(Sometimes written CÉNEAU and COENALIS, whence the nickname, le Soupier )

Bishop, historian, and controversialist, b. in Paris, 1483; d. there, 1560. In 1513 he became doctor of the Faculty of Theology in the Sorbonne, and in 1515 was made Bishop of Vence. From here he was transferred in 1530 to the See of Riez, and in 1532 to that of Avranches. He took an active part in the religious and polemical discussions that attended the Reformation, and wrote several controversial works, the most important of which are: "Pro tuendo sacro coelibatu" (Paris, 1545); "Tractatus de utriusque gladii facultate, usuque legitimo" (Paris, 1546, and Leyden, 1558); "Axioma de divortio matrimonii mosaici per legem evangelicam refutato" (Paris, 1549); "Traductatis Calviniacae" (Paris, 1556); "Methodus de compescendâ haereticorum ferociâ" (Paris, 1557). In the same year and place in which the last-named work was published, there appeared his "Historia Galliae", dedicated to King Henry II. This was a folio volume, treating of the name, origin, and achievements of the Gauls, Franks, and Burgundians. It has but little critical value. Not long afterward he produced "L'histoire ecclésiastique de Normandie". While Bishop of Riez he issued synodal statutes of that diocese, and wrote an erudite treatise on weights and measures under the title: "De liquidorum leguminumque mensuris, seu verâ mensurarum ponderumque ratione" (Paris, 1532, 1535, 1547).

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online