Jacques Dinet (1584-1653) was a French Jesuit, confessor toLouis XIII and an associate ofRené Descartes.
He was born atMoulins,[1] nephew ofGaspard Dinet who wasbishop of Mâcon.[2]
He knew Descartes from La Flèche, where for some of the time he supervised Descartes's studies as principal prefect. Later, Descartes found him sympathetic enough to use as a sounding board, and potential intermediary with Pierre Bourdin, another Jesuit and critic of theDioptrics. A letter to Dinet in 1642 attacked both Bourdin andGisbertus Voetius, an opponent at theUniversity of Utrecht. The letter also set out his position in relation toscholastic philosophy. By including it in the second edition of hisMeditations on First Philosophy, Descartes raised the stakes in these fights. At that time Dinet was in a position of influence, as Jesuit provincial in Paris, for theÎle-de-France.[3][4]
In 1643 Dinet took over fromJacques Sirmond the position of confessor to the dying Louis XIII. In 1653 he was also briefly confessor toLouis XIV.[1] His account of the death of Louis XIII was later edited for publication byAntoine Girard, appearing asL'Idée d'une belle mort (1656).[5]
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