Founder of the Sulpicians, born Paris, France, 1608; died there, 1657. He was graduated at the Sorbonne, and soon became a favorite in fashionable society owing to his remarkable oratorical gifts. A complete conversion to God followed shortly, when his failing eyesight was miraculously restored at Loreto. Associating himself with Saint Vincent de Paul he began to labor among the poor of Paris. Having assumed charge of the notoriously vicious parish of Saint Sulpice, he, with a few disciples, effected a thorough reformation. He opened a small seminary in his presbytery, 1642, to prepare additional workers, and drew up a rule of life. Later his zealous companions carried his methods throughout France, and the institute still takes charge of ecclesiastical seminaries or offers aid temporarily for diocesan work. There are Sulpician seminaries in Baltimore, Washington, Menlo Park, California, and Montreal.