Jacques Sirmond

1559-1651. Jesuit scholar. Born at Riom, Auvergne, France, he studied at the Jesuit college in Billom, and became a member of the order in 1576. He taught literature at Pont-à-Mousson and Paris (1581-90) and was secretary to the Jesuit general, C. Aquaviva, in Rome (1590- 1608). He returned to Paris, becoming rector of the Collège de Clermont (1617) and confessor to Louis XIII (1637-43). One of the greatest scholars of the age, from 1610 he published many works, especially editions of the Fathers—e.g., Fulgentius, Paschasius Radbertus, Theodoret, Eusebius of Caesarea, and Rufinus. He also distinguished between Dionysius the Areopagite and Pseudo-Dionysius.