Jacques Davy Duperron
There Jacques received his education, being taught Latin and mathematics by his father, and learning Greek and Hebrew[5] and the philosophy then in vogue, Aristotelianism, as well as that of Thomas Aquinas and that of the Calvinist favorite, St. Augustine of Hippo.
[6] During the disorders following the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (23–24 August 1572 in Paris; a month later in Normandy) the family fled to the Island of Jersey, which was under Protestant English control.
[11] He was commanded to preach before the king at the convent of Vincennes (1585), when the success of his sermon on the love of God,[12] and of a funeral oration on the poet Ronsard (on 24 February 1586, after dinner),[13] induced him to take orders.
[21] Du Perron and d'Ossat performed the act of abjuration of Henri's heresy on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica on 17 September 1595,[22] thereby ending six years of controversy over the status of France and its King in the eyes of the Papacy.
On his return to his diocese, Du Perron's zeal and eloquence were largely instrumental in withstanding the progress of Calvinism, and among others he converted and the Swiss general Sancy and Henry Sponde, who became bishop of Pamiers.
[26] He and the Grand Duke discussed, among other things, possible candidates for the Papacy in the next Conclave, most especially the Great-grand nephew of Leo X, Cardinal Alessandro de' Medici, Archbishop of Florence and Bishop of Palestrina.
[29] In the Consistory of 7 January 1605 he was named Cardinal Priest of S. Agnese in Agone, in Piazza Navona (where the current baroque church was not begun until 1652).
The purpose of this commission was to investigate and decide upon the work of the Jesuit theologian Luis de Molina, which had raised the acute question of God's Providence and human free will.
[31] Du Perron sent off a long letter to Henry IV, reporting the day-to-day movements inside the Conclave in great detail.
[34] After his election, Paul V decided to continue the Congregation de auxiliis, and therefore du Perron was one of the Judges who began meeting again on 14 September 1605.
Although he appeared to work well with the Jesuit Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, in presenting the positions of Molinism fairly, du Perron's repeated counsel was not to take any decisions on the basic issues of the matter.
[35] But, while du Perron was still in Rome, Pope Paul V decided to pick a quarrel with the Republic of Venice, over its conduct in exercising its sovereign rights.
Finally, due to the forceful persuasion of Cardinal de Joyeuse (du Perron claimed to be ill), the Pope gave way, the edict was withdrawn, and the crisis averted.
[38] Like his predecessor at Sens, he became Primate of the Gauls and Germany, and Grand Almoner of the King of France (which also made him President of the Bibliothèque du Roi, which at that time was located at Fontainebleau).
These publications occasioned a response from King James VI and I, to which the Cardinal replied (again, originally in French, with a later English translation).
