He was the son of a lawyer at Dole, of a family, which during the previous century had attained to a high position in the magistracy and was renowned for the piety and virtue of its members. Owing to the early loss of his father, his education devolved upon his mother who devoted herself to his spiritual advancement.
Having studied theology at the University of Dole, he fell under the influence of Berulle and entered the Oratory in 1614, three years after its foundation.
Blindness overtook him at the age or thirty-five, and he was known as "The Blind Father". He was appointed director of the seminary at Langres but soon found his vocation in mission work among the poor. His life was unmarked by any external event except the loss of sight which occurred in 1627, while he was preaching the Lenten course at Rouen, but this caused no cessation in his work.
He avoided the custom of treating controversial matter in the pulpit and confined himself to the exposition of fundamental truths.
lieutenant was a novel idea of his to introduce after his discourses an abridgement of Christian doctrine. He also held conferences for the instruction of the clergy in his methods and was recommended by Massillon to young ecclesiastics for their imitation.
The French Oratory was suspected of Jansenism, and he was himself criticized on the ground that his preaching led to unsatisfactory results. In 1600 he appealed for advice to Antoine Arnauld, who ascribed these results to the laxity of confessors under the influence of casuistry, and dissuaded him from the design of abandoning his mission work.
