greatest Orientalists of his time, and a trustworthy political adviser. One of the prominent men of the reign of Louis XIV, he enjoyed the friendship of numerous literary and political celebrities, among others Bos- suet, whom he supported in the controversies with Richard Simon, Fenclon and the Jesuits. Towards the last he assumed the unfriendly attitude of the Galilean and Jansenist. Nu- merous high distinctions were conferred upon him, among them membership in the French Academy (16S9), the Academy of Inscriptions (1691), and the Accademia della Criisca of Flor- ence. Most of his writings were prepared not merely for the extension of scientific knowl- edge, but also in defence of the Catholic Church. Among them are contributions to "Perp6- tuit6 de la foi", a work pub- lished by Nicole and Antoine Arnauld against the Calvinists, the fourth and fifth volumes of which are entirely due to Ren- audot's pen (Paris, 1711, 1713). He published, moreover, "De- fense de la perpetuity de la foi " (Paris, 1708); " Gennadii Patri- archse Constantinopolitani Homilise de Eucharistia" (Paris, 1709); "Historia Patriarcharum Alexandri- norum" (Paris, 1713); "Liturgiarum orientalium collectio" (Paris, 1715-16); " Anciennes relations des Indes et de la Chine" (Paris, 171.S). His opinion nf

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alleviation of poverty. He was named physician in ordinary to the king (1612) and in 1617 obtained the privilege of founding an intelligence office where poor people might make known their needs, free of charge, and inquire as to places where work could be had, and where charitable people could learn the names of the deserving poor. In 1618, he received the title of com- missioner-general to the poor of the kingdom. In 1628, after the surrender of La Rochelle, he became a Catholic and from this time, thanks to the help of Richelieu, his charitable acti\-ity was most fruitful. Ren- audot added to his intelhgence office a pawn-shop and an auc- tion-house. On30May, 1631,he established a weekly, the "Ga- zette de France", in which he defended the politics of Rich- elieu. About 1632, he created in his intelligence office weekly conferences which constituted a kind of free school of medical sciences. Finally, dating from 1640, he inaugurated free con- sultations for the sick, in which he was assisted by fifteen phy- sicians, and free visiting physi- cians. He published "La pre- sence des absents" (1642), the first treatise in France on diag- nosis, and which aimed at per- mitting sick persons at a dis- tance from all medical aid to describe their symptoms to the physician. In 1640, the medical faculty of Paris wished to forbid him to practise ; it relied upon Parliament, which was hostile to Richelieu, and a pamphlet of Guy Patin violently attacked Renaudot. Louis XIII by a decree of 14 July, 1641, decided in fa- \tu- of Renaudot, but after the deaths of Richelieu and

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ArRORA Guido Reni, RoapigUos

Bavle's "Dictionnaire" was published bv Jurieu (Rotterdam, 1697).

ViLLiEX, Eiislbe Renaudot (Paris, 1904).

, N. A. Weber.

Renaudot, Th^ophraste, b. at Loudun, 1586; d. at Paris, 2.5 October, 1653. Doctor of the medical faculty at Montpcllicr in 1606, he travelled in Italy in order to study the workings of the pawn-shop (mons pklalis) in that country. On his return to France, Leclcrc du Treniblay, known as Pt're Joseph, Bummoned him to court to exjjlain his theories on the

Louis XIII, his enemies renewed their attacks, pre- tending that he had accused Louis XIII of favouring Lutheranism and that he had calumniated Anne of .\ustria. The provost of Paris at the end of 1643, and Parliament in 1644, prohibited him from the practice of medicine, and the medical faculty, 4 June, 1644, officially inaugurated another system of free consulta- tions. Renaudot was, nevertheless, a pioneer in relief work for the poor, journalism, and medicine. The medical theories which he had held against the medical faculties of his times in favour of the use of antimony, laudanum, and tiuinine, have prevailed