Background
Son of Raynaud Vigor, a court physician, he went to Paris about 1520, where his studies included Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. Later he devoted himself to theology.
Son of Raynaud Vigor, a court physician, he went to Paris about 1520, where his studies included Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. Later he devoted himself to theology.
Admitted to the College of Navarre in 1540, in the same year he became rector of the University of Paris. In 1545 he became a doctor of theology and was appointed penitentiary of Evreux. Thenceforth he devoted himself to pastoral and controversial preaching, with great success.
He was called upon to speak at Rouen, Paris, Metz, and elsewhere.
In 1563 he was among the twelve theologians representing the Sorbonne at the Council of Trent, where he took part in the discussions on clandestine marriages and indulgences. On his return to France, Vigor became pastor of the Church of Saint Paul-de-Paris, the royal parish, theologian of the chapter of Notre-Dame de Paris, and court preacher.
He converted several of them, among others Pierre Pithou. After preaching at Lent at Amiens, he stated that at his arrival he had found there more than 800 heretics and at his departure there remained only forty.
In 1566 he held, together with Claude de Sainctes, against the Calvinist ministers Jean de l"Epine and Sureau de Rosier, a conference of which the acts were printed (Paris, 1582).
According to Génébrard the defeat of the ministers was so overwhelming that the subsequent Calvinist synod forbade conferences to be held thenceforth with Catholics. These successes had made Vigor famous when in 1572 Pope Gregory XIII raised him to the See of Narbonne. After his consecration he went to his diocese, long without a resident bishop.
When conferences took place at Saint-Germain near Paris (1562) between the Catholics and the Calvinists, defended by Theodore Beza and others, Vigor was one of those chosen to defend the Catholic cause in the name of the Sorbonne.